Original subtitles

.

- In the criminal justice system,

the people are represented

by two separate, yet equally important groups:

the police, who investigate crime,

and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

- And now, the moment we've all been waiting for.

Please welcome our final two contestants

for Miss New York Metro.

[cheers and applause]

I know how hard it is for these young women to stand up here.

I was in their shoes just a few years ago

and I am honored to be back to judge.

To many of you, this pageant may seem like a zero-sum game,

but it's really about connection and sisterhood.

Tonight, however, we do have to pick a winner.

Our first runner-up is...

Miss Prospect Heights,

making our Miss New York Metro 2026, Miss Astoria!

[cheers and applause]

[camera shutters snapping]

Remember, we're all winners.

- They held the Miss New York Metro pageant here last night.

- She a contestant? - No, a judge.

Janitor found her this morning.

- Oh.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

Katie Harrington,

age 29.

Looks like she also works at the local news station.

- Must have hit the carotid artery.

- Yeah, she bled out fast.

- You got a time of death?

- MLI said, based on temp and rigidity,

between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.

- All right.

Well, let's make sure we get the scissors dusted for prints.

Any witnesses? - None.

Place had pretty much cleared out by that time.

- What about the security camera situation?

- Far as we know, no cameras in the dressing room.

- Well, I always heard these beauty pageants

were cutthroat, but...

[tense music]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- You turned off all of the cameras?

- We had 30 women backstage last night

in various states of undress.

They wanted privacy.

- What about security guards?

- One guard was posted backstage.

- He see anything?

- Apparently he was FaceTiming with his girlfriend

at the end of the night.

It's usually an uneventful job.

We can barely fill an audience these days.

- Why is that?

- Too much competition--

YouTube, social media.

- So there are fewer pageants these days?

- Well, there used to be ten a year.

Now there were two.

- That really puts extra pressure on the contestants.

- And on the judges. - For sure.

Beauty pageants are still important to these people--

some of these girls, if they lose, think their life is over.

- We're gonna need a list of last night's contestants.

- I'm surprised these pageants are still a thing.

I mean, I thought we were way past that.

- Yeah, I gave up on those years ago.

- Hey, video just landed from outside the theater.

Picked up someone running out the exit

by the dressing room at 10:25.

- Can you freeze it there?

Not enough of the face visible for facial rec?

- No. - That hat.

What is that stitching?

- Looks like they got it turned inside out

to hide the monogram or something--what is that, XLV?

- Yeah, I don't think it's a brand.

Maybe Roman numerals?

- Do we have any other video of this person entering?

- No, and it was freezing that day,

so half the people entering the theater were wearing beanies.

But I have some good news.

Found this interesting text from a Kailani Arizaga.

"Be careful how you vote. There are consequences."

- Sounds like a threat to me.

- That name rings a bell. Hold on.

Yeah, here.

"Kailani Arizaga, Miss Prospect Heights."

She was the first runner-up.

- I've known Katie since I was 15.

She was like an older sister, a mentor.

- So you liked her?

- Loved her.

- Well, why did you send her that threatening text

last night--the one that said there'd be consequences

if she didn't vote the right way?

- What are you talking about?

- This one.

- No, you got it wrong.

I wanted her to vote for someone else.

- You wanted to lose?

- I wanted to not win.

- Why'd you do it in the first place?

- My mom.

These pageants mean everything to her.

She says they can open doors, maybe even get me

a scholarship for grad school.

- Can you tell us where you were last night

after the pageant?

- Eating pizza for the first time in a year.

- Got anybody who can back that up?

- Yeah, a few classmates.

Kinda turned into a party. [phone buzzes]

I asked Katie if she wanted to join,

but she said she couldn't.

- We gotta go.

Katie's dad just got in from Alabama.

- [sighs]

Thank you.

- I still remember the day I helped Katie move in here.

Her mom had just passed.

Katie wanted to stay at home, look after me, of course,

but, uh,

I told her she had to follow her dreams.

Just knew she was meant for great things.

- Mr. Harrington, were you and your daughter very close?

- Yeah.

We talked every day.

- Was she having any problems with anyone?

Friends? A boyfriend?

- She was always too busy with work for much of a social life.

I encouraged her to date. Didn't want her to be lonely.

You know, there was this one guy,

kept chasing after her like a damn dog with a bone.

- He got a name? - I never made it that far.

Never even went out on a date, but he was persistent.

Kept calling her and sending her flowers.

Got a bit much for Katie, if I'm being honest.

- Do you know where he worked?

How they met? Any detail will help.

- They met at some sort of cancer fundraiser,

and he was a hockey player.

That's all I know.

♪ ♪

- Any luck with the hockey player?

- Yeah, I checked out Katie's Instagram.

Looks like the only cancer fundraiser

she attended in the last six months

was the United Hands Leukemia Gala.

Lots of photos of her and this guy named Alexander Hayes.

- Looks smitten.

Hockey player?

- Rookie left-winger for New York's favorite hockey team.

- Islanders?

- Not funny.

- No choir boy.

He just finished a five-game suspension

for smashing a stick into his opponent's head.

- And here's the best part--

he posted a story last night at 9:30 p.m.

Location tag puts him two blocks away from the pageant.

[tense music]

.

- I adored Katie. I would never hurt her.

- Well, you say adored. We say stalked.

- We talked to her doorman.

We know that you were sending her flowers,

hanging outside her building.

- Yeah, to--to show her that I liked her,

that I was serious about dating her.

- She had two extra deadbolts installed in her door.

- Look, I was just trying to get a date.

It's called being romantic.

- If she said yes, it's romantic.

If she said no, it's scary.

- So what happened, hmm?

You get tired of waiting for her

to see how romantic you were?

Maybe you snuck into her dressing room last night?

- What?

- We know you were near the theater

where the pageant was held.

- Right around the time of the murder.

- Hey, look, you guys are crazy, all right?

I was at a party last night with about 200 other people

and I was there until about midnight.

Instead of wasting your time talking to me,

you should look into the shady people

she was dealing with at work.

- What does that mean?

- She told me that as a journalist

she had to take big swings, to go where her colleagues

were too scared to go.

So if she was adding extra locks to her door,

I mean, it's because of that, not because of me.

You should go talk to her boss.

- I wouldn't call her segments dangerous.

More like ambitious.

She was a smart woman, had a great gut instinct,

knew how to avoid trouble.

- Sounds like you knew her well.

- Well, I took her under my wing

when she first started here.

I got her out from behind the research desk,

made her a field reporter.

I was a producer on some of her segments.

- Very nice of you.

- Well, it's a tough business for women here,

so I thought I could help wherever possible.

- If you don't mind, when was the last time

you spoke to Katie?

- Um, she was in the office until about 5:30 last night

and then headed downtown to the pageant.

- Did you speak to her after that?

- No, I stayed working for a few more hours

and then I went home.

- And you were there all night?

Sorry, just standard procedure.

You know, the more people we can eliminate

from her life, the better.

- Right. Of course, I wanna be helpful.

Yes, I was home all night.

Here is her work schedule.

I hope it's helpful.

- We will take a look.

- Do you know, did she have a work phone of any sort?

- Yes, she had several.

Good reporters always use burners

to protect their sources.

[sighs] Katie was a terrific reporter.

She was gonna do great things.

[sighs]

- Hey.

Warrant for the burner phones came through.

- And?

- And we got a pretty interesting text.

"This is not okay.

Make this right or things are gonna get ugly."

- Any luck ID'ing the sender?

- Phone's registered to a Jazmin Hernandez.

She's affiliated with the Cobra 10 gang.

Got a pretty healthy rap sheet, too--

drugs, assault, weapons charges.

- Let's go talk to her.

- Yeah, that's me.

I meant it too.

- Could you be more specific?

- Katie came up here a few months ago

with that other news lady, Ann Merrick.

They convinced me to help them do a segment

showing gangs recruiting young girls.

- So you were a source?

- I connected her to the right people.

- Doesn't explain the angry text, though.

- When the segment came out a few weeks ago,

there was a mistake.

A guy that lives here, he was in some of the video they shot.

They claimed he was a gang member.

He was pissed, and now people are coming after me about it.

- All right, well, can you tell us where you were

last night around 10:00?

- Working the register at a bodega.

166th and Webster.

They got cameras everywhere if you wanna check.

So, am I good? - For now.

Where did you get that hat?

- Ann Merrick gave it to me.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- All right.

Yep, thank you.

Turns out Ann Merrick had those beanies made

for the station's anniversary.

- Okay.

Ann told us that she went home after work

and never left, right?

- Yeah, and her doorman confirmed it.

- I don't think her doorman saw that.

Surveillance video from her garage,

rear side of her building,

shows her leaving at 9:24 p.m.

- Wearing a XLV beanie and an outfit that matches the video

we have of the killer fleeing the scene.

NYPD. - Stop.

We're about to go live. - No, you're not.

- Hey, hey, you can't be here.

- Warrant says we can. - Step aside.

- What's going on?

- Ann Merrick, you're under arrest.

- For what?

- The murder of Katie Harrington.

- What the hell are you talking about?

Katie was my friend. She was like my little sister.

.

- Earlier today, veteran TV news anchor Ann Merrick

was arrested on suspicion...

- Turns out arresting a news anchor is big news.

- Yeah. - How's the evidence?

- Strong.

Detectives found a beanie in her apartment

identical to the one seen at the crime scene.

Plus, her DNA was on the murder weapon--

a pair of scissors found in her neck.

- Motive?

- Still not adding up.

- So this woman suddenly bolts from her apartment,

walks three miles to this beauty contest,

and stabs her colleague in a dressing room.

Something must have triggered her.

- Question is, what?

- Yeah, well.

Since Nolan's out for a few weeks,

this is your case.

- Oh.

Okay.

Great.

[soft music]

And thank you.

♪ ♪

- How can I help?

- You had a six-minute call with Ann Merrick the night

of the murder, just before she left her apartment

to go kill Katie Harrington.

We wanna know what that call was about.

- I can put you in touch with New York 32's lawyers.

- Or we can subpoena you.

Just tell us what you know now.

- Ann had been hounding me.

She wanted to know why she hadn't gotten the paperwork

for her contract renewal.

So I finally called,

told her we wouldn't be renewing her.

- Must have made her upset.

- Yeah, she was livid.

She wanted to know how I could possibly justify

firing her after all she's done for the station.

- And?

- I told her HR would discuss the matter with her.

I've learned to keep these calls brief.

- You guys discuss anything else on this call?

- She asked who was replacing her.

- And you said Katie Harrington?

- Yes.

I regret it.

♪ ♪

- Okay.

Well, thank you for your help, Mr. Williams.

There's your motive, Sam.

Vengeance.

- Sam.

Sam!

- [laughs] Abby!

- Hi.

- Hi, how are you? - Good.

Busier than ever.

- Oh, we're overdue for dinner.

- Well, don't worry, you're gonna be seeing

plenty of me in the next month or so.

- What, are you-- - I am.

- Well, Ann Merrick has good taste in lawyers.

[phone buzzes] - We'll see.

I gotta go. I'll see you in there.

- Okay.

Your Honor, we've got DNA evidence

that links the defendant to the murder weapon,

video showing her leaving the crime scene,

and clear motive.

Your Honor, the people request remand.

- Your Honor, we plead not guilty

and request reasonable bail.

My client has no criminal record,

strong community ties, and a face recognizable

in most of the tri-state area.

- Good for her,

but I'm denying bail anyways.

Defendant is hereby remanded. [gavel bangs]

- We'll talk later, okay?

[indistinct chatter]

You open for a plea discussion?

- You're asking for a plea?

That might be a record.

- Oh, we don't wanna waste anyone's time.

- Meaning what?

- Meaning she doesn't intend to dispute

the fact she killed Katie Harrington.

- But you just pled not guilty.

- To murder two,

but manslaughter, that's different.

We're willing to plead guilty to that.

♪ ♪

- No, I'm not open to discussing that.

- You're gonna have a really hard time hearing our defense.

[tense music]

- I'll see you in court, Abby.

♪ ♪

Yes, Nolan.

For the fifth time, I've double-checked the affidavits,

the addresses, and everything else in the damn file,

so you can relax, okay?

Just focus on getting better.

Who needs an appendix, anyway?

Thank you.

Okay, I-I'll do my best, I promise.

Okay.

- Defense lawyer is claiming EED?

- Yeah, she's saying the defendant and Katie Harrington

had an intimate mentor-mentee relationship

and that the idea of Katie taking her job

triggered such extreme emotional disturbance

that it drove the defendant to kill her.

- Nice try, but that's not how EED works.

It's not meant to cover workplace issues.

- Exactly. It's a big stretch.

I'm not surprised.

Abigail Donahue is, uh--

[chuckles] She's aggressive.

I worked with her in the Brooklyn DA's office.

- Yeah.

Well, unless there's evidence I don't know about,

this is murder two all day long.

- No, you're not missing anything.

You know, I think Abigail is hoping that the jury is

gonna buy into the old trope that all women

are prone to hysteria.

- Right.

- At the crime scene, we discovered a pair of scissors

were jammed into her neck.

- In your experience, does that type of injury

create a substantial risk of death?

- Yes.

When the carotid is severed, the victim dies within minutes.

- Is it fair to say that these are the type of injuries

you see from someone intending to kill?

- Yes.

- Can you please describe what you see in this video?

- That is the defendant exiting the back door

of her apartment building.

- And what's relevant about her clothing?

- The clothing matches video we have of the killer

fleeing the scene. - One last question.

Can you read the timestamp on the video?

- 9:24 p.m.,

about an hour before the murder.

- Thank you. Nothing further.

[tense music]

- The back exit of my client's building--

the southern exit, to be exact--

isn't that closest to where she was headed?

Downtown? - Yes.

- So the suggestion that she was headed out the back door

to evade detection, it doesn't really make any sense, does it?

- It still makes sense to me.

- Mm.

Lieutenant Brady, did you determine where the scissors

in question came from?

- The scissors came from a hairstyling kit

belonging to the victim.

- They were present in the victim's dressing room?

- Yes.

- Which means my client brought no weapon of any kind

that night?

- Not that we know of.

- Hmm.

So she went there to kill Katie,

but she didn't bring a weapon.

That doesn't make any sense either, does it?

- Maybe she didn't decide to kill Katie

until she got into the dressing room.

- Ah.

So Ann Merrick acted in the heat of the moment?

- I don't want to parse legal terms with you,

but the intent to kill can happen fast, instantaneously.

So it doesn't mean she acted in the heat of the moment.

- But you're the one who said that she was triggered

in the dressing room-- - Objection.

She's badgering the witness.

- Sustained.

- All right, just-- nothing further.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Mr. Williams, as chief executive of the New York 32

television station, you had cause

to speak with the defendant on the telephone

approximately two hours before the murder?

- Yes. - Would you tell the court why?

- I had to inform Ms. Merrick that the network

would not be renewing her contract.

- How did she react?

- Well, after 22 years of annual renewals, not well.

She became extremely upset

and she accused me of sexism

and ageism.

- Is that true?

Did you fire the defendant because, uh--

because you don't like women, or because she's too old?

- No, it was performance-related,

and I told her as much.

- Her response?

- Well, she demanded to know more

about the performance issue, but I told her

I wasn't at liberty to say more.

- Then what?

- Well, she asked me who was want to replace her

and I told her Katie Harrington,

and then she got even more angry.

- Thank you, Mr. Williams. Nothing further.

- What was the performance issue you fired my client over?

- Ann had misidentified someone

as a gang member in the segment.

That was a mistake that exposed the network

to significant legal liability.

- How did you know it was Ann who made that mistake?

- Katie Harrington told me.

- Your Honor, we move to admit, as Exhibit B,

an email sent by Ms. Harrington from her New York 32 account

to the misidentified individual in the gang segment.

- Objection.

Your Honor, we had no notice of this.

- Your Honor, we just got our hands on this email,

and it's important that we present it now

because it undermines everything that this witness

just testified to.

- Chambers, now.

♪ ♪

- This was unfair surprise, Your Honor.

- Agreed.

That's not how we do things in this office, Ms. Donahue.

- Your Honor, we just got verification

of this email earlier today.

- You've had access to Katie Harrington's work accounts

for weeks.

- An abundance of correspondence.

- Counsel is perfectly capable of reviewing

discovery in a timely fashion.

Your Honor, I request exclusion of this evidence

at this point in time, since the people

have been deprived of any meaningful opportunity

to investigate.

- You will see the email comes from a New York 32 account.

That's the news station that Ms. Maroun's witness

has been testifying about.

- [sighs]

If that's the case, I will allow this exhibit.

But if this happens again, Ms. Donahue,

there will be sanctions. - Of course.

♪ ♪

- That was not okay, Abby.

- I'm just trying to win a trial here.

- By hiding evidence from me?

- It's the oldest trick in the book.

- Well, you never taught me that one.

- Oh, I can't give away all my secrets.

♪ ♪

.

- Mr. Williams, will you please read the highlighted portion

of the email sent by Ms. Harrington

from her New York 32 account

to the misidentified individual in the gang segment?

- "I'm horrified I did this.

"I'll remove all footage of you from our files

and correct the name immediately."

No, um--no.

Katie told me

that Ann provided all the footage

and oversaw the identifications in that segment.

- Exactly.

Katie Harrington, who the prosecution has portrayed

as a hard-working beauty pageant winner

turned TV reporter,

actually threw her mentor under the bus

to save her own skin.

She had Ann Merrick, who had done nothing

but tirelessly champion her work

since the day she started at your network, fired.

[tense music]

Who wouldn't feel betrayed?

Who wouldn't feel devastated--

out of their mind?

♪ ♪

- So they're sullying the victim.

It's the right move.

Do you think the jury's buying it?

- I'm not certain.

It definitely makes Katie look less than saintly,

that's for sure.

- What do you think?

- I mentor a few women.

I-I help them out.

I pull them up whenever it's possible.

And if one of them betrayed me like that,

uh, yes, I'd be emotional too.

- Fair.

But I'm guessing you wouldn't slam a pair of scissors

into someone's neck?

- Probably not.

- Neither would 99.9% of other people,

which is why this is murder and not manslaughter.

So who's their first witness?

- An expert in female workplace trauma.

- Wow.

I didn't know that was a field of study.

- Neither did I.

- Use that to your advantage.

- Yeah.

- And how would you describe the nature

of the workplace relationship between female mentors

and their protégés?

- Quite intimate. - Hmm.

In what way?

- Powerful bonds form in stressful environments

and spaces where women are outnumbered.

And the relationship provides emotional support,

often helping both women thrive in challenging situations.

- And what happens if the bond is threatened or ruptured?

- It's psychologically destabilizing.

Given the intimacy of the relationship,

a betrayal would cause a shock to your core sense of safety,

akin to your spouse cheating on you.

- Would you say emotions dominate?

- Absolutely.

- And based on your evaluation, how did the termination

psychologically affect Ms. Merrick?

- It was a highly traumatic event for her.

- That the one person in the work environment

with whom she had formed a strong emotional bond,

whose career she championed--

- Objection. Counsel is testifying.

- I'll rephrase.

Based on your examination, how did the specifics

of the dismissal shape her reaction?

- I believe it was a perfect storm

that triggered an extreme emotional disturbance.

She lost her capacity to reason when she realized what

Katie Harrington had done to her.

- Thank you.

Nothing further.

- Dr. Fitzgerald, are you aware that the defendant has reported

on police brutality, city hall corruption, human trafficking,

and terrorist cells?

- I am.

- Yet it is your opinion that when she was faced with

what essentially is a workplace conflict,

she became so emotional that she lost all self-control

and killed someone?

- Yes.

♪ ♪

- As a preeminent expert in the field of workplace trauma,

have you ever been called to testify in a murder trial?

- No.

- Well, do you know of any instance in which

a perceived betrayal of a senior female employee

by a junior employee resulted in murder?

- As I said, this would have been a perfect storm--

- Yes or no, Doctor?

[tense music]

- No.

- So if an emotional reaction like that

has never happened before,

it's impossible to call it reasonable, isn't it?

♪ ♪

- I suppose so, but I--

- Nothing further.

♪ ♪

- Ms. Maroun?

Ms. Maroun.

- Mr. Harrington, hi.

How are you, um-- how are you feeling?

I know it's not easy sitting in there.

- I wanna know what all this means.

I mean, that doctor, the stuff about how Ann Merrick

has some sort of mental issue.

- Well, they're saying that the defendant

was so overcome with emotions that she didn't

have legal intent to murder.

- And if the jury agrees,

then they can't put her away for murder?

- Correct.

- Well, then what happens?

- Well, then she'd be convicted with man one,

which is a class B violent felony.

The sentence is 5 to 25 years.

- Five years?

♪ ♪

For stabbing my daughter in the neck?

Katie was 29 years old.

That woman stole her life.

No.

Five years is not okay.

- 20 years ago, there were only a handful of women

doing on-air reporting.

Everyone doubted that we could handle real stories.

My bosses handed me baking contests, nanny scandals.

But I wanted to report real news,

so I found my own features.

Woke up at 5:00 a.m., worked till 10:00 p.m.

- You made sacrifices?

- I didn't have time for relationships,

marriage, children.

But, um, it was worth it.

I loved my job.

- And you excelled at it.

You won several local Emmys.

- Three.

- Quite a feat.

So when you got the phone call from Mr. Williams

at New York 32 that your contract

was not going to be renewed, how did that feel?

- Totally blindsided.

I thought that I was on the path to national anchor,

and suddenly a lifetime of work

and sacrifices...

gone.

You know, it was terrifying.

- Why blame Katie Harrington?

- I had taken Katie under my wing.

I wanted to make it easier for her than it had been for me.

- So what did you do to support her?

- I did what I had always done for all the young women

that I had mentored throughout my career,

and there have been dozens.

I advocated for them and nurtured

their professional development.

- Ms. Merrick, I want to show you

some documents that were admitted to evidence.

Will you please tell the jury what this is?

- Um, this is a letter of recommendation

that I wrote for Katie's Hudson Fellowship application.

- Would you mind reading

just the highlighted portion, please?

- "Katie Harrington is a brilliant reporter

"with a great future ahead.

"Her work in our office has been nothing short of dazzling.

"I recommend her without hesitation

and would do anything to help advance her application."

- Would it be fair to say that you were

devoted to Katie Harrington?

- Absolutely.

- So what did you think when Mr. Williams

let you know that he was replacing you with her?

- I was, uh--I was confused.

He--he said that I was getting fired because

I'd made a big mistake,

and I had no idea what he was talking about.

And then I remembered that Katie had misidentified someone

in the gang segment, and she had told me

that she was terrified that it was gonna get her fired.

So when he told me that she was replacing me,

I thought...

that she had laid the blame on me.

- What did you do next?

- I went to find Katie, to ask her

how the network got the idea

that I had made that major error.

- What did she say?

- She said she panicked

and told them that--

that it was my mistake.

- Then what?

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- Before I knew it, Katie was dead.

It was--it was a blur.

Katie did not deserve that.

[sobs]

I know that now.

But on that night in that moment, I just--

I-I didn't think.

I didn't think. I just--I just reacted.

I just--

like I said, it was just--

it was such a blur.

[sobs]

♪ ♪

- Donahue is trying to turn their work relationship

into something much more deep and personal,

kind of like a husband and wife.

- Makes sense.

That's where most of these EED cases live--

spouses catching their partners in bed with someone else.

Hell of a lot different than losing your job to a protégé.

- Know what I don't get, though?

- What?

- They're trying to paint Ann Merrick

as the world's most amazing mentor, right?

A selfless, devoted woman who lived

to help everyone around her.

Yet they haven't called any of those so-called mentees

to testify to any of this?

It's strange, right?

- So talk to some of these women

the defendant allegedly mentored.

See what they have to say.

- I owe a lot to Ann Merrick.

I was a total novice when I started at the station,

and she was really helpful and kind--

until I got hired by MSN.

- Then what?

- She--

she wasn't happy about me getting that job.

She was upset that I didn't tell her

that I'd interviewed for it,

that I didn't get her opinion.

Then I found out the real reason she was so upset.

She applied for the same spot.

- And when you say she wasn't happy,

can you be more specific?

- She--she literally grabbed me by my collar and said

if I ever double-crossed her again, she'd kill me.

She had this look in her eye.

I think she really meant it.

[ominous music]

.

[knock on door]

- Abby, hi.

Come in.

- I got the email about Sarah Chase.

Are you kidding me?

- Well,

it's relevant information, Abby.

I mean, your client doesn't like it

when her mentees succeed.

Yeah, of course she didn't kill Sarah Chase,

but she sure as hell threatened her.

- Ann Merrick is a woman of a certain generation.

She had to put on armor in order to survive

a male-dominated profession.

- She threatened vengeance when she thought

other women crossed her.

- That's one way to put it.

- The other? - She acted like a man.

She used male language.

She flexed verbal muscle,

telling people not to mess with her.

If a man said "I'm gonna kill you" in this context,

we wouldn't even blink,

let alone use it as evidence to prove intent.

- Look, Abby. [sighs]

You put on a solid defense.

- Solid defense?

- You know what I mean.

- I wanna plead this one out, Sam.

Man one is the right result here.

- Like I said before, I don't think this is EED.

- Yeah, because of existing sexist case law.

That's why men have successfully been using EED

for crimes of anger and rage.

But women, we can only use it if--if we're traumatized,

because the law doesn't allow us to be angry.

This is a chance to move the case law forward.

- I can't tell Katie Harrington's father

that the person who killed his daughter

is gonna be out in five years.

- You owe me this.

- I what?

- I got you this damn job.

- Yes,

you definitely helped,

and I'm grateful for that.

- I did you a favor.

And now I'm asking you for one.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Please.

I haven't had a good result in a while.

I need this, Sam.

♪ ♪

[door opens, closes]

[footsteps approaching]

- Any luck finding other rebuttal witnesses?

- Working on it.

- Everything okay?

- Did you ever have a mentor?

- Yeah, a few.

- Did any of them ever ask you to repay the debt?

- No.

And no mentor worth her salt would ever ask that of you.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- Please call your next witness, Ms. Maroun.

♪ ♪

Ms. Maroun,

your next witness.

♪ ♪

- Your Honor, the people call Sarah Chase.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Ms. Chase,

was the defendant your supervisor

and mentor at New York 32?

- She was.

- And is it true that you left five years ago

for a better position in cable news?

- Yes.

- Sarah, can you please tell the court

what Ann Merrick said to you

when you told her about your new job?

- She grabbed hold of my collar

and said if I ever double-crossed her again,

she'd kill me.

♪ ♪

- Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

- We have, Your Honor.

On the count of murder in the second degree,

we find the defendant...

guilty.

♪ ♪

- Members of the jury, thank you for your service.

We are adjourned.

- Thank you, Ms. Maroun.

Thank you. - You're welcome.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- Abby.

Come on, Abby.

God, Abby!

Look, I'd like to,

well, explain.

- We're done here.

♪ ♪

- Good work, Sam.

You did a great job.

♪ ♪

.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[wolf howls]