All language subtitles for Law.and.Order.S08E13.Castoff.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

by two separate
yet equally important groups,

the police
who investigate crime

and the district attorneys
who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

You ain't got no J.
Come on. What you want?

Oh!
I'm just warming up!

Hey, Ms. G,
check this out!

You want in? Slam dunk.

Yeah. Hey,
you want to impress me,
next time you get a job,

show up five minutes
before your shift
and not five minutes after.

Their clock was fast,
just like me.

The world is fast, Robert.
Sometimes you gotta run
to keep up.

Anyway, check this...
What?

Check this now, Jordan,
Jordan goes for the three.

He shoots.
He misses!

Come on, man. I made that!

Call 911. Somebody!

Anybody in the neighborhood
have a beef with Ms. Gaylin?

No one mess with Ms. G.

You got a problem?
She'd sit with you
long as it takes.

Like little Lee,
when his mama
had the swollen ankles,

she straightened out
what they needed to get
the prescription, you know.

Right. I think
it was a drive-by.

A drive-by?
Why, you hear a car?

Mmm-hmm.

All right. Thanks.

You didn't hear a car?

She walked on water.

And nobody saw anything.

Somebody that popular,

maybe one of the other
social workers was jealous.

I don't know.
One of the kids
thought he heard a car.

Let's tell the uni's
that are doing
the canvassing.

You in charge?

Detective Briscoe,
Detective Curtis.

Doug Gaylin,
Jennifer's father.
I got a call.

What do we know so far?

Well, so far,
not too much,
unfortunately.

Jennifer worked
for three years
in that center.

After graduate school,
she had offers to teach
at Columbia and Hunter.

She chose Harlem.

She ever talk about anyone
who was giving her trouble?

You're looking for a motive?

A white woman murdered
in a black neighborhood.

Doesn't make it a race crime.

Come on, Detective,
she wasn't robbed.
They just shot her.

I tried to protect her.

Even set her up
in one of my own buildings.

The last time
you saw your daughter?

Last Sunday.
Dinner. Her apartment.

Just the two of you?

She got a phone call.
Took it in the other room.

It didn't last very long.

She came back,
she was white as a sheet.

She say what it was about?

So, she organized
these things, huh?

Harlem AIDS walk,
winter coat drive
for the homeless.

Lot of good causes.
Every week she put
up some new notices.

Do you have a list
of her clients?

Official, yeah.
But it won't help you.

Unofficial people were
in and out all the time.

There was never a problem
until three or four days ago.

One of her favorites came in.

She didn't want to see him.

Randy Johnson.

What do you mean,
"one of her favorites"?

Jennifer would walk down
the hall, trailing five,
six kids, a real posse.

Pied Piper, huh?

So what was he?
The kid who got
left behind?

Jennifer helped Randy
get a job with the PAL.

Had a crush on her,
I think.

Serious?
Too serious.

He must have become
a nuisance for her
to avoid him like that.

She'd make you
want to do better.
Make you want to please her.

Maybe you tried too hard.

We heard she didn't
want to talk to you
down at the center.

You tried to call her.

Who says?

People said she was
trying to avoid you.

The afternoon she was killed,
you want to tell us
where you were?

Hey, man, I was just
trying to help her.

What was she doing, Randy?

Two weeks ago,
Saturday night,

I was up on Dyckman,
hanging out,

then this car pulls up.
It's a white Audi.

I didn't see the guy driving,

but the passenger door
opens up and out comes
Ms. G.

What was she doing up there?

What're any white folks
doing up there?
Copping drugs.

You sure?
Codeine.

A lot of kids using it
for a party drug,
a sex drug, what I mean.

You know,
people ain't just one thing.

It's all there
in the tox report.

I spend my day
in a crisis center,

I might need some
medication, too.

Codeine.

Mixed with acetaminophen,
prescription.

Well, at least you don't
wake up with a headache.

Liver damage.
Especially if you drink.

Yeah, given the state
of her liver,

she must have been
gobbling them down
like cashews.

Sex drug, huh?

Second gunshot
was to her crotch.

You located her playmate?
The guy driving the Audi?

We searched her place.

And went through
her address book.
So far, no luck.

Any other evidence
the girl liked to party?

Well, judging by what
we found in her apartment,

reading Vogue was about
as racy as she got.

Maybe that's what someone
wants you to think.

Her father owns
the building?

He'd have a key,
wouldn't he?

What time did Mr. Gaylin
get the news
about his daughter?

12:30, a little after.

And where was he?

His office, on 56th.

How long you think
it usually takes
to get from midtown

to the center
that time of day?

About half hour?

Something like that.

You didn't get
to the center until 2:30.
What took you so long?

I'll let Mr. Gaylin
know you're here.

Your job, Mr. Gaylin
pay you enough?

Enough for what?

Enough to go to jail
for obstruction of justice?

We made a stop first.

His daughter's place?

He come out
carrying anything?

A duffel bag.

I took a few things.
Silver baby cup,
some of her poems.

You mind
if we take a look?

Nothing important.

Then you won't
have any objection
to our going through it all?

People misinterpret things.

Like we might
misinterpret
your reluctance.

People will forget all
the good she did and
just remember the scandal.

And if her murder
had something
to do with drugs...

When I first heard
Jennie had been murdered,

I thought I'd do anything
to find out who killed her.

After I cleaned
out her apartment,

I'm not so sure
I want to know who.

Or why.

Codeine,
Percocet, Dilaudid.

She should've been
a chemist instead
of a social worker.

Or a cop.

Sex toys from A to Z.

Everything you can't imagine.

They're all wearing masks.

You find out your
daughter's been murdered,

you go to her apartment...

Which means
you know something.

Or suspect something.

And while
you're looking around,
you find this stuff.

When you think
of your daughter,
you think of her, what?

Six years old on a swing?

"The Pleasure Quest.
Fantasies and role-playing,
Lafayette and..."

Great Jones Street.

I've never been there.
I swear on a stack.

Everything we do is legal.
Closer to theater
than to prostitution.

Oh, somehow I don't
think people come here
when Cats is sold out.

Before you condemn
what we do,
maybe you should try it out.

I see enough
degradation on the job.

Okay,
about Jennifer Gaylin?

I learned her real name
when I saw her picture
in the papers.

She come here often?

She wasn't hardcore,
but she wasn't
a tourist either.

A weekend player.

She come here alone?

I'm not a social worker
or a priest, Detective,

but I do have
a confidential
relationship

with the people
who come here.

Otherwise...

Otherwise, it could be
a little embarrassing.

We come around
here at playtime

and start
questioning your clients
about Jennifer's death.

And what makes you think
what happened to her

had anything to do
with her harmless hobby?

What makes you think
it didn't?

She used to come
in with her partner,
that newscaster,

what's his name,
uh, Stu Steiner.

He wanted to get
into a threesome.
She wasn't interested.

That guy got a little
out of control.
We had to throw him out.

We don't like violence.

Steiner doesn't
show up on TV,

that's how I figure
he's sick or out of town.

You don't see him
around the building?

Maybe 6:00,
6:30 in the morning,
he drives up.

In a white Audi?
Yeah.

He's going to bed
when I'm hosing
down the sidewalk.

So when's the last
time you saw him?

Here? A week ago,
maybe two.

On the evening news?
Three days ago.

You ever see him
with her?

Now and then.

Wanna open it up?

You smoke cigars?

Yeah.

Light one.

Always wear
clean underwear,

you never know
when you might
be in an accident.

Here it is. Three days ago.
Last time anybody
came to see him.

What's that say?
Jane Wilson? Wilton?

You remember
what she looked like?

She was tall.
Dark hair. Blue dress.

Well,
maybe it was a blue dress.
I wasn't paying attention.

In 4:15, out 4:45.

Hey, whatever they were
doing, they didn't waste
any time on foreplay.

Guess what we found
in Stu's cupboard?

I bet it isn't
Jurassic Park.

The one
in high heels,
that's Jennifer Gaylin.

A social worker
with the emphasis on "social."

The other woman
could be the brunette
the doorman saw.

Mmm-hmm.

I guess the one
in the middle is Steiner.

Be nice to find her.

It's not Gaylin's
place or Steiner's.

That sign
outside the window...

Chelsea Piers.

Find someone who remembers
their trigonometry.

We needed two
reference points
visible through the window.

We used the upper northeast
corner of the sign

and the top of this
driving range post.

We project our line
in this direction
and we get a plan view.

And that would
narrow it down
to about, what?

20 buildings.

Then you did
a section view, right?

The sign is 63 feet off
the ground, the post is 96.

You're obviously seeing
them through the window

from a slightly
lower elevation,

so it's gotta be
this building here.

So you're hitting at
about 40 or 50 feet
off the sidewalk, then.

It's real easy to be
off a story or two,
but I'd say, yeah.

You're talking about
the fourth or fifth floor.

How'd you know that?

Oh! Sorry,
it must be a mistake.

Oh! You must be looking
for my daughter, Debbie.

She's throwing me
a birthday party.

Can I help you?

Yeah,
we'd like to ask you
a few questions

about Jennifer Gaylin
and Stu Steiner.

Who?

We brought
along a party tape.

Maybe your mother's friends
would like to look at it.

We can't talk in here.

I knew them from
around the scene,
not very well.

If this is what you
do with strangers,
what do you do with friends?

Everyone has a hobby.

How did you meet
Jennifer and Steiner?

Mutual friends.
I partied with them twice.

And the main feature?

That was the first time.
We didn't tape the second.

What, you got shy
all of a sudden?

Just more of the same.

We saw you getting
some pretty rough
treatment

from two people
who ended up dead.

I didn't have anything
to do with that.

A witness saw a tall
brunette at Steiner's place
the day of the murder.

I wasn't even
in town last week.

Anyway,
I never saw them again
after the second time.

I wasn't a success
with them.

Could've fooled us.

Stu was going
through the motions.

His real passion
was other men.

Van Buren called
Quantico to check
for leads through ViCAP.

Now, they had three
other cases
with similar enough MOs.

Same caliber gun, knife
and torture before killing,

mutilation of genitals.

All the victims were
active in the alternative
lifestyle scene.

San Francisco,
Aspen, Chicago.

Worked his way east.

Yeah, maybe he was
coming back home.

He kills men, kills women,
prefers a knife, although
a gun will do in a pinch.

No signs of forced entry.

In a couple of places,
Chicago, San Francisco,

he really made
himself at home,

ate a sandwich,
drank a diet soda
before splitting.

Picked up any cash
that was laying around,
left the credit cards.

Pacific Heights,
Beekman Place,

East Belleview,
fancy addresses.

Yeah. Jennifer's
wasn't too shabby, either.

So all our victims
are Caucasian,
rich and unmarried.

Yeah. And educated.
Kinderly graduated
Dartmouth in '88.

Dorsett, University
of Pennsylvania, '86.

Jennifer Gaylin,
Smith, also '88.

Ivy League.

Yeah, so when they
called out in pain,
they had the right accents.

So let's assume
our killer travels
in the same circles.

Where's Jennifer's
address book? It's here.

And Steiner's.

What do you got?

Abrams?
Nope.

This one starts with
"artist," Spencer Lee.

Call San Francisco,
Aspen, Chicago.

Ask them to fax us
any address books
they got off the victims.

We get a match,
maybe we get our killer.

I just got a call
from the captain
handling the case in Chicago.

He wants to know what we got,
if we're holding out on him.

Well, we got the same
phone number in three
different address books.

Chuck T. in Kinderly's,
San Francisco,
Eddie in Densch's, Aspen,

and Charles in Steiner's.

Yep. And the number belongs
to Charles Thatcher,
353 West Broadway.

Don't shoot,
don't kill me, please!

No one's gonna
kill you. Come on.
Step out of there. Let's go.

Stand up.

You got a permit
for this putter?

I thought you
were somebody else.

Take a seat.

What, somebody
who knew Stu Steiner
and Jennifer Gaylin?

I thought I was next.

What do you mean, "next"?

When I read the papers,
I knew it had to
be Eddie Chandler.

Who else?
I knew Kinderly.
I knew Densch.

I knew Eddie knew them.

What made you think
he was coming after you?

He called me.
He, um, said he wanted money.

He said he'd call back today.
I was scared to death.

Why didn't you
call the police?

You gotta be kidding.

And everybody at work
see my face in a story
about kinky sex murders? No.

It's better than
seeing your dead body.

Okay, if Eddie shows up,
give us a call.

Don't go, please.

What do you need?

I knew Eddie when he first
came to New York,

before he got into
the whole S&M crowd.
I took care of him.

If you felt like your life
was in danger, why didn't
you just leave town?

I walk out the door,
maybe he's across
the street, watching?

He follows me.

I go to Aspen,
he kills me in Aspen.
I lose him, he finds me.

You could go to Omaha.

Are you nuts?
Who goes to Omaha?

Hello? Yeah.
Eddie, where you been?

Um... Yeah.
Yeah, I got it.

Sure. Yeah.
Come on up.

He's on the corner.

He's coming up
from the payphone
on the corner.

I see a white male
going into the lobby.

Does he have a key?

No...
I don't know.

Yeah?

Uh, sure, sure.
Send him up.

He didn't come up!
Secure the front!
I'm going out the back.

Ten-four.

Police! Freeze! Right there!
Edward Chandler?

What do you want?
What happened?

Put your hands
on the rail.

Spread your legs.

What's going on?
I wasn't doing anything.

Yeah? What's this?
.38 Special.

Suspect...
What's that?

You're under arrest for
the murders of Jennifer Gaylin
and Stu Steiner.

You have the right
to remain silent.

Anything you say can
and will be used against
you in a court of law.

He was afraid.

Oh.

You know,
Charlie always had
a sort of lurid imagination.

You're sure you want
to get into this?

Once we were coming
out of the movies,

and there must have been
a robbery across the street
or something, a mugging,

and he literally
dragged me across the street
to see what was going on.

But you deal
mostly in murders,
don't you, Detective?

Two in particular,
right now.

Right, um, Jennifer and Stu.

You don't have
to talk to them.

I know.

Detective Curtis, is it,
read me my rights.

You have
a wonderful voice, Detective,
but you know that, don't you?

I'm glad you like it.

Have you ever
killed a man or woman?

Mr. Chandler.

Eddie, like Eddie Munster.

You don't seem to be
taking this very seriously.

No, I'd like to get
this straightened out.

Believe me, I know
it's a serious offense,

carrying an unlicensed
gun in this town.

Guess that's why I panicked
when I saw Detective Curtis
coming after me.

You think that's why
you were arrested?
For unlicensed possession?

I'd have gotten myself
arrested a lot sooner

if I'd known there
were D.A.'s who look
like you, Ms. Ross.

Remington .38
Special's from Jennifer.

Western .38
Special's from Stu.

All the slugs
had five lands and grooves
with a right twist.

Same gun. Must have smacked
Steiner in the head, too.

We got his blood
and hair samples
on the gun barrel.

Detective Briscoe,
your partner is
being very cruel to me.

The last time
someone had me in cuffs,
they were a lot nicer.

Where did you get
the gun, Mr. Chandler?

She sounds so serious.

A friend gave it to me.

So I could protect myself
when I brought
new playmates home.

When I had a home.

And when was that?

Uh... Well, it was before
I left New York
the last time, I know that.

And you've had
it since then?

The bullets that killed
both Jennifer Gaylin
and Stu Steiner

came from your gun.

Go get him arraigned.

It's kind of amazing,
Chandler's compulsion

to come on to
everyone in the room.

A kind of
pathological charm.

Anything a jury
might respond to?

I don't think so.

I'd be happier
if we could place him
at either scene.

Wasn't there a brunette
at Steiner's apartment?

Yeah, and a witness
saw a brunette driving away

from the community center
where Gaylin worked.

Mr. McCoy?

So, Chandler
has an accomplice?

Or he likes to
play dress-up.

Greenwald filed a motion
to suppress the gun.

My client
was chased by the police
and apprehended

because he was running
through the streets.

Running can't justify
stopping an alleged suspect.

People v. Sierra.

Sierra?

Don't you mean
People v. Martinez,
Mr. Greenwald?

Sierra, Martinez.
After 40 years,
they all start to sound alike.

Your Honor, the officers
were not acting solely
in response to the running.

They stopped Mr. Chandler
because they believed

someone matching
his description

was involved
in a criminal activity,
People v. Reid.

What exactly was the basis
for this belief, Mr. McCoy?

He showed up at the apartment
of a former acquaintance,
Mr. Thatcher,

in an effort to extort
money from him.

To borrow money
from an old friend.

An old friend who felt it
necessary to arm himself
with a golf club.

So the guy's paranoid.
So what else is new
in this farkakte town?

Mr. McCoy,
if we had the police
taking off

after every
suspicious-looking
runner in this city,

we'd all be in trouble.

Motion granted.
The gun is suppressed.

No weapon, no opportunity.

There's got to be
something else to tie
this guy to the murders.

Where's Chandler been living
since he blew back into town?

He might've been
staying with a friend.

Assuming he still
has any. Alive.

Where's Eddie
been staying? Well...

The time was,
that would have
been an easy one.

In bed with whoever was
the most eligible that week.

Years ago,
when he first came
to New York,

he was like this
corn-fed Adonis,
to die for.

He had this
wonderful innocence.

He thought people were
being nice to him because
they really loved him.

But you did?

Yeah. Nice clothes,
fancy meals,
expensive vacations.

Eddie never realized that
everything had a price tag,
even him.

Especially him.

How did you two break up?

I wasn't rich enough.
Nowhere near.

But he'd still come by?

Uh, up until about
two years ago.

He'd get lonely.
He'd come over.

We would
microwave some popcorn,
and watch TV for hours.

And then he would just leave.

No kiss, no goodbye,
just pick up his
jacket and wander off.

For?

A house in East Hampton.
I drove him there once.

Do you have a name?

It was a big cape
behind a picket fence
on Lily Pond Lane, I think.

It was painted
this God-awful blue.

God, Eddie's let himself go.

When you two were together,
did you know about his past?

His boyfriends?

Like Eddie, I'm not
fussy about beauty.

Eddie was drop-dead gorgeous,
but hardly naive.

By the time I got him,
he was like a waiter
in a really good restaurant,

helping you
choose from the menu.

But he always let
you know the price,
in advance.

And you could afford him?

You know,
I was the one that first
introduced Steiner to Eddie.

At my summer place.
The blue house
on Lily Pond Lane.

I could give you the number.

I like the mountains.

You should try the ocean
for a change. It's wetter.

How did you and Eddie end?

He started losing some
of that amazing beauty.

Why stick with a nine,
when you can afford a 10?

Then he dropped
completely out of sight.

You never heard from him?

Actually, I did receive
a couple of notes
from him recently.

Written on, of all things,
history department stationary,

Hudson University.

I don't suppose he
joined the faculty,
do you?

I don't
think I can help you.

Off the record?

I have two grown
children and an ex-wife.

She won't know we talked.

Off the record.

I first met Eddie about,
oh, let me think...

I guess it must be
three months ago now.

He was intelligent,
charming, lonely.

And you enjoyed
his company?

Except when he drank.

Then all that
charm curdled.

Eddie would rage at the people
who had "discarded" him,
is the word he used.

How long did he stay,
Mr. Stevenson?

Three days,
then he'd disappear
for four or five,

come back for a night,
then vanish again.

I had a pair
of diamond cufflinks,
belonged to my father.

I assumed Eddie stole them.

I can see him as a thief,
but as a killer, no.

I guess I might have
been next on his list.

Do you have any idea
where he'd go?

Uh, he said he stayed
with some friends
in Westchester.

I let him use my car.

Otherwise it just
sits in the garage.

Is it there now?

Oh, I haven't been
down there in weeks.

What a mess.

Looks like he just
camped out down here,
eating, sleeping.

Whoa! Whoa!

I tell you one thing
he didn't do, bathe.

Why would Eddie
sleep down here?

He could have been
more comfortable
upstairs with me.

Hello.

Allow me to introduce you
to our mystery brunette.

We've got Chandler's
prints in the car.

He'll say Stevenson
gave him a ride.

We need Stevenson
to say he loaned
the car to Chandler.

That connects Chandler
to the wig and dress.

Which puts him at
both the crime scenes.

And while you're at it,
get the weapon back in.

Mr. McCoy?

Notice of substitution.

Greenwald's been replaced
by Neil Pressman.

That Harvard opportunist.
How did Chandler manage that?

The question isn't how.
It's how come.

Professor Stevenson
connects your client
to the Honda,

and that connects him
to the dress and wig.

And before I can
say "Antonin Scalia,"

you're arguing
inevitable discovery.

We get the gun back in,
and your client's
going down for murder one.

That's
on the theory that
the victims were tortured.

Very good,
Mr. Pressman.

Now try guessing
what offer we'll make.

Let's see, going on what
my teaching assistants
told me about you,

you're going to take
the death penalty
off the table

and then you're going to
give my client
the opportunity to rot in jail

for the rest of his life
without the possibility
of parole, am I right?

Took the words
right out of my mouth.

Don't waste your sympathies
on those people who died,
Mr. McCoy.

You mean the ones
you murdered?

The ones somebody murdered.

When I was a boy,
I used to watch
On the Town over and over.

And But Not for Me.
You know that one,
Mr. McCoy?

Clark Gable
is a Broadway producer.
And Miracle on 34th Street.

Oh, I thought New York was
filled with colorful people,
romantic people,

people who lived wonderful,
exciting, interesting lives.

You know what I found?
Monsters.

People who preyed
on the innocent,

corrupted them,
destroyed them.

I was 17 years old.

Do you think
they carded me?

Do you think they cared
if I was 17, 16, 14?

I didn't kill them,
Mr. McCoy.

But they killed
the boy I used to be,

and if they hadn't been
stopped, they'd have
killed other boys,

other girls,

as many as they
could get their hands on.

Those S&M games they played,
they were rehearsing
what happened to them.

He's really something,
isn't he?

So was Ted Bundy.

You want to avoid
his fate, Mr. Chandler,
you consider our offer.

Well, that's a no.
So, I guess
we're going to trial.

A real trial, Mr. Pressman.
Not moot court.

Don't worry, Mr. McCoy,
I won't bump into
the furniture. Let's go.

The situation's changed.

And you want me to
testify to a grand jury

so my children will know
I shared my bed
with a serial killer?

If you don't help us,
there's a good
chance he'll go free.

That's your problem!

Without him, we can't
get the gun back in.

The right judge might allow
my testimony of what he said.

The right brain-dead judge.
It would still be hearsay.

Unless we charge him
with aiding and abetting.

Professor Stevenson
incriminated himself

when he told me
he lent Mr. Chandler
his car.

His admission was a statement
against penal interest.

It's admissible
as an exception
to the hearsay rule.

Okay. It's a dodge,
Your Honor.

The only reason that they
charged Professor Stevenson
in the first place

was to get his statement in.
I guarantee you,

the minute this
hearing is over,

they're gonna drop
the charges against him.

Are you, Mr. McCoy?

Barring new information, no.

All right.
The statement's in.

Then, Your Honor,
we'd like to re-examine
your suppression of the gun.

I told you, Your Honor.
He's bootstrapping.

And doing
a damn good job at it.

We can now link his
client to evidence,
the dress and the wig

that places him
at two crime scenes.

That gives us grounds
to search his client.

And that search
would've turned up
the murder weapon.

Would've? Might've.

It's not called
probable discovery,

it's called
inevitable discovery.

People v. Fitzpatrick.

Don't you get the law
journal up at Harvard?
People v. Ruffin.

Covers items that likely
would've been discovered

in the normal course
of an investigation.

And so it does.

All right, Mr. McCoy,
you got your gun back.

He cut Mr. Steiner
over 30 times,
some deep cuts,

some superficial,
before he shot him.

And what conclusion
did you draw
from these injuries?

I'd say they were designed
to inflict maximum pain

while keeping the victim
alive and conscious.

Dr. Rodgers, is it fair to say
that the killer deliberately

caused the greatest
possible suffering
in his victims?

Yes.

Would you say this seems
like the work of a sociopath?

Psychopathology
isn't my field,
Mr. Pressman.

But it's not something
that you see every day.

Hmm.

Thank you.

Eddie called me up
and said
he wanted money, $20,000.

He said he'd come
to my apartment
in two days.

Um, he said I'd better
have the money.

Did you take
that as a threat?

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Mr. Thatcher, what made you
think that Eddie Chandler
threatened you?

Because I know him,
intimately.

When you lived together,
he was preoccupied
with violence, wasn't he?

Yes, um, he'd rent videos
with lots of gore in them.

What else did he watch?

TV shows,
Road Runner cartoons.

He could watch
that stuff for hours.

Hmm.

Thank you.

He can't be going
for an insanity defense.
It's too late.

There's something
we're not seeing.

We're not supposed to.

Not until it comes up
and bites us on the ass.

It's from Pressman.
An addition
to his witness list.

US Representative
Fred Maxwell.

Maxwell?

I'd say you've just been bit.

Your Honor,
this witness has absolutely
no relevance to this case.

I intend to argue
mitigating circumstances,
Your Honor.

Prolonged exposure
to excessive TV violence

led to sociopathic behavior
on the part of my client.

He can say
Moonbeams or Twinkies
made his client do it,

it's still not
appropriate testimony.

If I can show impact
on his behavior, why not?

Why not, indeed,
Mr. McCoy?

I'm not going to deny
Mr. Chandler a defense.

Your Honor, Mr. Pressman
is using a political hot
button to confuse the jury.

Then unconfuse them.
I'm going to
allow his witness.

I've been against
violence my entire life.

I'm acquainted
with your career,
Congressman.

Song lyrics,
movies, television shows.

You've been quite outspoken.

And now this clown, Pressman,
wants me testifying
in defense of a serial killer.

A damn gay serial killer
into kinky sex.

Pressman's no clown.
He's a ringmaster.

And you're his
star attraction.

Just get me off the hook.

Nothing I can do.

Look on the upside,
if Chandler's acquitted,

your movement gets
its very own Willie Horton.

I'm the chairman of
the National
Advisory Committee

on Television Violence.

And you've sponsored
bills to regulate the content
of primetime TV shows?

Yes.

Now, isn't it true
that your committee
believes

that there is a one-to-one
correlation between watching
violent acts on TV

and aggressive,
anti-social behavior
in real life?

Yes.

And isn't it true that you
found among young people

who've been convicted
of violent acts,

an alarmingly high
percentage of them,

we're talking somewhere
in the neighborhood of 80%,

spent most of their leisure
time watching violent TV?

Yes.

All right. Now, this is
Defense's exhibit 43,
Your Honor.

It's a report by the US
Advisory Board
on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Would you read
the marked passage, please?

"The dynamic visual image
has a unique
psychological effect

"that is not shared
by the written
or spoken word

"or still graphic image."

Do you agree with that?

Yes, sir, I do.

Your Honor, Defense's 44.

This is a copy of a speech
Representative Maxwell made
in Denver last year.

Again, would you
read the marked passage?

"I blame violent TV shows
for the epidemic of violence
among today's youth."

So, aren't you
by implication,

comparing these TV
shows to a disease?

Something that
causes an epidemic.

You could say that.

Well, then, if these
TV shows are an
equivalent to a disease,

aren't the people
affected by them
in some sense victims?

I suppose in some sense, yes.

Congressman, you don't
like my client, do you?

No. And I think it would
be a serious
miscarriage of justice

if he were not found guilty
of first-degree murder.

But this issue is so
important, I would rather
see Mr. Chandler go free...

Objection.

Your Honor, the Congressman
is an expert in this area.

His testimony is
relevant to the case
that I'm presenting.

I'll let him
finish his thought,

but that's as far
as I'm going to go.

Thank you, Your Honor.

I would rather see
Mr. Chandler go free

if it would help stem the tide
of violence and depravity
overwhelming our society.

Thank you, Congressman.

Congressman,

is there a difference
between a correlation
and a cause?

How do you mean?

If 80% of juvenile
offenders chew gum,

are we to assume that
gum-chewing causes crime?

No.

So isn't it just as likely
that these juvenile criminals
watch violent TV shows

because that's the kind
of program they're likely
to be attracted to,

given their personalities?

I'm not sure.

Did you watch
television as a youngster?

Sure.

Did you watch westerns?

Gunsmoke,
Have Gun - Will Travel,
Bonanza.

Mr. McCoy, I've discussed
this many times.
The violence on those shows

had a moral context,
as do violent scenes
in Sophocles and Shakespeare.

I'm not arguing
that we must never see
a part of reality

that undoubtedly exists
on television or in movies.

But I am arguing
images of gratuitous
violence and sex

debase our culture.

And you decide
what is gratuitous?

A civilized society can
come to agree on that.

Do you believe that
we are a civilized society?

I believe we used to be.

And you think setting
Eddie Chandler free

to prove a political point
would make us more civilized?

Objection.

Withdrawn.
No more questions.

When I was a kid,
when I came home from school,

I'd turn the TV on
and pretty much,
I guess, watch it

straight on,
right through till bedtime.

What kind
of shows did you watch?

Cop shows. Action shows.
The Mod Squad.

The A-Team,
Starsky and Hutch.

I used to pretend
I was one of the characters.

How'd that make you feel?

Alive.

More intense, more real.

Did you ever get
into a fight
when you were a kid?

Once, by accident,
I hit a friend in the face

and I broke his nose.

There was blood,
a lot of blood.

How'd that make you feel?

It gave me a rush.

Like seeing David Carradine
beat the bad guys on Kung-Fu.

Did you ever see any explicit
sadomasochistic acts
on network television?

No.

Did you ever see anybody
tortured with a knife

and shot in the groin
on primetime television?

No.

So how did you
come up with the idea
for torturing Stuart Steiner?

Did you see it on TV?

I don't know, yeah. Maybe.
Yeah, I think I did.

What show?

You never saw it
on TV, did you?

You thought it
up on your own?

I don't know.

And you knew you
were breaking the law,
didn't you?

No.

And still you murdered
Mr. Steiner and Ms. Gaylin

because you thought
that they deserved to die?

Because you believed
that they were monsters?

Yeah.

No more questions.

If television didn't
influence our behavior,

why would advertisers spend
millions of dollars
every year on TV commercials?

Of course,
TV has an effect on us.

You watch,
as I did 30 years ago,

you watch
the Vietnam War on TV,

you are changed.

Now, Mr. McCoy will no doubt
tell you that this is a matter
of freedom of speech,

that this is
a First Amendment issue.

It is not. It is about
what you as parents
already know.

That your children
are mesmerized
when they watch TV.

How they copy what they see.

They act out karate fights
after watching Power Rangers.

And here
we have Eddie Chandler
who was abused, exploited

and discarded by people
he thought were his friends.

Eddie Chandler,
who for 30 years,

was bombarded
with televised fantasies

of bloodshed and vengeance
and cruelty that turned him
into a violence junkie.

Television told him
it's okay to kill.
Television.

Now, the judge will instruct
you that if you find
mitigating circumstances,

for example, if my client
acted under an irresistible
compulsion to commit violence,

then you can acquit
him of the top count
of murder one,

and find him guilty
of first-degree
manslaughter.

I am not asking you to
absolve him of all blame,

just the blame
that properly belongs

to those
who infected his mind.

Mr. Pressman is right.
This is not
a First Amendment issue.

We can all agree
that what we see
powerfully affects us.

But that doesn't excuse us
from being decent human beings

or from making moral choices.

What we choose to watch

and how we react is up to us.

The baby boom generation,

to which Congressman Maxwell
and I both belong,

grew up watching hundreds
of hours of violent TV.

We dressed up
like Davey Crockett

with his trusty rifle,
Old Betsy,

like Hopalong Cassidy,
with his
pearl-handled six-shooters.

And what was the result
of all this make-believe,
TV-inspired violence?

We grew up to be a generation
that marched against war,
and preached peace,

love, and flower power,
and, yes,

Mr. Pressman watched
the Vietnam War on TV,
and how did that change him?

I looked up his record.
He became
a conscientious objector

and a Harvard Law professor.
Dangerous guy, huh?

We are creatures of free will
and moral choice.

No matter what we see,
read, or hear,

we still make choices.

Eddie Chandler,
a man who murdered

and tortured two
innocent people,

chose evil.

Hello.

Come to offer a plea?

Get a chicken
salad sandwich, actually.

Three days of jury
deliberations don't scare me.

I want to tell you, Jack,
I admire your passion.

I wish I could say
I admired your consistency.

"The founders put
freedom of speech
in the First Amendment

"because they understood
that democracy begins

"with the most
basic freedom of all,

"the freedom to think
what we want
and to say what we think."

You were a champion
of the First Amendment,

and now you're
arguing for censorship.

Yeah, I wrote that.

And I still believe
in the First Amendment.

And your argument
in this case?

I want to see
if the public does, too.

On the first count
of the indictment in
the death of Jennifer Gaylin,

murder in the second degree,
how do you find?

We find the defendant,
Edward Chandler, guilty.

On the second count
of the indictment in
the death of Stuart Steiner,

murder in the first degree,
how do you find?

We find the defendant,
Edward Chandler, guilty.

Have you seen
the Crimson Law Review?

There's a new article
by Pressman on the viability
of TV violence as a defense.

Their lead-time
for articles is three months.

Pressman wrote and submitted
this a month before
taking the Chandler case.

I guess he wanted
to try out his defense
on a real jury.

This was just a lab
experiment for him.

He got his results,
a vote for
personal responsibility.

I'm afraid some other defense
lawyer will take this
and get a different vote.

Bedtime reading.

Bathroom.