Original subtitles

- [boy] Daddy!

- [woman] Good morning, Charles.

- [Charles] Good morning.

[news on radio]

- [Charles] Can I see that one?

- [man] Mm-hmm.

Ten-round clip, one-round chamber, double-action.

- [Charles] How much?

- [man] $118.50 with tax.

- I'll take it.

- There's a fifteen day waiting period.

- [Charles] You need an ID?

- No, just a California driver's license.

Gotta ask you a couple of questions.

Have you ever been a mental patient

on a leave of absence from a mental hospital?

- Lemme think.

No.

- Have you ever been found by a court of law

to be a danger to others as a result of a mental disorder?

- No.

- Fill out the rest of this.

I'll see you December 21st. Merry Christmas.

- Thank you.

[whistling]

- Yes?

[gunshots]

- Mother!

No.

[gunshot]

No, please!

[gunshot]

[crying]

- The Lord said to me,

You are my son,

this day have I begotten you.

[woman crying]

[Charles breathing heavily]

Lord, our God, with the birth of your son,

your glory breaks on the world.

Through night hours of the darkened earth,

we, your people, watch for the coming of your promised son.

- [woman crying] No, no...

No... [crying]

- As we wait, give us a foretaste of the joy that you will grant us

when the fullness of his glory has filled the earth.

- [woman crying] Oh, no...

[Charles breathing heavily]

Please...

[tiger growling]

- The word of God became man,

we have seen his glory.

God, our Father, we rejoice in the birth of our Savior.

May we share his life completely by living as he has taught.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

- [together] Amen.

- [Priest] The body of Christ...

[woman crying]

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

The body of Christ...

- Amen.

- The body of Christ...

- Amen.

[telephone ringing]

[telephone ringing]

Sally Ann.

- [Sally Ann] Morning, Tony. How are you doing today?

Sorry, Tony, you can't go in yet.

- Hi, Tony. Uh, let's move away from the door.

- What's goin' on, Harry?

- I, uh, I had to borrow your office for a few minutes.

- Who are these guys?

- Uh, federal narcs.

- [Tony] Who's in my office?

- [Harry] Cordenas. And the narcs are gonna talk to him when I'm through.

- Cordenas is gonna talk to you after three months?

- He already has.

- Why, did cops kill a federal agent?

- Mm-hmm.

- Great. What did you give him?

- What can I say?

- Great. Can I have my office back?

- Well, uh, just a few minutes. Uh, why don't we get a cup of coffee.

- What's he doing in my office?

- He got his wife in there with him.

Tony, I promised him a contact visit if he told me what I needed.

- You're letting Cordenas use my office as a trick pad?

- Hey, it's his wife, Tony.

- I told him use the couch, not your desk.

- [Tony] Great.

- I warned him keep the place clean. - Great. This is great.

Sally Ann, would you ring my office?

Gotta be in court.

- This is important, too, you know.

[laughing]

- Mr. Cordenas,

are you free?

One moment.

[shouting over the phone]

- Mr. Cordenas, would you stop whatever you're doing

and come out here, please.

[shouting over the phone]

- Hey, man. What is this shit?

I still got ten minutes coming.

- It's out of my hands, pal.

[door slamming]

- On the [inaudible 08:01] park stabbings,

see if we can bring in someone that'll say that the defendant

with, uh, 33BA would still know that a broken wine bottle

is a deadly weapon.

And tell the city cops to go back to the park,

see if they can find the victim's nose.

Oh, uh, Kate's father is coming in for New Year's

so remind me.

Hi, hon.

- [Kate] Hi.

Tried to reach you this afternoon.

- Anything special?

- I thought we could have lunch.

I called the office. They said you were gone.

- Ah, I wish I would've known.

- You didn't get my message?

- We had two murder arraignments this morning,

then I had to go back to court this afternoon

to get bail raised for that guy in the arson case.

- Did you get it?

- Yes, I did.

- Hmm. You look tired.

- Come 'ere.

[phone ringing]

Hello?

Yeah, I'm awake.

I don't know if Major Crimes Deputy is on duty tonight, Mel,

I think you should just dial the--

- [Kate] What's wrong?

- Alright, just a sec.

Let me get a piece of paper and pen.

Okay.

What?

Okay.

I gotta go out.

- Where are you going?

[railway crossing bell ringing]

[train steam whistling]

- [cop] Stand back, please.

Stand back, please.

Behind the line, please.

- [Mel] I've never seen anything like this.

One victim down here, then the two upstairs.

No signs of forced entry. Nothing missing.

- [Tony] Oh, jeez.

Who were they?

- [Mel] The one who owns the house, Mrs. Barbara Ellis, divorcee.

The other two are her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hedrickson.

The rest of the house is undisturbed.

Just some blood downstairs and the hallway in here.

I don't think it was a robbery,

and I don't think it was somebody the victims knew.

The women were shot, dragged upstairs, and then mutilated.

The man downstairs was shot and just left there.

- Christ.

George.

- I thought I'd seen it all. Nothin' like this ever.

- What happened?

- The victims were all killed in the same fashion, probably yesterday.

Cause of death is fairly obvious.

Gunshots to the head, small caliber bullet, probably .22

- Yeah, but what about the other ones--

- The women's bodies were cut open to get at the organs.

God knows why.

Some of the organs were removed.

December 27th, 1986. Home of Barbara Ellis.

[clock ticking]

- [doctor] Do you still feel a pulse?

- [nurse] Pulses are faint.

- [doctor] Let's get the PD cuff for blood pressure, please.

- [nurse] Okay, blood pressure's a hundred [inaudible 13:07].

Can't get anything.

- [doctor] Uh, let's get some dopamine. Start a drip, please.

- [nurse] Here's the dopamine added to the IV.

The dopamine's up, wide open.

Did she get a pressure yet?

- [nurse] Barely. Pulses are faint.

- [doctor] Speed up the dopamine a bit more.

- [nurse] Still wide open.

Coming up, [inaudible 13:28]. Coming up, [inaudible 13:29].

- [nurse] I'm feeling pulses.

- Do we have any back-up?

- [doctor] Yes, slow it down.

- [nurse] Okay, [inaudible 13:34].

Very powerful volt.

[monitor beeping]

- [nurse] Let's see the monitor.

- [doctor] Sinus passage...

- What's wrong with her?

- We restored her heartbeat but her brain is no longer functioning.

- No! Tony! [crying]

Why was she even born to die like this?

- It has to be your decision.

- [Kate] No! Why? [crying]

[monitor beeping]

- [doctor] It has to be your decision.

- [Gene] Okay, boys, come help me cover him up.

Come on.

Now, let's say goodbye to Juno one last time.

Why don't you get your rake and help me?

Oh, Juno. He's gonna be chasing cats in heaven now.

Alright.

- Bye, Juno.

- [Gene] It's gonna be alright.

Andy, he's gonna be alright.

Andy, stop that.

- Oh, he just doesn't like going to the dentist.

- Well, that's no excuse for trashing a car.

I'll take him over there.

Then bring him home, then I gotta scoot by the plant.

- I suppose you haven't called the police.

- Eileen, you and I both know that Charlie Reece killed that dog.

Now, I'm not gonna let him get away with that.

- I just don't want any trouble from him.

- Honey, we'll just let the police handle it, alright?

Bye bye, Aaron, be a good boy.

- [Andy] Bye.

- Bye.

- [Eileen] Wave bye.

- Wave bye bye.

- Bye, Mom. Bye, Aaron.

- [together] Bye!

- [Gene] We'll be back soon.

- Come on. Let's go finish breakfast.

I'll take you to the park, we'll take your toys,

and then when Andy gets back...

Alright, maybe we'll go to the park in a little while, okay? Come on.

[TV show in the background]

Aaron, are you through?

- [Aaron] Yeah.

- Okay, sweetheart.

[Charles whistling]

- What are you doing in here?

Just go on home now, you hear me? Just go on.

Charles, what are you doing here?

Please, leave. Just go away. Please.

[gasping]

- Gun.

- I'm sorry.

- Aaron! Aaron!

[plate crashing]

- When, uh, we catch the suspect,

we're not gonna bargain, no deals, no psycho cop out,

nothing less than death penalty.

Some of you didn't vote for me but I intend to show the state,

maybe the country,

how a crime like this is handled in this county.

Tony, I'd like you to give us a progress report.

- Uhm. Uh, we have a description of a man,

six feet, a hundred and forty to a hundred and fifty pounds,

red coat, sunglasses,

near the scene at the time of the crime.

That's about it.

This case has got 'not guilty insanity' written all over it.

It's gonna be very difficult to get a jury to believe otherwise.

It might be--

- [Whalen] Curse on defense to show insanity,

we don't have to prove anything.

The public wants the death penalty

and the courts are gonna have to give it to 'em.

- Well, I've never gone after the death penalty.

If I was in the legislature, I'd campaign against it.

- You're not in the legislature.

In my office, we don't write law.

We carry it out.

- Listen, if we find whoever did this and convict him,

it's just gonna get overturned somewhere off the line.

- If they overturn us, that's the system.

But if we get a conviction,

you put on the record that you can prosecute this.

The high court's on a dump but that's final.

We're going after the death penalty

as long as the high court says it's constitutional.

Period.

- Daddy, I wanna ride my bike.

- Uh, let's go find Mommy first, huh?

- Can I have apple juice?

- Oh, sure. You were such a good boy at the dentist,

you can have what you want.

- Mommy?

Mommy?

Mommy?

Daddy, daddy, daddy!

- [Gene] What's wrong, Andy? What is it?

- [Andy] Daddy, what's wrong with Mommy?!

What's wrong?!

Where is she?! Where's Mommy?!

Daddy!

- [Gene] My God! Nooooo!

- How are you and Whalen gettin' along?

- He wants me on the triple murder case.

- Of course.

You'll do a good job and he'll take the credit.

- Well, I'm one of the liberals he campaigned against.

- A murder conviction of this lunatic, if they ever haul him in,

I don't know,

I don't think there's a jury in the country that would kill him.

Well, they'll maybe look into you to fumble.

Knowing your feelings, they'd have a fall guy.

When I was a PD, I defended the Rainer boys,

Tommy and Kevin.

They were pretty good boys most of the time, had jobs, no records.

We went to trial because these two charming fellows,

they got an old woman, tied her with electrical cord,

left her hog-tied, then sat down and watched her strangle to death

for forty minutes.

I got up, I reminded my jury how long it took that woman to die.

They came back in three hours, not guilty by reason of insanity.

That jury turned those boys loose

because they couldn't believe that anyone could sit

and watch an old woman choke to death for forty minutes

unless they were insane.

You got a guy that makes those boys look like the apostles.

[siren wailing]

- What of my boy? Where's Aaron?

- [Mel] We're looking for him, Mr. Tippetts.

- She's all, I just...

I saw her laying there, her body was all cut open.

Oh, my God...

[inaudible 21:30]

- [Mel] Is there anything I can get you?

- [Gene] No...

- [Mel] Will you be staying here tonight?

- [Gene] Oh, God, no! I can't stay here.

I can't stay at this house.

- I wanna talk to him.

- [Gene] Oh, God...

- An hour ago, the fellow over there, Eugene Tippetts,

brings his four year old kid back from the dentist.

Finds his wife in the bedroom back there,

shot three times, small caliber, and mutilated like the others.

- Was she sexually assaulted?

- Entry apparently through an unlocked back door.

The guy just walked in.

Tippetts has another son, about five years old.

His name is Aaron.

He was with the mother.

He's not home now. We're looking for him.

- [Gene] Oh, Eileen. I love you. [crying]

I love you...

- [Evidence Tech] Somebody start checking with the utilities...

- [Mel] Tony.

A neighbor saw a white Chevy pull up to the house.

Saw the driver. Described as a white male, twenty to thirty, long black hair,

six foot, one fifty to one seventy, old blue jeans, a red parka, sunglasses.

- It's gotta be him.

- The witness knows the guy.

He says he lives a couple of blocks away with his mother.

His name is Charles Edward, excuse me, Edmund Reece.

Thirty three zero five El Dorado, this is it, the Reece house.

Do we go in now or wait for a warrant?

- If we have to arrest with a search warrant,

it'll take a couple of hours minimum.

We have sufficient cause to arrest the guy if he's home now.

He's a suspect in four murders.

- [Mel] Cover the back door.

Looks like a Holiday Inn.

Can you hear me?

- Sedatives and tranquilizers.

All presciptions for Mrs. Naomi Reece.

- [Mel] Mrs. Reece.

- [Mrs. Reece] Uh...

- [Mel] Mrs. Reece.

- Uh, ah Charlie!

- Mrs. Reece, we're from the Police Department.

- Huh? But why are you in my house?

- [Mel] We're looking for your son. Is he home now?

- But I'm.. uh.. did something happen?

- We're gonna search your house now, Mrs. Reece.

You can come with us if you want, d'ya understand?

- Mm-hmm, why...

- Sounds like consent to me.

- [Mel] Where's Charlie's room?

- [Mrs. Reece] Stop it. Stop it.

Don't go in here.

- [Police] Move out of the way, ma'am.

- [Mrs. Reece] You can't be in here!

- [Police] Mrs. Reece, just stand out of the way!

- [Mrs. Reece] Stop it!

- [Police] There's a cellar back here.

- [Mrs. Reece] Get out of here, get out of here!

No. No, get-- No!

- [Tony] Stay here.

- Locked.

- Stop it. Stop it!

- Cut 'em off.

- Get away from me. Let me go!

- Stay out of it!

- [Mrs. Reece] Get your hands off of me!

Do not touch me!

- [Police] What's that smell?

- [Mrs. Reece] You cannot even look in here. This is his special room.

He never lets any--

[coughing]

- Jesus!

- [Mel] Holy Christ.

Go to Tippett's house. Get the ID techs over here.

[screaming]

- [Mrs. Reece] Get out, get out, get out.

Get out, get out.

Get out of here!

- This is an emergency, ma'am.

- Charlie, what were you doing?

- Got some shells over here, they look like twenty-two's.

- Don't touch 'em.

- My God. This looks like brains.

[coughing]

- [Police] Who's in charge?

- The Tippett's kid's had it.

If this guy's got him, he's dead.

- We can't believe he's dead.

Our own justification for being here is that we believe that boy's alive.

Alright, let's get pictures

and snag everything that's not nailed down.

This is our guy, Mel. It's all in plain view.

[Mrs. Reece screaming]

- You want me to check your oil and your water?

- No, not today. Thanks.

- Morning.

- [Charles] Morning.

- You Charles Reece?

- No. He's been gone all day.

- [Nestode] You happen to know when he's coming in?

- No. If he's not in by now, I'd say he's out for the day.

Who wants him?

- [Mel] Are you the owner?

- Heh, no. I just work here.

- [Nestode] What's your name?

- Bob. Robert.

- [Mel] Last name.

- Tippetts.

Excuse me.

Have a nice day.

- Whose Chevy is that?

- [Charles] I'm workin' on it.

- Robert.

- [Charles] Yo.

- You wanna open it for me?

- Where's the keys?

- [Charles] I don't remember.

- Think.

- [Charles] They must be inside, I'll see if I can find them.

- We'll come with you.

- [Charles] This place is such a mess, I can never find anything. I never...

know if he put the keys up here or...

...or where. Sometimes, he puts 'em up here.

Uhm, it could be just about any place.

I don't know, this ring he put all--

- [Mel] Are these yours?

- Oh, yeah.

Uhm, those...

- [Nestode] Shit!

- [Mel] Hey!

- [Nestode] Halt!

- [Mel] Hold it right there!

- [Nestode] Halt!

- [Mel] [inaudible 28:52]

Nobody move!

- Move! Move!

[children screaming]

Police! Get out of the way!

Stop!

Get your hands up!

[dog barking]

Get your hands up where I can see 'em now!

- Where I could see 'em!

Put 'em up!

- What's the matter?

- Get down on the ground.

- What? What?

- Get down on the ground!

- [Charles] I didn't do anything.

- Get down on the ground!

- [Charles] It wasn't--

- Now! Lay down! Lay down!

- [Charles] I didn't do anything--

- Spread it out! Go on! Spread out!

- What?

What am I here for?

- [Mel] You killed a woman today.

- I need a doctor right away.

- [Mel] Mr. Reece, did you kill Eileen Tippetts today?

- I need a doctor, please.

- Where's the little boy, Mr. Reece?

- You'll never understand me.

- Why not?

- Because you're not chosen.

Ask me another question.

- Have you ever seen a psychiatrist?

- Yo. Lots of 'em.

- Would you like to see one now?

- Sure, I would.

You'll find out.

You're gonna get a big surprise.

- Mr. Reece, let's cover a couple load of areas.

How long did you work at the gas station?

- Is the shrink here yet?

Dr. Rudin.

Tony Fraser, Assistant DA.

- [Rudin] Yes, we've met before.

- Thank you for coming.

- [Rudin] Why did you ask for me?

- You're on the duty roster.

Do you know what's goin' on here?

Okay, I want you to find out anything you can about this little boy,

then I wanna know what this guy's problems are.

- Well, I can't examine him until after he's been charged.

- He's already been charged.

- [Rudin] Well, it would be improper even to talk to him

'till after he's consulted an attorney.

- [Tony] He has an attorney.

I just want whatever information you can get on this little boy.

[doorbell ringing]

- [Albert] Hello, Mrs. Reece.

Remember me, I'm, uh, Albert Morse?

I'm the public defender assigned to your son's case?

Mrs. Reece, I'm here to help you.

Is this your husband?

- He died when Charlie was six.

- [Albert] Charlie's been telling me that he used to hit you.

- Ha, Charlie? Never.

- [Albert] No, I meant your husband.

- He, uh, punch me in the face, yes.

A lot of times, he kick me.

I was lyin' on the floor with, uh, pans, broken dishes all over the place.

Cut myself.

Had to get fifty-two stitches.

He was mad about what somebody said to him at work.

I had blood in my mouth and I was beggin' him to stop.

I had to leave him.

We were only separated two months.

He came to the place I was stayin' and, uh,

he actually cried.

He apologized, you know, so I came back.

I loved him.

And I missed Charlie.

And I know how much he needed me.

- Wait a minute, you mean, your husband kept the boy?

- Mm.

- Did you every report him to the police?

Why was that?

- I don't know, to tell you the honest truth.

- Did your husband ever hit Charlie?

- Agh, he loved Charlie.

He would never hurt Charlie. Charlie was his darling.

- Well he saw him hit you.

- Charlie was standing there, right there.

I covered my eyes so I wouldn't have to see him starin'.

- [Albert] Okay.

What happened to Charlie after his father died?

- Well, he was seven, but he wasn't a bad child.

You ask our neighbors. He, he mowed lawns,

he was always helpin' people.

He collected food and old clothes for poor people. Everybody liked him.

He was on the football team and the baseball team

at Mt. [inaudible 33:48] High.

I have a picture around here somewhere.

- [Albert] So he has no criminal record.

- No.

- No juvenile offenses.

- Nothing. His grades were always good.

He went off to the community college for a, a year.

He had a hard time.

It was just the two of us.

But I always gave him love.

I don't believe what they're saying about him.

If I could see him now, I know Charlie would tell me the real facts.

- I understand he'd been hospitalized.

- Yeah, at Sunnyslope. They helped him.

- Well, who was the one who put him on the hospital, Mrs. Reece?

- Well, I told Charlie that I thought he should see professionals.

Just needs professionals.

He got very upset with me.

But he got better.

They let him out.

He can get better, Mr. Morse. He's a good person.

Just needs love.

He needs all the love I've got.

- [Tony] Well?

- [Rudin] Okay, he's got a lot of problems.

Serious, pathological problems.

- Doctor, does he know the difference between right and wrong?

- He seems confused and emotionally detached

from the killings.

- Am I going to build a limited case for legal sanity?

- It's possible. Yes.

- [Mel] The women were shot, dragged upstairs and then, mutilated.

The man downstairs was shot and just left there.

[monitor beeping]

[woman screaming]

- [Gene] I saw here laying there, her body was all cut open. [crying]

Oh, my God...

- [George] Looks like In The Wild in there.

- Had the presence of mind to pull the shade at the Ellis house.

Brought a plastic bag with him so he could take the body parts he wanted.

Brought a concealed weapon with him.

He used a carving knife from the Ellis kitchen for the mutilation.

- I don't see your point.

- Well, to inflict this kind of damage, you'd need a large weapon, right?

- Right.

- It's hard to carry, hard to conceal.

Maybe he took one away when he would find one.

That's thinking ahead, George.

- I don't know, Tony, that could be hard to prove.

- Yeah, well, I gotta prove it to myself first.

Didn't he wash the knife after he used it?

- Somebody did, and then took it back to the kitchen.

- And then while he was in there,

he looks around for something to drink their blood.

See, there's no panic.

The kitchen wasn't disturbed, was it?

- No.

No, I was in there, he whooped very carefully.

- That's my point.

I think he had motivation for the killings,

and that it was sexual.

Harry, see what else you can find out about him going back to when he was a kid.

Go back as far as you can, classmates, girlfriends, whatever.

- [Dr. Gables] We wanna look at the physiology of Mr. Reece's brain.

By that, I mean to see if it's the right size and shape,

or if there's anything physically wrong with it.

This machine is a Magnetic Resonance Scanner.

It uses a powerful magnetic field and radio waves to give us the sharpest,

clearest image of the brain.

Alright, we're now passing through the base of the brain.

The temporal lobe and frontal lobe are coming around,

they're both normal.

There is no mass.

We're passing through the fourth ventricle and it's normal.

The third ventricle and lateral ventricle are just coming around

and there are no lesions,

no bumps.

The size and the shape of the brain are normal.

He appears to have no structural brain disease.

- Good luck, Al.

- Charles, I'm Dr. Benjamin Keddie. I'm a psychiatrist.

I was engaged by your attorney here, Mr. Morse.

I've gone over your psychological tests and your magnetic resonance scan,

and I think your best defense is insanity.

Mr. Morse and I will have to convince the jury of your condition,

so we need you to help us understand it.

You see?

- I don't want an insanity defense.

Everything I did was justified.

I had to do it. It was all up to me.

- Did something tell you to do those things?

- What do you mean?

- Well, for example, did something tell you to go out

and shoot people?

- Yeah.

I don't know what it was.

What do you think it was?

- Well, that's for you to tell me, Charles.

- [Charles] I hear voices on the radio sometimes.

- [Albert] What sort of voices, Charles?

- Music.

Tellin' me to kill.

There's this one station I listen to.

It's the devil station.

I listen and I'd hear Satan telling me to kill.

Sometimes, I think this isn't real.

It's not really messages, it's not making any sense.

But then finally I figured it must be true.

So then when I started to lose all my blood,

I figured that it was Satan poisoning me for not keeping my end of the bargain.

- [Albert] Do you remember going in to a woman's house

the day you were arrested?

- She was making trouble, and her dog was poisoned.

- [Dr. Keddie] How did you feel after you killed these people?

- Just kind of delirious.

I didn't care.

- [Albert] Well, how did you pick out this particular family to kill?

- I don't know. It was just an accident.

- [Albert] An accident? What do you mean?

- There's just no reason, you know.

I just walked out to the door, and the woman opened the door,

and so I shot her right then.

- [Dr. Keddie] What happened to the little boy?

- Oh. I put him in the trash can with the lid in a garbage someplace.

- [Albert] Was he still alive?

- I don't know.

I might have shot him a couple of times.

- [Albert] You killed him?

- No, I sucked some blood, and then I got rid of it.

- I'm confused, Charlie, is to how you could hurt people,

a small child who never did you any harm.

- Why, I never meant to hurt him.

I needed his blood.

Well, I feel bad about it now, I guess.

- [Dr. Keddie] But not then.

- Oh no, not then.

- Affix time of death in relation to bullet wounds and knife wounds.

Same with Mrs. Hendrickson.

Further note, Reece knew Mrs. Tippetts.

Did he have a reason for killing her?

Wasn't there a report of a dead dog to the police department?

- [Kate] Mr. Tippetts is here.

- Oh, right.

I need to interview him

and I didn't want him have to do it at the office.

- [Kate] Okay.

- Is it alright?

This is the man whose wife was--

- I know. He has his son with him.

- [Tony] Thank you for coming.

Hello, son.

- Do you have any toys?

- We might have.

Come on.

- Can I have a drink?

- Sure. What would you like?

- Mmm, water. No, apple juice.

- [Kate] Okay.

Mr. Tippetts.

- Uh, no, thank you very much, Mrs. Fraser.

- Can I have a Coke?

- I think the apple juice would be better for you, son.

- Andrew was asking we had any toys.

Come on, let's talk outside.

- Be a good boy, Andrew.

- [Kate] Here you go...

- [Tony] I know it's difficult to talk about it,

but you were the first person, aside from your son, to find your wife.

And I need to have the jurors hear you.

I need to have them see her through your eyes.

- They all say that he's nuts.

I'm betting you do think that he's nuts, don't you?

- [Tony] No, I don't.

I think Reece knew what he was doing when he killed your wife.

- This is, this is, this is... this is all, it's a waste of time.

- [Tony] It isn't a waste of time--

- I don't have the time, mister.

I got no time.

I sit there at home, and I watch my boy Andrew,

that's all I do, I watch him.

That boy, he's all I got left.

You understand?

- [Tony] We're preparing to meet Reece's insanity defense.

I'm asking for the death penalty, which I've never done before.

But I feel, in this case,

I think the jury would vote for it.

You have to understand, if he's acquitted,

or if he's found not guilty by reason of insanity,

they'll let him out of a hospital or prison someday

and he'll be on the streets again. I know you don't want that.

- No. No, sir, no.

- It's a terrible thing to lose a child.

- Oh, oh, you don't know.

- I do know.

I had a daughter younger than Aaron.

We lost her six months ago.

- Lost her? What do...

That's a little bit different, ain't it, huh?

You lost her?

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

- She had pneumonia.

We thought she was getting better.

When I thought it was past the dangerous stage, I went back to work.

I had a trial to finish.

My wife stayed at the hospital.

The last time I saw my daughter, she was in an oxygen mask.

- I'm, I'm sorry, I...

Jesus, God.

- Can I color this book?

- Sure. Wanna color together?

- [Andy] Okay.

- [Kate] Okay.

- Is this a girl's toy?

- [Kate] Yeah.

- I love it.

- [Kate] Hmm.

- [Tony] When my daughter lost consciousness,

I had to make the decision and let her die.

I thought it was better for her.

I feel the same about Reece.

Sometimes, life has to be taken.

I need you to help me.

- What if I just don't show up?

- I could have a warrant issued for your arrest but I'd rather not,

believe me.

- Yeah, I thought a lot about everything that happened.

We didn't go to church, I ain't got no religion,

nothing like that.

I think all this was God's idea.

- I don't know, Mr. Tippetts,

I just wanna see Reece punished for what he did to your little--

- I don't know why,

but I think God, he, he made a judgment against us.

Did I tell you what I decided this morning, tiger?

I think maybe you and me are gonna leave this town.

Just pack up and head out on the road.

- No school?

- No, not for a while.

I think we're just gonna get in the car and drive.

- How long for, Daddy?

- Well, for a long time.

- Aren't we ever gonna stop?

- I'm not sure. We're gonna stop but mainly we're gonna drive

and we're gonna see places.

You like that idea?

- Can I bring my toys?

- Oh, you betcha, you can bring every single one of 'em.

- Is there children to play with?

- Lots of children. You can play with all of 'em.

- How many patients are you treating here, Paul?

- Fifty or sixty, something like that.

We're operating way beyond capacity.

- Well, you're to be commended.

Usually very ill are treated by the least trying people

in our profession.

- Thank you, Ben.

- Paul, it's only a matter of time before the DA discovers

that you examined Reece here at Sunnyslope.

- No, it, it wasn't me. It was one of the staff psychologists.

I only discovered it recently.

- Less than six months before the first killing,

you agreed that he was well enough to be let go.

- [Paul] It was the hospital staff.

They didn't see a potential for violence.

We don't have the money or the time.

All we could do was warehouse him.

- [Dr. Keddie] You're willing to rely on that

when you get on the witness stand?

- Of course, not.

- When it becomes common knowledge that you certified Reece

and then let him go, you're going to be sued.

You'll be sued by the dead victim's families,

you'll be found guilty of malpractice.

My God, remember that case that they brought against John Hingris,

psychiatrist?

Failure to predict future violence?

You see, there's no question that he killed those people.

The only question is why.

Now if he is found guilty on those crimes, you will be persecuted along with him.

- I can't falsify the interview.

- [Dr. Keddie] I didn't say anything about falsifying.

My God, Paul, you don't have to falsify anything in this case.

- What are you suggesting?

- Change your mind.

- [Dr. Rudin] How do I explain that?

- On further reflection,

I think that you'll arrive at the same diagnosis I did.

Paranoid schizophrenia.

- I've never pre-judged a diagnosis in my life.

- [Dr. Keddie] Did he ever mention anything about the nazis

or being persecuted by demons?

- No, I would have remembered that.

- Then you might wanna include a few comments on your report

on his persecution delusion. It's part of his paranoia.

- He has that delusion?

- I had to draw it out of him,

and it's perfectly consistent with his interest in human anatomy,

and nazis as a satanic cult.

See, just make a few, small adjustments in your report.

It'll help to coordinate our presentation.

- I'll have to, I have to look at all my records.

- I didn't hear you, Paul.

- I said I may have some other records. I'll have to look for them.

- I know you wanna do everything you can to help this man.

He's sick. We're the only people who stand between him and death.

The death penalty is intolerable.

You have every right to stretch the truth if necessary to save his life.

- He can spend six months and God knows how much tax money

proving he committed those crimes.

But if you go my way, the people will get their guilty plea,

the people will get a shot at a joint to life

whether it's a state prison, or mental hospital,

and no one's gonna let this guy out.

He's gonna stay in there until the cows come home.

- It happens all the time.

Guy sent to a mental hospital, later proves he's no longer dangerous,

and they have to let him go.

- Do you really think that any psychiatrist

is gonna certify this man for release--

- [Tony] Al, it happens everyday!

- [Albert] Oh, come on, Tony.

- It does. What about this guy who raped a 12-year old girl in the 1980?

Cut off her arms and left her for dead.

He's just been paroled for good behavior.

- If he pleads in front of me today,

you're not lookin' at any state hospital, Al.

We're talkin' life in prison and I mean it.

- We're talkin' about this guy as if he were just another murderer.

Ten years from now, the parole board or whatever it's called

will have no memory of this.

Sooner or later, they'll let him go, they always do.

- He's gonna be an old man by this point.

- A maximum sentence from me and I'm sent nasty letters

from the community to the parole board,

you might wind up getting more than if you went to trial.

- I'll take that chance.

- What are you gonna tell their families when the jury comes back in that court

with a second degree verdict?

You're not gonna hold this guy in a joint too long with that.

- I think I can nail this guy.

[gavel striked]

- [Judge] When a defendant raises the insanity defense as Mr. Reece has,

trial is divided into three parts.

You must first determine his guilt,

then, his sanity at the time that the crimes were committed.

If you find him guilty and sane, then in the third part, the penalty phase,

you must decide whether he will live or die.

- [witness] He had lots of pets, dogs, cats, even ducks.

We used to play with the animals at Wikigrove Park.

He used to go out of his way to avoid violence of any kind.

Uh, once, one of the guys we went to school with

got drunk and took a swing at Charlie, and Charlie didn't hit him back.

He just sort of backed him down, and tried to reason with him.

- [witness] I was his scout master. He was a good boy.

I didn't see him for a few years 'till a few months ago.

He looked like an old man.

His face was pale and his eyes were crazy.

And he lost a lot of weight.

He seemed really nervous.

He wanted to know about blood poison.

If I knew anyone who died of blood poison.

- [witness] I was a nurse at Sunnyslope when he was a patient there.

I found a diary that he kept.

It, uh, was against the rules, but I opened it,

and found dates, times, and places of animals that he had killed.

Dogs, cats, rabbits.

When we heard he was going to be released, we all raised hell about it,

but, uh, it didn't do any good.

- Uhm, we went together all through high school.

Uh, he was on the football team and I was a cheerleader.

I didn't have other boyfriends than just Charles.

He was always very thoughtful.

He used to send me Valentine's flowers, and we, we were very close.

- [Albert] Did you continue to see Charles after you both graduated?

- Uh, yes, I did. Uhm, for almost a year afterward.

- [Albert] Would you say your relationship with Charles was normal relationship?

- You mean, sexual?

- [Albert] Exactly.

- Yes. He was my boyfriend for almost five years,

I didn't have any other boyfriends.

- [Albert] Dr. Rudin, did you make a diagnosis of Charles Reece?

- Yes. I found that Mr. Reece was a schizophrenic of the paranoid type.

- And what did you base that diagnosis?

- [Dr. Rudin] May I consult my notes?

- Absolutely.

- [Dr. Rudin] Well, first he was chaotic in his thinking.

He couldn't follow or reply to any of my questions.

He had delusions, for example, that Mr. Tippetts was a nazi

out to harm him.

He didn't show any of the reactions you'd expect

from someone who's committed a hideous crime.

- This is exactly what I was afraid of.

I want the information that would dug up on this guy.

- He believes that his blood is poisoned,

that his internal organs aren't functioning,

and that his heart is failing.

- [Albert] Any of these things true?

- No.

- Now Dr. Rudin, this is very important.

Do you think that Charles Reece understood the nature and quality of his acts?

- I would say that he had a sense that he was killing,

but he didn't rationally understand what he was doing.

- Your honor, I have a request that I be permitted to re-examine

Dr. Rudin as a hostile witness.

- Objection, Your Honor.

Dr. Rudin is the people's own psychiatrist.

Just because Mr. Fraser does not hear the answers he wants does not mean--

- I have certain representations from this witness prior to trial,

and during his direct examinations,

and he's now testifying in a completely different manner.

- [Judge] Objection overruled. Go ahead, Mr. Fraser.

- Thank you, Your Honor.

You've treated many schizophrenics.

- [Dr. Rudin] Yes, I have.

- Most of them live reasonably normal lives, don't they?

- [Rudin] Some do. Some are hospitalized.

- But they all function, whether they're in the hospital

or outside without killing people.

- Yes.

- Some even hold jobs, raise families.

- If they're treated.

Some may require medication to function.

- But not all.

- No, not all.

- No.

Delusions and abnormal states don't necessarily equal murder,

even for people who have the same disorder as the defendant.

- [Albert] Objection, Your Honor. Counsel has again commented.

- [Judge] Ask a question, Mr. Fraser.

- Based on your observations,

do you consider him a threat to the safety of others?

- [Dr. Rudin] I would say so. Yes.

- Doctor, you said you were on the staff at Sunnyslope Hospital.

- I'm a consultant there, yes.

- Mm-hmm.

Well, during the summer of 1986,

do you remember seeing the defendant as a patient?

- I do not.

- You didn't see him?

- I said, I don't recall him if he was there--

- Let me refresh your memory.

These are hospital records.

You certified for release, July 29th, 1986.

- I didn't release him. This was a junior member of the staff.

- Well, now, Doctor,

if a member of your staff certified him for release

just six months before he went on a murderous rampage,

doesn't that mean that he didn't manifest any of the symptoms

that allerted you to his dangerousness?

- It was not my decision.

- [Tony] Did you approach the interview you had with the defendant

at the police department with any prejudices?

- I most certainly did not.

- He killed several people, cuts them up, and drinks their blood,

and knowing these things, you didn't go in there

thinking he might be crazy?

- I did not. No.

- Why not?

- Because people can commit multiple murders

and still not be, to use your word, crazy.

- So it's possible then, for a person to commit a string of sadistic murders

and still be found legally sane.

- Yes.

- [police] [inaudible 59:04], the DA just arrived.

- [Nestode] Watch out down here, you might slip.

- [boy] Right here.

Right here!

- [Mel] Where were you when you boys seen it?

- [boy] We were here fishing

These two kids found the body about an hour and a half ago.

They're down here fishing.

That's it down there.

We haven't made a positive ID yet,

but it looks like little Aaron Tippetts, for sure.

John, where the hell are the medics?

[telephone ringing]

- Hello.

Who is this? Who's calling?

Just a moment.

It's for you.

- Are you okay?

Who is this?

- You've gotta get me moved to another jail.

They'll poison me here.

- [Tony] Don't ever call me at home again.

Do you understand that?

If you call me here again, I'll make sure your phone privileges are revoked.

- I can tell you anything you wanna know.

- If you wanna talk to me, do it through your attorney.

- Hahahaha.

- That was Reece, wasn't it?

- Yeah.

- He can just call here anytime he wants?

- I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

- My God, he was talking to me. This crazy killer knows our number.

- I'm sorry, Kate. I'm sorry this guy has talked to you. Kate?

Dr. Gables, were you asked to determine whether the defendant was sane or insane

at the time of the killings?

- Yes.

- What sort of, uh, examinations did you perform on him?

- I reviewed all the medical and neurological studies

that had been done on Mr. Reece including brain wave tests,

and specialized x-rays of his brain.

I also performed extensive psychiatric examinations on him

over a clinical period.

- [Tony] Mm-hm. And what were your findings?

- I found him to have no medical and neurological illness of any type,

his nervous system is intact, his general physical health is good.

He is, in my judgment, legally sane.

- [Tony] What other reasons do you have for stating your opinion

that the defendant is sane?

- [Dr. Gables] He knows right from wrong,

he, uh, went to work, ran from the police,

told me he'd killed some people,

he took [inaudible 01:01:49] to avoid observation and detection,

sometimes, with me, he became evasive,

made very deliberate concious choices of what he would or wouldn't talk about--

- [Tony] What sort of things didn't he wanna talk about?

- I'm sorry?

- [Tony] What sort of things didn't he wanna talk about?

- Uh, why he killed people, where evidence might be found,

things that would hurt him legally.

- Doctor, did he know he was killing living human beings?

- Oh, but that was the point, that was why he did it.

He claims he has a belief that his body is failing and infected,

and he's convinced himself someone else's blood will repair him.

He had to kill them to get the blood.

- [Tony] And you wouldn't, uh, characterize that as insane.

- Not into the law.

Reece's thinking is peculiar, perhaps psychotic,

but at all times, he knew what he was doing,

knew that it was wrong,

and he has the capacity to control his behavior to not kill.

- No further questions.

- [Albert] Uh, Dr. Gables,

do you believe that Charles Reece has a serious mental illness?

- Yes, I do. I've said so several times, uh, that he's probably psychotic.

I'm sorry if I haven't made myself clear.

- Oh, well, that's alright, Doc, we'll take care of that right now.

Dr. Leon Gables, you've testified in over fifty cases, haven't you,

as an expert witness?

- [Dr. Gables] That's correct.

- And each of those cases, you have always testified for the prosecution

and against the defendant, is that correct?

- [Dr. Gables] In each of the cases' which I've testified as an expert,

I've made an individual opinion on a merit case by casee basis.

- That's good, Doctor, but in every case, you have supported the prosecution,

is that correct?

- Essentially, yes.

- [Albert] Don't you have a nickname in the prosecutorial community?

- Oh...

- [Tony] Your Honor, I object!

- [Albert] Aren't you known as Dr. Death?

- Your Honor, this is argumentative.

- He has testified in fifty-three murder cases and fifty-three convictions.

That's his nickname, Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

this is Dr. Death.

- Objection!

- [Guard] Okay, Charlie, it's lunchtime.

- Thanks.

- What's it like to actually drink somebody's blood, Charlie?

- I love watching people die.

Made 'em swiggle and squirm all over the place,

and then, they just stop.

Oh, I'd cut 'em with a knife and watch their face turn real white.

I loved all that blood.

- They're gonna gash you if you keep talking like that.

- I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison.

I must've been real sick to do all that.

Boy, these sure are good.

- [guard] What the hell are you doing?!

- [Charles] Aaah!

[dogs barking]

- [police] Get out of the way.

[leaves rustling]

[helicopter whirring]

- Aaaah!

Where is the--

- What do you want?

- Where's the blood?!

[choking]

Aaaah!

Daddy!

[siren wailing]

[dogs barking]

Aaaaaaaah!

- [Nestode] Hold it right there!

[inaudible 01:08:07]

- Aaaaaaaah...

- Why the hell are they letting this guy have something he could sharpen?

- Any mention of his attempt to escape or any reference to dead or injured guards

or the priest.

- On what grounds?

- It's not probative on the question of guilt or innocence.

- Oh, you're funny. Ah, you know--

- [Judge] Who the hell knows why he tried to escape? Al's right. It's not probative.

I'm gonna grant the motion.

- Thank you, Your Honor.

Dr. Keddie, is it your opinion that one of the reasons

Charles Reece killed these people was

that he was afraid they were poisoning him?

- That was the primary reason.

It was a frantic, misguided effort of self defense.

- Was he capable of understanding the nature and the quality of his acts?

- Absolutely not.

The power of his delusions overwhelmed his freedom of choice.

- [Albert] Thank you very much, Doctor.

- Doctor, isn't it just possible that this man killed his victims

because he enjoyed inflicting cruelty?

- Definitely not.

His delusional need for blood was the primary motivation

for what he did.

- [Tony] But didn't he kill in this grotesque manner

because his purpose was also sadistic?

- As a trained psychiatrist, I would say

that that is not in accord with the evidence, as I perceive it.

- [Tony] As a trained psychiatrist, are you saying

that a man who commits [inaudible 1:09:30] on a woman he has just killed

isn't driven by a sadistic impulse?

- I found no evidence that Mr. Reece was motivated by sadistic feelings.

- [Tony] Hmm. Doctor, didn't the nazis have a delusion

about the Jews causing the world's problems?

- When an entire culture or even a large group of people

believe in something,

I doubt that we could psychiatrically label it as a delusion.

It may be wrong, it may be a mistaken prejudice,

but it is not delusional.

- Direct your attention to the jury instructions for insanity

and tell me, doctor, if you would find the nazis insane.

- Objection!

- I'll permit him to answer.

- All the instructions refer to the word "legal,"

for other nations, we're not talking about the same thing at all.

- [Tony] Would you find the nazis who killed

because of their belief in Jewish evil insane using the California standard?

- Those who operated on this belief, and I think it fair to call this belief,

a disease,

I would generally find insane.

- Even though they were organized enough to set up gas chambers?

Extermination camps?

Ride railroads carrying Jewish victims?

In fact, organized a whole apparatus of government

around the idea of killing Jews?

- I think most people agree that the nazis were insane.

- And you find the defendant insane for the same reasons?

- Well, I don't follow you.

- He believed blood would cure him,

they believed Jews were evil.

They both killed for their beliefs, didn't they?

- [Dr. Keddie] I don't see the parallels.

- The defendant, like the nazis,

was able to organize his own transportation.

Like the nazis, he brought tools of death with him,

carried out his deeds and secret like the nazis.

Don't all these things point away from him being insane?

- [Dr. Keddie] Mr. Fraser, you find Mr. Reece better organized

than I do.

- Do you understand the effect of your opinions, doctor?

Under your theory, both the defendant and the nazis

would be free from criminal responsibility for their actions, wouldn't they?

- [Dr. Keddie] That's not what I said.

I'm here to give my opinions on the questions you put up.

- You said the defendant was unable to make choices.

- I believe I said that he was not capable of full, mature reflection on his actions.

- You mean that, he couldn't control himself?

That his actions were inevitable?

- [Dr. Keddie] His behavior was conditioned

by forces beyond his control.

- Would you modify your opinion about the defendant's capacity to choose

between moral alternatives if you knew that he tried to escape--

- [Albert] Objection, Your Honor!

Your Honor knows my reason very well!

- [Judge] But I'm going to allow him to answer.

This is expert opinion.

- I would not change my opinion.

Trying to escape was expectable under the circumstances.

It has no bearing under his overall ability to choose.

- Why is it expectable for someone being held for murder to try to escape?

- It's natural.

- Normal?

- Objection!

- [Judge] Let him finish.

- It was instinctive. Choice had little to do with it.

- Isn't the mere fact of his attempt to escape prove to you

that he knew what he had done was wrong?

- It is not.

Anyone in this room would've tried to escape in a similar situation,

guilty or not.

Charles Reece is not capable of free will. My God, I've said that again and again.

- Doctor, have you coached him on his insanity defense?

- [Albert] Objection!

- I wanna answer this--

[all talking at once]

- Let him answer.

- I demand to answer!

- And I'll let him answer,

but don't you interrupt him again, Mr. Fraser, you understand me?

- Yes, Your Honor.

- Now I resent the charges you've made.

I understand the revulsion everyone feels in the face of brutal murder.

But I see him, too.

He shouldn't be killed. He should be treated and studied.

What makes up a respectable young man turn into a killer?

I wanna save him because he has that secret.

Perhaps the next time someone like him could be treated.

Perhaps we can vaccinate against murder.

We need to understand this man for the betterment of society.

- Even at the price of five lives?

- That may be the most terrible part of all.

The price of knowledge.

- There is no doubt that Charles Reece has to pay for what he has done.

The payment is hard.

Some people think it's just about the hardest payment

that we can conceive of.

He will be locked up, without the possibility of ever,

remember that, of ever getting out for the rest of his life.

Once a verdict of death has been carried out,

that's final.

Nothing can change what you've done.

So you must feel completely secure in this decision.

You must feel that this is the only right verdict in this case.

If you wake up the day after the verdict and you say to yourself,

Oh, my God, I've made a mistake.

It's too late.

One night, ten years from now,

you might wake up in the middle of the night and,

and you suddenly realize I've made this mistake,

I sent Charlie to his death.

And there's nothing that you or anybody else in this whole world

can do about that. Not then.

You see, that's the kind of decision that you must make.

- The defendant wiped out five people, our fellow human beings,

cruelly and brutally, in the most cold-hearted

and pre-meditated manner, he's wiped them off the face of the earth.

And what has happened?

Well, we've talked to you in great length.

Not about the victims but about the defendant!

About his life.

About his feelings, his problems, his needs, his desires,

and in the final, brutal act, he is trying to steal the compassion

that belongs to those victims!

Those victims deserve their time in this courtroom.

Now, we've heard medical evidence

saying that it took the defendant three minutes to butcher Barbara Ellis

after he shot her.

And she was just one of five victims.

We are now going to stop for three minutes

and I want you to think about what this man did to her,

and I want you to also think about the other four victims,

and about their last, precious minutes of life

as this man horribly, brutally murdered them.

This is how long it took for just one of them to die.

[clock ticking]

[woman clearing throat]

[clock ticking]

[coughing]

[clock ticking]

The life of an innocent human being is worth more than the life of a murderer.

Charles Reece must die.

- If you believe the defendant knew what he was doing,

then you must find him legally sane.

If you believe he did not, then you must him him insane.

In order to find him guilty, you must find that he intended to commit the crimes.

His intention is as much a part of the offense as the act itself.

And if you find Mr. Reece guilty of multiple murder,

be aware that he could be sentenced to die in the gas chamber.

The decision that you make must be on the evidence

and not on sympathy.

This case now remains with you.

- What the hell are we gonna do?

- I can't understand how a decent boy could change so much.

- He has to be crazy, that's all.

- [inaudible 01:19:38] is possible?

- What would you do if he'd killed your son or daughter?

That's how we have to look at it.

We have to put ourselves in the place of the victims.

- We've got to try to understand the difference between real insanity

and legal insanity.

- How the hell do we do that?

- We've gotta try.

- Everybody admits he did the killings so let's just deal with the facts.

- We can't just deal with the facts.

- If we send him to a mental institution, he, he could be released.

Those psychiatrists and lawyers won't have to live next door to him,

we will. Our neighbors will.

- Killing this poor, sick young man just doesn't make sense, I don't think.

It's not gonna bring back the victims, and it's no better than what he did.

It's insane.

- Well, sure, anybody who did what he did is insane.

Dan White was insane.

Maybe the whole world is insane.

But that doesn't mean that we should excuse what he did.

There has to be rules.

- But you don't take a prisoner's life just because they're insane.

- You kill them if they're insane and they wanna kill you.

- [Bailiff] All rise.

- [Judge] Be seated.

Have you reached a verdict Mr. Bayles?

- Yes, Your Honor, we have.

- [Judge] Please hand it to the bailiff.

Thank you.

Madame Clerk, please read the verdicts.

- [Clerk] Superior Court of California, County of Stockton,

The People of State of California, Plaintiff,

versus Charles Edmund Reece, Defendant.

We, the jury, in the above-entitled cause, find the defendant, Charles Edmund Reece,

guilty of a violation of Section 187 of the Penal Code

of the State of California, to which, murder of felony relating to Barbara Ellis

as charges set forth in count one of the information on file herein,

dated March 24, 1987.

Guilty of a violation of Section 187,

murder of felony relating to Robert Hendrickson,

- [Albert] It isn't over yet. It's only the first part of the trial.

We still got a shot to save your life.

We can still show the jury that you aren't responsible.

Your Honor, I'm gonna request that PET scan be performed to my client

as reliable way of showing the jury that he's mentally ill

during the penalty phase.

- PET scan only proports to show images of the brain's chemistry

at a given moment in time.

In this case, it's after the crime was committed.

It doesn't address the question of responsibility.

- But I understand that it can show whether or not there is mental illness.

- Your Honor, this is a new form of brain imaging

which is used in the diagnosis of epilepsy, depression,

Alzheimer's disease, as well as mental deficiency.

Depriving Mr. Reece to put this in front of the jury denies him a fair trial.

- Your Honor, the studies don't all agree.

It's only another gadget to hide Reece's responsibility.

- Well, let's air on the side of caution.

I'm going to order the test.

- [Albert] Thank you, Your Honor.

- We'll let the jury evaluate it.

Nobody knows what it'll show.

- [Charles] You're taking my blood.

- [Dr. Mahon] Just a few samples. It's nothing to worry about.

- What for?

- To measure the blood sugar that's gettin' to your brain. That's all.

- You're poisoning me.

- [Young Charles] Is my daddy going to bring me a Christmas present?

- [Mrs. Reece] No, Charles.

- [Young Charles] Why not?

- [Mrs. Reece] Because I don't want him to see you.

- [Young Reece] Daddy!

- [Dr. Mahon] These are abnormal patterns, without a doubt.

- What does that tell you?

- Well, this yellow-green area here is consistent with schizophrenia.

What you're seeing is a computer-enhanced image of the chemistry of the brain.

And what it shows... is a picture of madness.

- [Dr. Keddie] How are you feeling?

- [Albert] Grand.

[beeping]

- Charles.

- Charles, I've got some great news.

- [Mr. Bayles] Your Honor, based on the new scientific evidence,

we, the jury, find that the defendant should go to a state mental hospital.

- [Gene] Careful now, that's hot stuff.

- [Andy] Oh, no!

- In the middle, okay?

Strike it. Atta boy! Oh, get in there!

- [Andy] I could do it, Daddy.

- [Gene] Almost, alright, Andy, get 'em going now. Come on.

- [woman] You get another one.

- We gotta win one this time.

Alright.

- [woman] You can do it!

- Come on.

- [woman] One more.

- Just one more, one more, one more.

All right!

- Yeah!

- Look at that. Whoo!

- [Andy] Come on, Daddy.

- [Gene] Alright, sure is, Andy.

There's a north star over there,

and that's Mars.

Right over there is the Little Dipper.

Did you find the Big Dipper?

- [Andy] Uhm, over there.

- [Gene] That's it.

- [Andy] Can you tell me a story?

- [Gene] Sure, Andy.

Let's see.

Once upon a time, there was a castle by the sea,

- Big castle?

- No, just a little castle.

It had flowers, trees...

- And a doggy?

- And a doggy. Yeah.

Dear Mr. Tippetts,

It's important that you understand why I had to do what I did.

I had no hate for your wife and your little boy,

even though your wife wa mean to me.

I needed their blood to help me do my work.

They've now been sent to a better place away from this violent world.

I know there's a place where all little boys

can go have Christmas with their fathers,

so none of this can happen again.

I want you to know that I told them this and they understood.

If you get this letter, maybe you can visit me here

so that we could talk about this further.

I know that you're a very kind person and would wanna help me.

I need your help very much.

Yours truly, Charles Reece