All language subtitles for Law & Order s17e05 Public Service Homicide.eng

NARRATOR:
In the criminal justice system

the people are represented by two
separate yet equally important groups,

the police
who investigate crime

and the district attorneys
who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

(PROGRAM MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR ON TV: Each of these men
expected to find a 12-year-old girl

named Tiffany who they'd
chatted with online.

It's clear what they came for.

�Are you as horny as I am?�

I know they always
catch the bad guys.

If they didn't,
they'd be schlubs.

You wouldn't watch.

Ruben Pena thought an
underage girl was home alone.

Little did he know... Fine. If you
don't like it, change the channel.

While some of the predators tried to
talk themselves out of the situation...

Ma.

...like Manhattan
resident, Carl Mullally.

She said she was 19.

Oh, my God.

We have copies of your onfine chat.
My neighbor's on TV.

I am so sorry.

I've never done anything
like this before.

It was a terrible,
terrible mistake.

(RINGS DOORBELL)

Delivery.

(RINGS DOORBELL)

Lemon chicken, brown rice?

Lemon chicken?

Carl Mullally. 44, 6'2",
weighing in at 195.

He's a Leo with brown eyes.

All right, so they
didn't lift his wallet?

Or anything else
worth taking.

Well, that ain't
saying much.

No forced entry.

Doesn't look like there was a struggle,
and this Mullally dude is big,

so either he didn't see it coming, or...
Or he knew who was coming.

What time did the
delivery guy find him?

About 11:10.

What you smiling about?

Novelty. It's not every day
you get one of these.

He's fresh. I get it.
You got a window?

Well, with multiple stab wounds,
I'm counting three hours, tops.

Partner's calling
for you. 2-E.

All right. I'll
be right back.

Do you know that
show Hard Focus?

Yeah, on the 2417
News Network?

Yeah, Miss Wallace was
watching it tonight.

Hi. Detective Green.
Hi.

Thank God for TiVo.

You're telling us that this is the
first time you sought out a minor...

I was on the phone
with my mother,

watching one of those
episodes outing pedophiles

and look who pops up.

I've had urges in the past,

but! knew they were wrong
and I never acted on them.

What made this time different?

I really felt like
I connected to Tiffany,

like we understood each other.

I know that's sick.
It's wrong,

and I apologize from
the bottom of my heart.

This aired just
after 9:00 tonight.

No wonder Mr. Mullally's dead.

What a dirtbag.

How many times you
say he got stabbed?

Please, sir, just
answer the question.

How well did you know him?

Well, he picked up our mail
once when we were out of town.

He seemed pretty harmless.

But it's not like he's
gonna wear a T-shirt

with pedophile stamped
across the front.

Were you seeing anybody coming in and out
of his apartment on a regular basis?

Not that we noticed.

Do you know of anyone
with a beef with Mullally?

Ever heard any arguments?

No.

But have you checked with his
next door neighbor, Evan Fleming?

He's next on the list.

He wouldn't do this,
David. He's a doctor.

Why do you bring him up?

His daughter's eight.

FLEMING: I was in
the E.R. until 10:00.

Home around 10:30.

GREEN: Where was your daughter?
Here, in bed.

I got in, the babysitter left.

I checked in on Abigail and knocked
off about two seconds later.

On your way in, did you see anyone
in the hall, anyone out of place?

No one.

Well, after you got home...

After you got home,

did you hear anybody in Mr. Mullally's
apartment, or out here in the hallway?

I was on my feet 12 hours
yesterday. I was out cold.

What about you, Abigail? Did
you hear anything next door?

She was asleep.

Were you, sweetie?
Yeah.

Can I watch some TV?

For 10 minutes.

How'd you get along
with Mr. Mullally?

Barely saw him.

Abigail ever home alone?

Never. She's all I got.

Did you see this
Hard Focus segment?

It was on in the break room.

You're pretty calm about
all this, Mr. Fleming,

considering you live next
door to a child molester.

I don't work in an E.R.
'cause I'm prone to panic.

And Mr. Mullally's not living
next door anymore, is he?

Carl Mullally had no record
until Ulster County

collared him after the
Hard Focus segment.

So, what's Ulster
know about him?

No kiddie porn on his computer.
No threats in his emails.

How did the TV
show dig him up?

Mullally was trolling the chat
rooms and took the bait

on a decoy 12-year-old

set up by this online vigilante
group called Scum Watch.

Their motto is, "We fill the
gap in law enforcement."

And now there's a murder.

What about the delivery
guy who found Mullally?

Didn't see a soul in the hall.

And the babysitter confirms
Fleming's timeline.

So that puts Fleming next door
at the time of the homicide.

He have a record?
Clean.

What about the little
girl's mother?

She hit the road
six years ago.

So, we've got a single
father who finds out

he has a pedophile
living next door.

And does the world a solid.

Public service homicide?

Boss, have you seen the
Hard Focus segments?

I mean, one guy walked
into that house naked,

another perv brought
his own kid along.

It's sick stuff.
Yeah, but it's trainwreck TV.

It's not an investigation.

Hey, the LUDs from
Mullally's home phone

show a whole bunch
of short cell-phone calls

from a woman named
Hannah Welch.

Look at that, 15 seconds,
5 seconds, 10 seconds

and one of them was an hour
before he was murdered.

Track her down.

WOMAN: Hannah's holed
up in the bathroom.

She won't come out.

I'll talk to her. Hey, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait.

How you gonna start?

Ascertain her relationship
with Mullally.

Then you're gonna
dig for an alibi, right?

Not ask her favorite color?
Come on.

I can handle a girl
locked in a bathroom.

How long had you and Carl
been seeing each other?

Maybe a month.

God, I can't believe this.

He ever mention
anyone bothering him?

Nothing like that.

When was the last
time you saw him?

A few days ago.

Not at all last night?

No. I went to a
movie last night.

So when did you get wind
of the Hard Focus segment?

This morning.

It's being passed
around online.

And a few days ago, that's the
last contact you had with Carl?

Yeah.

No phone calls?

Um...

I'm sorry.

I'm not thinking real clear.

I tried getting in touch

at his work earlier in the day
and they said he'd been fired.

I called him to ask about it,
and he wouldn't talk to me.

What, he was fired before
the segment aired? Yeah.

Where'd he been working?
A community center.

Around kids?

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

MAN: Carl was our fix-it man.

GREEN: Why'd you fire him?

It was time he moved on.

Did anything happen
with the kids?

No.

Program Director said she
heard you and Carl screaming

behind closed doors, and then
he wasn't working here anymore.

I saw him on that show.

It made me sick
to my stomach.

That was after you fired him.

Yeah, but a few weeks ago I got
tipped off the guy was a molester.

By who?

I didn't know him. But he said
that Carl was a bad guy.

So I sat Carl down about
it and he went crazy.

This tip, did
someone call you?

No, they stopped in.

What'd the guy look like?

He was white, 30s.
Said he was Carl's neighbor.

He said I should watch
out for the kids.

Thank you.

GREEN: Why did you
go to Mullally'sjob?

You buried the lead, Fleming.

I mean, why not start with
the guy's a scumbag pedophile?

'Cause it's over with.
Why do I have to get involved?

You went to his job to get him fired.
Isn't that getting involved?

That's keeping kids safe. How'd
you know Mullally was dangerous?

I got an anonymous note under
my door that said as much.

Do you have this note?

I got rid of it.

Right. So, maybe there
wasn't really a note?

Maybe there really was an incident
between Mullally and your daughter?

No. After the note,
I thought there might've been.

I had a friend, a psychiatrist,
talk to Abigail.

(CELL PHONE RINGS)
Everything seemed okay.

Mullally didn't do anything.

And why didn't you
tell us this earlier?

Look, I didn't kill him, okay?
GREEN: Hello?

But when you find out who did, let me know.
I'd like to buy him a steak.

Yeah? We'll be right there.

Don't move.

A guy named Greg Hightower.
Married, father of two.

And the other star
of last night's Hard Focus.

Where'd you find him?

At a bus stop on
59th Street, unconscious.

He gonna make it?
Doc said he would.

We looking at a copycat?

If we are, these dudes are walking
around with targets on their backs.

The son of a bitch,

attacked me from behind.

He wanted to kill me.

What'd he look like?

Six foot, brown hair,
driving a Chevy.

You know, I should sue.

This never would have happened if that
show hadn't violated my civil rights!

So you just walked into the Hard
Focus sting to ask for directions?

I wasn't there for
anything sexual.

Anything else about this guy
outside your building?

License plate
started with 1-2-3.

I made a mental note.

Just don't forget that
I'm the victim here.

We won't.

LOWE: How bad is he?
He's out of ICU.

Okay.

You disappointed, Mr. Lowe?

I don't want to say too much,
but yeah, a little.

Princeton grad.
A place up in lrvington.

No record. How does a guy
like you end up a vigilante?

A week before my daughter's 13th birthday,
she took a class trip into the city.

She got split off
from her class.

A guy got her in his car.

Found her in a suitcase. She'd been
raped and sodomized and strangled.

Men who do that to children
don't deserve to breathe.

Men like Carl Mullally?

I had nothing to do with that,
but I applaud whoever did.

Where were you on
the night he was killed?

In Boston on business.

That sicko's been flying
under the radar for years.

You should see what he writes
online to little girls.

You seem to know an awful
lot about these guys.

How'd you track down the guy
you clocked, Hightower?

Scum Watch keeps tabs on all
the men they're targeting.

They gave him up to you? Yeah, they're
almost as impotent as you are...

All right, watch your mouth!

What's the point?
My daughter's dead.

There's nothing more
that you can do to me.

Howard came here because he couldn't
process his daughter's death.

Others are here because
of personal experience.

But if we get any indication that a
member desires physical retribution,

then we ask them to leave,

just like we did with Howard
Lowe, a week after he got here.

Any of your other volunteers agree with Mr.
Lowe's approach?

We keep close
tabs on everyone.

We're going to need a list of your
volunteers, all their contact information.

Anything to help.

Anyone else have
access to your files?

The addresses of
guys you target?

They're strictly confidential.

Except that Hard Focus
gets copies of everything.

No. He looks like awounded
puppy, not a menace to society.

Run it again from
the beginning.

Look, I'm sorry, I have to get this
locked by lunch. This airs tomorrow.

Did Carl Mullally's murder raise
interest in your segments?

What happened to Mr.
Mullally was tragic,

but I have a hard
time believing

that you have a problem putting
pedophiles behind bars, Detective.

Be careful, Miss Harper.

What I have a problem with is
your show inciting violence.

Whoa, we are well within
our First Amendment rights.

This is a news program.

Journalists in Fallujah don't
pull over roadside bombers

and ask them to sign
release forms.

They're breaking the law,
you just film it?

Carl Mullally was a sick man.

When he was online with
a Scum Watch decoy,

he talked about
his penis size,

and he asked if the decoy
was on her period

and he had all kinds of specific requests
about the decoy's personal hygiene.

It's all in there. I pulled
it when you called.

That's his transcript, and most
of that is too graphic to air.

Well, if I had to read
this every day,

I might be tempted to take
justice into my own hands.

Look, we all knew Mr. Mullally
was a pervert weeks ago.

But if someone here
wanted to cause him harm,

they did not have to wait
for his show to air.

Of the 75 people on this crew
list that Ellie Harper gave us,

the worst record of any
is a shoplifting charge.

Same song for the
Scum Watch folks.

Well, we need to check if any of these
people pop on Evan Fleming's phone records.

Or Hannah Welch's.

Her movie alibi bothering you?

No ticket stub, no one
at the theater saw her.

Give me a reason to like her.

Can't yet. No record.

Just started work at a temp agency.
New to New York.

Oh, damn. I'm reading
Fleming's LUDs.

He called the Chinese
place that night.

For delivery to Mullally?

Who orders dinner
for a dead man?

CASSADY: Your cell records show
you made a call to the Red Dragon

eight minutes before Mullally's body
was discovered by the delivery guy.

I was hungry.
GREEN: Stop it.

Stop lying and stop
wasting our time.

That food never
came to your door.

CASSADY: The question is, how many years
do you want to be away from your daughter?

I didn't kill him.

You got a chance at light weight if
you cop to it. But you go to trial?

That's 25 years.

GREEN: Your little girl will
be 33 when you get out.

No, come on.

He was already dead
when I got there.

I checked his pulse.
He was dead.

Why'd you order him dinner?

So the delivery guy would
find him and call it in,

so I didn't have to get
in the middle of it.

Okay. So what were
you so worried about?

I was protecting my daughter.

I was asleep.

I wake up, I see Abi
standing in the door.

She said she'd heard a fight
through her wall and went to look.

She saw someone run out of Mullally's
apartment with a knife in her hand.

Her hand? A woman?

That's what she said.

You've been changing your tune
an awful lot, Mr. Fleming.

That son of a bitch
babysat her twice.

The shrink said nothing
happened, but if it did...

I just don't want
her traumatized.

I don't want her on the stand being
cross-examined about it. Okay?

(KNOCKING ON WINDOW)

All right, this is a third
version of the story.

When does it end?

We gotta bring
the daughter in.

If Fleming's telling
the truth now,

that means he coached
his daughter earlier

to say that she
didn't hear anything,

so how reliable
can she be?

Still.

You're buying it?

Why would he go to Mullally's work
to get him fired and then kill him?

He saw that Hard Focus
segment, he lost his mind.

Then why call the delivery
guy to find Mullally?

Why not just shut the door
and take a powder?

Guilt!

Look, I get it, there's
a lot of reasons to doubt him,

but my gut says pursue it.

Your gut, huh?

Yeah.

All right. Bring
in the daughter.

But I'll talk to her,

all right?

I was asleep, and a noise
next door woke me up.

It was Mr. Mullally.
He yelled out.

And when you heard all this
noise, where was your father?

He was asleep in his chair
in front of the TV.

And then what did you do?

I went to go look
out the door.

Huh. What did you see?

The woman. She has brown hair.

The woman?

Had you seen her before?

Two weeks ago, I was doing
homework in the living room

and an envelope got
slid under the door.

I went to go look out the door

and I saw the same woman who ran out of Mr.
Mullally's apartment.

Now, did you look
in the envelope?

No. I gave it to my dad.

He talked to my
babysitter about it.

He told her it said
Mr. Mullally was a bad man.

All right.

The woman you saw,

tell me again what
she looked like.

Her hair was different.

What do you mean?

It was up in a ponytail.

Was this the night
Mr. Mullally was killed?

Yeah.
Where did you see her?

In front of Mr.
Mullally's apartment.

Then she ran down the hall.

Hannah Welch, you're under arrest
for the murder of Carl Mullally.

You're kidding.

You have the right to remain silent.
He's a pedophile.

Anything you say...
He destroys lives. He strips

little girls of their youth, their
innocence. ...in a court of law.

He deserved to die!

Don't you understand that!

He's a monster!

It's still murder.

If you cannot afford an attorney,
one will be provided...

�Docket number 089238
People v. Hannah Welch.

"Charge is murder
in the second degree."

How does the defendant plead?

Not guilty.

The People request one
million dollars bail.

The defendant, until recently, lived
in Pittsburgh, has no ties to New York

and, considering the gravity of
the charges, is a flight risk.

Your Honor, 17 million viewers watched Mr.
Mullally outed as a pedophile.

Any one of them
could have killed him.

We have an eyewitness who saw the
defendant flee the victim's apartment

moments after the murder.

Miss Welch was
dating the victim.

There are thousands of reasons why she would
have been in the vicinity of his apartment.

Furthermore, this so-called witness
was an eight-year-old girl

whose father was being investigated for
the crime until my client was arrested.

She would have said
it was the Tooth Fairy

if it deflected blame
from her father.

I'd work on your material before facing
the cameras outside, Mr. Depago.

Especially since you went to
such trouble getting them here.

Bail is set at $500,000.

(GAVEL STRIKES)

You called. We're listening.

Well, I saw the
Hard Focus segment.

It was...

You can imagine what was
going through my mind.

So, I went over to Carl's apartment
to tell him that I'd seen it,

let him know what
I thought of him,

what he'd done.

You did more than talk.

Well, he kept telling
me it was a mistake.

He'd been online talking to a
little girl about having sex.

I mean, they caught him on TV

walking into her house.

How is that a mistake?

So I called him a pervert.

He... He lunged at me.

A terrified woman
acting in self-defense

when confronted by
an enraged sexual predator.

Crim-Neg. No time
served. Probation.

We might as well send out invitations
to execute suspected pedophiles.

That man sexually assaulted children
and was walking around free.

All I did was defend myself and
you want to send me to jail?

Whose side are you on?

For the purposes of
this trial, Mr. Mullally's.

Are we done here?

Good luck, Mr. McCoy.

You'll need it.

JACK: No way this plays
as self-defense.

We have motive.

The defendant learns her boyfriend
is a pedophile on national TV.

An eyewitness puts
her at the scene.

The victim has no defensive
or offensive wounds.

His blood is found on
the defendant's shoes.

There were four stab wounds.

Have we recovered
the murder weapon?

Not yet. And the stab wounds don't match
any knives in the victim's apartment.

So Hannah brought her own?

It looks that way.

The evidence is
pretty solid, Arthur.

Well, solid gets
watery pretty fast

if your victim is a pedophile
and your defendant

is a sympathetic young woman
claiming self-defense.

I mean, whether we like it or
not, Hannah Welch fulfilled

the fantasies of every person who
watched that TV show the other night.

Television acting as judge and
jury makes me a little queasy.

Well, if there wasn't a problem,
there wouldn't be anything to watch.

I mean, we can't
overlook the fact that

they're helping get child
predators off the street.

And helping defend anyone
willing to kill them.

Hard Focus put up
Hannah's bail.

Which I can only
assume is in exchange

for an exclusive interview
once all is said and done.

Well, your arms are gonna get
pretty tired swimming upstream.

People watch these shows because it makes
them feel like they're doing something,

like cleansing the community.

Are you suggesting that
I plead this out, Arthur?

I'm suggesting that the
deck's stacked against you.

I'm moving forward.

Oh, fine.

But you'd better find some
skeleton in Hannah Walsh's closet.

Fast.

She moved here three
months before the murder.

Not much time for skeletons.

In New York. But what
about Pittsburgh?

Looks like I'm
taking a road trip.

CONNIE: You and Hannah broke off
your engagement five years ago. Why?

We were young. We needed to
figure out who we really were.

Do you two still talk?

Yeah, sure.

The romance is over, but, uh,
we managed to stay friends.

Congratulations.

I know, it's not easy.

When was the last time
you spoke to Hannah?

In person?

Three weeks ago.

Did she mention anything about her
relationship with Carl Mullally?

No. Never.

Did she say anything strange?

Mention any new
guy she'd met?

We only talked
for a few minutes.

She had to meet her
roommates for dinner.

Roommates? How
many roommates?

Five.

Your Upper West Side
don't come cheap.

We searched
Hannah's apartment.

It was a week-to-week
dump in the East Village.

That's news to me.

I've got her
address right here.

There were at least six of
them sharing that apartment.

Were?

Yeah. Moved out.

They all did.

Building manager
screamed bloody hell.

Now he's got a whole
floor sitting empty.

I don't understand. They all
moved out at the same time?

Yeah, when Hard Focus
stopped paying the rent.

Hard Focus was
paying their rent?

Like any of those kids
could afford this building.

Do you have any idea why?

No clue.

Do you know where any of
them might have moved to?

One of them asked me to forward his
mail to an address in Brooklyn.

I'm gonna need that address.

KYLE: I'd ask if you
wanted to sit down but...

It's only temporary. A friend
of mine's letting me crash here

until I find
a place of my own.

Hard Focus gonna set
you up with that?

We signed non-disclosure
agreements.

I'm really not supposed
to talk about it.

I could subpoena you,
Kyle, if you'd prefer.

What does that mean?

It means I can force you
to tell me the truth in court.

I just don't want to get
in trouble, that's all.

You won't, I promise.

(SIGHS) All right,
what do you want to know?

Why was Hard Focus
paying your rent?

Because they wanted
to hear my story.

Which is?

I was molested by my soccer
coach when I was 12 years old.

Really messed me up.

They interviewed you?

A few months ago,
I saw an ad online.

A reality show was looking
for victims of sexual abuse

who wanted to confront
their abusers.

I answered it. They
flew me to New York,

interviewed me on
tape and I was in.

So Hannah's story about
dating Mullally is a lie?

She moved here to be
a part of a TV show

where victims of sexual
abuse confront their abusers.

Are you saying Carl
Mullally molested Hannah?

He's from Pittsburgh,
she's from Pittsburgh.

Big city.

He also worked in the same
insurance company as her father.

So, victim seeks
out victimizer years

after the abuse and stabs
him four times in the chest.

Sounds more like
revenge than self-defense.

Whether he's my
boyfriend or not,

Carl Mullally came at me.

And you stabbed him. With a knife you
brought for what purpose exactly?

Don't answer.

Then why are we
here, Mr. Depago?

He raped me

when I was 12.

He was a friend
of my father's.

There's a system in place to handle
that crime and it's not on prime time.

But I never would have confronted
him if it weren't for the show.

The show made you do it?
Please, Miss Welch.

They didn't force you
to answer that ad.

But she sent me there that night
with a knife and a camera.

You have tape of the murder?

I never turned it on.

I got so scared.

And the knife?

Ellie Harper gave it to me.

To give me confidence.

Why send you in for more footage
if the show was already canceled?

To try and get
it back on track,

prove how healing the
confrontations could be.

It's creative,
I'll give you that.

I have the knife. I hid it.

When Ellie gave it to me,
it was in an orange bag

from a sporting goods store.
I can't remember the name.

JACK: We want to talk about your
client's relationship with Hannah Welch.

Why?

We just want to understand

what happened the
night of the murder.

Seems pretty
straightforward to me.

Angry woman confronts
the lunatic who raped her.

She flips out
and kills the guy.

Yeah, that part we know.

What other part is there?

The part where your client bought
the angry woman the murder weapon

and told her to get
something explosive on tape.

That's crazy. That knife
was for her own...

Stop. Let me do
the talking. Understand?

Yeah.

The knife was given
to Miss Welch for protection.

What you're describing is
depraved indifference homicide.

That's insane.

I'm a TV producer,
not a killer.

I create theater,

and to do that,
to create conflict,

you have to put opposing
forces together,

so the drama can unfold.

You mean the murder?

She means she's a respected member
of the television community

with a long list of
awards for excellence.

We're done here.

You think the network
knew what she was doing?

Let's find out.

Mr. McCoy. Miss Rubirosa.

I appreciate you coming
uptown, but I oversee 24 hours

of prime-time programming, as well as 400
or so different projects in development.

I can't keep track
of every detail.

You pulled the plug on
Confront and Heal. Why?

Lost interest in it.

Victims looking for closure, healing
wounds, too soft for today's marketplace.

Yet you found it interesting
enough to green light a pilot.

Well, you gotta sip
the wine before you buy it.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

Thank you for coming, Ken.
Ken Lesavoy, General Counsel.

Good to meet you.
Likewise. And good timing.

We're gonna need copies of all the records
and tapes pertaining to the show.

Why?

It's relevant to
our investigation.

Into what?

Ellie Harper's role
in Carl Mullally's murder.

Sounds like you're looking for
headlines, Mr. McCoy. Just the truth.

Except those documents and tapes contain
privileged correspondence, trade secrets.

You can't expect us to just
roll out the red carpet.

Exactly why I
brought a subpoena.

Gentlemen, we're not murderers,
we're atelevision network.

So read what you like,
Mr. McCoy. Watch our tapes.

I hope you find
them entertaining.

H' you saw Carl Mullally
again what would you do?

I'd tell him that
he ruined my life.

That I think about what he did
to me every day, every night.

Then what?

Then I'd like to cut
his heart out

and watch him bleed.

Ellie Harper knew Hannah
was ready to kill.

I hope you've
got more than that.

The psychiatrist considered
her psychologically unfit

for the purposes of
the proposed TV show.

Do you really think that you can
prove depraved indifference here?

Ellie put two trains on a
collision course and said go.

Well, if you prosecute the wrong
defendant for the wrong crime,

there's a chance that we're
the ones who'll be flattened.

Ellie calls herself
a journalist.

She arranged this disaster.

And Hannah is willing
to take 15 years and testify.

Where is Ellie Harper?

To quote her counsel, "if you
want to talk to her again,

"indict her and
put her on trial."

And you're prepared
to do that?

She bought Hannah
Welch a knife.

Make it happen.

HANNAH: Carl Mullally
worked with my dad.

They were friends.

He used to go camping with us in
the summer and on the weekends.

He'd get me alone
in the woods and then...

And what, Miss Welch?

Rape me.

He said if I ever told
my parents, he'd kill them.

It finally stopped when I was 12,
when my dad got transferred.

Once you agreed to participate
in the show Confront and Heal,

did the producers do anything to
prepare you to confront Mr. Mullally?

Ellie Harper was the one
who ran everything.

She made me talk to
atherapist about the abuse,

and how I was going
to confront the perpetrator.

We did role playing.

Ellie had me keep
avideo diary.

She even brought in
a Krav Magatrainer.

Krav Maga?

It's likejudo,
but it's Israeli.

Ellie wanted me to be
able to defend myself.

From Carl?

In case he got violent.

Was anything else
done by Miss Harper

to get you ready for
this confrontation?

She bought me a hunting
knife for protection.

On the day you sought out
Mr. Mullally, what happened?

Ellie gave me a camera for my
purse, showed me how to use it.

Then she gave me a pep talk.

She said that by putting this on
television for everyone to see,

this was my chance to finally
give Carl what he deserved.

And did you confront the man
who raped you, Miss Welch?

Carl opened the door. He
knew right away who I was.

His jaw almost
hit the floor.

I asked him if I could come in
and talk to him for a minute,

just like I practiced
with Ellie.

I asked him,

"Why did you rape me?"

He denied it.

He said I was crazy.

How did that make you feel?

Angry-

Really,

really angry-

I said I wasn't crazy,

that he knew exactly
what he did to me

and all I wanted was
for him to admit it.

And did he?

He said it was my fault.

That I seduced him.

An eight-year-old girl.

What happened
then, Miss Welch?

I guess I just

lost control.

I grabbed the knife from
my bag and I went after him.

I started stabbing him.

Then I ran outside

and walked around for hours.

Did you tell Miss Harper what
happened in Mr. Mullally's apartment?

She said not to say
anything to anyone,

that she'd help me
figure things out.

You answered the ad, correct?
Yes.

And you went to the training,
went to the therapy,

went to the door of
the man who raped you,

all totally voluntarily?

Yes, but it was like they were
brainwashing me for their show.

And the doors weren't locked, you
could have left at any time?

Right, but they made
me sign legal papers.

A waiver, Miss Welch, not a
contract of indentured servitude.

Objection.
Sustained.

And after you killed Carl
Mullally, you hid the knife?

Yes.

And you lied to the police?

And then you made a deal with
the prosecution for leniency?

Because she was the one who made me
do this for the television show.

None of it was for you?

I recognize that a terrible thing happened
to you when you were a child, Miss Welch,

but does that give you
the right to put the blame

on somebody else
for what you did?

Objection.
Withdrawn.

I'm done with this witness.

Miss Harper, on the night that Hannah
Welch confronted Carl Mullally,

what were you hoping
to capture on tape?

A woman reclaiming
her dignity.

Why did you give
Hannah Welch a knife?

So she could protect herself
in case Mullally came at her.

Did you ask Hannah Welch
to kill Carl Mullally?

Of course not.

Were you pleased that Hannah
Welch killed Carl Mullally?

Pleased? I was devastated.

Absolutely, 100% devastated.

I'm a producer,
for God's sake,

a journalist.
Not acriminal.

Journalists report the news,
but you create it, don't you?

I consider informative
entertainment akin to news.

Based on Hannah
Welch's audition tape,

you knew that she was predisposed
to violence, correct?

I knew she was angry
and looking to heal.

When she was asked

what she might do if given the
opportunity to confront Mullally,

Miss Welch said, and I quote,

"I'd cut his heart out
and watch him bleed."

What part of that statement
suggests a desire to heal?

Well, we talked
after the audition.

After the cameras
stopped rolling, she...

But you turned Hannah Welch
into a killing machine.

You gave her combat training.

You filled her with rage.

You put a knife in her hand,

and told her to confront
the man who molested her!

Objection.
Sustained.

You have to wonder
if your goal

was to capture
a murder on film.

Objection!
Sustained.

If the sum result

of Hannah Welch's going
to Carl Mullally's home

had been a polite
conversation and healing,

would that have reinvigorated the
network's interest in the project?

It may have.

Then why pick a woman who'd
said on her audition tape

that she wanted to kill?

Nothing further.

So, it sounds like Hannah
did pretty good on the stand.

She has conviction,
I'll give her that.

And there's no part of us
that's going after this woman

because we're a couple
of out-of-step old-timers?

What's that supposed to mean?

In my day, television
was a different animal.

Husbands and wives
in separate beds,

picture postcard towns,

where the teenagers drank only malteds
and went to sock hops together.

So the crap that passes
for entertainment now is okay

because the programmers have
caught up with the reality?

You tell me.

Nothing's changed since
Shakespeare's time.

People thronged
to watch the bear-baiting.

You're right.

There's an appetite for this
stuff and there always will be.

And you've got people on your
jury who watch these shows.

And I'd be careful
not to alienate them

in some hope of bringing
down a cultural phenomenon

that you can't do
anything about anyway.

If people want to watch a man crawl
through a tunnel full of rats,

I can only shake my head.

But nobody gets to sell
tickets to a murder.

Last night 29 million
people watched

the most recent
episode of Hard Focus,

where a 55-year-old orthopedic
surgeon, father of three,

was arrested after showing
up at what he thought

was a 10-year-old
girl's apartment.

The detective, posing
as the little girl,

asked the man to take
his clothes off. He did.

And put bunny ears
on his head. He did.

Moments later,
he was arrested,

naked, with bunny
ears on his head.

This is what the
public wants to see.

This is what you want
Ellie Harper to deliver.

So why should she be blamed

for attempting to create another show that
deals with the exact same subject matter?

My client may be guilty of
being an ambitious producer,

of pushing the
entertainment envelope.

But she is certainly
not guilty of murder.

So please pay attention
to the facts and the law,

and not the anti-reality-TV
rhetoric and vitriol

the prosecution is attempting
to pass off as evidence.

Even reality TV's
biggest fans know

that 20 people
on a desert island

competing for a can of soup

or drinking goat's urine
for $50,000 is not that real.

Lots of people think
it's fun, maybe some of you.

It's entertainment.

Ellie Harper claims she's ajournalist,
and the motto of ajournalist used to be,

"You two fight, and
I'll write about it."

But the reporter
didn't set up the fight.

Nowadays, the distinction
between the news

and entertainment
is not so clear.

Staging events for
the news cameras,

doctoring photographs,

planting pseudo-news on
the news without a disclaimer,

that's not fun.

That does real harm.

Some of those situations
are frustratingly unclear

or beyond our
reach to correct,

but not this case.

Ellie Harper was
looking for ratings.

She knew the danger.
But did she care? No.

Did she even care enough

to send someone along
with Hannah Welch

in case this staged
encounter got out of hand?

No.

So tell her,

and anyone tempted
to follow in her footsteps,

that an event where one of
the participants is trained,

paid and armed
by the producer,

it's not journalism.

And a man being
stabbed to death

is not entertainment.

It's murder.

Has the jury come
to averdict?

We have, Your Honor.

On the charge of murder in the
second degree, how do you find?

We find the defendant,
Ellie Harper,

guilty.

Heard someone from
Hard Focus called.

They're doing a special on Carl Mullally's
murder and Ellie Harper's trial.

They wanted to land
an interview with Jack.

What did you tell them?

Something they
can't quote on TV.

Well, I hate to say this,
Jack, but with or without you,

it's gonna get
a huge audience.

I'll be reading a book.

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