A Deadly Silence (1989) - full transcript
The father of three children was killed when he left his house. This provokes a lot of sentimental emotions in the neighbourhood because the people know nothing about his dark past.
(electronic tones)
- [Narrator] The following dramatization
is based on the book A Deadly
Silence by Dena Kleiman,
court documents, police
reports, and published accounts.
- [Woman] The Piersons and the Kossers
have lived near each other for as long
as any of us can remember.
We were real close in so many ways.
Helped to raise each other's children.
- [Man] I never had much
to say to him, really.
We were very different.
- [Young Man] She never said,
"How come you're not doin' it"
or like, "What are you, scared?"
It was more like, "Sean,
things are getting worse,"
you know?
"Are you gonna do it?
Could you do it like, tonight?"
I felt like I was the only
one who could help her.
- [Woman] I'd tell Sean, "Someday
you're gonna help someone
and you're gonna get in trouble.
Someday you won't know when to say no."
- [Blonde] If she'd told me,
I wouldn't have believed her.
But then I would have thought about it,
I would have done something.
- [Little Girl] I loved my father.
He took us shopping and helped
us when my mother was sick.
- [Older Lady] If Mother Mary came down
and told me he was
doing that, I would say,
"Mother Mary, I do not believe you."
A lot of people are sexually abused.
They don't go out and kill anyone.
- [Young Man] Just the
way he was with her.
The way he touched her,
the way he hit her.
The way he'd get upset whenever she'd
pay any attention to me.
You know, it wasn't the
way a father should be
with his daughter.
- [Brunette] I believe my father's in hell
and he can still control my life.
A lot of bad things are happening
that I think he's making happen.
(bluesy rock)
(honking)
- You're sure it's a '56 right?
- Yeah, Dad, a '56 Chevy and it is cherry.
I can't believe the guy only
wants three grand for it.
- 283 V8, man, those babies could haul!
(tires screeching)
Right here?
You know where that gas cap was?
- Yeah, Dad, you said.
- Unbelievable!
Underneath the damn tail light,
right underneath the damn tail light,
you gotta flip this little thing up
and there's the gas cap.
The coolest car you ever saw.
Your old man was real cool, right?
- Yeah, pretty cool.
Yeah.
(father laughing)
Look, the car's out back,
we'll just go through the hall.
- Hey.
- Yes, sir.
- So in 1957 they go from
a 230 to a 275, right?
- Right.
- They chop a foot off,
they add this funny fin,
it's worth twice as much
money as it would've been--
- [Partygoers] Surprise!
(clapping)
- You!
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday dear Jim ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
(applause)
Full of surprises, aren't you?
- We got you, though.
You didn't guess, did you?
- No!
- Oh, happy birthday, son!
- Ma, I thought you were bowling!
- Well, you know, Cathy planned it.
But she's not feeling too good, Jim.
- She's fine!
Where's my little peach?
Come here, you!
- Happy birthday, Daddy!
- Aw, you!
Where is your sister, huh?
- She's over by the banner.
- Let's go see her, come on.
Hey, hey, hey, you come on!
Come here, come here!
Ah, Marion.
- Happy birthday.
- [Guest] Happy birthday!
- Tommy!
- Jim, give me a call about the car.
- [Male Partygoer] Happy birthday, Jim.
- How you doin', Dave?
- Happy birthday, Jimmy.
(woman laughing)
- Hey, Jimmy, 40 big ones.
- Big Mike.
- Happy birthday, Daddy!
(mouthing words)
(click)
("The Lion Sleeps Tonight")
♪ In the jungle, the mighty jungle ♪
♪ The lion sleeps tonight ♪
♪ In the jungle, the quiet jungle ♪
♪ The lion sleeps tonight ♪
(vocalizing)
(laughter)
- I told the bank I can't repay the loan
until I get my tax refund.
Now they wanna repossess my camper.
- How much you need?
- Oh, Jim, I'm not asking you--
- No, no, no you got a
problem, you come to Jim.
How much do you need?
- 2200.
- 2200, that's nothing.
You come by the house tomorrow,
I'll give it to you in cash.
And you know, don't you worry about it,
you pay me back when you can.
- You're too generous, Jim.
- Ma, it's only money
and I got plenty of that.
I mean, look at this, Ma,
I made it to 40 years old.
I got everything.
A great family, a good job.
- You deserve it.
- I got more than that, Ma.
I got friends.
You just look around this room, Mom.
There's not a man in this place
who would not come to
me if he was hurting.
That's the important thing.
If you don't have friends
you don't have anything.
You know, I have not complaints.
No complaints at all.
Cheryl Pierson, get over here!
(50s pop music)
So you gonna dance with
your old man or what?
- (chuckles) To this?
- This?
This is my party, this is my music.
Better than the junk you kids listen to.
♪ Now some girls bop
and some girls swing ♪
♪ Some like pop more than anything ♪
♪ Some guys dance and some guys don't ♪
♪ Some have girls that say they won't ♪
♪ I know something they all could use ♪
Having a good time, huh?
- Uh-huh.
Yeah, it's a great party.
It's all for you.
- [All] One, two, three!
Yeah!
(applause)
All right!
- [Man] Happy birthday, Jim!
(Cathy coughing)
- [Jim] Eat your vegetables, sweetheart.
- Can I have some water?
- JoAnn, you know the rules.
You've got to finish your dinner first.
- Jim, why don't you
just let her have the--
- Cathleen, she cannot have any water
until she finishes her dinner.
- Hey.
I thought I told you to get a haircut.
- Well, I haven't had time, Dad.
I got a lot of other stuff to do.
- Don't talk back to me.
When I say get your hair
cut, you get it cut.
- Yes, sir.
- JoAnn, would you get me my pills?
They're in the kitchen on the table.
Thanks, honey.
(JoAnn sighs)
Cheryl's turned into a good little cook,
hasn't she, Jim?
- Certainly has.
So, who's gonna watch TV with me?
- I gotta go.
- What?
- I gotta go.
- What are you gonna do,
go out and hang around
with those jerk friends of yours, huh?
When are you gonna get a job, huh?
When are you gonna be a man?
Do I gotta support you
for the rest of your life?
(slap)
How 'bout you, sweetheart?
You wanna watch TV with your old man?
- Sure, Daddy, I just gotta do the dishes.
(moans)
- Cathleen!
Cathleen, what are you
on the booze again, huh?
Stumbling around like that?
What are our friends
and neighbors gonna say?
Come with me.
Come with me.
All right, now.
You're comfortable?
At least we got you out
of the hospital, huh?
(fire crackling)
(click)
- Thanks, baby.
'Night.
(train whistling on television)
- [Jim] Cheryl!
Leave the dishes, the movie's started.
- [Cheryl] Just a minute!
- [Jim] Come on!
(sighs)
- Lord, those who have died
still live in your presence.
And your saints rejoice
in complete happiness.
Listen to our prayers for Cathleen,
your daughter who has passed
from the light of this world.
(JoAnn softly crying)
Let us bow our heads, please.
- Cheryl, where did
Myles Standish come from?
- England, I think.
- How'd he get to America?
- On the Mayflower, I guess.
- So he was a pilgrim, too?
- Uh-uh, I think he just
helped them kill the Indians.
- Cheryl?
- What?
- How come Jimmy doesn't
live here anymore?
- Because Dad got mad
and said he had to leave.
- Why?
- I don't know, JoAnn.
Because he's got long hair,
because he wants to be a musician,
because he won't do as he's told.
You know as well as I do.
Come on.
Dad'll be home soon, finish your homework.
- You know what?
- What?
- I'm glad that you're my sister.
- Yeah.
Me too.
- I tell him two acres, upstate New York.
You can build on it, get out
of the city while you can.
So grateful, he says,
"Jim, I can't believe it,
20,000 dollars?"
- So, can I go to a
movie tonight with Rob?
Please?
- What time you be back?
- Dad, it's Friday,
it's not a school night.
- Yeah, I said what time?
- Well, we'll come home right after.
- Yeah, just make sure you do.
- So I can go?
- Yeah, I said you can go.
Just watch out for that
boy, don't get knocked up.
I got enough problems of my own.
(rock music)
(car doors shutting)
- Dad, I'm home.
Daddy?
Dad?
- Yeah, I heard ya, I heard ya.
So how was the movie?
- It was okay.
JoAnn.
You should be in bed.
- Nah, she was just watching
TV with her old man,
keeping him company, weren't you, Peach?
- You go to bed now.
- 'Night, Daddy.
'Night, Cheryl, 'night, Rob.
- [Rob] 'Night.
- 'Night, Cheryl.
- Hey.
Hey, he's not mad at you, what's wrong?
- Nothing.
- [Radio DJ] Be real careful.
You know at 6 in the morning,
icy conditions, 28 degrees,
people are banging each other like it's...
Like they're bumper cars out there,
so be real careful...
- Sweetheart, you awake yet?
Hey.
(slams) Hey!
Are you awake yet?
- I am now.
- Yeah, well you were
late for school yesterday,
I do not want you to be
late for school again.
Now, don't fall back to sleep again!
- [Cheryl] Okay.
- Okay.
Okay.
(rock music on radio)
(keys jangling)
(gunshot)
(dog barking in distance)
(crowd chattering)
(police radio chatter)
- [Cheryl] It was 6:15
and I was getting up
and I got to the door and
I saw him lying there,
so I ran out to see if he was okay.
- And then what happened, Cheryl?
- Well, he didn't talk or nothing.
He just laid there.
So I ran next door and screamed for help.
- And who came to help you?
- Big Mike.
He ran out and said Dad must have
slipped on the ice or something.
Then he called the ambulance.
Is my father gonna be okay?
- Didn't the officer tell you?
Honey, your father is dead.
- Dead?
My father's dead?
- Well, he had a cable
TV business on the side.
Invested in real estate,
bought and sold used cars--
- So that's where the money came from.
What else?
- People seemed to like the
guy, they felt sorry for him.
He was strict with his kids.
More so since his wife died last year.
He's been having real
problems with his son.
- My brother was a fine man.
Everybody liked him.
He was...
- Yo, Grandma, what's going on?
Hey, Rob.
Okay, folks.
Time to hit the road.
You all got homes to go to.
Come on.
That's the way!
All right, good job.
Here, this is yours, right?
All right.
(chuckles)
Cheryl, we got anything for dinner?
I'm starving.
- Don't you know what's happened?
- Yeah, I know, Aunt Marilyn.
I'm the boss now.
- "It is a great loss knowing someone died
that was so dearly loved.
He treated some people
like a brother or sister,
some people like a daughter or son.
Our Dad believed in telling
things how they were.
He was strong-willed, but soft-hearted.
He cared for a lot of
people as they cared for him
and he'll always be in our
thoughts in everything we do.
We truly believe he is
lying with my mother now
and is resting in peace
away from all pain.
He did a great job as a mother
and father this past year
and we all knew he tried his hardest
to comfort us through everything.
He was our best friend as well as our Dad.
We will miss him dearly,
but now we have to take one day at a time
and hope he will be proud.
And we believe that one
day we will see him again."
Thank you, Cheryl, for
these beautiful thoughts.
- [Detective] The old
man might be crooked,
that's all I'm saying.
- Well, you're wrong.
You got a hard working guy
who's devoted to his kids,
who's trying to make
it as a single parent.
- And who collects expensive toys
and loans money to anybody who asks him.
Big man in a small neighborhood.
But think about that house.
The pieces don't fit,
there's something missing.
- I don't see it.
- Look, his wife was sick for
years before she passed away.
But there's no girlie
magazines on the nightstand,
no women's phone numbers in his book.
He was 42 years old, he
didn't have a girlfriend?
- I don't see it.
- No, you don't wanna see it.
You really think the son did it?
- Look.
The kid has no money.
His old man's taken him
off the bank accounts.
A week before Pierson gets blown away,
he calls his lawyer to get
little Jimmy's name off the will.
That's motive.
I know the kid's involved.
I wanna bring him in.
(rock music)
(knocking)
(customers chattering)
- How you doing?
- Good, Jimmy, good.
Gonna be a hair dresser, are you?
- Well, my dad said to learn a trade
and I don't have to get mine cut.
So what's happening?
- We've got something
new on your dad's case.
- [Jimmy] Oh yeah?
- Yeah.
I'd like to talk to you.
- What about?
- Well, this isn't the greatest place.
You mind coming down to headquarters?
- So, what'd you come up with?
- I know who one of the murderers is.
- (scoffs) Oh yeah, who?
- You.
- Get outta here, I got
nothing to do with it.
- Ah, you're in it up to your neck.
- No way, man, not me.
- That's not what I hear.
- Well, you're hearing
wrong, because it wasn't me.
- Jimmy, if it wasn't you,
who else had a reason to kill your father?
- My sister.
Cheryl.
(knocking)
- All right, I'm coming!
Oh, it's ten after midnight.
(knocking)
(click)
Oh, hello, detective.
- Sorry to come by so late, Mrs. Pierson.
- Oh, as long as you're here,
you might as well come in.
- Thank you.
- Call me Mom, everyone
else your age does.
- Remember I promised I'd
find out who killed your son?
- Well?
- You're not gonna like
what I have to tell you.
Do you understand your rights, Cheryl?
All right.
Now, Rob told us most of it, but...
I'd like to hear it from you.
When did it start?
- When I was eleven.
- How did it start?
- Wrestling.
We'd just be wrestling around.
- [Detective] What would happen?
- He'd grab me.
- [Detective] Where did he grab you?
- He was my father.
He said if I told...
He had a blanket.
We'd watch TV, that's how
it started, no one saw.
- [Detective] Where was your mother?
- She was sick.
She'd be sleeping on the sofa.
I'd go in his room and watch TV.
I...
He...
- Cheryl.
Cheryl?
I know this is hard for you,
but you don't have to feel bad
because it's nothing we
haven't heard before.
When did he do this to you?
- At night.
Late at night.
- Where was your sister?
- [Cheryl] Asleep in her room.
- And your brother?
- Working.
Out working or sleeping.
(sniffles)
- Now, Cheryl, I have to
ask you this question.
Did you ever have
intercourse with your father?
- Yeah.
- [Detective] How old were you?
(sniffling)
- Thirteen.
(crying)
- Couldn't you have told someone?
- I didn't think anyone would believe me.
- Are you ready to go on, Cheryl?
- [Cheryl] I guess.
- Okay.
Tell me what happened.
(school bell ringing)
- Hi, Cheryl.
- Hi, Donna.
- Guess we really got creamed
in basketball last night, huh?
Cheryl.
Are you okay?
- I'm fine.
- Is everything all
right with you and Rob?
- Yeah.
Everything's great.
I gotta go, see you later.
- Okay, check out this part.
You quoted Beverly Wallace as saying,
"I hired the guys and paid 4,000 dollars
to have my husband killed."
And look at this.
She wanted her husband dead because
she was tired of his physical abuse
and urging her to become a
prostitute to raise money.
Pretty gross.
- Who'd be crazy enough to do that?
Who'd kill someone for money?
- I guess anybody would
if the money was right.
- Oh yeah?
How much money would you do it for?
- A thousand bucks.
- Sean Pica, you are charged
with second degree murder.
You are also charged with
second degree conspiracy.
How do you plead?
- Not guilty.
- Robert Cuccio, you are
charged with conspiracy
to commit murder.
How do you plead?
- Not guilty.
- Cheryl Pierson, you are charged with
second degree murder.
You are also charged with
second degree conspiracy.
How do you plead?
- Not guilty.
- Cheryl Pierson is more of a
victim here than a defendant.
She's been a virtual
prisoner in her own home
for the last five years.
Her father was a large
man, powerfully built.
She's a sixteen year old girl.
She did all the work around the house,
during her mother's illness
and after her death.
There was sexual
intercourse with her father
and one of her major concerns became
that it was beginning to happen
with her eight year old sister.
- This is very hard.
My son, Sean, is from a
family of police officers.
- [Reporter] How will you
pay the 100,000 dollar
bail for Sean?
- Mr. Gianelli.
How am I gonna find 50,000 dollars?
- We'll get the court to lower it.
- But how?
And why would they do that anyway?
- She's pregnant.
- What?
- She says it's her father's baby.
That should be enough to get her out.
- It was um...
A game at first.
Like a fantasy.
I never meant to kill him.
But she kept coming back,
yeah, over and over.
"Sean, when you gonna do it?
When, Sean?"
I didn't know why, but I
could see she was hurting.
And nobody else was gonna help her.
And I said I would.
- Then you got the gun from your buddy?
- Yeah, I got it from Mike.
- [Sean's Mom] Sean, I
don't want you hanging out
with Michael anymore.
I don't know what he's up to,
but I'm sure it's nothing good.
- Mom, I promised Mike I would help him.
You and Dad are always going
on about keeping commitments.
- Your Dad wouldn't know a
commitment if he fell over one.
- Hey, I tell you him
and Carry-Anne are trying
to buy a new house?
- Oh, well, good for them.
At least I'll know what he's up to.
Which is more than I can
say for your stepfather.
- Mom, that wasn't your fault.
Hey, listen, I gotta go, okay?
I won't be back late tonight, though,
because I'm gonna get
started on your new counters.
Mom, you gotta get some more sleep.
You're working too hard.
- (laughs) Well, somebody's
gotta support this family.
Well, at least I've got you.
- Yeah.
Goodbye, Mom.
- Bye, honey.
- Try them separately, Ed.
The boy committed the murder.
You've got his confession.
- [Ed] But she hired him, Paul.
She took 400 dollars from the safe
and paid him to kill her father.
- After five years of sexual abuse.
- [Ed] For which there
is no corroboration.
- The tests on the
bedding will prove that.
He had sex with her the
night before the murder.
Wait till we get the
sheets back from analysis.
- Then we'll see.
- The paternity test when
she has the abortion,
that will prove abuse, even to you.
Come on, Ed, give her a break.
- Like the break she gave her father?
Please, Paul.
You know damn well that
abuse isn't the issue here.
She paid to have her father murdered.
I mean, if we don't throw the book at her,
what are we saying to
those other kids out there
who are being abused?
That it's okay to blow away your parents
if they give you a rough time?
- A rough time?
A rough time?
He got her pregnant, he
beat the hell out of her.
- You only have her word for that.
Why didn't she call the cops?
The child abuse hotline number
is on page one of the phone book.
Why did she have to kill him?
- Because she was afraid of him.
And most of all, she was
afraid he was starting
on her younger sister.
- Who are you?
- I'm a doctor, JoAnn.
The kind of doctor who
talks about feelings.
Do you understand?
- I guess.
- In fact, I really came over to see you.
There's something we have to tell you
and it's sort of hard to say.
- What is it?
- Well, we found out that
Cheryl had something to do
with your father's being killed.
One of her reasons was because she says
your father did something to her that
fathers aren't supposed to
do with their daughters.
- You know how Mama and
Daddy said to tell them
if someone touches you
down there?
- No.
No, it isn't true!
Cheryl didn't kill my daddy!
- JoAnn, honey--
- My daddy would never!
- Well, of course he wouldn't.
- My daddy loved us!
- Should I go to her?
Or maybe you?
Do you think we did the wrong thing?
- No, it's better that
she hears about it now
than from her friends at school.
Give her a moment, let her have some time.
- This is my brother
Jimmy at his graduation.
And this is my sister, Cheryl.
And this is my grandma.
And this is Aunt Marilyn.
And here's my mom with my dad.
This is my family.
See?
Cheryl!
Oh, Cheryl!
Cheryl!
Cheryl!
Oh, Cheryl!
- I missed you so much!
- I missed you, too!
- You'll share Kim's room
and JoAnn will sleep with me.
- Okay.
Can I go see Rob now?
- I don't think that's a good idea.
- Well, just for a little while.
- [Marilyn] No.
- But I haven't--
- I said no and as long
as you're in my house,
you'll do as I say.
- My bosses are dead, Aunt Marilyn.
- And you're out on bail
for murder, remember?
Go put your things away.
I don't wanna hear another word about Rob.
- [Doctor] How did your
father feel about Rob?
- He put up with him.
He didn't like me going with him.
Rob'd come over and we'd
all just sort of sit there.
- Rob must care for you a lot.
- Yes, he does.
We're getting engaged after I graduate.
(laughs)
He told his parents.
- Did you tell your father?
- No.
- Tell me more about you, Cheryl.
What will you do when you leave school?
- I want a beauty shop, my own place.
With like a dozen stations.
And there'll be this part for kids,
you know with toys and
a merry-go-round horse.
Maybe a rocket ship for the boys.
You know, so the mothers can relax
while they're getting all fixed up.
- That's a wonderful idea.
I'm sure you'd do well.
What else do you think about?
- You know, getting married.
Stuff like that.
I want this big wedding
with all the bridesmaids in pink dresses
and me in all white with
a veil down to the floor.
And then after, we'll
have this mammoth party
with a band and everyone
I know will be there.
And then after the party, this
big white limousine'll come.
You know, the real big kind,
like a half block long or something,
with a TV and a bar.
And then we'll just get in and take off.
- Where will you go?
- Away, I guess.
(sirens)
- [PA] Dr. Kate Walker to the OR, stat.
Dr. Kate Walker to the OR.
- How are you feeling?
- It hurts.
Am I gonna lose the baby?
- Don't be scared, okay?
It'll all be over soon.
I'll be here when you come out.
Don't worry.
- She miscarried?
- She was bleeding some this morning.
The doctor said she should rest.
I was at social services all day.
There's all this paperwork.
I can't afford to
support Cheryl and JoAnn,
I've gotta get some money.
- You understand about the tests
they'll run on the fetus?
We want to establish paternity.
- It won't be my brother's
baby, I can tell you that.
I hate this place.
They brought Cathleen here
when she first got sick.
I used to watch my brother
like a man possessed,
he was so worried.
Thank God she's not here today.
(sigh) JoAnn's with the
neighbor, I've gotta go.
- The lab tests on the bedding
and clothing were negative.
Your client lied, Paul.
Her father didn't have sex with anybody
the night before he died.
Not in that bed.
- "Using the DNA probe,
kinetic markers were found
in the fetal tissue that were
not present in the mother
or the alleged father."
It was the boyfriend.
The baby's not Pierson's, it's Rob's.
- You bitch.
How could you say your
father got you pregnant?
You're a liar and a murderer.
- You wouldn't believe--
- Believe you?
How could I believe anything you say?
Do you have any idea what
you've done to this family?
You've destroyed it.
Everywhere I go people point and whisper!
- Everywhere you go?
What about me?
- Why did you murder my brother?
- Because she was pregnant, that's why.
And that's all.
- Grandma.
- [Grandma] Well, it's true, isn't it?
You were afraid to tell your
father you were pregnant,
so you paid someone to kill him.
- Yeah?
Well you know what?
I wish I woulda done it myself.
- [Reporter] Mr. Gianelli,
may I get a statement?
- Sorry.
- [Reporters] Mr. Gianelli!
- It's a cold September day
in Riverhead, Long Island.
A day of interest to all the
residents of Suffolk County,
because it marks the start
of the pre-trial hearings
of Cheryl Pierson and Sean Pica,
both indicted by a grand jury for murder.
- No, Mr. Gianelli, I see no reason
to separate the two cases.
- Okay.
Ed, what's the deal?
- You change to a guilty plea,
we reduce the charge to manslaughter.
Six years for Sean, two for Cheryl.
- [Judge] Well, I think that's a--
- No.
Cheryl doesn't deserve jail.
I'm holding out for a jury trial.
- Then, gentlemen, we
have to decide right now
whether to admit their
confessions into evidence.
Let's get on with it.
(keys jangling)
- You wanted to stay with us.
I can't have that sort
of thing here, Cheryl.
It's not right and it's not fair.
Look, I know none of this
is easy for you, honey,
but you gotta have some consideration
for me and Mike.
- Can I go now?
- No, you can't go now.
I want your promise you
and Robert are gonna
stop this nonsense.
- What's the big deal?
We're getting married.
- Well, you are not married yet.
And you are my responsibility, Cheryl.
Your mother would have a fit!
- You leave my mother out of this.
- [Alberta] Where you going?
- Out.
I'm not in jail yet, Alberta.
(door slams)
And Alberta keeps on about Mom.
Everybody hates me.
Except Rob.
- And me.
Yeah, and you.
You know, I just wish
that I didn't have to
keep talking about it.
(girls whispering)
- [Girl] God, do you
think she really did that?
That's so gross.
- I don't regret doing it, you know.
- Listen, there were times
that I wanted him dead, too.
(girls giggling)
(door slamming)
- So, he'd come and watch you?
- Yeah.
We did this cheer, you know, for the team.
- [Cheerleaders] Ready?
Okay!
Hey all you Newfield fans,
stand up and clap your hands.
(rhythmic clapping)
Now that you've got the beat
this time move your feet
(rhythmic clapping)
Newfield will never lose
'cause we can really move.
We got the power, we got the might,
we got the team that's here to fight!
Go Wolverines!
(cheerleaders exclaiming)
- Then what would happen?
- Then we'd come home.
I'd take a shower, you
know, and there he'd be.
- Where would he be?
- Right there in the shower with me.
- I believe she was sexually abused.
The Kossers believe it.
Even the cop who arrested her believes it,
but we don't have any proof.
And the thing that's
gonna hurt us the worst
is Cheryl herself.
- How so?
- She is so cold.
She's totally unremorseful.
- That coldness you're seeing
is how she coped, Paul.
She learned to push her feelings down
so that she could handle the
two lives she was leading.
She was a schoolgirl by day
and she was literally her
father's wife at night.
She had to separate those two in her mind,
that's how she survived.
I don't have to tell you about incest.
It's the best kept secret in America.
These kids live in silence inside.
They can't talk about it because
there is a part of them that
refuses to believe it's true.
- Like the family refuses
to believe it's true
and the neighbors refuse
to believe that it's true.
Somebody must have seen something.
(school bell ringing)
- I've known Cheryl since grade school.
We're not close like we were.
You know, people go in
different directions,
they make different friends.
I got really into--
- Diana.
Why did you ask to see me?
- Well, everybody's saying
that Cheryl's making up
that stuff about her dad.
I don't think she is.
When her mom was in the hospital,
I'd go over to her house
after school, you know, just to help out.
Her dad was weird, Mr. Gianelli.
We'd be in her room talking
and he'd yell at her
if she shut the door.
He'd follow her around.
I mean, she wasn't allowed
to go out by herself.
She wasn't allowed to wear makeup
or have any boyfriends--
- He was strict with her,
is that what you mean?
- It was more than that.
He taped her phone conversations.
If I called her, it was
when she was at the Kossers.
It was like he was jealous about her.
- But you never saw any abuse?
- Yes, I did.
Well, the results of it.
- What?
- It was on Valentine's
Day a couple of years ago.
(kids chattering)
- Okay, what about this boy, Glen?
- What about him?
- What about him?
I know what this boy wants
from you even if you don't.
I don't want you seeing him anymore.
- Yes, Daddy.
- "Yes, Daddy."
I bet you made him a Valentine.
I bet you got him a Valentine so he'll see
how hot you are for him.
- I didn't send him a card.
Honest, I didn't send any cards at all.
- (sigh) What's this?
What is this?
You are a lying bitch.
(crash)
Get out!
- [Student] Did you see what happened?
(door slams)
- He punched her in the face
for sending a Valentine's card?
- That's how possessive he was.
Like a lover.
Not like a father.
I knew something was going on.
- How did you know?
- I asked her.
I'll never forget her face.
She looked so lost.
It was like she wanted to tell me,
but she couldn't find the words.
I mean, I asked her if
something was going on
with her and her dad.
And she didn't say no.
(phone ringing)
- What's going on, Rob?
Mr. Gianelli says that--
- It's just a deal my lawyer
made with the prosecutor, baby,
that's all.
All right?
I agreed to testify.
They dropped the charge to
criminal solicitation, all right?
It doesn't mean anything.
- But you'll have to tell them.
- It's not like what happened
is a big secret, Cheryl,
I mean, Sean confessed,
he already told them.
- And you'll have to testify against me.
- Look.
First off, I'm nineteen, okay?
I'm not a juvenile, okay?
If they busted me for conspiracy,
I could go away forever.
Now that you changed your plea,
they're sure to give you
probation, baby, that's all.
All right, you'll be out, home free.
(sigh)
Hey, what good'll I be
to you if I was in jail
the rest of my life, huh?
- Time to go.
(reporters chattering)
- Excuse me, please.
- You're not gonna believe this.
She changed her plea to guilty.
- What?
- She and Pica are pleading
guilty to manslaughter.
They got cold feet.
- Because Rob turned state's evidence.
- Well, I guess Gianelli thought
it would be better for Cheryl.
I'll see you in court, Mom.
- Thank you.
You realize you're
giving up trial by jury.
- (softly) Yes.
- Speak up, please.
- Yes.
- Gianelli was worried about
her effect on the jury.
Thought it was too risky.
- I don't blame him.
- Consider the possibility of treating you
as a youthful offender.
If I sentence you, the
maximum will be six years
with a two year minimum.
You'll get no more than that.
- Around November 1985,
did you have a conversation
with Sean Pica?
- Yes.
- In that conversation, did you
ask him to kill your father?
- Yes.
- [Ed] Why did you want
him to kill your father?
- He was sexually abusing me.
(students chattering)
Sean?
- Yeah?
- What happened last night?
I thought that you were gonna--
- My mom had a bunch
of stuff for me to do,
I couldn't get out of the house.
- Please, Sean.
I can't take much more of this.
You're the only one that can help me.
- Okay.
- You understand you're
giving up trial by jury?
- Yes.
- I promised your attorney
I would consider giving you
youthful offender treatment.
The maximum sentence you would receive
would be 25 years in jail
with a minimum of eight and one third.
(sniffles)
Take a seat, Mr. Pica.
- Did you have a discussion
with Cheryl Pierson
in November 1985?
- Yes.
- Did she indicate that she
was being abused by her father?
- Yes.
- Sexually abused?
- Abused.
- And on the morning of February 5, 1986,
did you load that rifle?
- Yes.
- With how many rounds?
- Five.
(door opening)
- [Ed] Did you shoot James
Pierson in the back of the head?
(gunshot)
- [Sean] Yes.
- [Ed] Did you then approach the body
and shoot him some more?
- [Sean] Yes.
(gunshots)
- [Ed] And in school the next day,
did you receive payment of 400 dollars?
- Yes.
- From whom?
- Rob Cuccio.
- [Ed] And there came a
time when you requested
additional money?
- So, what'd you call about?
- Well, I did it, you know?
You guys still owe me 600 bucks
and the motorcycles.
- I don't have any money yet.
- Hey, give us a chance, Sean,
she can't just walk out
of there with two bikes.
- How about moving into
your dad's rental house?
My mom is driving me crazy,
I would sure like to
get a place of my own.
- Not yet, it's too risky.
Hey, we have to wait until
this blows over, okay?
- Okay, no problem.
Are you okay?
- Yeah.
Thanks, Sean.
- We gotta go.
- You've been Sean's psychologist
for almost a year now, right?
How would you describe the effects
of his parents' divorce on him?
- Well, most children blame themselves
when a marriage fails.
Subsequently, there was a
stepfather, as you know,
who also abandoned the family.
Sean witnessed the verbal and
physical abuse of his mother
and also experienced abuse himself.
- And the other two
doctors who examined Sean,
did you all come to the same conclusion?
- Our consensus was that
it is most probable,
psychologically and psychodynamically,
that Sean unconsciously
harbored enormous resentment
and negative feelings towards
his father and his stepfather.
Now, the transference of
that anger towards this--
- Yes.
But what does that mean?
- Well, Mr. Efman,
essentially what that means is
the man that Sean killed
was not Cheryl Pierson's
father at all, it was his own.
- Money was not a motivating factor
for what Sean Pica did.
This was not murder for hire.
He made a commitment to a friend
and he kept it.
- I have no messages to
send to society, Mr. Pica.
But I do have a message for you.
One that I hope you will think about
during your time in prison.
You are not being punished
for your loyal assistance
to a friend.
You are being punished for
asking for 1,000 dollars
and executing a man from ambush.
Sean Pica, having committed manslaughter,
I hereby sentence you to a
maximum of 24 years in jail
with a minimum eight year term.
(crying)
- Oh my god, oh, Joanne.
I'm so sorry, Joanne.
(Sean's mother crying)
- [JoAnn] May 13, 1987.
Dear Judge Sherman,
the reason I'm writing is
to let you know how I feel
and so you know the truth and not lies.
I was living at the house at the time
and I really didn't see anything.
Sometimes we'd watch
TV in my father's room
and sometimes we'd fall
asleep on my father's bed
and he'd go lay on the couch.
My sister often said my father was
always laying all over
me, but she's wrong,
because I saw my sister always
laying all over my father.
And sometimes she'd say,
"Oh, Dad, I love you."
Start hugging him and fooling
around with my father.
My father would catch my sister in lies.
My father knew she was a sneak.
But of course, my father
can't speak for himself.
If you think someone's making
me say this, you're wrong,
because I'm sitting here
on my lawn by myself
and writing how I feel.
Sincerely, JoAnn Pierson.
- Sure wish I could see you more often.
When all this is over,
you and Jimmy and me,
we'll get our own place
and then we can go out and we can have fun
whenever we want, okay?
- Cheryl, why'd you kill Daddy?
- Because he was abusing me.
And I didn't want
anything to happen to you.
JoAnn...
Why'd you write that letter, huh?
- Because I wanted to.
- Marilyn made you do it, didn't she?
I know she did, she's brainwashing you.
- I wrote it myself.
I wanted to.
- Don't you understand
that I did it for you?
To protect you.
I did it because I love you.
I didn't want anything to happen to you.
- I don't believe he
was doing what you say.
You tell lies to everyone.
Daddy loved us.
He was my father, too.
- JoAnn!
- I hate you, Cheryl!
I hate you!
- JoAnn!
It was in the car when me and my dad
went to see my mom in the hospital.
He touched me then.
- And how did you feel about that?
- At first it made me
happy because before then
he didn't even know I existed.
- Now, Cheryl, you said
that sexual intercourse
started when you were, let's see...
Thirteen?
- Uh-huh.
- [Interviewer] And what
were the usual circumstances?
- Mostly it was just touching, you know?
Like I'd touch him and stuff.
And then when Mom died, it
was like the whole thing,
like two or three times a day.
- Did your father use birth control?
(Cheryl and Jimmy scoff)
- Well, he knew when it was
safe and when it wasn't.
- And after you met Rob,
your father continued
the sexual intercourse?
- Yeah.
He said, "Pretend it's Rob."
(clears throat)
I hated it.
- [Interviewer] The probation
department finds Cheryl
unremorseful, totally dispassionate,
self-centered, and immature.
Although it seems likely
that she was abused,
it cannot be substantiated.
Further, we feel the defendant was aware
of possible alternatives available to her.
Acting in concert with her paramour,
she decided to pursue a course of action
which resulted in her father's murder.
(exhales)
- The witnesses will paint a vivid
and realistic picture of the life
Cheryl Pierson was living during the years
before her father's death.
- Your Honor, the prosecution
does not intend to contest
the defendant's claimed
incestuous relationship
with her father.
The only person who knows
that happened for sure
is the person who had her father killed.
We will hear from the police department
just how often incest is
reported in Suffolk County.
But why did she take someone's life?
Why was her situation special?
Why was it different from all the other
incestuous situations?
Why does she deserve probation,
a mere pat on the head?
- I thought Jim, uh, Mr. Pierson, that is.
I thought he was too rough on the kids.
Like at mealtimes, they
weren't allowed to talk.
And he was physically rough with them.
It would start with kidding around.
I mean, he pulled their hair and he'd say,
"What'd you say to me?"
And he wouldn't let up until
he heard, "I'm sorry, Daddy."
- [Gianelli] What else did you observe?
- [Alberta] Cheryl was
always in the bedroom
with her father, watching TV.
Cathy told me she wanted her out of there.
- [Gianelli] And uh, where would Cathy be?
- On the couch.
She even talked to Jim about it.
He accused her of being jealous.
Cheryl and JoAnn came over for dinner
and JoAnn up and says, "Cheryl
slept with Daddy last night."
- Did you suspect sexual contact
between Cheryl and her father?
- Yes.
- [Gianelli] Did you
go to the authorities?
- I did not.
But I didn't see anything,
how could I be sure?
I was afraid of Jim.
- If Cheryl Pierson had told you
that her father was abusing her,
would you have done something to help?
- Yes.
- What would you have done?
- Told my husband.
Taken her away to someplace safe.
- [Kosser] He was very crude.
Always smacking the children.
Pulling their hair, punching them.
- [Gianelli] Are you against hitting kids?
- [Kosser] No, I'm not.
- [Gianelli] Then what
upset you about this kind of
physical violence?
- I wouldn't want to be punched
the way he punched his son.
- Mr. Kosser, how did Mr.
Pierson act with Cheryl?
- He was always fondling her.
Rubbing her bottom.
- Did you ever consider
contacting the authorities?
- I didn't feel that I had enough proof.
I felt that I was the
one with the evil mind.
- Me and Cheryl were on the
phone and suddenly she says
she's gotta go take a nap with her father.
I told my mom and she
said to call the police.
I talked her out of it.
- Did you witness contact
between Mr. Pierson and Cheryl?
- Yes, he'd lift her over his head
and his hand would go between her legs.
- You told your mother?
And what did she do?
- Nothing.
- I went to the guidance
counselor at school.
I went twice.
The first time she was busy.
My father said to go
and speak to her again.
I told her I thought
something was going on
with Cheryl and her father.
- And what did the counselor say?
- She said, "I can't
take your word for it,
Cheryl will have to come
and see me herself."
- Why did you assume
something was going on?
- Her father was so possessive.
She couldn't talk on the phone.
He'd come to school and watch her.
He bought her all this expensive jewelry.
- So a father is concerned,
therefore we know sex is going on?
- Why did you think it was sexual?
- It wasn't normal.
- Of the many adults who have spoken here
in this courtroom today,
most suspected abuse.
But you are the only person
who took steps to help.
I admire your courage, my dear.
- Your Honor, if the
prosecution has no objection,
I'd like to call James Pierson Junior.
I realize he has been in
court through the proceeding.
- Mr. Jablonski?
- No objection.
- I think the court is more
interested in information
than procedure, Mr. Gianelli.
Call your witness.
- Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
- I do.
- You are James Pierson Junior?
- Yes.
- Mr. Pierson, what was
your physical relationship
with your father?
- He hit me, I got hit.
- Did he ever show physical affection?
- The only time was when
my mother passed away.
I could never please him.
- What about your mother,
could you please her?
- Yes, by not upsetting my father.
- What was your response
when Cheryl told you she
wanted her father killed?
- I told her to hang in there.
I had gone through the abuse
and she was going through it.
Next it'd be JoAnn's turn.
- [Gianelli] What sort
of abuse did you mean?
- Physical abuse.
- [Gianelli] And what did she say?
- She said that she would take JoAnn away.
That she couldn't leave her behind.
- All rise.
- Mr. Gianelli, call your witness.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
I call Cheryl Pierson to the stand.
Cheryl, what is your earliest
memory of your father?
- I'm on a black minibike and
he's teaching me how to ride.
- How old were you at that time?
- Nine.
- Now, while your mother's health was good
while you were young,
did there come a time that that changed?
- Yes.
When I was about eleven.
She was hospitalized a lot.
- And um, what would happen
when you went to visit her?
- My father and I would
talk and stuff in the car
and my head would be in his lap
and he'd touch my back and
rub my rear end
and make me sit close to him.
- How did that make you feel?
- I thought he was showing affection.
It made me feel happy.
- Miss Pierson, will you please speak up?
- I thought he was showing affection.
It made me happy.
- Did you ever consider
asking him to stop doing that?
- I asked him why he was touching me
and he said he touched
me because he loved me
and to never let anyone else touch me.
- Now, as you grew
older, did things change?
- Yeah.
He got more possessive.
He'd go in my room and
go through my pocketbook
and I was always saying, "I'm sorry."
And if I...
If I didn't...
Well, he'd get very tense and
pick a fight with my mother.
- And when you let him do what he wanted?
- He'd be calm.
Normal.
- Now, you heard Alberta Kosser describe
how she spoke to you
about your relationship
with your father.
Do you recall that conversation?
- Yeah.
Uh, she was in the kitchen with my mother
and I had come out to get my dad a soda.
(TV in background)
(Cathy sniffling)
- Cheryl.
Honey, you're too big to be watching TV
with your dad every night.
You should watch in your own room.
- Okay.
I did watch TV in my room
for a couple of days.
He got real mean.
"What's the matter, I'm not
good enough to watch TV with?"
Things got very tense in the house.
So I went back.
- Cheryl...
How did you deal with
the sexual situations?
- I just lie there.
He...
He breathed in my face.
(crying)
He'd just stare at me.
(crying)
I put a pillow over my face.
Until it was over.
I blocked it out.
- Did your father's
relationship with JoAnn change
after your mother died?
- Well, I'm in the
cheerleading team at school
and I'd go to games, I'd
come home and find her
watching TV with him like I used to.
- And what did you do?
- Well, it made me mad.
I'd tell her to go to bed
and then I'd go in his room.
- Cheryl...
Do you think your mother
knew what was going on?
- When she was sick
and he'd be with me,
I'd say, "I can't believe you.
Your wife is in the hospital in a coma
and you're here with me."
And he'd say, "Don't you
run guilt trips on me!"
(Alberta sniffling)
I figured...
If she was in Heaven,
she was probably watching.
(crying)
I figured she must be pretty mad at me.
- Mr. Gianelli, for the
last week we've listened to
seventeen witnesses.
We've heard about the
vulgarities, the gross
and abusive conduct, the intimidation.
We've heard from neighbors
and psychiatrists.
How much more do we have to listen to?
- Your Honor, it is my sense
that neither the court nor the prosecution
has yet accepted as fact the sexual abuse
of my client by her father.
I call William Everett to the stand.
- He's Mom's stepbrother.
- Raise your right hand, please.
Do you swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
- I do.
- Mr. Everett.
What was your relationship
to the late Cathleen Pierson?
- Stepbrother.
- When was the last time you saw her?
- In 1982 at my father's funeral.
- On that occasion, did
you have a conversation
with Cathleen?
- I did.
I was taking her to the hospital
and I asked her why all
of a sudden she needed
a kidney transplant.
She told me
her kidneys had deteriorated
because of the beatings
James Pierson had given her.
(spectators whispering)
- [Gianelli] What did you say to that?
- I asked her why he had beaten her.
She told me he'd been molesting Cheryl
and she'd confronted him about it.
She further told me he said
she had better say nothing more
or the next time the
beating would be worse.
(gavel banging)
- Mom knew?
- [Gianelli] Thank you.
(dramatic music)
(motorcycle speeding)
- Ah, you like that, huh?
- Yeah, can we go again soon?
- If you're good!
- I love you, Daddy.
- I love you, too.
- [Doctor] Some authorities
maintain that the children
of incestuous parents are
taught to be seductive.
It's their only way of getting
positive reinforcement.
- So it's a learned behavior?
- [Doctor] Oh, yes.
- How did Cheryl's
relationship with Rob Cuccio
impact on the household?
- It increased James
Pierson's fear of losing her.
Every time she returned
from a date with Rob,
her father would insist on having sex.
He might let them go to a movie together,
then he'd follow and sit
two rows behind them.
And as she saw more of Rob,
her father was alone more with JoAnn.
- In your opinion, Doctor,
did Cheryl have reason
to fear potential sexual
abuse of her sister?
- Yes.
In 40 percent of incest cases,
the perpetrator will start
to abuse the younger sister.
- The nightmare of this court, Doctor,
is that some other abused
fifteen or sixteen year old
is going to read about this case and think
murder is acceptable.
- Oh yes?
Well, my nightmare, Your Honor,
is the victim of an incestuous parent
thinking it's better
just not to say anything.
- When Cheryl Pierson goes to jail,
we'll be saying it's the wrong
thing to kill the abuser.
- [Reporter] Mr. Cuccio!
- Why haven't you granted
any interviews to the press?
- A statement for the
press, Mr. Cuccio, anything.
- Hey, Rob, how does it feel to be
testifying against your girlfriend?
Rob!
- After Sean got out of the
car, she told me who he was.
She said she'd been talking
to someone, you know,
I put two and two together.
- She'd been talking about what?
- About finding someone
to kill her father.
- And what did you tell her?
- Well, I told her it was crazy.
You know, no one in the
tenth grade could do it.
- You said she should get a professional?
- Yes.
- Mr. Cuccio, did you and Cheryl discuss
her getting her father's money?
- No.
No, money was never an issue.
- Your father testified
that you and Cheryl
will probably be getting married.
- Yeah, I hope so.
- Have you told any lies
here to help Cheryl?
- No.
No, I've told the truth.
- Thank you.
- Cheryl Pierson fits the profile
of a sexually abused child.
The last thing the District
Attorney's office wants
is to convict her of murder
and give her fifteen years to life.
James Pierson was a terrible father
and we would've loved to
prosecute him for his conduct.
But we never got the chance.
We never got the chance because
Cheryl Pierson was
prosecutor, judge, and jury.
She decided that another
life should be taken.
She arranged it.
For her to be given
probation will perpetuate
that kind of conduct in others
and that is why we are asking the court
to sentence her as an adult
pleading guilty to manslaughter.
The message of this trial must be
if you take the law into your own hands,
you will go to jail.
- Yes, taking a parent's life
is the most shocking thing
a person can do.
But what about events leading
up to the taking of that life?
What if they're shocking?
Cheryl Pierson's silence is terrible.
So was that of her mother.
Cathleen Pierson went to
the grave with her secret.
And left her daughter
to live a life of hell.
But the most deadly silence
is that of the community
in which Cheryl Pierson lived.
That is shocking.
Think of Cheryl during that last year
of James Pierson's life.
Think of the mixed
signals she was getting.
More freedom to be with Rob,
which resulted in more
contact between her father
and her little sister,
who she wanted to protect
more than anything.
Think of the pressure
of her boyfriend knowing
she was having sex with her father.
Think of that.
All this on a sixteen year old girl.
- The toughest thing for
this court to accept is
that there was help available.
It would've taken so little
for her to tell someone.
- Like Mr. Jablonski, Your Honor?
He wouldn't have believed her,
he'd have demanded proof.
Sir, we've heard police
department testimony
that in 1987 there were 356
reported cases of incest
in single parent homes in this county.
Not one report was made by a victim.
In asking you to not send
Cheryl Pierson to jail,
I would also ask that you consider
the kind of girl she is.
She's not a streetwise kid.
She's an immature, sheltered
girl of the suburbs.
At some point, she's gonna
have to put all this behind her
and get on with her life.
She did live through the
hell of Magnolia Drive.
And I suppose she could
learn to live through
the hell of prison.
But I'm asking the court to be merciful.
- [Woman] "I am an incest
survivor who was silent
for 35 years.
Silent in words and action,
but not silent in the rage
that lived inside me."
- [Young Woman] "As a desperate
and terrorized fourteen
year old, I seriously
considered killing my father.
I wanted to sneak up on him
in his sleep as he did me."
- [Man] "The real murderer is her father,
who seduced, violated, and
betrayed his child's trust.
There was no place and no
one for her to turn to."
(birdsong)
(melancholy music)
(reporters clamoring)
(spectators quietly chattering)
(inaudible whispering)
- No!
Oh no!
(crying)
- What, baby?
(crying)
- [Bailiff] All rise.
(Cheryl sobbing)
- Cheryl Pierson, approach the bench.
(crying)
Is there anything you wish to say?
- (weakly) I...
I...
I realize that what I did...
Was wrong.
I'm sorry.
- Is that all?
- (quietly) Yes.
- There are some things
that I want to say.
During the course of this proceeding,
I have received over a
hundred letters from people
urging me to be lenient with you.
Most were victims or
survivors of domestic violence
including sexual abuse and incest.
Many of them exhibited
great sympathy and interest
for what you suffered
and your need to escape.
Although, none of them
condoned the method you used
to end your plight
and nor do I.
The publicity and interest engendered by
your misfortune may produce some benefit
for other victims who seek a
way out of their unhappiness.
They must be made aware
of the many agencies
pledged to help the innocent.
Perhaps victims such as yourself
and friends of victims who
are aware of their condition
will be encouraged to
report to these agencies
and thus avoid the
consequences of the actions
which you took.
Cheryl Pierson, I hereby sentence you
to five years probation
and as part of that sentence,
you are to serve six
months in the county jail.
- Mike!
(spectators whispering)
(Cheryl sobbing)
(motor revving)
- In ancient Hebraic criminal law,
a daughter was justified
in killing her father
to prevent incest from taking place.
I believe Cheryl was the object
of frequent and repeated
acts of sexual intercourse
by her father.
But nowadays, help is
available for the victim.
Nobody has to do what she did.
- What was I supposed to do?
Tell someone?
(scoffs) Like Alberta?
I didn't want anyone else to get hurt.
I wish I could go home for Christmas, Jim.
I want to be with my family.
- We'll all be there when you get out.
Hey, you, me, and Rob, right?
- Right.
- Right.
- You know, for every day you're in here,
I tie another ribbon around
that tree across from the house.
I figure with good
behavior and time served,
it won't even make it to the first branch.
- Are we gonna be all right?
- Baby, the only thing I want,
the only thing I care about
is for you to be free.
(dramatic music)
(spitting)
- [Grandma] All I want to do
is wrap my arms around her
and tell her I love her.
God help me.
I want to kill her.
- [Marilyn] I'll never believe it.
It's her word against a dead man's.
- [JoAnn] I'm mad at
Cheryl for what she did,
but I love her 'cause she's my sister.
- [Ed] I didn't like wearing a black hat,
but Cheryl Pierson is not
the girl people think she is.
- [Gianelli] How could she have been?
I wanted to walk out of
that courtroom beside her.
Everyone failed Cheryl.
- [Alberta] I wish he hadn't had to die.
I wish I'd said something.
I wish somebody had said something.
(dramatic music)
(electronic tones)
- [Narrator] The following dramatization
is based on the book A Deadly
Silence by Dena Kleiman,
court documents, police
reports, and published accounts.
- [Woman] The Piersons and the Kossers
have lived near each other for as long
as any of us can remember.
We were real close in so many ways.
Helped to raise each other's children.
- [Man] I never had much
to say to him, really.
We were very different.
- [Young Man] She never said,
"How come you're not doin' it"
or like, "What are you, scared?"
It was more like, "Sean,
things are getting worse,"
you know?
"Are you gonna do it?
Could you do it like, tonight?"
I felt like I was the only
one who could help her.
- [Woman] I'd tell Sean, "Someday
you're gonna help someone
and you're gonna get in trouble.
Someday you won't know when to say no."
- [Blonde] If she'd told me,
I wouldn't have believed her.
But then I would have thought about it,
I would have done something.
- [Little Girl] I loved my father.
He took us shopping and helped
us when my mother was sick.
- [Older Lady] If Mother Mary came down
and told me he was
doing that, I would say,
"Mother Mary, I do not believe you."
A lot of people are sexually abused.
They don't go out and kill anyone.
- [Young Man] Just the
way he was with her.
The way he touched her,
the way he hit her.
The way he'd get upset whenever she'd
pay any attention to me.
You know, it wasn't the
way a father should be
with his daughter.
- [Brunette] I believe my father's in hell
and he can still control my life.
A lot of bad things are happening
that I think he's making happen.
(bluesy rock)
(honking)
- You're sure it's a '56 right?
- Yeah, Dad, a '56 Chevy and it is cherry.
I can't believe the guy only
wants three grand for it.
- 283 V8, man, those babies could haul!
(tires screeching)
Right here?
You know where that gas cap was?
- Yeah, Dad, you said.
- Unbelievable!
Underneath the damn tail light,
right underneath the damn tail light,
you gotta flip this little thing up
and there's the gas cap.
The coolest car you ever saw.
Your old man was real cool, right?
- Yeah, pretty cool.
Yeah.
(father laughing)
Look, the car's out back,
we'll just go through the hall.
- Hey.
- Yes, sir.
- So in 1957 they go from
a 230 to a 275, right?
- Right.
- They chop a foot off,
they add this funny fin,
it's worth twice as much
money as it would've been--
- [Partygoers] Surprise!
(clapping)
- You!
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday dear Jim ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
(applause)
Full of surprises, aren't you?
- We got you, though.
You didn't guess, did you?
- No!
- Oh, happy birthday, son!
- Ma, I thought you were bowling!
- Well, you know, Cathy planned it.
But she's not feeling too good, Jim.
- She's fine!
Where's my little peach?
Come here, you!
- Happy birthday, Daddy!
- Aw, you!
Where is your sister, huh?
- She's over by the banner.
- Let's go see her, come on.
Hey, hey, hey, you come on!
Come here, come here!
Ah, Marion.
- Happy birthday.
- [Guest] Happy birthday!
- Tommy!
- Jim, give me a call about the car.
- [Male Partygoer] Happy birthday, Jim.
- How you doin', Dave?
- Happy birthday, Jimmy.
(woman laughing)
- Hey, Jimmy, 40 big ones.
- Big Mike.
- Happy birthday, Daddy!
(mouthing words)
(click)
("The Lion Sleeps Tonight")
♪ In the jungle, the mighty jungle ♪
♪ The lion sleeps tonight ♪
♪ In the jungle, the quiet jungle ♪
♪ The lion sleeps tonight ♪
(vocalizing)
(laughter)
- I told the bank I can't repay the loan
until I get my tax refund.
Now they wanna repossess my camper.
- How much you need?
- Oh, Jim, I'm not asking you--
- No, no, no you got a
problem, you come to Jim.
How much do you need?
- 2200.
- 2200, that's nothing.
You come by the house tomorrow,
I'll give it to you in cash.
And you know, don't you worry about it,
you pay me back when you can.
- You're too generous, Jim.
- Ma, it's only money
and I got plenty of that.
I mean, look at this, Ma,
I made it to 40 years old.
I got everything.
A great family, a good job.
- You deserve it.
- I got more than that, Ma.
I got friends.
You just look around this room, Mom.
There's not a man in this place
who would not come to
me if he was hurting.
That's the important thing.
If you don't have friends
you don't have anything.
You know, I have not complaints.
No complaints at all.
Cheryl Pierson, get over here!
(50s pop music)
So you gonna dance with
your old man or what?
- (chuckles) To this?
- This?
This is my party, this is my music.
Better than the junk you kids listen to.
♪ Now some girls bop
and some girls swing ♪
♪ Some like pop more than anything ♪
♪ Some guys dance and some guys don't ♪
♪ Some have girls that say they won't ♪
♪ I know something they all could use ♪
Having a good time, huh?
- Uh-huh.
Yeah, it's a great party.
It's all for you.
- [All] One, two, three!
Yeah!
(applause)
All right!
- [Man] Happy birthday, Jim!
(Cathy coughing)
- [Jim] Eat your vegetables, sweetheart.
- Can I have some water?
- JoAnn, you know the rules.
You've got to finish your dinner first.
- Jim, why don't you
just let her have the--
- Cathleen, she cannot have any water
until she finishes her dinner.
- Hey.
I thought I told you to get a haircut.
- Well, I haven't had time, Dad.
I got a lot of other stuff to do.
- Don't talk back to me.
When I say get your hair
cut, you get it cut.
- Yes, sir.
- JoAnn, would you get me my pills?
They're in the kitchen on the table.
Thanks, honey.
(JoAnn sighs)
Cheryl's turned into a good little cook,
hasn't she, Jim?
- Certainly has.
So, who's gonna watch TV with me?
- I gotta go.
- What?
- I gotta go.
- What are you gonna do,
go out and hang around
with those jerk friends of yours, huh?
When are you gonna get a job, huh?
When are you gonna be a man?
Do I gotta support you
for the rest of your life?
(slap)
How 'bout you, sweetheart?
You wanna watch TV with your old man?
- Sure, Daddy, I just gotta do the dishes.
(moans)
- Cathleen!
Cathleen, what are you
on the booze again, huh?
Stumbling around like that?
What are our friends
and neighbors gonna say?
Come with me.
Come with me.
All right, now.
You're comfortable?
At least we got you out
of the hospital, huh?
(fire crackling)
(click)
- Thanks, baby.
'Night.
(train whistling on television)
- [Jim] Cheryl!
Leave the dishes, the movie's started.
- [Cheryl] Just a minute!
- [Jim] Come on!
(sighs)
- Lord, those who have died
still live in your presence.
And your saints rejoice
in complete happiness.
Listen to our prayers for Cathleen,
your daughter who has passed
from the light of this world.
(JoAnn softly crying)
Let us bow our heads, please.
- Cheryl, where did
Myles Standish come from?
- England, I think.
- How'd he get to America?
- On the Mayflower, I guess.
- So he was a pilgrim, too?
- Uh-uh, I think he just
helped them kill the Indians.
- Cheryl?
- What?
- How come Jimmy doesn't
live here anymore?
- Because Dad got mad
and said he had to leave.
- Why?
- I don't know, JoAnn.
Because he's got long hair,
because he wants to be a musician,
because he won't do as he's told.
You know as well as I do.
Come on.
Dad'll be home soon, finish your homework.
- You know what?
- What?
- I'm glad that you're my sister.
- Yeah.
Me too.
- I tell him two acres, upstate New York.
You can build on it, get out
of the city while you can.
So grateful, he says,
"Jim, I can't believe it,
20,000 dollars?"
- So, can I go to a
movie tonight with Rob?
Please?
- What time you be back?
- Dad, it's Friday,
it's not a school night.
- Yeah, I said what time?
- Well, we'll come home right after.
- Yeah, just make sure you do.
- So I can go?
- Yeah, I said you can go.
Just watch out for that
boy, don't get knocked up.
I got enough problems of my own.
(rock music)
(car doors shutting)
- Dad, I'm home.
Daddy?
Dad?
- Yeah, I heard ya, I heard ya.
So how was the movie?
- It was okay.
JoAnn.
You should be in bed.
- Nah, she was just watching
TV with her old man,
keeping him company, weren't you, Peach?
- You go to bed now.
- 'Night, Daddy.
'Night, Cheryl, 'night, Rob.
- [Rob] 'Night.
- 'Night, Cheryl.
- Hey.
Hey, he's not mad at you, what's wrong?
- Nothing.
- [Radio DJ] Be real careful.
You know at 6 in the morning,
icy conditions, 28 degrees,
people are banging each other like it's...
Like they're bumper cars out there,
so be real careful...
- Sweetheart, you awake yet?
Hey.
(slams) Hey!
Are you awake yet?
- I am now.
- Yeah, well you were
late for school yesterday,
I do not want you to be
late for school again.
Now, don't fall back to sleep again!
- [Cheryl] Okay.
- Okay.
Okay.
(rock music on radio)
(keys jangling)
(gunshot)
(dog barking in distance)
(crowd chattering)
(police radio chatter)
- [Cheryl] It was 6:15
and I was getting up
and I got to the door and
I saw him lying there,
so I ran out to see if he was okay.
- And then what happened, Cheryl?
- Well, he didn't talk or nothing.
He just laid there.
So I ran next door and screamed for help.
- And who came to help you?
- Big Mike.
He ran out and said Dad must have
slipped on the ice or something.
Then he called the ambulance.
Is my father gonna be okay?
- Didn't the officer tell you?
Honey, your father is dead.
- Dead?
My father's dead?
- Well, he had a cable
TV business on the side.
Invested in real estate,
bought and sold used cars--
- So that's where the money came from.
What else?
- People seemed to like the
guy, they felt sorry for him.
He was strict with his kids.
More so since his wife died last year.
He's been having real
problems with his son.
- My brother was a fine man.
Everybody liked him.
He was...
- Yo, Grandma, what's going on?
Hey, Rob.
Okay, folks.
Time to hit the road.
You all got homes to go to.
Come on.
That's the way!
All right, good job.
Here, this is yours, right?
All right.
(chuckles)
Cheryl, we got anything for dinner?
I'm starving.
- Don't you know what's happened?
- Yeah, I know, Aunt Marilyn.
I'm the boss now.
- "It is a great loss knowing someone died
that was so dearly loved.
He treated some people
like a brother or sister,
some people like a daughter or son.
Our Dad believed in telling
things how they were.
He was strong-willed, but soft-hearted.
He cared for a lot of
people as they cared for him
and he'll always be in our
thoughts in everything we do.
We truly believe he is
lying with my mother now
and is resting in peace
away from all pain.
He did a great job as a mother
and father this past year
and we all knew he tried his hardest
to comfort us through everything.
He was our best friend as well as our Dad.
We will miss him dearly,
but now we have to take one day at a time
and hope he will be proud.
And we believe that one
day we will see him again."
Thank you, Cheryl, for
these beautiful thoughts.
- [Detective] The old
man might be crooked,
that's all I'm saying.
- Well, you're wrong.
You got a hard working guy
who's devoted to his kids,
who's trying to make
it as a single parent.
- And who collects expensive toys
and loans money to anybody who asks him.
Big man in a small neighborhood.
But think about that house.
The pieces don't fit,
there's something missing.
- I don't see it.
- Look, his wife was sick for
years before she passed away.
But there's no girlie
magazines on the nightstand,
no women's phone numbers in his book.
He was 42 years old, he
didn't have a girlfriend?
- I don't see it.
- No, you don't wanna see it.
You really think the son did it?
- Look.
The kid has no money.
His old man's taken him
off the bank accounts.
A week before Pierson gets blown away,
he calls his lawyer to get
little Jimmy's name off the will.
That's motive.
I know the kid's involved.
I wanna bring him in.
(rock music)
(knocking)
(customers chattering)
- How you doing?
- Good, Jimmy, good.
Gonna be a hair dresser, are you?
- Well, my dad said to learn a trade
and I don't have to get mine cut.
So what's happening?
- We've got something
new on your dad's case.
- [Jimmy] Oh yeah?
- Yeah.
I'd like to talk to you.
- What about?
- Well, this isn't the greatest place.
You mind coming down to headquarters?
- So, what'd you come up with?
- I know who one of the murderers is.
- (scoffs) Oh yeah, who?
- You.
- Get outta here, I got
nothing to do with it.
- Ah, you're in it up to your neck.
- No way, man, not me.
- That's not what I hear.
- Well, you're hearing
wrong, because it wasn't me.
- Jimmy, if it wasn't you,
who else had a reason to kill your father?
- My sister.
Cheryl.
(knocking)
- All right, I'm coming!
Oh, it's ten after midnight.
(knocking)
(click)
Oh, hello, detective.
- Sorry to come by so late, Mrs. Pierson.
- Oh, as long as you're here,
you might as well come in.
- Thank you.
- Call me Mom, everyone
else your age does.
- Remember I promised I'd
find out who killed your son?
- Well?
- You're not gonna like
what I have to tell you.
Do you understand your rights, Cheryl?
All right.
Now, Rob told us most of it, but...
I'd like to hear it from you.
When did it start?
- When I was eleven.
- How did it start?
- Wrestling.
We'd just be wrestling around.
- [Detective] What would happen?
- He'd grab me.
- [Detective] Where did he grab you?
- He was my father.
He said if I told...
He had a blanket.
We'd watch TV, that's how
it started, no one saw.
- [Detective] Where was your mother?
- She was sick.
She'd be sleeping on the sofa.
I'd go in his room and watch TV.
I...
He...
- Cheryl.
Cheryl?
I know this is hard for you,
but you don't have to feel bad
because it's nothing we
haven't heard before.
When did he do this to you?
- At night.
Late at night.
- Where was your sister?
- [Cheryl] Asleep in her room.
- And your brother?
- Working.
Out working or sleeping.
(sniffles)
- Now, Cheryl, I have to
ask you this question.
Did you ever have
intercourse with your father?
- Yeah.
- [Detective] How old were you?
(sniffling)
- Thirteen.
(crying)
- Couldn't you have told someone?
- I didn't think anyone would believe me.
- Are you ready to go on, Cheryl?
- [Cheryl] I guess.
- Okay.
Tell me what happened.
(school bell ringing)
- Hi, Cheryl.
- Hi, Donna.
- Guess we really got creamed
in basketball last night, huh?
Cheryl.
Are you okay?
- I'm fine.
- Is everything all
right with you and Rob?
- Yeah.
Everything's great.
I gotta go, see you later.
- Okay, check out this part.
You quoted Beverly Wallace as saying,
"I hired the guys and paid 4,000 dollars
to have my husband killed."
And look at this.
She wanted her husband dead because
she was tired of his physical abuse
and urging her to become a
prostitute to raise money.
Pretty gross.
- Who'd be crazy enough to do that?
Who'd kill someone for money?
- I guess anybody would
if the money was right.
- Oh yeah?
How much money would you do it for?
- A thousand bucks.
- Sean Pica, you are charged
with second degree murder.
You are also charged with
second degree conspiracy.
How do you plead?
- Not guilty.
- Robert Cuccio, you are
charged with conspiracy
to commit murder.
How do you plead?
- Not guilty.
- Cheryl Pierson, you are charged with
second degree murder.
You are also charged with
second degree conspiracy.
How do you plead?
- Not guilty.
- Cheryl Pierson is more of a
victim here than a defendant.
She's been a virtual
prisoner in her own home
for the last five years.
Her father was a large
man, powerfully built.
She's a sixteen year old girl.
She did all the work around the house,
during her mother's illness
and after her death.
There was sexual
intercourse with her father
and one of her major concerns became
that it was beginning to happen
with her eight year old sister.
- This is very hard.
My son, Sean, is from a
family of police officers.
- [Reporter] How will you
pay the 100,000 dollar
bail for Sean?
- Mr. Gianelli.
How am I gonna find 50,000 dollars?
- We'll get the court to lower it.
- But how?
And why would they do that anyway?
- She's pregnant.
- What?
- She says it's her father's baby.
That should be enough to get her out.
- It was um...
A game at first.
Like a fantasy.
I never meant to kill him.
But she kept coming back,
yeah, over and over.
"Sean, when you gonna do it?
When, Sean?"
I didn't know why, but I
could see she was hurting.
And nobody else was gonna help her.
And I said I would.
- Then you got the gun from your buddy?
- Yeah, I got it from Mike.
- [Sean's Mom] Sean, I
don't want you hanging out
with Michael anymore.
I don't know what he's up to,
but I'm sure it's nothing good.
- Mom, I promised Mike I would help him.
You and Dad are always going
on about keeping commitments.
- Your Dad wouldn't know a
commitment if he fell over one.
- Hey, I tell you him
and Carry-Anne are trying
to buy a new house?
- Oh, well, good for them.
At least I'll know what he's up to.
Which is more than I can
say for your stepfather.
- Mom, that wasn't your fault.
Hey, listen, I gotta go, okay?
I won't be back late tonight, though,
because I'm gonna get
started on your new counters.
Mom, you gotta get some more sleep.
You're working too hard.
- (laughs) Well, somebody's
gotta support this family.
Well, at least I've got you.
- Yeah.
Goodbye, Mom.
- Bye, honey.
- Try them separately, Ed.
The boy committed the murder.
You've got his confession.
- [Ed] But she hired him, Paul.
She took 400 dollars from the safe
and paid him to kill her father.
- After five years of sexual abuse.
- [Ed] For which there
is no corroboration.
- The tests on the
bedding will prove that.
He had sex with her the
night before the murder.
Wait till we get the
sheets back from analysis.
- Then we'll see.
- The paternity test when
she has the abortion,
that will prove abuse, even to you.
Come on, Ed, give her a break.
- Like the break she gave her father?
Please, Paul.
You know damn well that
abuse isn't the issue here.
She paid to have her father murdered.
I mean, if we don't throw the book at her,
what are we saying to
those other kids out there
who are being abused?
That it's okay to blow away your parents
if they give you a rough time?
- A rough time?
A rough time?
He got her pregnant, he
beat the hell out of her.
- You only have her word for that.
Why didn't she call the cops?
The child abuse hotline number
is on page one of the phone book.
Why did she have to kill him?
- Because she was afraid of him.
And most of all, she was
afraid he was starting
on her younger sister.
- Who are you?
- I'm a doctor, JoAnn.
The kind of doctor who
talks about feelings.
Do you understand?
- I guess.
- In fact, I really came over to see you.
There's something we have to tell you
and it's sort of hard to say.
- What is it?
- Well, we found out that
Cheryl had something to do
with your father's being killed.
One of her reasons was because she says
your father did something to her that
fathers aren't supposed to
do with their daughters.
- You know how Mama and
Daddy said to tell them
if someone touches you
down there?
- No.
No, it isn't true!
Cheryl didn't kill my daddy!
- JoAnn, honey--
- My daddy would never!
- Well, of course he wouldn't.
- My daddy loved us!
- Should I go to her?
Or maybe you?
Do you think we did the wrong thing?
- No, it's better that
she hears about it now
than from her friends at school.
Give her a moment, let her have some time.
- This is my brother
Jimmy at his graduation.
And this is my sister, Cheryl.
And this is my grandma.
And this is Aunt Marilyn.
And here's my mom with my dad.
This is my family.
See?
Cheryl!
Oh, Cheryl!
Cheryl!
Cheryl!
Oh, Cheryl!
- I missed you so much!
- I missed you, too!
- You'll share Kim's room
and JoAnn will sleep with me.
- Okay.
Can I go see Rob now?
- I don't think that's a good idea.
- Well, just for a little while.
- [Marilyn] No.
- But I haven't--
- I said no and as long
as you're in my house,
you'll do as I say.
- My bosses are dead, Aunt Marilyn.
- And you're out on bail
for murder, remember?
Go put your things away.
I don't wanna hear another word about Rob.
- [Doctor] How did your
father feel about Rob?
- He put up with him.
He didn't like me going with him.
Rob'd come over and we'd
all just sort of sit there.
- Rob must care for you a lot.
- Yes, he does.
We're getting engaged after I graduate.
(laughs)
He told his parents.
- Did you tell your father?
- No.
- Tell me more about you, Cheryl.
What will you do when you leave school?
- I want a beauty shop, my own place.
With like a dozen stations.
And there'll be this part for kids,
you know with toys and
a merry-go-round horse.
Maybe a rocket ship for the boys.
You know, so the mothers can relax
while they're getting all fixed up.
- That's a wonderful idea.
I'm sure you'd do well.
What else do you think about?
- You know, getting married.
Stuff like that.
I want this big wedding
with all the bridesmaids in pink dresses
and me in all white with
a veil down to the floor.
And then after, we'll
have this mammoth party
with a band and everyone
I know will be there.
And then after the party, this
big white limousine'll come.
You know, the real big kind,
like a half block long or something,
with a TV and a bar.
And then we'll just get in and take off.
- Where will you go?
- Away, I guess.
(sirens)
- [PA] Dr. Kate Walker to the OR, stat.
Dr. Kate Walker to the OR.
- How are you feeling?
- It hurts.
Am I gonna lose the baby?
- Don't be scared, okay?
It'll all be over soon.
I'll be here when you come out.
Don't worry.
- She miscarried?
- She was bleeding some this morning.
The doctor said she should rest.
I was at social services all day.
There's all this paperwork.
I can't afford to
support Cheryl and JoAnn,
I've gotta get some money.
- You understand about the tests
they'll run on the fetus?
We want to establish paternity.
- It won't be my brother's
baby, I can tell you that.
I hate this place.
They brought Cathleen here
when she first got sick.
I used to watch my brother
like a man possessed,
he was so worried.
Thank God she's not here today.
(sigh) JoAnn's with the
neighbor, I've gotta go.
- The lab tests on the bedding
and clothing were negative.
Your client lied, Paul.
Her father didn't have sex with anybody
the night before he died.
Not in that bed.
- "Using the DNA probe,
kinetic markers were found
in the fetal tissue that were
not present in the mother
or the alleged father."
It was the boyfriend.
The baby's not Pierson's, it's Rob's.
- You bitch.
How could you say your
father got you pregnant?
You're a liar and a murderer.
- You wouldn't believe--
- Believe you?
How could I believe anything you say?
Do you have any idea what
you've done to this family?
You've destroyed it.
Everywhere I go people point and whisper!
- Everywhere you go?
What about me?
- Why did you murder my brother?
- Because she was pregnant, that's why.
And that's all.
- Grandma.
- [Grandma] Well, it's true, isn't it?
You were afraid to tell your
father you were pregnant,
so you paid someone to kill him.
- Yeah?
Well you know what?
I wish I woulda done it myself.
- [Reporter] Mr. Gianelli,
may I get a statement?
- Sorry.
- [Reporters] Mr. Gianelli!
- It's a cold September day
in Riverhead, Long Island.
A day of interest to all the
residents of Suffolk County,
because it marks the start
of the pre-trial hearings
of Cheryl Pierson and Sean Pica,
both indicted by a grand jury for murder.
- No, Mr. Gianelli, I see no reason
to separate the two cases.
- Okay.
Ed, what's the deal?
- You change to a guilty plea,
we reduce the charge to manslaughter.
Six years for Sean, two for Cheryl.
- [Judge] Well, I think that's a--
- No.
Cheryl doesn't deserve jail.
I'm holding out for a jury trial.
- Then, gentlemen, we
have to decide right now
whether to admit their
confessions into evidence.
Let's get on with it.
(keys jangling)
- You wanted to stay with us.
I can't have that sort
of thing here, Cheryl.
It's not right and it's not fair.
Look, I know none of this
is easy for you, honey,
but you gotta have some consideration
for me and Mike.
- Can I go now?
- No, you can't go now.
I want your promise you
and Robert are gonna
stop this nonsense.
- What's the big deal?
We're getting married.
- Well, you are not married yet.
And you are my responsibility, Cheryl.
Your mother would have a fit!
- You leave my mother out of this.
- [Alberta] Where you going?
- Out.
I'm not in jail yet, Alberta.
(door slams)
And Alberta keeps on about Mom.
Everybody hates me.
Except Rob.
- And me.
Yeah, and you.
You know, I just wish
that I didn't have to
keep talking about it.
(girls whispering)
- [Girl] God, do you
think she really did that?
That's so gross.
- I don't regret doing it, you know.
- Listen, there were times
that I wanted him dead, too.
(girls giggling)
(door slamming)
- So, he'd come and watch you?
- Yeah.
We did this cheer, you know, for the team.
- [Cheerleaders] Ready?
Okay!
Hey all you Newfield fans,
stand up and clap your hands.
(rhythmic clapping)
Now that you've got the beat
this time move your feet
(rhythmic clapping)
Newfield will never lose
'cause we can really move.
We got the power, we got the might,
we got the team that's here to fight!
Go Wolverines!
(cheerleaders exclaiming)
- Then what would happen?
- Then we'd come home.
I'd take a shower, you
know, and there he'd be.
- Where would he be?
- Right there in the shower with me.
- I believe she was sexually abused.
The Kossers believe it.
Even the cop who arrested her believes it,
but we don't have any proof.
And the thing that's
gonna hurt us the worst
is Cheryl herself.
- How so?
- She is so cold.
She's totally unremorseful.
- That coldness you're seeing
is how she coped, Paul.
She learned to push her feelings down
so that she could handle the
two lives she was leading.
She was a schoolgirl by day
and she was literally her
father's wife at night.
She had to separate those two in her mind,
that's how she survived.
I don't have to tell you about incest.
It's the best kept secret in America.
These kids live in silence inside.
They can't talk about it because
there is a part of them that
refuses to believe it's true.
- Like the family refuses
to believe it's true
and the neighbors refuse
to believe that it's true.
Somebody must have seen something.
(school bell ringing)
- I've known Cheryl since grade school.
We're not close like we were.
You know, people go in
different directions,
they make different friends.
I got really into--
- Diana.
Why did you ask to see me?
- Well, everybody's saying
that Cheryl's making up
that stuff about her dad.
I don't think she is.
When her mom was in the hospital,
I'd go over to her house
after school, you know, just to help out.
Her dad was weird, Mr. Gianelli.
We'd be in her room talking
and he'd yell at her
if she shut the door.
He'd follow her around.
I mean, she wasn't allowed
to go out by herself.
She wasn't allowed to wear makeup
or have any boyfriends--
- He was strict with her,
is that what you mean?
- It was more than that.
He taped her phone conversations.
If I called her, it was
when she was at the Kossers.
It was like he was jealous about her.
- But you never saw any abuse?
- Yes, I did.
Well, the results of it.
- What?
- It was on Valentine's
Day a couple of years ago.
(kids chattering)
- Okay, what about this boy, Glen?
- What about him?
- What about him?
I know what this boy wants
from you even if you don't.
I don't want you seeing him anymore.
- Yes, Daddy.
- "Yes, Daddy."
I bet you made him a Valentine.
I bet you got him a Valentine so he'll see
how hot you are for him.
- I didn't send him a card.
Honest, I didn't send any cards at all.
- (sigh) What's this?
What is this?
You are a lying bitch.
(crash)
Get out!
- [Student] Did you see what happened?
(door slams)
- He punched her in the face
for sending a Valentine's card?
- That's how possessive he was.
Like a lover.
Not like a father.
I knew something was going on.
- How did you know?
- I asked her.
I'll never forget her face.
She looked so lost.
It was like she wanted to tell me,
but she couldn't find the words.
I mean, I asked her if
something was going on
with her and her dad.
And she didn't say no.
(phone ringing)
- What's going on, Rob?
Mr. Gianelli says that--
- It's just a deal my lawyer
made with the prosecutor, baby,
that's all.
All right?
I agreed to testify.
They dropped the charge to
criminal solicitation, all right?
It doesn't mean anything.
- But you'll have to tell them.
- It's not like what happened
is a big secret, Cheryl,
I mean, Sean confessed,
he already told them.
- And you'll have to testify against me.
- Look.
First off, I'm nineteen, okay?
I'm not a juvenile, okay?
If they busted me for conspiracy,
I could go away forever.
Now that you changed your plea,
they're sure to give you
probation, baby, that's all.
All right, you'll be out, home free.
(sigh)
Hey, what good'll I be
to you if I was in jail
the rest of my life, huh?
- Time to go.
(reporters chattering)
- Excuse me, please.
- You're not gonna believe this.
She changed her plea to guilty.
- What?
- She and Pica are pleading
guilty to manslaughter.
They got cold feet.
- Because Rob turned state's evidence.
- Well, I guess Gianelli thought
it would be better for Cheryl.
I'll see you in court, Mom.
- Thank you.
You realize you're
giving up trial by jury.
- (softly) Yes.
- Speak up, please.
- Yes.
- Gianelli was worried about
her effect on the jury.
Thought it was too risky.
- I don't blame him.
- Consider the possibility of treating you
as a youthful offender.
If I sentence you, the
maximum will be six years
with a two year minimum.
You'll get no more than that.
- Around November 1985,
did you have a conversation
with Sean Pica?
- Yes.
- In that conversation, did you
ask him to kill your father?
- Yes.
- [Ed] Why did you want
him to kill your father?
- He was sexually abusing me.
(students chattering)
Sean?
- Yeah?
- What happened last night?
I thought that you were gonna--
- My mom had a bunch
of stuff for me to do,
I couldn't get out of the house.
- Please, Sean.
I can't take much more of this.
You're the only one that can help me.
- Okay.
- You understand you're
giving up trial by jury?
- Yes.
- I promised your attorney
I would consider giving you
youthful offender treatment.
The maximum sentence you would receive
would be 25 years in jail
with a minimum of eight and one third.
(sniffles)
Take a seat, Mr. Pica.
- Did you have a discussion
with Cheryl Pierson
in November 1985?
- Yes.
- Did she indicate that she
was being abused by her father?
- Yes.
- Sexually abused?
- Abused.
- And on the morning of February 5, 1986,
did you load that rifle?
- Yes.
- With how many rounds?
- Five.
(door opening)
- [Ed] Did you shoot James
Pierson in the back of the head?
(gunshot)
- [Sean] Yes.
- [Ed] Did you then approach the body
and shoot him some more?
- [Sean] Yes.
(gunshots)
- [Ed] And in school the next day,
did you receive payment of 400 dollars?
- Yes.
- From whom?
- Rob Cuccio.
- [Ed] And there came a
time when you requested
additional money?
- So, what'd you call about?
- Well, I did it, you know?
You guys still owe me 600 bucks
and the motorcycles.
- I don't have any money yet.
- Hey, give us a chance, Sean,
she can't just walk out
of there with two bikes.
- How about moving into
your dad's rental house?
My mom is driving me crazy,
I would sure like to
get a place of my own.
- Not yet, it's too risky.
Hey, we have to wait until
this blows over, okay?
- Okay, no problem.
Are you okay?
- Yeah.
Thanks, Sean.
- We gotta go.
- You've been Sean's psychologist
for almost a year now, right?
How would you describe the effects
of his parents' divorce on him?
- Well, most children blame themselves
when a marriage fails.
Subsequently, there was a
stepfather, as you know,
who also abandoned the family.
Sean witnessed the verbal and
physical abuse of his mother
and also experienced abuse himself.
- And the other two
doctors who examined Sean,
did you all come to the same conclusion?
- Our consensus was that
it is most probable,
psychologically and psychodynamically,
that Sean unconsciously
harbored enormous resentment
and negative feelings towards
his father and his stepfather.
Now, the transference of
that anger towards this--
- Yes.
But what does that mean?
- Well, Mr. Efman,
essentially what that means is
the man that Sean killed
was not Cheryl Pierson's
father at all, it was his own.
- Money was not a motivating factor
for what Sean Pica did.
This was not murder for hire.
He made a commitment to a friend
and he kept it.
- I have no messages to
send to society, Mr. Pica.
But I do have a message for you.
One that I hope you will think about
during your time in prison.
You are not being punished
for your loyal assistance
to a friend.
You are being punished for
asking for 1,000 dollars
and executing a man from ambush.
Sean Pica, having committed manslaughter,
I hereby sentence you to a
maximum of 24 years in jail
with a minimum eight year term.
(crying)
- Oh my god, oh, Joanne.
I'm so sorry, Joanne.
(Sean's mother crying)
- [JoAnn] May 13, 1987.
Dear Judge Sherman,
the reason I'm writing is
to let you know how I feel
and so you know the truth and not lies.
I was living at the house at the time
and I really didn't see anything.
Sometimes we'd watch
TV in my father's room
and sometimes we'd fall
asleep on my father's bed
and he'd go lay on the couch.
My sister often said my father was
always laying all over
me, but she's wrong,
because I saw my sister always
laying all over my father.
And sometimes she'd say,
"Oh, Dad, I love you."
Start hugging him and fooling
around with my father.
My father would catch my sister in lies.
My father knew she was a sneak.
But of course, my father
can't speak for himself.
If you think someone's making
me say this, you're wrong,
because I'm sitting here
on my lawn by myself
and writing how I feel.
Sincerely, JoAnn Pierson.
- Sure wish I could see you more often.
When all this is over,
you and Jimmy and me,
we'll get our own place
and then we can go out and we can have fun
whenever we want, okay?
- Cheryl, why'd you kill Daddy?
- Because he was abusing me.
And I didn't want
anything to happen to you.
JoAnn...
Why'd you write that letter, huh?
- Because I wanted to.
- Marilyn made you do it, didn't she?
I know she did, she's brainwashing you.
- I wrote it myself.
I wanted to.
- Don't you understand
that I did it for you?
To protect you.
I did it because I love you.
I didn't want anything to happen to you.
- I don't believe he
was doing what you say.
You tell lies to everyone.
Daddy loved us.
He was my father, too.
- JoAnn!
- I hate you, Cheryl!
I hate you!
- JoAnn!
It was in the car when me and my dad
went to see my mom in the hospital.
He touched me then.
- And how did you feel about that?
- At first it made me
happy because before then
he didn't even know I existed.
- Now, Cheryl, you said
that sexual intercourse
started when you were, let's see...
Thirteen?
- Uh-huh.
- [Interviewer] And what
were the usual circumstances?
- Mostly it was just touching, you know?
Like I'd touch him and stuff.
And then when Mom died, it
was like the whole thing,
like two or three times a day.
- Did your father use birth control?
(Cheryl and Jimmy scoff)
- Well, he knew when it was
safe and when it wasn't.
- And after you met Rob,
your father continued
the sexual intercourse?
- Yeah.
He said, "Pretend it's Rob."
(clears throat)
I hated it.
- [Interviewer] The probation
department finds Cheryl
unremorseful, totally dispassionate,
self-centered, and immature.
Although it seems likely
that she was abused,
it cannot be substantiated.
Further, we feel the defendant was aware
of possible alternatives available to her.
Acting in concert with her paramour,
she decided to pursue a course of action
which resulted in her father's murder.
(exhales)
- The witnesses will paint a vivid
and realistic picture of the life
Cheryl Pierson was living during the years
before her father's death.
- Your Honor, the prosecution
does not intend to contest
the defendant's claimed
incestuous relationship
with her father.
The only person who knows
that happened for sure
is the person who had her father killed.
We will hear from the police department
just how often incest is
reported in Suffolk County.
But why did she take someone's life?
Why was her situation special?
Why was it different from all the other
incestuous situations?
Why does she deserve probation,
a mere pat on the head?
- I thought Jim, uh, Mr. Pierson, that is.
I thought he was too rough on the kids.
Like at mealtimes, they
weren't allowed to talk.
And he was physically rough with them.
It would start with kidding around.
I mean, he pulled their hair and he'd say,
"What'd you say to me?"
And he wouldn't let up until
he heard, "I'm sorry, Daddy."
- [Gianelli] What else did you observe?
- [Alberta] Cheryl was
always in the bedroom
with her father, watching TV.
Cathy told me she wanted her out of there.
- [Gianelli] And uh, where would Cathy be?
- On the couch.
She even talked to Jim about it.
He accused her of being jealous.
Cheryl and JoAnn came over for dinner
and JoAnn up and says, "Cheryl
slept with Daddy last night."
- Did you suspect sexual contact
between Cheryl and her father?
- Yes.
- [Gianelli] Did you
go to the authorities?
- I did not.
But I didn't see anything,
how could I be sure?
I was afraid of Jim.
- If Cheryl Pierson had told you
that her father was abusing her,
would you have done something to help?
- Yes.
- What would you have done?
- Told my husband.
Taken her away to someplace safe.
- [Kosser] He was very crude.
Always smacking the children.
Pulling their hair, punching them.
- [Gianelli] Are you against hitting kids?
- [Kosser] No, I'm not.
- [Gianelli] Then what
upset you about this kind of
physical violence?
- I wouldn't want to be punched
the way he punched his son.
- Mr. Kosser, how did Mr.
Pierson act with Cheryl?
- He was always fondling her.
Rubbing her bottom.
- Did you ever consider
contacting the authorities?
- I didn't feel that I had enough proof.
I felt that I was the
one with the evil mind.
- Me and Cheryl were on the
phone and suddenly she says
she's gotta go take a nap with her father.
I told my mom and she
said to call the police.
I talked her out of it.
- Did you witness contact
between Mr. Pierson and Cheryl?
- Yes, he'd lift her over his head
and his hand would go between her legs.
- You told your mother?
And what did she do?
- Nothing.
- I went to the guidance
counselor at school.
I went twice.
The first time she was busy.
My father said to go
and speak to her again.
I told her I thought
something was going on
with Cheryl and her father.
- And what did the counselor say?
- She said, "I can't
take your word for it,
Cheryl will have to come
and see me herself."
- Why did you assume
something was going on?
- Her father was so possessive.
She couldn't talk on the phone.
He'd come to school and watch her.
He bought her all this expensive jewelry.
- So a father is concerned,
therefore we know sex is going on?
- Why did you think it was sexual?
- It wasn't normal.
- Of the many adults who have spoken here
in this courtroom today,
most suspected abuse.
But you are the only person
who took steps to help.
I admire your courage, my dear.
- Your Honor, if the
prosecution has no objection,
I'd like to call James Pierson Junior.
I realize he has been in
court through the proceeding.
- Mr. Jablonski?
- No objection.
- I think the court is more
interested in information
than procedure, Mr. Gianelli.
Call your witness.
- Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
- I do.
- You are James Pierson Junior?
- Yes.
- Mr. Pierson, what was
your physical relationship
with your father?
- He hit me, I got hit.
- Did he ever show physical affection?
- The only time was when
my mother passed away.
I could never please him.
- What about your mother,
could you please her?
- Yes, by not upsetting my father.
- What was your response
when Cheryl told you she
wanted her father killed?
- I told her to hang in there.
I had gone through the abuse
and she was going through it.
Next it'd be JoAnn's turn.
- [Gianelli] What sort
of abuse did you mean?
- Physical abuse.
- [Gianelli] And what did she say?
- She said that she would take JoAnn away.
That she couldn't leave her behind.
- All rise.
- Mr. Gianelli, call your witness.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
I call Cheryl Pierson to the stand.
Cheryl, what is your earliest
memory of your father?
- I'm on a black minibike and
he's teaching me how to ride.
- How old were you at that time?
- Nine.
- Now, while your mother's health was good
while you were young,
did there come a time that that changed?
- Yes.
When I was about eleven.
She was hospitalized a lot.
- And um, what would happen
when you went to visit her?
- My father and I would
talk and stuff in the car
and my head would be in his lap
and he'd touch my back and
rub my rear end
and make me sit close to him.
- How did that make you feel?
- I thought he was showing affection.
It made me feel happy.
- Miss Pierson, will you please speak up?
- I thought he was showing affection.
It made me happy.
- Did you ever consider
asking him to stop doing that?
- I asked him why he was touching me
and he said he touched
me because he loved me
and to never let anyone else touch me.
- Now, as you grew
older, did things change?
- Yeah.
He got more possessive.
He'd go in my room and
go through my pocketbook
and I was always saying, "I'm sorry."
And if I...
If I didn't...
Well, he'd get very tense and
pick a fight with my mother.
- And when you let him do what he wanted?
- He'd be calm.
Normal.
- Now, you heard Alberta Kosser describe
how she spoke to you
about your relationship
with your father.
Do you recall that conversation?
- Yeah.
Uh, she was in the kitchen with my mother
and I had come out to get my dad a soda.
(TV in background)
(Cathy sniffling)
- Cheryl.
Honey, you're too big to be watching TV
with your dad every night.
You should watch in your own room.
- Okay.
I did watch TV in my room
for a couple of days.
He got real mean.
"What's the matter, I'm not
good enough to watch TV with?"
Things got very tense in the house.
So I went back.
- Cheryl...
How did you deal with
the sexual situations?
- I just lie there.
He...
He breathed in my face.
(crying)
He'd just stare at me.
(crying)
I put a pillow over my face.
Until it was over.
I blocked it out.
- Did your father's
relationship with JoAnn change
after your mother died?
- Well, I'm in the
cheerleading team at school
and I'd go to games, I'd
come home and find her
watching TV with him like I used to.
- And what did you do?
- Well, it made me mad.
I'd tell her to go to bed
and then I'd go in his room.
- Cheryl...
Do you think your mother
knew what was going on?
- When she was sick
and he'd be with me,
I'd say, "I can't believe you.
Your wife is in the hospital in a coma
and you're here with me."
And he'd say, "Don't you
run guilt trips on me!"
(Alberta sniffling)
I figured...
If she was in Heaven,
she was probably watching.
(crying)
I figured she must be pretty mad at me.
- Mr. Gianelli, for the
last week we've listened to
seventeen witnesses.
We've heard about the
vulgarities, the gross
and abusive conduct, the intimidation.
We've heard from neighbors
and psychiatrists.
How much more do we have to listen to?
- Your Honor, it is my sense
that neither the court nor the prosecution
has yet accepted as fact the sexual abuse
of my client by her father.
I call William Everett to the stand.
- He's Mom's stepbrother.
- Raise your right hand, please.
Do you swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
- I do.
- Mr. Everett.
What was your relationship
to the late Cathleen Pierson?
- Stepbrother.
- When was the last time you saw her?
- In 1982 at my father's funeral.
- On that occasion, did
you have a conversation
with Cathleen?
- I did.
I was taking her to the hospital
and I asked her why all
of a sudden she needed
a kidney transplant.
She told me
her kidneys had deteriorated
because of the beatings
James Pierson had given her.
(spectators whispering)
- [Gianelli] What did you say to that?
- I asked her why he had beaten her.
She told me he'd been molesting Cheryl
and she'd confronted him about it.
She further told me he said
she had better say nothing more
or the next time the
beating would be worse.
(gavel banging)
- Mom knew?
- [Gianelli] Thank you.
(dramatic music)
(motorcycle speeding)
- Ah, you like that, huh?
- Yeah, can we go again soon?
- If you're good!
- I love you, Daddy.
- I love you, too.
- [Doctor] Some authorities
maintain that the children
of incestuous parents are
taught to be seductive.
It's their only way of getting
positive reinforcement.
- So it's a learned behavior?
- [Doctor] Oh, yes.
- How did Cheryl's
relationship with Rob Cuccio
impact on the household?
- It increased James
Pierson's fear of losing her.
Every time she returned
from a date with Rob,
her father would insist on having sex.
He might let them go to a movie together,
then he'd follow and sit
two rows behind them.
And as she saw more of Rob,
her father was alone more with JoAnn.
- In your opinion, Doctor,
did Cheryl have reason
to fear potential sexual
abuse of her sister?
- Yes.
In 40 percent of incest cases,
the perpetrator will start
to abuse the younger sister.
- The nightmare of this court, Doctor,
is that some other abused
fifteen or sixteen year old
is going to read about this case and think
murder is acceptable.
- Oh yes?
Well, my nightmare, Your Honor,
is the victim of an incestuous parent
thinking it's better
just not to say anything.
- When Cheryl Pierson goes to jail,
we'll be saying it's the wrong
thing to kill the abuser.
- [Reporter] Mr. Cuccio!
- Why haven't you granted
any interviews to the press?
- A statement for the
press, Mr. Cuccio, anything.
- Hey, Rob, how does it feel to be
testifying against your girlfriend?
Rob!
- After Sean got out of the
car, she told me who he was.
She said she'd been talking
to someone, you know,
I put two and two together.
- She'd been talking about what?
- About finding someone
to kill her father.
- And what did you tell her?
- Well, I told her it was crazy.
You know, no one in the
tenth grade could do it.
- You said she should get a professional?
- Yes.
- Mr. Cuccio, did you and Cheryl discuss
her getting her father's money?
- No.
No, money was never an issue.
- Your father testified
that you and Cheryl
will probably be getting married.
- Yeah, I hope so.
- Have you told any lies
here to help Cheryl?
- No.
No, I've told the truth.
- Thank you.
- Cheryl Pierson fits the profile
of a sexually abused child.
The last thing the District
Attorney's office wants
is to convict her of murder
and give her fifteen years to life.
James Pierson was a terrible father
and we would've loved to
prosecute him for his conduct.
But we never got the chance.
We never got the chance because
Cheryl Pierson was
prosecutor, judge, and jury.
She decided that another
life should be taken.
She arranged it.
For her to be given
probation will perpetuate
that kind of conduct in others
and that is why we are asking the court
to sentence her as an adult
pleading guilty to manslaughter.
The message of this trial must be
if you take the law into your own hands,
you will go to jail.
- Yes, taking a parent's life
is the most shocking thing
a person can do.
But what about events leading
up to the taking of that life?
What if they're shocking?
Cheryl Pierson's silence is terrible.
So was that of her mother.
Cathleen Pierson went to
the grave with her secret.
And left her daughter
to live a life of hell.
But the most deadly silence
is that of the community
in which Cheryl Pierson lived.
That is shocking.
Think of Cheryl during that last year
of James Pierson's life.
Think of the mixed
signals she was getting.
More freedom to be with Rob,
which resulted in more
contact between her father
and her little sister,
who she wanted to protect
more than anything.
Think of the pressure
of her boyfriend knowing
she was having sex with her father.
Think of that.
All this on a sixteen year old girl.
- The toughest thing for
this court to accept is
that there was help available.
It would've taken so little
for her to tell someone.
- Like Mr. Jablonski, Your Honor?
He wouldn't have believed her,
he'd have demanded proof.
Sir, we've heard police
department testimony
that in 1987 there were 356
reported cases of incest
in single parent homes in this county.
Not one report was made by a victim.
In asking you to not send
Cheryl Pierson to jail,
I would also ask that you consider
the kind of girl she is.
She's not a streetwise kid.
She's an immature, sheltered
girl of the suburbs.
At some point, she's gonna
have to put all this behind her
and get on with her life.
She did live through the
hell of Magnolia Drive.
And I suppose she could
learn to live through
the hell of prison.
But I'm asking the court to be merciful.
- [Woman] "I am an incest
survivor who was silent
for 35 years.
Silent in words and action,
but not silent in the rage
that lived inside me."
- [Young Woman] "As a desperate
and terrorized fourteen
year old, I seriously
considered killing my father.
I wanted to sneak up on him
in his sleep as he did me."
- [Man] "The real murderer is her father,
who seduced, violated, and
betrayed his child's trust.
There was no place and no
one for her to turn to."
(birdsong)
(melancholy music)
(reporters clamoring)
(spectators quietly chattering)
(inaudible whispering)
- No!
Oh no!
(crying)
- What, baby?
(crying)
- [Bailiff] All rise.
(Cheryl sobbing)
- Cheryl Pierson, approach the bench.
(crying)
Is there anything you wish to say?
- (weakly) I...
I...
I realize that what I did...
Was wrong.
I'm sorry.
- Is that all?
- (quietly) Yes.
- There are some things
that I want to say.
During the course of this proceeding,
I have received over a
hundred letters from people
urging me to be lenient with you.
Most were victims or
survivors of domestic violence
including sexual abuse and incest.
Many of them exhibited
great sympathy and interest
for what you suffered
and your need to escape.
Although, none of them
condoned the method you used
to end your plight
and nor do I.
The publicity and interest engendered by
your misfortune may produce some benefit
for other victims who seek a
way out of their unhappiness.
They must be made aware
of the many agencies
pledged to help the innocent.
Perhaps victims such as yourself
and friends of victims who
are aware of their condition
will be encouraged to
report to these agencies
and thus avoid the
consequences of the actions
which you took.
Cheryl Pierson, I hereby sentence you
to five years probation
and as part of that sentence,
you are to serve six
months in the county jail.
- Mike!
(spectators whispering)
(Cheryl sobbing)
(motor revving)
- In ancient Hebraic criminal law,
a daughter was justified
in killing her father
to prevent incest from taking place.
I believe Cheryl was the object
of frequent and repeated
acts of sexual intercourse
by her father.
But nowadays, help is
available for the victim.
Nobody has to do what she did.
- What was I supposed to do?
Tell someone?
(scoffs) Like Alberta?
I didn't want anyone else to get hurt.
I wish I could go home for Christmas, Jim.
I want to be with my family.
- We'll all be there when you get out.
Hey, you, me, and Rob, right?
- Right.
- Right.
- You know, for every day you're in here,
I tie another ribbon around
that tree across from the house.
I figure with good
behavior and time served,
it won't even make it to the first branch.
- Are we gonna be all right?
- Baby, the only thing I want,
the only thing I care about
is for you to be free.
(dramatic music)
(spitting)
- [Grandma] All I want to do
is wrap my arms around her
and tell her I love her.
God help me.
I want to kill her.
- [Marilyn] I'll never believe it.
It's her word against a dead man's.
- [JoAnn] I'm mad at
Cheryl for what she did,
but I love her 'cause she's my sister.
- [Ed] I didn't like wearing a black hat,
but Cheryl Pierson is not
the girl people think she is.
- [Gianelli] How could she have been?
I wanted to walk out of
that courtroom beside her.
Everyone failed Cheryl.
- [Alberta] I wish he hadn't had to die.
I wish I'd said something.
I wish somebody had said something.
(dramatic music)
(electronic tones)