CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015): Season 9, Episode 14 - Miscarriage of Justice - full transcript

I responded to a recovered missing
person's vehicle at the Orpheus Casino

When I oped the trunk,

I observed a rolled up carpet
with a large dark stain,

which appeared to be blood

Inside the carpet, I discovered
the body of Amber Jones

I also observed three gunshot wounds

One to the right shoulder

Two to the abdomen

The Medical Examiner was able to
recover all three of the bullets

They were nine millimeter caliber

Six lands and grooves
right hand twist



Consistent with the
following four firearms

A Ruger, Luger, Walther and Beretta

Dr Langston, did you recover
a murder weapon at the scene?

No

Has it ever been found?

No, the weapon is still missing

Can you tell us if the
defendant owns a gun?

Yes Congressman Griffin has one
firearm registered in his name

A Beretta 92

Were you able to compare

The congressman's Beretta
against the coroner's bullets?

No

Why not?

The congressman stated that
his gun had been stolen



So, he must've filed a police report?

The congressman claimed that he
didn't know his gun was missing

Until CSI asked him to produce it

LVPD

Drop the gun

Drop it

Drop the weapon now

Everybody stay down

Catherine

There was just one shot It
came from right outside the door

What happened here?

He had a gun He was
headed for the courtroom

I tried to get him to stop, but he just
looked at me and blew his brains out

I did not fire my weapon

That's Dominic Humphreys, the
congressman's Chief of Staff

The prosecution's key witness

And that is a Beretta 92

Congressman

Congressman, how do you feel
about Dominic Humphreys' suicide?

Why do you think he did it?

Dominic Humphreys was my friend

His death is not only a great loss
to me, but to the people of the state

Then why was he a witness
for the prosecution?

- That's all I want to say
- That's enough, no more questions

The only reason a guy eats his gun in
a courthouse is to make a statement

Bullet looks like a
through-and-through

A lot of times, you'll find the bullet
in clotted blood and brain matter

So, that's where you want to start

Nine millimeter hollow point

That'll get the job done

Nick, this was in his pocket

Looks like it's signed
by Dominic Humphreys

I'm the congressman's Chief of Staff

On that day
he called me around 5:00 and...

He said
"Oh, my God, Amber's dead

Please help me "

So, I drove to her house

When I got there, she was

She was on the kitchen floor

Dead

I saw that she was shot

There was a lot of blood So
much blood; it was everywhere

Just tell me what happened next

I asked him what happened and
he swore he didn't kill her

That he found her like that
he had just come over to apologize

And she was already dead

I believed him because
there was no gun

Then

I told him to leave

That I would take care of it

This was given in exchange
for reduced sentence

Counsel, obviously, this plea
testimony is no longer admissible

Mr Whitten can't
cross-examine a dead man

That doesn't preclu the people om
presenting the physical evidence

Your Honor, the congressman
just wants to clear his name

If the state's not going to
drop the charges

We'd like to proceed
as quickly as possible

Miss Willows, you said the suicide gun
might also be the missing murder weapon

How long will you need to confirm that?

Eight minutes? Eight hours?

Depends on how well
the bullets are marked

Plus, we are still
processing the crime scene

All right, then, I'll give
you till tomorrow morning

Got anything?

- Found fibers on your gun
- Where?

Bottom of the slide

The bottom of the slide is exposed only
when you're loading or firing the gun

Did you identify the fibers?

Uh, yes Blue-black
dyed wool cashmere blend

Dominic Humphreys was wearing a
khaki suit when he shot himself

So, they're not from the suicide

Fibers must've got caught in
there some time before that

Which means that if this is
the gun that killed Amber Jones

And you can match those fibers
to the congressman's clothes

We've got a slam dunk
So, get the gun to Ballistics

I'll get a search warrant

Vic left the keys in the ignition

I wouldn't call a suicide a "vic"

All I'm saying is, he
knew he wasn't coming back

This must've been the
last thing he looked at

Which makes him even more selfish

If he really loved her, he
wouldn't have killed himself

My husband was convinced he
was going to die in prison

He was terrified He...
wrote a will

Took out life insurance

I should have seen it coming

Why? Did Dominic talk
about what was going on?

No He just kept talking
about what he had lost

How his life was over

Dom graduated top of
his class fr law school

He wanted to change the world

They were going to do it together

He idolized Edward

So, you'd say the congressman
was more than just his boss?

He would've done anything for that man

I blame him
This is Edward's fault

Mrs Humphreys

Did your husnd ever say anything about
Amber Jones, talk about the murder?

No

- Did you know your husband had a gun?
- No

If it had been in the house,
I would've known about it

Fire two

Gun's registered to the congressman
It's his missing Beretta

This is the gun that killed Amber Jones

Humphreys said there
was no gun at the scene

He lied under oath

"Dear Edward, I'm sorry

"Sorry I wasn't a better man

Sorry that I put you through this "

"I was just trying to protect you

Amber was going to
destroy all our dreams "

"That's why I I shot her

I killed Amber Jones "

"Forgive me

Please tell my wife that I love her "

What does that say about
my conclusions?

The ones I testified to in court
that are part of the public record?

There's nothing wrong
with your conclusions, Ray

They were based on valid,
scientific investigation

And they were signed off
by me, your supervisor

But Humphreys had the gun He confessed

My experience as a doctor
tells me, Catherine,

that people tend to tell the truth
when they know they're going to die

Humphreys lied under oath

And his confession is just words

And the gun is equivocal

I mean, we know that he
cleaned up the crime scene

Maybe the gun was there,
too, and he lied about that

Or maybe he stole it from
the congressman's apartment,

killed Amber with it, and the
congressman is telling the truth

Well

The ADAis moving
forward with the case

They haven't declared a mistrial?

The judge is going to allow
the jury to...

Hear about the gun as well as
Humphreys' suicide confession

Which means I'll be back on the stand

Ray, you testified that congressman
Griffin was the most likely suspect

Which was true based on the
evidence that we had at the time

And now, we have new evidence

And when the evidence changes, we
modify our theory to make it fit

All right

What's our theory now?

I don't know yet

Dr Langston, I want to
revisit the autopsy results

The defendant claims he never
had intercourse with Miss Jones

Did you find any
evidence to the contrary?

Objection Leading

Sustained But the witness
may answer the question

Yes

We discovered that the victim
had occluded fallopian tubes

Our tests confirmed that Miss
Jones had advanced chlamydia

Because chlamydia is highly contagious,

It provided us with a method
to confirm

Whether or ot there had been
sexual contact

The congressman tested positive for the
same strain of chlamydia as the victim

Which means he lied again

- Objection
- Withdrawn

There were dark fibers
found in the gun slide

No match to what Humphreys was
wearing when he killed himself

So they could be from
Amber Jones' shooter?

That'll be a good thing to
know before the trial's over

We searched the
congressman's apartment before but

We weren't looking for fibers

The judge has limited this
warrant to just his clothing

One of his attorneys
will be there for you

Great So, I get a baby shark
as a chaperone That'll be fun

Let me guess, I get the suicide closet

No lawyer Just the widow

I'd rather have the lawyer

Nick

This is going to take a while

Well, we don't have a while
Langston is back on the stand

So, you got some fresh eyes on this one

Could Dominic Humphreys
have killed Amber Jones?

Let's start with opportunity

Did he have time to kill her?

We've only got approximate TOD
We found her body on a Saturday

And she died someti Wednesday

Okay, here's what I got Amber's
last phone call was at 10:07

She called in sick to The
Tassel Room She's a dancer

Now, phone records also confirm that
the congressman called Humphreys

At 5:03 PM, and the call lasted
three minutes

And according to both men

The congressman made the call
after he discovered Amber's body

I need your help

No, Amber's dead Oh, my God

I'm at her house What do I do?

That puts TOD sometime
between 10:07 AM and 5:03 PM

Humphreys was at a high school
with the congressman from 9:30 AM

until noon

Okay, and then, he chaired a
hearing from 2:30 till 5:00

He has no alibi from noon to 2:30

He claimed he went to lunch Alone

Well, then he had plenty
of time to kill her

So, how much do they pay
you to stand in a closet?

I get it, they don't pay you to talk

What the hell is going on here?

This is harassment

Ma'am, I gave the search
warrant to your attorney

I'm here looking for evidence

You don't have enough evidence?

Well, you're not going to find anything
here because my husband isn't guilty

Ma'am, if you don't let me
do my job

I'm going to have to get
a uniform to remove you

From my own apartment?

You people never stop

You've already destroyed our
lives Haven't I lost enough?

I'm all done here, Mrs Humphreys

Thank you for your cooperation

Do you think Dom killed her?

Please

My husband's already dead

I need to know

Look, I'm sorry, I can't
talk to you about the case

No one will talk to me

Not the police, not my friends

They don't know what
to say, what to think

My advice, get out of this house

Go stay with your family

Dom was my family

On the news, they said there was a note

What did it say?

He said he loved you

Did he say why?

- Mrs Humphreys
- Please

You don't understand

Actually, I do

Your husband's note
whatever it says, it's...

It's not going to take away
your doubts or your questions

Some people just can't be saved

Dr Langston, you testified that

You discovered Miss Jones
was killed in her kitchen

Now, how did you
figure that out again?

I searched for latent and cleaned
up blood stains using luminol

Thluminol revealed a torso-shaped
blood pool that was on the floor

And had recently been cleaned up

It also revealed

High velocity blood spatter on the walls
that was consistent with a gunshot

Thank you, but I'm not interested in
that right now Let's move on, shall we?

Now, you testified you found

One fingerprint from my client
Where did you find that?

I found the congressman's print

On the tilt rod of the blinds
covering the front window

Now, wasn't that in the living room?

But the murder happened in the
kitchen, so aren't the two unrelated?

Which question would
you like me to answer?

Can you tell the jury

what chemical you used to determine
when my client touched the tilt rod?

- There isn't one
- There isn't one

So are you saying that that one print
proves my client pulled the trigger?

No, but it does prove he lied

Until I found that print, the ngressman
denied he was ever in the house

Okay, Humphreys admitted cleaning up
the scene, but why a casino parking lot?

Why would Humphreys dump Amber's body
there? He had to know about surveillance

I mean, that's how
you caught him, right?

He was setting up a fall guy
Figured it was worth the risk

Humphreys was trying to frame Amber's
stalker ex-boyfriend Tommy Ruby

He's a limo driver at the casino
Now, he was our prime suspect

But we couldn't talk to him He
blew town right after the murder

How did Humphreys know about him?

Because Humphreys helped Amber

To file a TRO against Tommy
a few weeks before she died

All right, I get the picture

Humphreys was the
congressman's little bitch

One of Humphreys' jobs is party
planning for the congressman

The night before Amber died,
Humphreys called her up

Amber, he wants to see you

Get over here as soon as you can

Get this- the congressman keeps
two apartments in his building

One is for him and the Missus,
the other is for "entertaining"

So we know they had a date that
night, buit wasn't all fun and games

I mean he even admits
they had an argument

Now he claims he got
so drunk he passed out

But he saw her
trying to steal his wallet

So he hit her so hard
he split her eye open

Which he only owned up to

Because Langston
found Amber's blood in the apartment

Now, Humphreys drove her to the
emergency room, and he signed her out

He did everything the
congressman asked him to do,

so if the congressman ordered
Humphreys to kill Amber,

then why did he show up at
her house that afternoon?

He wouldn't

So, killing Amber is all Humphreys' idea?

Is that what we're concluding?

Are you familiar with a suicide
note left by Dominic Humphreys?

Yes

But I can't testify to it, because
I I didn't process the scene

No, that's right You're
still a rookie, aren't you?

That has nothing to do with it

I'm handing you a copy of the note
which is marked as defense exhibit M

Allow me to summarize the contents

Mr Humphreys confessed to
the murder of Amber Jones

Now...

Didn't you testify that my client was
the most likely suspect in her murder?

Yes, I did-
however

You still stand by your own conclusion?

In light of the new evidence

Yes or no?

No I can't

All right, settle down, quiet

Thank you

hello, Matty

My name is Ray, Ray Langston

I know Seen you on the stand

You're a very brave girl, you know

I think your mother would
be very proud of you

I'm not even sure who my mom really was

She always used to say she was

a real dancer, an artist

First, she dies, and then I
find out she's full of crap

She was just a stripper

Well, whatever the truth is
about your mother's life

She didn't deserve to die

You must be hungry
Would you... care for this?

Oh, no

Really, I can get another one, i
probably shouldn't be eating this anyway

My stomach's upset

How long have you had
that rash on your arm?

I don't know, a couple days

May I see if you have a fever?

Just need to touch your neck

I'm a doctor-
it's okay

Matty, I'm going to ask you a question
and i apologize if it seems a bit awkward

Um, have you noticed that you
haven't been urinati a lot lately?

I'm not like my mother

I don't have any diseases

I know, I know, but I think
you may be very sick

We should get you to a
hospital as soon as possible

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, my man

Bad idea to get in a bar fight when every
cop in the county is looking for you

I've been out of town

All right, I just got back yesterday

Look, I just stopped by the
club to say hey to my girls

The Tassel Room

Amber Jones was one of
your girls- remember her?

You left town the day she was murdered

Kind of makes you look guilty

Yeah, but they caught
the guy that shot her

That, uh the congressman

Look, I didn't do nothing

You were stalking her

That's her side of the story

According to Amber's daughter

you were parked outside her house
the day before her mother was murdered

Amber filed a temporary
restraining order against you

She was afraid for her life

Leave my mom alone

You're not supposed to be here

I'm calling the cops and
getting your ass arrested

Matty's got it all wrong

All right, I was just
trying to make amends

See, I'm in the 12-step program

Making amends is part of my recovery

Okay, I'm on step nine

Oh, I think you missed a couple of
steps there, Tommy, 'cause you're drunk

You smell like a brewery

Can't walk in a straight line

I took Amber's death really hard

All right, it set me back

I never got a chance to tell her that
I truly forgave her for ruining my life

you're either a stalker

Or you're the best eyewitness ever

What's it going to be?

Oh, that's easy

What do you want to know?

When was the last time you saw her?

The day after her kid kicked
the crap out of my limo

I was in between pickups

And she received
a package from Worldwide

World-Send

That's when I saw her

She looked like hell

She was always such a tease

Got a kick out of making guys want her

It was 4:01 PM

I remember, because I got
a call from my dispatcher

I had to bounce
'cause I was running late

That's the last time I saw her

what about me? Can I go?

No

You're not going anywhere

What do you think?

Well, we never found
a World-Send package,

but we didn't process the house
until four days after the fact

If we can confirm that she
got a delivery just after 4:00,

that narrows the TODto
between 4:00 and 5:00

That means that Dominic
Humphreys didn't kill her

Brings us back to the congressman

Amber Jones was a single mom

Struggling to support
her teenage daughter

Congressman Edward
Griffin is a married man

He seduced her

Took advantage of her

He admits being physically violent

And when Amber became a liability
to his marriage and his career

He murdered her

The defense would have you believe that
Dominic Humphreys committed this crime

After all, Mr Humphreys confessed
to it before taking his own life

But that's another lie
in a giant web of lies

The evidence proves beyond
a reasonable doubt

That Mr Humphreys had an alibi
and could not have killed Amber Jones

The defendant needs to be held
accountable for his actions

Find him guilty

Amber Jones lost her
life, and that's a tragedy

But she's not the only victim here

My client lost his life, too

Now, this man is not perfect

He had an affair

He and his wife have dealt with that
privately, and she's forgiven him

But I'm going to tell
you what really happened

My client went to Amber Jones' house

to apologize for losing his
temper and to end the affair

He found her body

And that's when he made a mistake he
will regret for the rest of his life

He didn't call 911

He called Dominic Humphreys

He made a mistake

But he's not killer

Well, your suspicions are correct

Matty was being poisoned

Boric acid

50 micrograms per milliliter

ALT levels over a 1, 000

BUN levels 86

Her kidneys are shutting down

Based on the level of organ damage

I'd say that she's been
ingesting it for about eight weeks

Do you know the source?

Not yet

You're putting her on dialysis?

That's about all we
can do at this point

Can you tell me if there is
a permanent organ damage?

Not yet

- Thank you
- Okay

How's Matty?

She'll live, but they haven't
ruled out permanent damage

Langston

I found trace levels of boric acid
in Amber Jones' blood and organs

Consistent with a one-time dose

Well, low levels don't
rule out chronic poisoning

Right, the only way to confirm
how long she was being poisoned is

- Through hair analysis
- And the only way to do that is

For us to get some of her hair

I'll get a warrant to exhume the body

I think Amber was the target and
her daughter was collateral damage

Well, if poisoning was
the weapon of choice

Why change weapons
and shoot her?

All right, let's say I'm the killer

I decide to poison Amber

She doesn't die, so I panic

And I shoot her

Okay

Amber's been dead eight weeks

Yet her daughter is still
being exposed to the poison

So the source has got
to be in their house

Got to be hard to sleep in the same
house where your mom was killed

Well, they say kids are resilient

Nobody's that resilient

She's probably blaming herself

Voice of experience?

Boric acid can be ingested
or absorbed through the skin

I'm gonna go check out the
shampoos and body washes

All right

Is Riley all right?

I think this whole
case has, uh, hit a nerve

Well, she's not shy

If she wanted to talk
about it, she would

Source of the poison has to be something
that's been around for at least two months

I'll start with any open items

We have a winner

Looks like somebody tampered
with their drink mix

Purchased at Skadden Pharmacy

Well, it looks like she usually
shopped at Nathan's Market

You don't buy food at a pharmacy

Unless you're there
picking something else up

Hey, did you find
any, uh, prescription meds?

Just an antibiotic and a hydrocodone

You got something?

Yeah

This prescription was filled the
night before Amber was murdered

Thank you

David, would you hand
me a rubber band, please?

Yeah

Thank you

I'll get this to Henry stat

Matty looks just like her mother

Did you note this at autopsy?

If I had, no way I would
have cut through it

It must have developed later

Embalming fluid can
enhance discoloration

Contusion had to have
occurred perimortem

Otherwise, the bruise would
have blossomed earlier

It's a shoe impression

Jury, have you reached a verdict?

Yes, Your Honor, we have

Will the defendant please rise?

"In the matter of State of
Nevada v Edward Griffin, "

"we the jury find the defendant
guilty of murder in the first degree "

Settle down

Quiet

Please remand the
defendant into custody

We're live at the
courthouse, where, just moments ago,

Congressman Griffin was remanded
into custody

After he was convicted
in the murder of local resident Amber

Oh, we got a conviction
Jury came back quick

Well, this case isn't over yet

I called the pharmacist at Skadden's

On the night before Amber died

The emergency room doc
called in two prescriptions...

An antibiotic and a painkiller

They were picked up and paid
for by Dominic Humphreys

Well, he took her to the ER
and then drove her home

Yeah, but the meds weren't
the only thing he picked up

Check it out

Bandages, medical tape, antibiotic
ointment, energy drink mix

Crackers, soup, roach poison?

Humphreys was the one
trying to poison her?

And then the congressman
decided to shoot her?

That's what it looks like

Obviously, he didn't care that
he poisoned her daughter, too

We found new evidence
on Amber Jones' body

You got to be kidding me

Shoe impression bruise

Developed after the embalming

Its only seven inches long

Well, it has to belong to the killer

Can't be the congressman's

Seven inches- that's
got to be female

The only female with access to
the murder weapon is Mrs Griffin

Did the wife have an
alibi from 4:00 to 5:00?

I remember Mrs Griffin telling Brass

That she was in bed
recovering from a miscarriage

Her hormones are already
in overdrive

And then she catches
her husband cheating

She might have caught
more than that

Amber gave the congressman
chlamydia

I think he gave it to his wife

Chlamya can cause a miscarriage

Well, that's one hell of a motive

This bruise is not specific
enough to identify the shoe

No, but we can get a
warrant for her clothes

Maybe we can match the
fibers from the gun slide

Call the ADA

Let her know that she won't
be taking tomorrow off

All right

We found these gloves in your closet

Blue-black dye, wool and cashmere blend

It proves you killed Amber Jones

You two need to watch the news

Her husband was just found guilty

Hey, I get it

You lost your baby because he
couldn't keep it in his pants

Your husband's conviction will be
overturned That's the good news

The bad news is, unless you talk
to us, you'll be the one on trial

You don't have to say
a word to these people

I can't go through this again

I had just come back
from seeing my doctor,

and I needed to talk to my husband

But he wasn't home

I saw his wallet on the dresser

That meant he was downstairs

He had cheated before

But when he ran for
office, we made a deal

He could look, but not touch

I'm the one who hit the
little bitch, not him

But you didn't stop there, right?

The next morning

my doctor called and told me

I had chlamydia

That's what killed my baby

I'm 40 years old

We had been trying to get
pregnant for over three years

It was my last chance

My last chance to be a mother

Then I I found my
husband's cell phone bill,

and I just started calling
numbers until I found hers

Do you want something to drink?

Yeah, thank you

I told her I was there to apologize

That I'd been thinking
about it all night

No

Please Please don't kill me Please

Please I have a daughter

Because of you, my daughter is dead

So you left, but you forgot the gun?

You figured Dominic would
clean up after you, too

No, Dominic didn't
know anything about it

He would never help me

He always thought I was a
liability to my husband's career

So when did your husband
realize that you killed Amber?

As soon as you told
him his gun was missing

You have an STD

You should go to the doctor

I don't know

I would have killed him, not her

All right

Matty's going to be all right

No permanentamage

Glad to hear it

Ray

You deserve this

Thank you, Catherine

Talk about baptism by fire

Yeah, but you made it through it

You never quit

Do you think she really
dropped the gun?

Or do you think she left
it there to frame him?

My money's on the frame

I think she dropped it

Heat of the moment

Or maybe both things are true

She accidentally dropped the gun

And then decided
to leave it there to punish him

Well, we'll never know
But what we do know...

Ray got it right

Yeah

Ray had a lot of help

Yeah, cheers

A lot of help

Teamwork

Makes the dream work