Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 2, Episode 2 - The Wages of Love - full transcript

Narrator:
In the criminal justice system,
the people are represented

by two separate yet
equally important groups...

the police
who investigate crime,

and the district attorneys
who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

They want all cops
to live in the city.

On our salaries?

I don't think
this is beef, man.

(man speaking Chinese)

Somebody didn't want
to pay for dinner.

It's too greasy.



Officers, please...

Restaurant bills,
we don't get involved.

- Go to Small Claims court.
- No, no.

Downstairs, I push buzzer.
No answer.

Lady walk out,
I walk in.

They owe $26.

I very sorry I come in,
but $26!

(speaking in Chinese)

I no touch anything.
I no take anything.

Tell him to shut up.

(theme music plays)

The order was
called in at 9:05,

and the delivery boy
found them at 9:40.

- (fly buzzing)
- Close the door.



- Cop: It's the smell.
- The flies'll come in for the blood.

Close the door.

Well, silver, jewelry,
cash... untouched.

Here's a Con Ed bill...
"Mr. And Mrs. Edward Cullen."

Young wife?

Eh... I don't know.

Four closets with his clothes,
one closet with hers.

No wallet, no purse,
no credit cards?

Come on.

It's the strangest marriage
I've ever seen.

Cop:
Excuse me. Easy there, ma'am.

The two of them?

What... what did you say?

Ed and Melanie...
they're getting divorced.
She doesn't live here anymore.

Is she blonde, about 30?

Blonde, but if Melanie's 30,
I'm Vanilla Ice.

Who?
It wasn't the wife.

You know where
we can find Mrs. Cullen?

We were... we were
separated for 15 months.

That doesn't mean
that I stopped loving him.

Cerreta:
Take your time.

We just want to find out
who did this.

Did your husband
have any enemies?

You know... I mean,
in business or anything?

Eddie owed people money,

but not enough
for somebody to kill him.

Your husband, Mrs. Cullen,

when's the last time
you saw him?

Three...

four...

months ago.

With the lawyers.

Not a friendly divorce?

It was amicable.

People change.

Did you know
your husband's friend?

She was blonde, about 30.

A woman was shot
with your husband...

in the bedroom.

Huh-uh.

Could you tell me what you were
doing tonight, Mrs. Cullen?

I was married to him
for 25 years.

Do you think
I could shoot him?

I was here...

with Jamie,
our... my son.

He went home
a half hour ago to study.

Would you give us
his address?

Do you mind
if I call him first?

Let me tell him
his father's dead?

Of course.

Everybody liked him.

Cerreta:
Construction is not always
a friendly business, Jamie.

Are you saying my dad
was some kind of gangster?

Why would anybody
kill him?

You work with your father?

Yeah.

Um...

I'm putting up frames.

He wanted me
to get into law school.

Course for the law boards.

Who was your
father's girlfriend?

I didn't know
he had a girlfriend.

You guys had
to tell my mother?

You were with her tonight?

I have...

dinner with her
a couple times a month.

She still
can't get used to...

living alone.

So when'd you leave her?
About 10:00, right?

About 11:00.

I guess it's...

I guess it's your job,
thinking these things, you guys,

but it's crazy.

My mother wouldn't
kill my father.

Six slugs.
Talk about "coitus interruptus."

- You bring me a.38?
- It's out there somewhere.

Only 7-800,000
of them around.

You're looking for an old one,
heavy rifling.

Run Melanie
and Edward Cullen.

Done.

No registrations...
New York, Connecticut,

Jersey and Pennsylvania.

She does card tricks, too.

Try this trick... go through
every.38 slug you got,

and if that doesn't work,
start with our friends in Hoboken

and Long Island City
and work your way east and west.

Sure, but it's a big haystack.

The wife and the kid
may be telling the truth.

Yeah... or the kid's
lying to cover for her.

Or she's lying
to cover for him.

Or maybe they got up
after the lasagna

cabbed it to 73rd Street

and whacked
the "happy couple" together.

You know, we do have
a few other people in this town.

Have you considered
anybody else?

There's no mob angle,
because as you know,
they use.22s, not.38s.

So? What, you figure Cullen
got up at a delicate moment,

let the killer in and then
hopped back in the sack?

I figure
"somebody" had a key.

Phil, I know
it looks obvious,

but before we sentence
the wife, remember we do
have two victims here,

and one of them is still
wearing a tag on her toe...
"Jane Doe."

Maybe she had an enemy.
Maybe she had a name.

Middle-age guy
has a babe like that,
he spreads the news.

Ask at the office.

I always told Ed,
"Stick to your core business...

residential in Queens,
commercial in Manhattan."

No, he wants to do condos,
First Avenue.

- Cerreta: You his partner?
- Sales manager.

And I know what sells.

He wants to leave Melanie,
I said, "She's Brooklyn,
you're Brooklyn. That's your core."

- You think it was the girlfriend?
- No, she came later.

You know, mid-life crisis,
business goes bad,
he wants a divorce,

he cons Melanie
into moving out,

promises he's gonna
sell the apartment.

This dead boss of yours
sounds like a real charmer.

What, only bad guys
leave their wives?

Every guy who knew Ed Cullen
thought he was terrific.

Alexandra Beckett...
what, is that with two "T"s?

One or two. I never met her.
He kept her mostly secret.

You happen to know
where she lived?

No, but she worked
at Christie's.

Woman: Oh God.

It's Alexandra.

This was her big sale.

Could we go downstairs?

Yeah, sure.

Cerreta:
Did you know
her boyfriend?

Mm-hm.
Doug Phillips.

How many boyfriends
did she have?

Oh, you mean Edward.
You said "boyfriend."

She broke up with him
when she started seeing Edward.

In other words, she
traded in a boy for a man?

He... Doug...
dropped out of Wharton,

dropped out
of Yale Architecture.

Edward was solid.
He knew what he wanted.

What he wanted
was Alexandra?

He adored her.

Doug must've been thrilled.

He have a temper?

Oh no... no, no.

Doug would've never
have killed Alexandra.

But he might've
killed Cullen.

There... there was a scene...
in a restaurant...

With Cullen?

Edward was there
with Alexandra at "Vincenzo's,"

and Doug walked in... drunk,

and he punched him.

P-H-l-L-L-l-P-S.

First name "Douglas."
Run him for his prints, will you?

And his phone.
Message unit detail.

- Bobby, Bobby, get a subpoena
for his MUDs, all right?
- Bobby: Gotcha.

Usage details.

Phillips called his girlfriend's apartment
and Cullen's apartment... 50 times.

There's no gun registered
to Phillips in New York,

and there's no match yet
on the slugs.

Yeah, but he
called Cullen's apartment
the night of the murder.

Yeah, keep checking
the other states and keep
looking for a match.

The kid had
an altruistic phase.

Taught public school
one summer.

So you got his prints?
They match a set
in Cullen's apartment.

Let me see that.
You're welcome.

And may I suggest
a search warrant?

Cerreta:
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

I didn't kill her.
I wanted to marry her.

Did she want to marry you?
What was she doing at Cullen's...

shopping for her trousseau?

Are these yours?

Hers. Spares.

She was my girlfriend.
She used to sleep here.

We'd like you to come
down to the precinct,

just to ask a few questions.

I'm going to call
a lawyer.

So he slugged him, once,
weeks ago. That's not murder.

He was a sleaze
in a thousand-dollar suit.

With a nicer apartment
than yours.

Alexandra had
a weakness for older men,

which is a joke,
if you know her father.

What are you saying here?
Am I a suspect?

Hey, listen,
everybody's a suspect
until they're cleared.

But let's just say you didn't
kill Cullen, all right?

Have you ever been
in his apartment?

Uh, once.

A cocktail party with Alexandra
four or five months ago.

He was trying
to get on the board
of a dance company.

Pathetic.

They wanted his money
and his view.

Your girlfriend liked
a lot more than the view.

Hey... up yours, pal.

- Do I have to take this crap?
- Cerreta: Nice work...

bait him, calm him down,
rev him up again.

Logan:
Did you talk to Alexandra
the night she was killed?

I was home.

You call anybody?
Anybody call you?

You called Cullen's apartment
an hour before he died

and the call lasted... six minutes.

Not another word. Let's go.
That's it. Interview's over.

You charge him
or you let him go.

(sighs)

Prints, motive,
opportunity.

Those prints could've
been five months old.

- Or 96 hours.
- How did he get in?

Kid had a key
to the girl's apartment,
she had a key to Cullen's...

I'm figuring "one
plus one equals two."

The girl was shot first.
He's gonna kill him, he'd
pop the guy first.

Come on.
He's angry enough to shoot her
but not enough to shoot her first?

- I wish we had a gun.
- I wish I had a girlfriend
named "Lola."

(chuckles)

What do you think,
Counselor?

We've gotten indictments
on a lot less.

They don't sell hot guns
at Brooks Brothers.

I am telling you, this twerp
wouldn't know where to get one.

Come on, Phil, even rich jerks
can get a.38 in this town.

Douglas Phillips,
you're under arrest

for the murder
of Edward Cullen
and Alexandra Beckett.

You have
the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say...

Not guilty.

Your Honor,
these are vicious murders

committed by a privileged
young man who considers himself

beyond the norms of society.
The People request substantial bail.

Your Honor, Mr. Phillips
has never been arrested before,

he has strong family roots
in New York City...

his grandfather
sat on the bench where
Your Honor now presides.

I hope he worked
shorter hours than I do.

$200,000.

I'll be back in 10.
(bangs gavel)

What? What are
we doing here?

No gun, no witness,
no record.

He'd have a record
if Cullen had called the cops
after he slugged him.

You want to make a case,
he'll plead to assault.

How about manslaughter one...
crime of passion?

Logan:
Here you go.

Best hot dog
in the city?

86 and Third...
the papaya place.

- There may be hope for you yet.
- (chuckles)

"Ptomaine City."
You want this?

Yeah.

What's around here?

"Antonio's."
Let's go get some calamari.

Listen, Phil, I don't eat
anything that squirts ink, okay?

"Mrs. Cullen
thanked the police

for apprehending
her husband's killer."

What, she send you a note?

You tell me.

How did Phillips get in?

Cragen could be right...
he lifted the girl's key.

Do you buy it?

You don't think he did it?

The Cullen kid spent
a lot of time with his father.

Yeah.
He probably had a key.

Remember what he said?

He said, "My mother
wouldn't kill my father."

He was with her
at the time of the murder.

Why didn't he say,
"My mother didn't kill my father"?

You want to reopen 'cause
the kid used the wrong tense?

All right, look,
it's not just that.

These snot-nosed rich kids,
you look at 'em funny,
they fall apart.

Phillips... he didn't break.

This a conspiracy?
You guys in on this together?

Cullen and the girlfriend
are shacking up for four months.

The wife never heard of her?
The son never noticed?

Come on, her clothes
are in his apartment.
The son go blind?

The son has no motive,
the wife has an alibi.

What about
the alibi's alibi?

- Jamie Cullen.
- Oh.

Excuse me, dear.

Hmm, looks like
he'll be back for another try.

Checks out the review tapes,
but his test exam's marginal.

Very.

Have his scores
dipped lately?

Bad and steady.

We set him up
with a study group...

seven other students.

Oh, look at this.

He missed class
Thursday night.

You got the names of those kids?
The ones in the study group.

I'm trying to get
into law school

because my father told me
education is wasted on women.

Jamie wants to go

because his father wanted him
to make something of himself.

Did he have a problem
with his father?

Jamie had a problem
with the law boards.

He liked his father.

You took him his notes
after class?

For what it's worth.

What time's he get there?

About 9... 9:10.

You leave them
at the door?

No, I gave them
to Jamie.

You're sure
about the time?

I'm positive.

You arrested somebody, right?
Why are you asking me this?

(sighs)
It's a slow day.

I don't know, we thought
we'd kill some time.

Jamie, you weren't
with your mother.

I had dinner with her.

What do you think this is,
some kind of a schoolyard game?

"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."

You want us to prove it,
we will prove it.

Okay, I was with her.

I was there until...
about 8:30.

She called me up, she was scared.
She said you accused her.

- Did she tell you to lie?
- She didn't kill my father.

We're barely out the door,
she's already on the horn
telling the kid to lie.

The good news?
Great Neck, four years ago,
your.38 hit a burglar.

You're not gonna ask?

- The dog ate it?
- Stolen. Three years ago.

Stolen from who?

Right out of my apartment.
Somebody must've come in
the fire escape.

I reported it.

Where were you
working then?

What, three years ago?
I don't remember.

That's the damn truth.

Your boss says
it was a construction site
in Nassau County.

- If you say so.
- I do say so.

How long you been
a security guard, George?

14 years.

14 years? State of New York
says in 14 years

you had three registered guns...
two of them stolen.

You're a hell
of a security guard.

You ought to hire a guard
to watch your guns.

I live in a rough
neighborhood.

Your last stolen gun
has two bodies on it.

You sold that, it's a felony.

Maybe you like
"accessory to murder" better?

Hey, do you think
we can't find out what
happened to your guns?

- We'll tear your life apart.
- Or you tell us, plead
to a misdemeanor,

find yourself a new career.

Hey, look...
he said he couldn't get a license.

He carried a lot of cash
and he needed a gun for protection.

- He gave me $500.
- He?!

Are you trying to annoy me?
Is that what he's trying to do?

- He's trying
to get on my nerves.
- The boss, Mr. Cullen.

His own gun.
I love this.

So he killed the girl, killed himself,
and then threw the gun out the window?

Come on.

He had the gun
in the apartment for three years.

The wife didn't know about it?
The kid didn't know about it?

But how would Doug Phillips know?

The wife's alibi is shot.

So you have means
and opportunity.

- What about motive?
- Try blonde and 30.

Not to mention money.
She says he was broke.

He sure didn't live
like he was broke.

Go rattle her chain.

- Why would I need a lawyer?
- Cerreta: Because you're a suspect

in the murder of your husband
and Alexandra Beckett.

I told my son to lie
because I was afraid.

Afraid your husband
was going to leave you
without a dime?

We were married
for 25 years

and I haven't had a job
since I got engaged.

I was a salesgirl
at B. Altman then,

and now I don't even know
what category to look under.

How about "Housewife
from King's Highway, Brooklyn"?

There's nothing wrong with being
a housewife from King's Highway.

Unless your husband wants
a hostess from Georgetown.

Ever see something
like this?

Yeah... on TV.

Your husband had one of these.
You know where he kept it?

I haven't been
in that apartment for a year.

The gun's been there
for three years.

I just buried my husband.

Is this one solid?

- She lied about her alibi.
- She lied about the gun, too.

Look, we lifted her prints
off the photo of the gun.

They match the prints
on Cullen's doorknob.

Hard to believe
they stayed there over a year.

And 10-to-one she lied
about knowing the girlfriend.

You need a scorecard to keep
track of the lies with this broad.

They convinced me.

Okay, we'll dismiss
on the boyfriend. Pick her up.

Bailiff:
The charges are murder
in the second degree

and manslaughter
in the first degree.

Is the defendant
ready to enter a plea?

Not guilty.

Your Honor, this was
a vicious double murder...

What is this...
deja vu all over again?

Didn't I hear this speech
two weeks ago with a different defendant?

The People have
rectified their error.

Mr. Lehrman:
Your Honor, they're
compounding their error.

There's no predicting
who they'll arrest next.

Mrs. Cullen is
a grief-stricken widow.

Save it, Counselor.
Same crime, same bail.

$200,000.

Lehrman:
Murder two? Why even
have it on the menu?

This isn't murder,
it's manslaughter.

So you're admitting
she killed them?

No, but if she killed them,

it was extreme
emotional disturbance

and that's manslaughter.

I get it...
she wasn't there.

And if she was there,
she didn't kill them.

If she did kill them,
she didn't mean to.

If she did mean to,
it's because she was upset.

Cute. The murder charge
is inflated.

If she killed in the heat of passion
and you can prove it.

Her husband was in bed
with another woman.

Juries tend to be
sympathetic.

They also tend
to sympathize with people
who have been shot six times.

Criminally negligent homicide.
She does no time.

No time...?

Why don't we throw her
a tickertape parade?

Manslaughter one,
eight and a third each count.

It's called plea bargaining,
not plea scalping.

Pass.

The jury is not going
to convict on murder.

Take a deal.
Manslaughter one, four years.

That's all she'll
probably get anyway.

This kind of case,
judges are lenient.

In this kind of case,
if it is a case of passion,

the woman is weeping
into the barrel of the gun
as the cops drive up.

She doesn't run, hide the gun,
lie to the police, fake alibis.

Yeah, and all
the jury's gonna see

is a middle-aged widow
who snapped.

Some widow...
she's barely a wife.

A few months,
the legal separation is up,

two signatures,
they're divorced.

- Which they weren't.
- Which means she inherits.
Another motive entirely.

Cullen was
supposed to be broke.

I need every scrap
of paper from the crime scene,

Cullen's office,
Mrs. Cullen's apartment,

and every witness
re-interviewed.

I'll give you five-to-one
all you're gonna get is eyestrain.

All the detectives are going
to get is sore feet.

You're gonna end up
exactly where you started...

"Wife Shoots Husband
in Bed with Lover."

Take a deal.

Cerreta:
Cullen sure got a lot of mail.

Here's your motive.

Cullen won
a million bucks...

right from Ed McMahon.

Here's something from
the office of the Attorney General.

Hmm, notice
of sales tax violation.

Hmm. Did he jaywalk, too?

It's a jeweler.
They don't go after people
for nickels and dimes.

Man:
Eight and 1/4% tax.

On $14,000,
that's over $1100.

My customer says to me,
"Ship a dummy box to Jersey

or I'll buy my stones in Palm Beach."
What am I supposed to do?

Tell him our jails
are nicer than Florida's.

State hit me
with a $100,000 fine.
I love New York.

Looks like you're surviving.
The record on that necklace...

Is this really important?
My customer comes in again,
I want his business.

If your customer
comes in again, call "Geraldo."

He's dead, and this is
a murder investigation.

Mr. Cullen paid cash, right?

And the necklace was sent
to an Alexandra Beckett?

Just barely.

Mr. Cullen had bought
several pieces for his wife
over the years.

Smaller pieces.

It was a cretinous new
shipping clerk who called
Mrs. Cullen by mistake.

She was not
expecting a necklace.
Very embarrassing.

If Mr. Cullen had found out,
it could've cost me his business.

Cost him a lot more
than that.

Two motives are better than one.
She knew he had money and a girlfriend.

So she was upset.

That gets her from murder
down to manslaughter.

Really? She got the bad news
two months before she killed them.

Every court in the state
will call that a cooling-off period.

She can be provoked more than once
and still say it's a crime of passion.

- Not if she planned to kill them.
- She found them in bed.

I know to a jury
it looks like new provocation,

but what if she wasn't
surprised to see them there?

What if I prove to you
that she went there to kill them

and she knew she could pick up
a gun on the way to the bedroom?

- Would that satisfy you?
- Would that satisfy you?

You're splitting legal hairs.

Do you sincerely believe
Melanie Cullen went there

with murder in her heart?

If I have any doubts
I'll plead her down.

If not, she does 25-to-life.

We're still collecting
Cullen's mail.

This came yesterday.

"If you wish to make
additional spare copies

of the keys to your Fournier
'Securi-Proof' lock,

discover the convenience
of ordering directly from the factory."

So he had a key made.

Somebody had a key made.

Locks with thousand-dollar keys.

Invent one, I'll mint money.
Fourniers, 57 bucks a pop.

The Cullen key?

(keycutter whirrs)

"Reason: Lost original.

Owner: Mrs. Edward Cullen."

Mrs. Cullen?
She had an original key?

Lost original.
But you made her a copy?

She had the serial number.

And, yes, I called
the company and checked
the address on her ID.

Where do you get
a serial number?

It's on
the registration papers.

That's it?

Stamped on the original keys,
but she'd lost them, right?

- Where'd she get the number?
- Stone: Fournier locks have three keys.

Cullen had one,
Alexandra Beckett had one.

You think either of them
gave Mrs. Cullen the number?

The son.

He gave it to her,
or she helped herself.

So Cullen was killed
by his wife,

or by his wife and son.
I don't even want to think about this.

We pick him up as an accessory,
maybe even a co-conspirator.

He lied, Adam.
He knows something.

Frank Lehrman will never let you
deal the son against the mother.

And maybe she copied
the number off her son's key.
He doesn't know...

we bring him the news.
Suddenly he sees Mom
in a whole new light.

- Don't arrest him.
- I have to scare him.

My office
or the room at Rikers.

The minute you call him,
he's gonna call his mother,
she's gonna call Frank Lehrman,

and he's gonna demand that
the interview take place in his office.

You want to scare the kid?
Put Cerreta and Logan at the water cooler.

If he doesn't break,
then read him his rights.

Gestapo tactics, Stone?

Two cops outside?
Why not rubber hoses?

We have reason to believe
that you are guilty of criminal
facilitation...

providing your mother with
the means to murder your father.

What?

This is the "minor question"
you wanted to ask?

You had a key to your father's
apartment, didn't you?

So?

She got the serial number
off of your key.

She had it made
or you gave it to her.

L... I didn't...
she didn't have a key.

Sworn statement
from the locksmith.

That's it...
this interview has ended.

- Stone: She didn't tell you, did she?
- You don't have to answer that.

She had it made because
she planned to kill your father.

No, that's not what she said!

No, come on... that is
not admissible. Shut up.

No, you shut up.
You take your hands off him,

or I'll have you up
on hindering prosecution.

- I'm this boy's lawyer.
- You're his mother's lawyer.

He and his mother
have different interests.
Isn't that right, Jamie?

When you arrested her,

she told me my dad
let her in.

Okay? She was just
going over to talk about
getting back together again.

She didn't know Alexandra
was going to be there.

She didn't want
to hurt anybody.

She didn't mean to do it,
you know?

That's what she said.
That's what...

(voice breaks)
That's what she said.

Mr. Gruen:
I'm not his corporate attorney.

I only represented
Mr. Cullen in his divorce.

What was the status
of the divorce when
Mr. Cullen was killed?

Objection... the attorney-client
privilege survives death.

I'm asking about documents
in the public record.

On that basis only...
proceed.

Mr. Gruen:
The separation period was up.

He signed the document,
she didn't.

She hit him with a dozen motions
about his finances.

In your expert opinion,
what does that indicate?

Your Honor, is my hearing
going, or did Mr. Stone say

about six seconds ago that he'd
only ask about public documents?

Mr. Gruen is an expert
in divorce litigation,

and I am not asking about
discussions with his client.

Your hearing is fine,
Mr. Lehrman. Sit down.

Stone:
What does it generally mean
when one party in a divorce

makes repeated motions
against the other party's assets?

She thought
he was hiding money.

Thank you.

What did the documents
you gave Mrs. Cullen

say about Mr. Cullen's
financial condition?

They said he was broke.
Mr. Cullen provided
the documents.

And how much were you charging
Mr. Cullen for your expert services?

- 350 an hour.
- Nice work.

How much did you bill him
just before he died?

About $7,000.

Did he pay that bill?
He did.

How?
In cash.

Alexandra Beckett was my boss,
and she was my friend.

Had you ever seen the defendant,
Melanie Cullen, before today?

Cecily:
Yes, about six weeks
before Alexandra died,

that woman walked
onto our floor at Christie's.

Alexandra stopped
talking to the customer,
and she went into the office.

She told me she didn't want
to talk to her.

Was that the first time
you'd seen the defendant?

She came
about two other times...

once Alexandra was off,
once she just hid.

Thank you.

Do you know how
Ms. Beckett met Mr. Cullen?

He and his wife bought
some Japanese prints
at one of her sales.

So isn't it possible
that Mrs. Cullen wanted

to speak to Ms. Beckett
about upcoming sales?

She was
a collector, wasn't she?

Mrs. Cullen didn't
have any money.

Did the defendant ask specifically
to see Ms. Beckett's apartment?

Yeah, her...
the defendant.

She said she was
looking for a studio.

I say, "I'm the super.
You want the rental agent.

Anyway, there's no vacancies."
She says, "Here's a hundred bucks."

Stone:
What was the money for?

Super:
She wants to see
Ms. Beckett's apartment.

Heard she was movin' out.

I said, "Maybe, but not
for a couple of months yet."

She says, "Here's 200."

I wouldn't show her.

Thank you.

Mr. Kolvino,
hasn't anybody ever paid you
to look in an apartment before?

Sure, but not
in this market.

You almost
feel sorry for her.

Adam:
I trust the key word
is "almost."

Two months after my divorce,
I wanted to kill my wife... I didn't.

Adam:
50% of marriages
end in divorce.

If everybody starts shooting,
a quarter of the population is dead.

Don't count on that jury.

But my premeditation case...
halfway there.

The son testifies,
Melanie Cullen is gone.

Two years on the job,

my first murder case,
I said to myself,

"Jury'll be out
in 30 minutes. Guilty."

And a day later,
they acquitted.

Six days... they convicted.
But a lousy six days.

(phone rings)

Adam: Yes?

Tell him
to call him back.

Thank you.

Lehrman wants to talk.

You get a decent deal,
take it.

Manslaughter two,
one count.

Two dead bodies,
two counts.

Manslaughter one,
15 years.

Maybe the jury believes
she was following Ms. Beckett,

but she was acting crazy
when she did it. Six years.

12 years,
end of conversation.

Look, you're not gonna
get anyplace trying... Melanie...

Please.

12 years in jail?

(scoffs)
I'd be an old woman.

That's more than
Alexandra Beckett'll be.

I gave him my life,

and he just
threw it away.

Look, I am not a used
piece of furniture, Mr. Stone.

I'm not some end table
that you replace

because it gets nicks and chips,
and the styles change.

And so you shot
your husband.

I hadn't planned
to kill him.

You know what, Mrs. Cullen?
I don't believe you.

There are women on the jury.
They'll believe me.

I won't be
a victim anymore.

Stone:
Did she tell you
how she killed them?

She knew my father's gun
was in the dresser.

Stone:
Did you have a key
to your father's apartment?

Jamie: Yes.

Did you ever give
that key to your mother?

No.

She had her own.

What?

You are under oath,
Mr. Cullen.

My father told me
to give her the serial number
so she could make a copy...

so she could move out
the rest of her things
whenever she wanted.

Recess, Your Honor?

Recess, 10 minutes.
(strikes gavel)

- Stone: She got to him.
- Robinette: She's his mother.

I don't know who to slam first...
the kid for perjury or Lehrman
for suborning.

He gave her the gun.
Without his testimony, we
didn't have the murder weapon.

Without the key,
we've got no premeditation!

Go easy. To the jury, he's
halfway to being an orphan.
You're trying to finish the job.

Please, just get
the deposition.

- "I didn't know
my mother had a key..."
- Stone: Louder, Mr. Cullen.

"If she copied my key,
she did so without my knowledge."

- You sign that statement?
- I said what you wanted
to hear... you confused me.

"Confused" you?
How old are you, Mr. Cullen?

- 22.
- And when did you
graduate from college?

My father was murdered.
You brought two policemen with you.

You were going to arrest me
if I didn't say what you wanted to hear!

Stone:
Mr. Cullen, that has nothing
to do with the proceedings.

Now what? You want to put
Cerreta and Logan on the stand?

They're gonna say
sure they were there...
smiling the whole time.

- I shouldn't have taken them.
- You wanted to arrest the kid.

That would've looked
terrific to a jury... they'd
have convicted you.

What if we put
Lehrman on the stand?

He's not the kid's attorney,
and I don't think he'd perjure himself.

Oh, that's beautiful...
a defense attorney as a witness.

Judge Becky Stein...
not gonna happen, let it drop.

Lehrman's
changed his witness list.
Mrs. Cullen's up first.

Oh, great.
Get out your handkerchiefs.

(sobbing)
I just went over to talk to him.

L... I thought things
were getting better.

I thought we might
get back together.

We had 25 years.

You knew he'd been
seeing someone else?

A little fling.
Men do that.

But you did not know
she would be there?

No.

And then
I saw her in my...

...in my bed.

She told me to get out
of my bedroom.

I saw my hu...

I knew it was all over.
I'd been kidding myself.

Over-the-hill, middle-aged
woman kidding herself,

and this young, rich
girl looking at me.

I felt so pathetic.

So pathetic!

I wanted to kill myself.

Melanie:
That's all...

...that's all I remember,
I'm sorry.

I'm so... I'm so sorry.

(sobbing)

Your witness.

Mrs. Cullen...

Mrs. Cullen...

how many times
did you shoot them?

I don't remember.

Do you remember
asking your son

to lie the night
of the murder?

I was afraid.
I'm sorry.

Do you remember asking your son
to lie for you at this trial?

I told him
to tell the truth.

Nothing matters.

Nothing matters anymore.

- You want to do what?
- Juries like to compromise.

If they can choose
between murder two,

manslaughter or acquittal,
they'll choose manslaughter.

Good, she'll go to prison.

For four years...
for two deaths.

If we drop the manslaughter charge,
they'll pick murder, 25-to-life.

- Or they'll acquit.
- She's a cold-blooded killer.

- She could walk.
- My case is made... premeditation.
The jury won't let that happen.

"Pride goeth before a fall."

I'll send you flowers
in the intensive care unit.

I can't do it, Ben.
The evidence cuts both ways.

Stone:
It is within your discretion.

So the People request
that the manslaughter counts
not be submitted to the jury.

You drop manslaughter,
and the jury convicts on murder...

- automatic appeal.
- Not if you don't object.

I am representing Mrs. Cullen.

If the jury believes her,
and the manslaughter counts are gone,

she goes home
tomorrow afternoon.

Judge Stein:
If he accepts this, Ben,

I'm going to make it
absolutely clear

they must believe
beyond a scintilla of doubt

that she committed premeditated
murder, or they acquit.

"Beyond a scintilla"?

A "mini-scintilla."

Was Mrs. Cullen confused,
emotional, suicidal?

This is what
Melanie Cullen did:

She stalked
Alexandra Beckett;

she had a key made
to the new lock

on Edward Cullen's
apartment;

she went there after dark,
let herself in,

and she helped herself to the gun
that she knew was there.

She ran away,
she disposed of the gun;

she convinced her son
to give her a phony alibi.

She lied to the police;

she lied to her son;

she lied to you.

She shot
and killed two people

in an act of cold
and calculated murder.

Don't let her
get away with it.

The question is not
whether the defendant killed
Mr. Cullen and Ms. Beckett.

The only question
for you to resolve

is that
of her state of mind.

You must find
beyond any reasonable doubt,

that she did not act
under the influence

of extreme
emotional disturbance.

You must find
that she did intend,

with premeditation,

to cause the deaths
of two people,

or you must find her
not guilty.

Robinette:
Never seen you like this before.

I have never done anything
this potentially stupid before.

I just pray to God
that when I get out of here,

I'm not competing with
Melanie Cullen for an uptown cab.

Jury just finished dinner...
catered from "Walter's."

Hope you don't have
a lousy six days.

Well, it's four hours...
it's already lousy.

- Good night, gentlemen.
- Good night.

(phone ringing)

Stone.

Just a minute.

It's Lehrman...
he's pacing, too.

He'll take two counts
of man one.

She'll do nine years.

It's more than four.
Less than 25.

Your case.

And my stomach.

Deal.

Your role was no less crucial
because your verdict was not required.

I thank you.
You are excused.

Your Honor, move to continue
bail until sentencing.

Motion to continue granted.
(strikes gavel)

Juror:
Lucky? 10 minutes later,
it would have been murder.

We were voting.

The way she used her son
made us all furious.

- If only the kid hadn't lied.
- What if your mother killed your father?

I wouldn't have lied.
What is she up to?

Rehearsing
for the parole board.

...I don't know what happened.
I don't remember.

I went there
to talk to Eddie.

I thought everything
would be all right

and that we could
work everything out.

We were married
for 25 years.

I thought everything
would be all right.

I've always loved Eddie.

I've always loved him.

(theme music plays)