Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 2, Episode 20 - Intolerance - full transcript
Detectives Cerreta and Logan investigate the shooting death of Tim Chong a brilliant physics student who was in the running to a national scholarship. He was gunned down just outside his school. His friends Katie Silver and Carl Borland were with him just moments before when he had been harassed by Asian gang members. Tim had been a member of the gang for a very short while but the police find that it's a dead end. They subsequently learn that Carl's mother, Marian Borland, was highly protective of her son who was Tim's only competition for the prestigious scholarship. When they get evidence that Mrs. Borland lied about the time she left work, she and her eldest son Randy are charged with murder. ADA Stone has to get a conviction without a murder weapon after the gun used in the shooting is ruled inadmissible.
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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.
Your mom's paying
for an AP prep course?
- Yeah.
- You don't need it.
I need a five,
but she thinks
it's the best way.
The best way is not
to worry so much.
That's easy for you to say.
(speaking Chinese)
- What did he say?
- Lo-fan.
Barbarians.
They don't want Tim
hanging around white people.
Katie.
Your family still doesn't want
to meet me, do they?
Why don't you take me home
with you right now
and introduce me to your mother?
(sighs)
You handled that real well.
- Kate, what are you doing?
- Walking.
If I didn't know any better,
I'd say you're
an insensitive jerk.
If I didn't know better,
I'd say it's none of your business.
You know, both you and Tim
are real mature.
(gunshots)
- What was that?
- Man: It's down there.
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
No!
All right,
let me get this straight.
It's the middle
of the afternoon,
- you got three shots,
but you got no witnesses?
- Noisy street.
Maybe people thought
it was a car backfiring.
This is a freaking
echo chamber in here.
It must have sounded
like the Fourth of July.
It didn't happen
on the street.
What do you want, somebody who saw
two stray dogs near the body?
Hey, no problem.
A dog did it.
Officer:
Coming through.
Okay, kid still had
his wallet on him.
Get this, $1,000 laptop computer
in his knapsack.
He was a star physics student
at Manhattan Science.
All right, dead end,
no way out the back.
Kid leaves
his friends on the way
back from school.
Why does he walk in here?
Someone was waiting for him,
called him in?
- Or he was expecting somebody.
- Maybe.
So have CSU check
the grounds.
- Every inch, okay?
- Right.
Have you seen
the Jade Squad report?
Three Chinese gang hits
in the past two months.
We're going to take you
to the precinct
and you can call
your parents.
He'd still be alive
if I'd just kept walking with him.
You just never think
that something like this
would happen to people like us.
Somebody ought
to tell them
bullets don't recognize
your IQ.
(theme music plays)
Kate: They just drove by.
Tim said something
in Chinese
- and then they were gone.
- Here.
These boys in the car,
these were Tim's friends?
She told you,
she hardly saw them.
Mrs. Silver, would you let
your daughter talk?
Tim didn't talk
about his friends
from growing up.
So you didn't recognize
any of them?
They weren't from school.
They had those leather jackets
with those metal rings...
looked like they were
in a gang.
I am sure Tim
wasn't in a gang.
- He did live in Chinatown.
- And what does that mean?
Mom.
Mr. Borland,
you know something about
the boy's family?
I do business
with the Chinese.
They live in
a different world.
For God's sake,
they're from Canal Street, not Mars.
3:30 in the afternoon
and nobody sees this thing?
There were six uniforms there,
they didn't turn up anybody.
So we canvassed
and we got nothing.
It's the back of an apartment house.
A dead-end courtyard.
- Not a lot of people there.
- Yep.
We can't even be sure
if it was the Chinese kids in the car.
Well, that's great.
What can we be sure of?
If you grow up in Chinatown,
you're either a member of a gang
or you got troubles with them.
Fine. Any indications
of gangs?
CSU found three shells.
Ballistics says
a 380 Tanfoglio Titan.
Now that seems to me a rather expensive
weapon for an ordinary street kid.
Okay, I'll buy that.
Let's see what the family has to say.
Great, I can't wait.
"Sorry about your son. By the way,
was he running any protection rackets?"
I'm sure you can find a more
diplomatic way of putting it.
Whatever you do,
please, don't mention that
in front of my mother.
My brother wasn't in a gang.
Maybe he had
a run-in with one.
- Miss Chong, we're trying to find a motive.
- I would have known.
All due respect,
you know you're a little bit
older than your brother.
- You don't live down here...
- My mother would've known.
She paid more attention
to Tim's life than her own.
All Tim wanted
was to get out of here.
He was going to MIT.
(speaking Chinese)
Policemen, Mother.
(speaks Chinese)
Tim not in gang.
Sometimes when children
are away from home...
He told her everything.
Not about his girlfriend.
Cerreta:
Did Tim ever seem upset?
Did he ever come home
looking like he'd been in a fight?
All the time
after every drug deal.
He spent his weekends
at the library.
Miss Chong, you're brother must've had
some friends in the neighborhood.
(speaking Chinese)
Just school friends.
Do you think we could see
your brother's room?
Maybe get a picture of him?
If she didn't know
about the girlfriend,
maybe she didn't know
about his friends on the street.
Chairman Mao,
Albert Einstein,
and Patrick Ewing.
What do you think
they got in common?
One 17-year-old
Chinese kid.
Phil, look at this.
"Timothy Chong,
winner of the NASA
Science Competition."
This kid had everything.
So why is he dead?
I got a better question.
Why did he go
to a plastic surgeon?
"Removal of tattoo."
- Gang insignia?
- Maybe the ME can tell us.
First I want to talk to someone
on that Jade Squad.
A tiger tattoo?
That's the White Tigers.
Yeah, but this kid went
to Manhattan Science.
- That tiger on his arm
wasn't a fashion statement.
- He has no record.
Half the smack in the country blows
through here.
You seen a lot
of arrests lately?
- Maybe they're paying you off.
- Yeah, millions.
My mortgage is a front.
- You got nobody on the inside?
- I had one.
You got a medium,
you can talk to him.
We found him in little pieces
on Hester Street.
Listen...
how bad do you want
to break this?
I know a kid in the Tigers
who will talk to you.
If there's any hint
they did it, you'll know.
Tim Chong.
I seen it in the paper.
Rumor has it he was
a White Tiger.
- Yeah, for five seconds.
- Was it a happy divorce?
We don't shoot people,
all right?
My lawyer,
he advises against it.
Yeah, you always take
your lawyer's advice?
Why would we want
the kid dead?
Tim Chong buys that
American dream crap, we didn't care.
See that kid over there?
Kid sells smack.
Yeah.
What some stiff at IBM makes in a year,
he could do in one week.
Billy, no matter
how much you make,
it's hard to spend it
in Attica.
- We didn't do Tim Chong.
- All right, listen.
A wagon, you know,
like a Jeep or Blazer? Yellow.
- Who drives it?
- I don't know.
I don't know.
If I knew I'd tell you.
We didn't want
the kid hit.
So much for
the American dream, huh?
Did everything right,
wound up dead anyway.
Ballistics compared
the slugs from Chong
to every Chinese gang killing
in the past three years...
- no match.
- This kid is 17 years old.
- How many enemies
could he have?
- Wait a minute.
This kid was getting bagged
for having white friends.
The wind only blows
in one direction?
If somebody did this at school,
there's gonna be talk.
Maybe we ought to take a run
at the girlfriend. Without the mother.
Cragen:
I don't know, that's kind of risky.
Turns out she's involved in any way,
whatever she says is useless without
a parent there.
Her mother's around,
everything she says is useless.
Most of Tim's friends
were white.
Yeah, but he's an American,
so that wouldn't be
a problem, right?
Some of my friends,
they call me an egg.
White on the outside,
yellow on the inside.
- Calling names is one thing,
but does it go beyond that?
- This isn't like most schools.
- It's not violent
or anything like that.
- No fistfights?
Nobody breaks into a locker?
The worst it gets,
somebody sprayed graffiti...
it said "slant-eyes"
on the door of the 1600 Club.
It's a study group
for the SAT's.
1600's a perfect score.
The club's about half Chinese.
So Tim wasn't having
any trouble with anybody?
I'm really not sure.
We weren't communicating very well.
Who would he talk to?
Maybe Mr. Steinman,
our physics teacher.
He knew Tim pretty well.
Tim Chong was the best student
I ever taught.
How long you been
teaching?
Long enough not
to exaggerate.
Last year he won
the NASA award.
This year he was a shoo-in
for the Hellmuth competition.
Other kids give him grief
for screwing up the curve?
Students
are sophisticated here.
They compete to get in.
What about after
they get in?
Getting in is the start
of the race, not the end.
This science competition,
you call it the Hellmuth?
Do you have anybody else
who might win it?
What are you getting at?
Was there any
prize money for it?
$20,000,
but it isn't the point.
It's the Nobel Prize
of high school.
Who's the also-ran?
Any number of people.
Are you betting
on any favorites?
Okay.
He was with Tim
when he was shot.
Borland kid?
Carl.
He and Tim were always
number one and number two.
- Since when always?
- Since freshman year.
Drove Carl's mother crazy.
I don't know
how bad it was,
but parent-teacher's night,
Carl's parents up
in the front,
Tim's mother in
the back.
The boys were friends.
Parents never
even said hello.
Yeah, I remember
that night.
Mrs. Borland
couldn't even look at us.
Weren't Tim
and Carl friends?
Carl's a nice boy.
His mother is not
a well woman.
What does this have
to do with Tim?
Two kids are friends,
usually the parents at least say hello.
She said hello
when she called
and said we weren't
real Americans.
Why should Tim get
the prizes?
Carl's older brother
called, too.
You're not saying...
(speaking Chinese)
My mother wants to know,
are you suggesting
that Tim was killed...
so a Chinese kid wouldn't win
the scholarship?
Come on.
What are you telling me?
Every parent would like
his kid to be number one.
Every parent doesn't make
threatening phone calls.
You talked to the Chong kid's
girlfriend...
what, twice, three times?
Trouble like this,
you don't think she
would've mentioned it?
She was a wreck.
She probably would have told us.
We're talking about
$20,000 here,
and the biggest science prize
in the whole country.
There's no getting over the fact
that Marian Borland is wired
about her little boy Carl.
I'm no expert here,
but it looked to me like the father
was playing with a full deck.
Maybe this is a dumb idea,
but why don't we pay her a visit,
punch a few buttons,
and rule her out?
- Is that okay with you?
- That's okay with me.
We were all shocked.
Tim's murder is horrible.
Maybe we should raise
our children in the suburbs.
Guess it's as bad there.
So, what does this have
to do with me?
Claudia Chong said you made
some unpleasant phone calls.
I love my son.
Maybe sometimes...
I go to far.
How far is that?
Oh, this is ridiculous.
Tim was a lovely kid,
but the boys were very competitive.
It wasn't healthy.
Do you have children?
You know how hard it is
being a parent.
Yes, but I don't make phone calls
to other parents when their kids
get better grades than mine do.
I admit I was inconsiderate.
Did you tell the Chongs
that you thought Chinese
shouldn't win prizes?
Of course, I didn't!
At 3:30 on the afternoon
that Tim Chong was shot,
can you tell us
your whereabouts?
This is unbelievable.
- The idea that I would...
- Mrs. Borland,
look, we got to ask you.
It was Thursday?
My shift ends at 3:30.
Randy, my oldest boy,
picks me up and takes me home.
Maybe one of the other employees
saw you when you left.
I change in the back.
I don't know who would have seen me.
- Where can we find Randy?
- Fulton Fish Market.
- He works with his father.
- Thank you.
You know, this hasn't been easy
on any of us.
Right.
Every Tuesday
and Thursday I get her.
My dad doesn't like her
on the subway.
Anybody here when you left
to pick her up?
Nobody comes till late.
You guys.
My mom told me
what you're thinking.
Really?
We just left her
20 minutes ago.
Yeah, she called.
Lunch hour,
she's under pressure.
She's working.
- You coming in like that.
- You picked her up at 3:00?
3:30.
I dropped her at home.
Look, maybe my mom said
some dumb things.
You called
the Chongs too, right?
My mom wouldn't kill
anybody.
What happened after
you dropped her at home?
The Y, 23rd Street.
Shot some hoops.
Regular game, 4:00.
I get back,
there's a note from Dad.
- He went to take care of Carl.
- Didn't that worry you?
I'm sorry about
the Chinese kid,
but somebody's got
to run the stall.
I got to get some ice.
So, I mean,
how upset was she?
You think she called Randy
just to make herself feel better?
She called Randy to make sure
he got the time right.
Yeah, did you notice
that he wasn't exactly
an aerospace engineer?
I also noticed he's not
her favorite son, either.
Mm-hmm.
Well, if she lied, he lied.
If he's lying,
where did they go after
he picked her up?
She didn't go home.
He didn't shoot hoops.
You're praying
at the right church.
You gonna read that to us,
or fan us with it?
Borland, Ronald.
296 South Street,
dba R. Borland & Son
Fresh Fish.
Carry permit.
380 Tanfoglio Titan.
Seems to me, it's the gun
I said it would be.
Let's get a warrant.
What do you mean
he said no?
You want me to try it
in Portuguese?
He said, "You cannot have
a search warrant."
Since when is Judge Feinstein
so picky?
Since he got a clerk
who knows about guns.
He said a Tanfoglio
is too common.
Just because Borland has one
doesn't give you probable cause.
Big bunch of crap.
You want some probable cause,
try breaking some alibis.
Okay, do you think
Marian Borland
punches a time clock
at the restaurant?
Randy went to the Y.
Basketball buddies notice
when you're holding up a game.
Good.
That's very good.
And next time you need
a warrant,
don't go
to Judge Feinstein.
Woman:
Everything
is computers now.
So you don't have
the records?
I'm looking,
I'm looking.
Maybe I have
her timecard.
They come back
from the service,
sometimes I remember
to save them.
You got cards in here
that look like they might
come from World War II.
All I hear is,
"They shortchanged me.
I lost an hour.
They cheated me."
No, not here.
Sorry, I must have dumped them.
Marvin, I can't find it.
My payroll man
doesn't have it either.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
She clocked out at 2:30.
He won't swear by it.
He could have entered it
wrong off the card.
2:30. She said 3:30.
If she entered it wrong,
she would've complained.
- Missing pay, right?
- She don't have the check yet.
Thanks, Marvin. Later.
- Don't tell her we were here.
- You're cops.
Now, if you were IRS,
I might tell her.
Thursdays, 4:00.
It's a great time
for Randy.
He works
the graveyard shift.
- So, last week,
he was here at 4:00?
- Always on time.
We got the court
for like an hour.
After that, volleyball.
You know Randy
pretty well?
High school.
You talk to him today?
No, why?
I'm asking you
questions about him,
but you're not asking
what it's about.
Locker room
sign-in sheet.
Randy signed in at 3:51.
Like I said,
we play at 4:00.
The computer at the payroll service...
not a lot of probable cause.
We got to try.
This time we try
Judge Allan Berg.
You better spell it with two "L's"
and two "A's"
or we're never going
to get a warrant.
We want the business,
which is 296 South Street.
And the apartment,
which is 573 East 30th Street.
(phone ringing)
Detective Logan.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Can you wait a minute?
I'm gonna put you on hold.
Don't go away.
- Where is it?!
- What?
I got a tip
on the Chong shooting.
Come on.
Somebody give me
a tape recorder.
- Batteries... something.
- Get him back on the line.
Stall him.
One, two, three.
- Yeah.
- Here you go, Logan.
Yeah.
No, I'm not going
to put you on hold.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, I'm listening.
I'd love to know.
Uh-huh.
Well, how do I know
you're on the up-and-up?
You know
what I'm saying?
Mm-hmm.
You know
what the address is?
What kind of gun
am I going to find there?
Hello, hello, hello?!
380.
That's the same caliber.
That voice ring a bell?
Me neither.
Any bets?
Friend?
Maybe somebody who works
at that fish market?
What do you want to do?
The address,
caliber of gun,
sounds reliable
and credible to me.
- Probable cause?
- If Judge Berg thinks it is.
I should call
my dad at work.
If you wanna do that,
I think you should.
Officer:
I got this room covered.
You have a key for this?
Son, I'm going to have
to break into it.
Carl:
Okay, okay.
There's nothing
in the kitchen.
You sure
you haven't seen a gun
lying around the house,
somewhere?
My dad keeps it
in the office.
Officer:
I think I've got
prints on this.
- That's my mom's good China.
- That's okay.
Officer:
Nothing in here.
Mike.
Bingo.
(gunshot)
The Italians make
nice guns.
It would be nicer
if it's the right gun.
It would be nicer
if it were a clean match.
R7 twist.
I wouldn't say
this is close.
I'd say exact.
Yes, Mama.
- Very nice.
- No question... this gun
killed Tim Chong.
One set of prints
on the gun.
A good match
to Ron Borland
from when he got
his permit.
His gun, his prints.
That's a problem?
Considering that he walked
in here an hour after the killing
and didn't even blink?
Why are the mother and son
running all over town fixing alibis?
I thought Randy's held.
Not anymore.
Sign-in sheet from the Y.
Infrared scan.
His pal fixed it.
Unless you believe in elves.
What, do you think the whole
Borland family killed the kid?
Nothing puts the mother
and Randy at the scene.
But we do have the gun.
We arrest Ron Borland,
maybe something breaks.
Pick him up.
Mr. Borland?
I think you've bothered
my family enough.
Ronald Borland, you're under arrest
for the murder of Timothy Chong.
- You have the right
to remain silent.
- Dad.
- If you choose
to waive that right...
- Go call your mother.
...anything you say can and will
be used against you in a court of law.
I got to my store
at 2:00.
I didn't leave till
Carl called.
But your gun managed
to kill Timothy Chong.
You fellas have what?
Three open gang shootings?
Maybe your lab had a little help
with that bullet.
I wouldn't try
that with a jury, Mr. Willis.
Why not?
Juries always trust cops?
So, you were at your store,
but nobody saw you there?
I was there for Carl's call.
An hour after Tim Chong
was killed.
40 minutes the way
I heard it.
Your wife and Randy join you
in the shooting?
Finito, gentlemen, over.
You're going to book him,
let's do it.
Why? I mean,
it makes no sense.
I was back barely two hours.
Willis called.
He'll take man two.
We haven't even started
interviewing witnesses.
What's the hurry?
Borland's prints
are on the gun.
But Cerreta
and Logan are right,
everything else points
away from him.
(phone ringing)
Yeah. Uh-huh.
Attributed? Thanks.
Tomorrow's "Post" says
we're negotiating a plea.
No attribution.
Willis. Dragging us
to the altar.
I don't like
shotgun weddings.
I want to know
what happened.
So put a vise around
that family.
And I don't care
how hard you squeeze.
(bell rings)
I'm glad I don't have
your job.
I don't have to talk to you.
Did you hear them
plan it, Carl?
I didn't know about it.
I mean, that's not
the way it happened.
Did your mom go
with your dad?
Or did she just provoke him
into doing it?
My parents are good people.
They only want
what's best for me.
Killing someone?
Is that how you get
the best?
How did your dad know
where Tim would be?
- Did you tell him?
- I'm not going to talk
to you anymore.
Do you know what accessory
to murder means, Carl?
My father didn't kill anyone.
- His fingerprints
were on the gun.
- You don't know anything.
You don't know
what you're talking about!
Even Carl Borland knows
his father didn't do it.
How the hell do you explain
the prints on the gun?
Ben, what the hell
are you trying to pull?
- Why are you talking to Carl?
- Leave my son alone.
- He's a potential witness.
- He's a kid!
You play the media well, Leonard,
get a headline, make us look bad.
You're making it hard
for Carl to study.
- Get them to leave him alone!
- Mrs. Borland, please.
- If you care to sit down...
- It's bad enough what's happened.
My son's life
is at stake here.
I thought it was your husband's?
There's a lot
at stake here.
Leonard: Let's go, Marian.
Next time you want
to see Carl,
do me a favor... call first.
- The family's certifiable, Adam.
- Unlike everybody else.
Who made that anonymous
phone call?
Obviously you don't think it was
an angry employee.
What if Ron Borland
made it himself?
Try this... Borland gets back
from the precinct with Carl.
He sees his wife and Randy,
and he knows they did it.
They're the ones
faking the alibis.
Why didn't Borland throw
the gun away?
Maybe he panics.
Cerreta and Logan are onto them.
So he does
something heroic.
Randy belongs to him
the way Carl belongs to his mother.
So he wipes their prints off the gun,
puts his own on, takes the fall.
Yeah. You want to arrest
the mother along with the older son.
And right now you wouldn't get
a conviction for bad thoughts.
I have motive.
I have the gun.
If it's not suppressed because
of a questionable warrant.
All right, I don't.
I can tell the jury about it.
- You won't get a conviction.
- If we don't arraign, I can't even try.
Fine. Try.
Can we have
a statement?
How many reporters
out there?
You trying this
in the press?
Well, to quote
a public opinion poll,
my client's are the salt
of the earth.
- So was the victim.
- Ginseng maybe, not salt.
Having a bad week,
Leonard?
Judge:
Docket number 51423.
The People versus
Marian Borland
and Randall Borland.
The charge is murder
in the sec...
What's happening?
Didn't I already see this case
on my docket?
The People's motion charges
against the previous defendant
were dismissed.
- The People regret their error.
- Regret?
We're talking about murder,
Mr. Robinette.
You ought to publish
an apology in "The Times."
How do the defendants plead?
Not guilty.
Not guilty.
I'll hear a few spirited words
on the subject of bail.
Leonard, it's nice to see you,
please be brief.
Thank you, Judge.
Nice to see you, too.
My clients are not
a flight risk.
They're bound
to the community.
- Any high bail
would be a hardship.
- Mr. Robinette?
The People request $50,000
on each defendant.
Flight is not an issue,
but the severity of the crime...
Go no further.
When you're right, you're right.
Leonard, he's right.
This is murder two.
50,000 each defendant.
Next.
You don't even know
who fired the gun.
Stone:
Why don't you tell me?
You want to discuss
manslaughter two?
- They do the minimum, two to six.
- Two years?
Why not 30 days with time off
for good behavior?
Man one,
they do the max.
Eight and a third to 25.
You're hitting an elephant
with a fly-swatter.
- You don't have a murder weapon.
- Did I miss a hearing?
Has there been
a ruling?
The search warrant
for the Borland apartment
should never have been issued.
No jury ever hears
about that gun.
- Cancel the bravado.
- It's too late.
- My career's built on it.
- The warrant was proper.
An anonymous phone call
is probable cause? I don't think so.
You knew Ron Borland never fired
that gun when we arraigned him.
You know if I discuss that with you,
I could be disbarred.
Manslaughter two,
last chance.
You lose on the warrant,
no deal.
See you in chambers.
You want to give them
man two?
They put three bullets
into that kid.
Willis is offering you a gift.
Judge suppresses that gun,
you don't get a conviction.
The Court of Appeals let
a similar warrant stand in Ashton.
Then they killed it
in Johnson.
That was two years ago.
Ashton was last year.
I don't want to be overturned
on appeal.
What are you worried about?
Our closure rate?
I'm worried about the Borland's
not serving a day.
They kill a teenager
over a science prize,
maybe tomorrow they get angry
at the mayor.
There's no way
Simon suppresses the gun.
Simon thinks the ACLU
is too conservative.
- When's the hearing?
- Tomorrow.
You lose on the gun,
you lose the case.
Willis:
That search warrant has
no basis in probable cause.
You can't let a jury hear
about that gun.
The informant not only knew
the caliber of the gun,
- he knew where to find it.
- This was an anonymous call.
Let's look at the standard.
Agala-Spinelli calls
for a specific two-prong test...
the informant's reliability
and the basis of his knowledge.
Now, Ben,
how reliable was that tip?
A 380... lots of people probably
knew Borland had one.
And the address you could've gotten
from the phone book.
The Supreme Court is adopting
a less rigorous standard
for search warrants.
They oughta be ashamed.
They forgot why we have
the Fourth Amendment.
Besides, here in New York,
thank God,
we have
a stricter standard.
The Court of Appeals is moving
with the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeals
changes its mind
more often than
I change my socks.
That permit was for
the Borland business.
The warrant was for
the Borland home.
Any idiot can see
the cops were relying
on the phone call.
I'm not even an idiot,
I can see it.
Your Honor,
I respectfully suggest...
You can respectfully suggest
from now to New Year.
The warrant is ruled invalid.
The gun is suppressed.
None of it goes
into evidence.
You want to go to trial,
you go without the gun.
When Randy Borland called,
what did he say?
He said the cops...
the police...
thought he had something to do
with this kid's murder.
They wanted to know
what time he came to play.
And I said I'd say
whatever he wanted me to.
Stone:
What else did he ask you to do?
Man:
He said could I fix the sign-in sheet?
Stone:
How do you do that?
I can get behind the desk.
I work part-time checking
membership cards.
I knew some people
that signed in in pencil.
This is People's
Exhibit 11.
It's an enlargement
of the sign-in sheet for that day,
subjected
to infrared light.
Would you please describe it
for the Court?
Randy's name is signed over
Larry Gordon's.
I erased Larry's.
Down here Larry's name
is written over Randy's.
So you changed
the names?
Yes, I did.
Stone:
What effect did that have?
It makes it look like Randy got there
an hour before he did.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Your Honor, permission
to show this to the jury?
Judge:
You may do so.
I was given three shell casings
from the crime scene
and three bullets removed
from Timothy Chong's body.
And what type
of gun was used?
Based on lands and grooves
on the bullets
and the injector marks
on the casings,
I concluded the gun was
a 380 Tanfoglio Titan semi-automatic.
During your investigation,
did you determine whether
Mr. Borland was licensed
to carry a firearm?
- I did.
- What did you find?
Woman:
Mr. Borland is licensed to carry
a 380 Tanfoglio Titan
semi-automatic.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Ms. Shrier,
do you have any idea
how many licenses
the State has issued
for a Tanfoglio Titan 380?
I couldn't say exactly.
If I told you it was more
than a thousand,
would you find that
a surprise?
I'm sure that it's more
than that.
And if I told you the actual number
was 2,941, would that surprise you?
No, it wouldn't.
I'm glad.
In your expert opinion,
could another gun
have left the kind of markings
that you found?
Very unlikely.
So you are saying that it could have been
another kind of gun.
Excuse me.
I concluded the gun
was a Tanfoglio
before I knew Mr. Borland
owned one.
That's very cavalier of you,
thank you.
No further questions.
I instruct the jury they may draw
no conclusion
from the fact that a weapon
has not been entered into
evidence in this trial.
Cloudy, muddy, murky.
The jury has enough
reasonable doubt
to bottle and sell it.
You can hear Willis
in summation.
"The defendants lied
because they were scared.
Yes, they owned a gun,
but did they use it?"
Marian Borland.
What did she tell
the cops?
"The kids were competitive,
it was unhealthy."
The only unhealthy
competition was hers
for her son's glory.
Are you prosecuting
or preaching?
She pulled the trigger.
Not physically.
Oh, metaphysically.
She harped about
the Chong kid every day.
Why did Randy kill him?
You kick a dog long enough, it bites.
You want to try that
in your summation?
- It won't get you a conviction.
- Might get us a deal.
Ron Borland was willing
to go to jail to save his son.
Is he going to watch
Randy go now?
You want him
to pressure his wife?
I make the offer in front of him.
Randy does less time
than his mother.
Ron Borland will make
his wife take the deal.
Giving the shooter a better deal.
Is that what you want?
Uh-huh. I just don't know
if it'll work.
We're trying to arrive
at what's fair.
I hope your clients
understand that.
The sentences we have
a problem.
That's settled.
Manslaughter two for Mrs. Borland,
she does two to six.
Eight and a third to 25,
no playing around.
You said
he'd be reasonable.
Marian.
It is unlikely Mrs. Borland
will be convicted.
Let's finish the trial
and find out.
You said a few years.
You said parole.
Be quiet, Marian.
Mrs. Borland, if you're convicted,
you will do 25 to life.
We're offering you
much less.
- You said he wouldn't
do this. You said...
- Stop it!
How long will Randy be
in prison?
He pleads to man two,
he does three to nine.
- This isn't right.
- Mom.
- It's not gonna help.
- Why don't we just go outside...
Stop!
He's 23.
He has a chance
for a life.
Sit down.
The trial isn't over.
- I don't see why...
- Because he's your son.
I don't believe
we'll be convicted.
I won't do this.
Do you remember, Miss Chong,
how many of these phone calls occurred?
Over the last six months...
nine or 10.
What did Mrs. Borland say?
She said Carl and Tim
shouldn't be friends.
That Tim was using Carl,
using his brain.
She called my brother...
a Chink.
She said, "You Chinks aren't
real Americans."
And what did
Randy Borland say?
He said...
if Tim kept trying
to steal Carl's ideas...
that he'd regret it.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Miss Chong, you said that
the Borlands' calls frightened you.
Did you call the police?
No.
So how frightening
were they?
In our culture,
you don't call the police.
Your family's friends,
are most of them Chinese?
Objection. Relevance?
The witness mentioned
her culture.
Overruled.
The witness will answer.
Our closest friends
are Chinese.
And your brother,
did he belong to a Chinese gang?
- Your Honor!
- I'm going to allow this, Mr. Stone.
He quit.
He wasn't really...
And what was the name
of the gang?
The White Tigers.
This is Defense
Exhibit Three.
It's an article in last month's
"Crosstown" magazine.
Would you please read
the circled portion aloud?
"The White Tigers,
the most powerful
of the heroin dealing gangs
or tongs,
are fighting
a vicious turf war.
Two members have been shot
this year.
No one thinks
the war is over."
Willis:
Thank you.
No further questions.
You wouldn't vote
to convict?
- I'm not on the jury.
- If you were?
(phone buzzes)
Yes?
Mrs. Silver and her daughter
are out there.
Send them in.
My daughter has
something to tell you.
Please, sit down.
Go on, honey.
I didn't want
to say anything.
Carl is my friend.
I like his mom
and dad.
She feels guilty.
She didn't know where to put
her loyalties.
Katie.
After the gunshots,
we were running.
I must have looked
for just a second...
I saw them.
You saw who?
Mrs. Borland...
and Randy.
You saw them
on the street?
In the truck.
That truck must have
been going pretty fast.
You sure it was them?
I recognized it.
It was the truck
from the fish business.
You going to put
this kid on the stand?
Yeah, we don't
usually exclude evidence
that convicts.
Why did she wait
so long?
She and the Borland kid
are friends.
- She was torn apart.
- You should've seen her
at the precinct.
- She didn't hold anything back.
- Are you saying an 18-year-old
kid lied?
I'm saying I think
she reads the newspapers.
Yesterday they were saying
you'd need an act of God
to convict the Borlands.
You didn't see her
in our office.
She's not that good
of an actress.
She loved the kid.
They killed him.
How good an actress
does she have to be?
Without anything more specific,
I have to go with my instincts.
Where were you
at the time?
Carl and me, we went around the corner
after we heard the shots.
And what did you see
when you came around the corner?
It was sort of a flash...
this white truck.
And it had
two people in it.
Randy was behind
the wheel
and Mrs. Borland
was sitting next to him.
They were coming
towards me,
and I looked down,
and I saw the license plate.
I'd seen it before,
when Carl's brother
had picked him up after school.
What was on
the license plate?
It's one of those
you have made special.
It says "Fishhook."
Stone:
You've known about this
ever since Tim died.
Why did you wait till now
to say anything?
I tried to forget it.
I didn't even want
to believe it happened.
I told my mom and she said
I had to tell the truth.
Stone:
No further questions.
In the People
versus Marian Borland
and Randall Borland,
on the sole count of the indictment,
murder in the second degree,
how does the jury find
on Randall Borland?
We find
the defendant guilty.
Judge:
On the sole count of the indictment
against Marian Borland,
murder in the second degree,
how does the jury find?
We find
the defendant guilty.
Hi, Phil. Mike.
What's up?
I'd like to verify
something.
The girl's testimony as it's described here,
is this accurate?
Everything
in quotation marks, yes.
Okay, she says she came
running around the corner
and saw the license plate.
Does she have eyes
in the back of her head?
She said the truck
was coming toward her.
The only way she sees
a license plate
is if she stops dead
in her tracks,
turns around,
goes back to the corner,
- and watches the back
of the truck as it pulls away.
- She saw the front plate?
That's been missing
for months.
There is no front plate.
Borland ordered a new one.
The State never sent it.
God bless bureaucracy.
We have instincts, too, Ben.
It was a shocking reversal
in the science-prize murder case today.
Marian and Randall Borland,
convicted three days ago
of murdering Timothy Chong,
were released from custody
following the District Attorney's
request for a mistrial.
What do you want to do?
Indict a 17-year-old girl
for perjury?
The amount of publicity...
you want a new trial,
where do you find
an untainted jury?
Upstate. I don't care if we have to go
to the Canadian border.
Next time we'll get
the gun in.
...she has admitted
inventing the story.
In a similar, bizarre incident
in California today,
a father was charged
with shooting a boy
who had taken his son's place
on a high school tennis team."
I think I liked it better when the criminals
were doing the killing.
The whole world
has gone mad.
"A counselor at the Board
of Education today
said pressure on children
is creating an epidemic..."
(theme music plays)