Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 20, Episode 13 - Steel-Eyed Death - full transcript

A family of four is brutally murdered. The investigation leads detectives to "horrorcore" culture, an accomplice who claims to have suffered from amnesia, and an accused killer with an unlikely post-traumatic stress disorder defense.

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.

Did you see that nose stud?

Mmm-hmm.

I mean, what happens
when you sneeze?

I don't understand how they
can walk around like that.

What now?

Zoe?



Zoe.

Whatever it is you're doing in
there, stop it. It's time to go to sleep.

Down the hallway to the left.

Mr. Morgan's down here.

Lupes.

That's all of them.

Hey,

voucher this bag,
then she's all yours.

Hey, shoot this joint
before you bag it.

Well, well, well.

Looks like our Morgan girl
was partying with a friend.

One joint, two bottles. One
with lipstick, one without.

Well, there's five
plates and five glasses.

I'm guessing the friend
was here for dinner.



Yeah. Maybe the
type to eat, kill, and run.

So, the dinner guest might've
been the daughter's boyfriend.

The people downstairs
never saw them with anybody.

They say the Morgans kept a
pretty tight leash on their kids.

Except for the reefer
and the malt liquor.

Yeah, and the tramp
stamp on the girl's back.

Looks like a work in progress.

An angel.

Yeah. Where the
parents would never see it.

Well, find out
who was seeing it.

Oh, and by the way,
without the beards,

you guys look
five years younger.

Which makes you about 12.

Black lipstick,
black nail polish,

spiked neck collar.

Being Goth never killed anybody.

Condoms on the inside,
and this on the outside.

Ah, a bartender, every
parent's nightmare.

Yeah, a building site in the
background. Hardy Construction.

I saw it on the news. I, uh,
just can't get my head around it.

It didn't occur to you to tell the
police you were the victim's boyfriend?

Was I supposed to do
that? We weren't that tight.

Where were you last night?

I was right here.
We close at 4:00.

All right, so if we check Zoe's phone
records, we going to find any calls

or texts from you?

We were supposed to meet
here, and she blew me off.

I wasn't too happy about it.

She tell you why
she stood you up?

She said she had to take care
of some chick she met at a club.

Did you know this girl?

No. But I guess that her
and Zoe were pretty tight.

They, uh... They
got inked together.

No kidding. The tattoo parlor,
your recommendation, yeah?

Yeah, I worked on her. She
said she was a friend of Tommy's.

We're gonna need the name and a
description of the girl she was with.

She's hard to miss. Uh, she had a green
jacket and dark hair, with racing stripes.

The tattoo you did, this it?

This isn't representative of my
work. They wouldn't let me finish.

What would this
look like finished?

A devil stabbing an angel?

It's their own design.
They brought it in.

Why wouldn't they
let you finish it?

The one in the green jacket was
worried about missing some curfew.

She said a guard wouldn't
let her in past 11:00.

This blood stain, whose is it?

The friend, the green jacket. It
got on there when I was inking her.

Hey. The blood from the sketch

matched an unidentified
blood swab from Zoe's bedroom.

So, her friend was there.

Yeah. As a witness,
or an accomplice.

A girl with an 11:00 p.m.
curfew and a security guard.

You think a halfway house
or a shelter for runaways?

No, I think we're going to
be ringing a lot of doorbells.

Yeah. Oh, B, is
this tie on straight?

I mean...

You going to your
first communion?

You heard the Lou. I'm just
trying to be more professional.

Well, you look sharp,
Lupes. Now, can we go?

This girl's Bonnie Jones. She
stayed with us for three weeks.

I have a picture we
took of her for an ID.

The other girl I saw a few
times out front with Bonnie.

Okay. You know where
we can find Bonnie?

No. She left about a week ago.

Why do you need to talk to her?

Uh, this girl, Zoe Morgan, her and
her family were killed last Tuesday.

Bonnie might know
something about it.

Damn.

Any idea why Bonnie
left the shelter?

Not sure. The day before, she got
into a fight with this pimp out front.

His name's Freddie. Bonnie
said he stole her pink backpack.

Freddie ran off before
I could call the cops.

Freddie tracked her down to the
Morgans. If we wanted to find Freddie?

The beat cops have run
him off the block a few times.

I'm sure they'd
have his information.

Freddie, it's me,
the super, Achmed.

I told you, he's away on a
vacation or something. I...

You smelling that? Yeah. Decomp.

Hello?

You never noticed that smell?

I got allergies.

I'm covered. Stay here.

Wow.

Well, to quote Curtis
Mayfield, "Freddie's dead."

At least a week, which takes him out of
the running for killing the Morgan family.

Whoever killed them probably
killed Freddie. Check that out.

A knife in the neck. A
killer who signs his work.

Nothing from the canvass. You?

There's eight kinds of nasty
down here, but I got something.

Could be Bonnie's backpack.

Brush, dark hair, smokes.

Bonnie in better days.

Two ticket stubs to the
Horrorcore Fest at the Red Bar.

The show was the night before
Bonnie had her fight with Freddie.

Sorry, man. Juggalos
all look alike to me.

Juggalos?

That's what those horrorcore
rap psychos call themselves.

They put on clown makeup,
dye their hair. They're freaks, man.

That's a matter
of opinion, yeah?

Oh, a matter of fact. Their music's all
about how much they hate everybody

and what they're
going to do about it.

Their promoter left these.
Help yourself to a horrorcore CD.

This is one of the
rappers from the show.

You cater to this crowd?

No, they're not that popular. I
book the acts a few times a year.

So, where do the
Juggalos hang out?

In front of their
computers. They're losers.

New barback.

If our killer was looking for
inspiration, this'd be the place.

Right down to his
signature move.

The band's website
doesn't give a clue

what this knife-in-neck
thing's about.

Well, kids tend to brag about their
crimes. Check with the message board.

There's a lot of
messages to the band.

Search "knife in neck."

One hit. It's a link.

That's nice, they give you a choice.
You can choose car accidents,

suicides, decapitations...

"Knife In The Neck."

That's our victim, Don Morgan.

Our photo has footprints
that theirs doesn't have.

Their picture was taken before
the police got there, by the perp.

It was posted by CrazyJ.

Finding CrazyJ is not
going to be so easy.

He uses proxies to
hide his IP address.

And he's been busy trading blood-and-guts
photos with other people online.

Porno I get, but this stuff?

I used to know a couple of A.D.A.'s
who'd swap Polaroids of crime scenes.

The bloodier the better.

When we were kids, my brother and I
used to collect Civil War bubble gum cards.

Bodies blown to bits, bellies
gutted by bayonets, all in full color.

We loved 'em.

I found messages from CrazyJ
on an anime and comic book site.

He's a big fan
of graphic novels.

Yeah? Which ones?

Take a look. His
top ten of all time.

Gore House Mysteries? It's
okay. I wouldn't put it on my top ten.

Shrieking Lunatic is pretty good. He
posted some of his artwork. Click that.

Looks familiar.

An artist who
draws from reality.

And he's working on another
one called Black Madonna.

"With red and white dreadlocks
spread around her head like a halo."

What are you doing here?

Have you heard from Bonnie?

No. Can't we do this tomorrow?

We believe she's hooked up
with a very dangerous individual.

Is there some problem here?

They're looking for Bonnie.

Whose green jacket's that?
It's Bonnie's, isn't it? She's here.

She says you've
been harassing her.

Hey. Okay, I'm on it.

Yeah. You've got to let
me in, right now. Please.

Where is she?
Playing with Sasha.

Bonnie?

It's okay. It's
okay. Just relax.

Bonnie, put the knife
down. Let her go.

Oh, my God.

Bonnie, let her go.

It's going to be all right.

It's okay. Just
put the knife down.

Come on.

Sasha!

Kill me, or I will kill myself.

It's going to snow tonight.
You can smell it in the air.

I remember when I was a kid, how I would
look out the window before I went to bed,

waiting for the snow,
hoping for a snow day.

And then I'd hear the snow falling
on the window while I fell asleep,

and I'd wake up,
and the whole world

would be clean and white.

Okay. Good girl. Stand up.

"Justin Sachs, 19."
This address still good?

I bet you didn't think a big man like
me could bust a move like that, did you?

Go screw yourself,
okay! Screw the police,

screw the Morgans,
screw all 53 states!

We're going to need an address.
Like, where you lived before the shelter.

Do your parents know
you're in New York?

I'm not sure.

We can call them for you, let
them know you're in trouble.

It must be tough
living in a shelter.

It's not so bad.

But better than home, right?

I don't know, I guess.

Was Justin taking care of you?

Yeah, but not how you think.

You mean he protected
you from people like Freddie?

I don't want to talk about that.

Maybe you don't
understand the situation.

You're about to be
charged with five murders.

You don't want to get your parents
involved, we can understand that.

But you need to explain yourself,
Bonnie. The longer you wait...

My name's not Bonnie.

Okay. What is your name?

I don't know. I don't...

I don't remember. I can't remember
who I am or where I'm from.

Please, help me. I
can't remember anything.

My real name's not Bonnie.
That's what Justin called me.

How did you meet Justin?

I was in Times Square, and this creep
Freddie wanted me to come stay with him,

and Justin scared him away, and
told me that Freddie was a pimp.

Okay. What did
you do after that?

Justin bought me a pizza, and
then he took me to the shelter,

and he told me
that I'd be safe there.

What else did
you do with Justin?

Uh, we went to see a lot
of these horrorcore bands.

We listened to a
lot of that music.

Do you remember how
you got to New York?

On a bus, but I don't
know where it came from.

Your parents, are they alive?

I don't know. I can't
even picture them.

You know, Bonnie, the police
put your photograph on the Internet,

in case anybody might recognize
you. Is that okay with you?

I mean, yeah, isn't it good if
somebody recognizes me?

You had this
photograph with you.

I found it in my backpack. I think
it might be me, but I'm not sure.

Do you remember
playing in the snow?

No.

Can you help me
remember who I am?

Well, that's not why I'm here, Bonnie.
I'm not here to help you remember.

You disappointed, angry? Hmm?

Here, slap me in the face.

Go ahead. Take it
out on me. It's okay.

No.

Why not? Are you afraid?

No. I... I don't want to
hurt you. That's wrong.

Whatever else is ailing her, it hasn't
affected her sense of right and wrong.

Good enough for me.

Not for me. What
about her amnesia?

Global dissociative amnesia, which
she's claiming to have, is beyond rare.

And there's usually some
FUBAR brain injury to explain it,

which I didn't
detect in this girl.

So, her claim is a
crock. She's acting.

Absent a medical history and a full
neurological workup, yeah, it's a crock.

But I could be wrong.

Ain't science grand.

What about Justin's
influence over her?

I mean he saved her from a
pimp, gave her food and shelter.

She needed his approval to survive,
no doubt. She had to like what he liked.

Horrorcore music and violence.

Well, if we're all agreed she's
competent to stand trial, we'll move ahead

with the Morgan homicides first.

The police have
Bonnie's parents.

This is what your daughter
looked like when she was arrested.

Oh, my God, Amanda.
Is she all right?

She was examined by a doctor.
She's in good physical health.

What was Amanda arrested for?

She's charged as an
accomplice in five murders.

Oh, God. That's impossible.

When was the last time you
heard from your daughter?

Forty-one days ago. She left home for
choir practice, and she just disappeared.

Then my sister saw her
picture on the Internet.

Look at her. Amanda
would never hurt anybody.

She sings in the Minneapolis
Children's Choir, she tutors poor kids.

We'd like to see her as soon as
possible. Does she have a lawyer?

A legal aid lawyer
was appointed.

Well, I think we can
do better than that.

Mr. Evans, you should know that
she's claiming to have amnesia.

She even told a court psychiatrist
that she doesn't remember her parents.

Claiming? Why do you think she disappeared
in the first place? Come on, Darlene.

Amanda, it's Mom.

Amanda, we're your parents.

We found you. Oh,
thank God we found you.

Amanda? That's my name?

Amanda Evans.
You're our baby girl.

Look. This is you.
This is last winter.

You had such beautiful hair.

You're safe now, Amanda.
We'll take care of you.

Okay. Show's over. I'd like some
privacy with my client and her parents.

I think the show's
just starting.

Last spring, Amanda wiped out on a
bike trail and was knocked unconscious.

They said it was
only a concussion,

but she started having episodes
where she'd get disoriented.

Can you give us some examples?

She left for school one day,

and the police found her
wandering around a parking lot

five miles away. She couldn't
remember how she got there.

Has she received any
medical care for this problem?

Her doctor thinks there's brain
injury, but Amanda's MRIs were normal.

I know she's in there somewhere. We're
sorry for the families of the victims.

But the real Amanda
could never have done this.

What parking lot was
Amanda found in?

The Southdale Shopping Center.

A shopping mall. Isn't it possible she
just ditched school to go to the mall?

The police said
she was disoriented.

When she left home the day she
disappeared, how did she seem to you?

She seemed fine, or else we
wouldn't have let her leave home.

We have a report here that
says that she went to an ATM

and emptied her
bank account of $130.

Do you know if she did that before
or after she was struck with amnesia?

Well, how do I know?

Before or after she bought a
bus ticket to New York City?

Please, Mr. Cutter. There's something
wrong with my daughter. I know it.

We have proof of a head injury,

of her disorientation,
of memory loss.

All before her arrival in New York. And
there's no dispute that she remembers

her adventures
with Justin Sachs.

Which is irrelevant to the fact that
she has no memory of who she is.

She remembers her values.

She can tell right from wrong.

And that's more relevant here
than the details of her identity.

All right, all right.

I need a few days to
rule on her fitness for trial.

But given the subjective nature of
her psych evaluations, I'm inclined to

err on the side of caution here.

Caution! There's never been a case in
New York of a defendant being found unfit

based solely on amnesia.

Forget the girl, start
thinking about Justin Sachs.

That's no slam dunk. The
hatchet was cleaned with bleach.

We can't tie him to
the murder scenes.

Well, we have his
drawings of the murders.

You're kidding, right? You'll have every
artist from Richard Prince to Jeff Koons

lining up in his defense. You have one
eyewitness to his crimes, his co-defendant.

Now you're kidding. This girl was
about to cut an eight-year-old's throat.

I'm not making her a deal.

If the judge finds her unfit for trial, who
knows when you'll get your bite at her.

But if we let her take an insanity
plea in exchange for her testimony,

she'll be locked up
in a psychiatric facility.

There you go.

Let me see if I get this. First, we agree
to have her adjudicated legally insane,

and then we make
her our star witness?

I'm not worried.

You've done more with less.

Ms. Evans has agreed
to plead not responsible

by reason of mental
defect. In return,

she'll be confined to a psychiatric
facility until it's determined that

she's no longer a threat.

She has also agreed to
testify against Justin Sachs.

Your Honor, in the event
the court accepts this plea,

we're moving to preclude
Ms. Evans' testimony.

The People can't on one hand assert
she's legally insane, while on the other

present her as a
credible witness.

The defense can cross-examine
her. The jury can make

its own determination
as to her credibility.

I agree. Your motion's
denied, Mrs. Masters.

Excuse me. Your Honor,

we're serving notice that we'll present a
defense of extreme emotional disturbance,

that Mr. Sachs committed these
alleged crimes while suffering from

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So noted. We're adjourned.

Trauma? We didn't find
any trauma in his history.

The guy lives with his mother.

Maybe his mother threw
away his comic book collection.

Please, keep digging.
I don't want to find

out in the middle of
the trial that he spent

his childhood
chained to a radiator.

What are these?

We found those on his computer. He
downloaded them off different websites.

Pink hippos jumping
out of the Twin Towers?

Mmm-hmm. Big funny. This is
one kid who needs locking up.

If we come across the trauma he's
stressing over, we'll get back to you.

Yeah. Boys will be boys.

Justin met Zoe on this
horrorcore message board,

and the three of us started hanging
out and going to concerts together.

What happened the Tuesday night
that Zoe and her family were killed?

Zoe invited me over to her house
for a sleep over, and after dinner,

we were hanging out in her
room, partying, waiting for Justin,

'cause we were going to sneak
him in after her parents went to sleep.

And then I saw that she
was texting with somebody.

Who was she texting?

This guy Tom, a bartender.

She made me swear
not to tell Justin.

Did you tell him?

Yes, when he came over.

Justin was looking out for me, so
I felt like I should look out for him.

He got really mad.

What did he do?

He told me to keep
pretending like everything

was cool, and he
went into the kitchen.

And then he came back,
and he asked Zoe about Tom.

She lied.

And then he just
took out this knife,

and he started stabbing
her, and he killed her.

What happened next?

He said, "Now we
have to kill them all,"

and he went and he got this hatchet that he
would keep in his backpack. And Zoe's dad

was walking out of the bathroom,
and he just went crazy on him.

And then he went into the bedroom,
and I could hear him killing Zoe's mom.

And then he went into Zoe's
little brother's room, and he just...

He said that he
couldn't find him, but...

Go on, Amanda.

I could... I could hear Zoe's
little brother crying, really soft.

So, I told Justin that he
was hiding in the closet.

Justin killed him.

And then he went into the hallway,
and he stuck his knife in Zoe's dad's neck,

and we left.

Just to be clear, Ms. Evans,

you're saying that you didn't do
any of the killing yourself, is that right?

Yes. Justin did it.

Tell the jury
where you live now.

A psychiatric hospital.

Because you've been
found to be legally insane,

subject to disorientation
and memory lapses, right?

Yes.

No more questions.

The photo on the left was
found on the defendant's laptop.

It was uploaded there from
a camera found in his room.

If you compare this photo to the
one taken by our crime scene unit,

you can see there
are fewer footprints.

This indicates his photo was
taken at the murder scene.

Thank you.

Your Honor, the Defense reserves
our cross-examination of this witness

until after we've
presented our case.

Granted. The witness will
remain available for recall.

Excuse me.

Yes, Detective?

I know you, right?

Yes, you do. I went by my maiden
name back then. Veronica Palmer.

Now you remember.
See you soon, Detective.

We could see the Twin Towers
burn from our balcony in Brooklyn.

Justin kept running from
the balcony to the TV.

They kept showing the planes going
into the towers, the people jumping,

over and over again.

I'd turn it off, and he'd turn
it back on. He was just 11.

And how did he
react to those images?

For weeks he'd wake up in the middle of
the night. A few times he even wet his bed.

And what can you tell us
about Justin's interest in music?

When he was 12, I had this boyfriend
who took him to a death metal concert.

Urn, and this singer on stage bit off
this bird's head. Justin came home crying.

My boyfriend was laughing
and calling him a sissy.

And what happened to
Justin's musical tastes?

He started getting into metal, and then
horrorcore. He blasted it in the house.

Thank you.

Mrs. Sachs, did you ever take
Justin for a psychiatric evaluation?

No.

Did his school ever call you with
complaints about his behavior?

No. He was a good student.

So, a good student whose behavior
never aroused anyone's concerns.

Thank you.

The children who lived
through the events of 9/11,

who came of age during two wars

they could watch
every night, in vivid

hi-def, have been exposed
to an unprecedented

barrage of horrific imagery.

The impact of this experience is
only now starting to be understood.

From your examination of Justin,
what impact has this barrage had on him?

He exhibits the signs of being desensitized
to violence, and at the same time, being

addicted to the thrill
that he derives from it.

Can you give us an example of how
Justin has become desensitized to violence?

Well, for example, these images of the
Twin Towers that Justin has collected.

While for us, the Twin Towers represent
a great tragedy, for Justin, they're

an icon being used as a punch line. This
callous humor is typically seen in soldiers

suffering from PTSD.

Thank you.

So, you're equating the
stress of seeing a gory picture

to the stress of
being in combat?

For a child of 11 or 12,
the image of violence can be

as upsetting as the real thing.

Now, we heard
testimony that Justin flew

into a rage when he
found out his girlfriend

was texting another boy. Is
jealousy a symptom of PTSD?

I'd have to say that it is not.

And, Doctor, jealousy is not
a defense to murder, correct?

Correct, it is not.

Thank you.

Nowadays, with what the kids see,
I shudder to think what effect it has.

Growing up in rose-colored innocence didn't
keep us from creating the violent world

our kids are watching, did it?

Mr. Cutter. Can I
speak to you, please?

Sure.

You've got to keep that lawyer
from calling me back to the stand.

I can't. She has the right
to cross-examine you.

Come on, you're a sharp guy.

There's got to be
something you can do.

Detective, what's
the problem here?

Just help me out
here, Mike. Please.

There's nothing I can do.

Okay, then you've got to cover me. I'll
talk about the case, but if that lawyer

veers off the subject by one comma,
you've got to jump in and stop it.

See you tomorrow.

This is no way to treat
your partner, partner.

Do you want me to beat it out of
you? Because you know that I can.

That lawyer knows
me from an old case.

And?

It was ten years ago, it was Christmas
morning. I got called out to a crime scene.

It was a triple. Guy took out his
whole family, the wife, the two kids.

Cut their throats in their sleep
while they were waiting for Santa.

I was there for six hours standing in
the blood, and then I had to rush over

to meet my girlfriend at her
folks' place for Christmas dinner.

It was the first time
I was meeting them.

The parents, the grandparents,
the aunts and uncles, the whole kit.

And I'm there, I'm playing with the
nephews, rolling around on the floor,

and I'm doing pretty good forgetting
how I spent my morning. And then,

I see that I got blood on the cuff
of my shirt. You know, blood from

the crime scene, blood
from those dead kids.

I freaked out.

I ran out of there. I
ended up in a bar.

Christmas night, I'm in
a bar, drinking. Hey-hey.

Well, that was it
for the girlfriend.

And that Christmas morning,

well, you work hard at
it and you drink enough,

you can pretty much
forget anything eventually.

That lawyer
represented the husband.

When I got called to
testify, I showed up drunk.

She knows what I went
through, she's going to bring it up.

I do not want to go back there.

I hear that. What're
you going to do?

I'll be there tomorrow.

And if you have to tell your
story, Lupes, tell it to me.

I wouldn't say 17 stab
wounds is indicative

of a deranged mental state. I think it's
indicative that he wanted to make sure

Zoe Morgan was dead.

The Morgan crime scene was
particularly gruesome, wouldn't you say?

Every crime scene
has its own horror.

Have you had nightmares or unwanted
thoughts about that crime scene?

No.

But you have had problems in the past from
your exposure to gruesome crime scenes,

isn't that right?

Objection, relevance.

Mrs. Masters, where
are you going with this?

It's okay. I'll
answer her question.

Then I'll withdraw my objection.

Yes, I had problems.

Ten years ago, I caught a case,

a man killed his wife and
two kids on Christmas morning.

You know. You were his lawyer.

Yes. Can you please tell us how
your problems manifested themselves?

I couldn't stop thinking about what
I saw, the smells, those little kids.

I couldn't shut it off.

I felt guilty and
sad all the time.

I couldn't sit still. I felt out
of control. I was anxious.

I wasn't sleeping.

I drank, even on the job.

One time, I fell asleep in the patrol car
when my partner went to get us coffee.

He walked into a robbery in
progress. He was shot and killed.

Did you seek counseling?

Uh, yeah, after that. I was diagnosed
with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I got treatment with the Department
psychiatrist for nine months.

And how long were
you in that crime scene?

Six hours.

Were any of the
victims known to you?

No.

And still you
suffered from PTSD.

No more questions.

In the time that you've suffered from
PTSD, have you attacked anyone?

No.

Been cited for using
excessive force on a suspect?

No.

Used violence in an
inappropriate way?

No.

One more thing. That
ten-year-old case, do you recall

what defense Mrs. Masters
offered on behalf of her client?

She told the jury her
client was traumatized

by witnessing the
death of his parents

in a house fire
when he was a child.

Do you remember
what the verdict was?

Objection.

She opened the door, Your Honor.

I'll allow it. The witness
may answer the question.

The jury found
her client guilty.

No more questions.

How'd you know
about her defense?

After you came to
me, I cross-referenced

you and Mrs. Masters.
I found the case.

Like you said, I'm
a pretty sharp guy.

Mr. Cutter, can we talk?

Yes. What can we do for you?

The kid took 30-to-life, all in. I told
Cutter we'd be at every parole hearing.

Evening, officers.

Hey, it's ugly in there. Hope
you haven't had dinner yet.

You okay?