Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 20, Episode 8 - Doped - full transcript

What appears to be a tragic drunk driving accident with multiple fatalities becomes more complicated when investigators discover that the driver was about to blow the whistle on the pharmaceutical company she worked for.

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.

Punch Buggy red. No punch back.

Mom?

You can't play
that, Auntie Brenda.

Why? 'Cause I'm a
big, bad grown-up?

Yes. Yes.

I invented the Punch Buggy game.



You did not.

Ask Auntie Sandy.

She used to bring a pillow
in the car to put between us,

so I couldn't hit her.

Mom, watch where
you're going, okay?

Oh, I'm just having a
little fun, Nicky, geez.

Get me my spray out of
my purse, will you, honey?

So, where'd you take her?

Apple picking.

Ho-ho! Risky first date.

No, it was all good, bro.

And we got some great Macowans.

Macouns.

Minivan entered the highway at
14th Street, going the wrong way.



Witnesses say it was
going 60, minimum.

Hit this poor guy head on.

All three in the car were DOA.

Two in the minivan, little kids.

What about the
driver of the minivan?

They rushed her and two
other kids to St. Agnes'.

She went almost 20 blocks on
the wrong side. Unbelievable.

Hey, I think I
found the culprit.

Grain alcohol, 151 proof.

No taste, packs a wallop.

Yeah, there's still a
few drops in the bottle.

This is why I take the subway.

My wife was taking the kids to
our place upstate for the weekend.

She had our nieces with her.

Oh, God.

Oh, what am I gonna
tell Sandy and Bob?

We're very sorry, Mr. Sawyer.

Where was she coming from?

She was coming from work,
from Woodmoor Pharma.

Brenda's a sales manager.

She wasn't even supposed
to have the kids with her.

I was supposed to pick them
up from her sister's place,

but last minute, I had
to stay late at the bank.

So, you called your wife?

Yeah, around quarter to five.

I told her she'd have to pick
the kids up, and I'd come up later.

How'd she sound?

She sounded okay, you
know, she was still at work.

We have to ask
you this, Mr. Sawyer.

Did your wife drink?

No. Maybe, champagne on
special occasions, but that's it. Why?

There was a bottle of
grain alcohol in the van.

Maybe it belonged to you?

No. We're not drinkers.

What are you implying?
That my wife was drunk?

Just routine
questions, Mr. Sawyer.

My wife was not
drunk. No damn way.

I have to go check on my son.

She has severe head trauma,
massive internal injuries.

It's not hopeful.

What did the tox screen say?

Blood alcohol was .09.

Any chance we'll be able to talk
to the surviving kids any time soon?

Oh, God.

Surviving kid.

The boy, Nicky Sawyer, is
being prepped for surgery.

The little girl, Sara Renquist,
died 10 minutes ago.

I just told her parents.

Thanks.

What do you think?

We go talk to them?

Well, they can always say "no."

Excuse me.

Hello. I'm Detective Lupo.
This is Detective Bernard.

We're very sorry for your loss.

We'd like to ask you a
few questions, if that's okay.

Okay.

We understand Brenda Sawyer
picked her kids up from your home?

Yes, our kids too.

They were spending the weekend
at Brenda and Matt's place.

You both saw Ms. Sawyer?

Just me. She came
by just before 5:00.

How did she seem? SANDY: Fine.

She said she was going to
stop and get the kids ice cream.

Tell them about the call.

Allie's my older one, I
gave her my cell phone

so she could keep in contact
with us over the weekend and...

She called a half
hour after they left,

and she said that there was
something wrong with my sister,

that she wasn't
making any sense,

and she was driving
all over the road.

I told Allie to tell Brenda
to pull over and then...

And then I heard
Allie scream and...

She was drunk, wasn't she?

Bob, Sandy, I just
heard about Sara...

Your drunk wife
killed our babies!

No! She killed them.

No. Mr. Renquist.

No. She wasn't
drunk. Bob, I swear.

Bob!

This is her turning onto the
West Side Highway at 14th Street.

But, instead of going
in the northbound lanes,

she turns north into
the southbound lanes.

But traffic was light.
She accelerated.

One caller to 911

has her going through the
intersection at 22nd Street at about 55.

Did she make any
attempt to pull over?

A.I.U. says not according to
the witnesses, or the 911 calls.

The lady was smashed.

That's a lot of bad driving
for a .09 blood alcohol.

But I've seen people with
.06 who couldn't stand up.

Okay, the husband
swears his wife didn't drink.

Yeah, not that he's
ready to admit, anyway.

You two done?

Miss Sawyer's blood alcohol has
already been leaked to the media.

With six fatalities,
including three dead kids,

this lady ever makes
it out of the hospital,

people are gonna
want to string her up.

We're gonna nail this down,
so there can be no doubt.

Find out what she drank, where
she drank it, and who saw her do it.

We're still in total
shock over this.

Brenda was a strong
member of my sales team.

She had a beautiful family.

How was she when
she left on Friday?

She was good. Happy to go home.

What time was that?
Maybe 4:15, 4:30.

You ever see her have a
drink at lunch, or after hours?

Maybe a glass of punch
at a Christmas party.

She ever talk about
drinking, or being hung over?

No. Well, uh...

What is it, Mr. Marshall?

Well, when she left on Friday,

she said she was gonna be
cooped up with four kids all weekend.

She laughed and said she
was gonna need a stiff drink,

but I thought she was kidding.

How'd she get in that
car stone cold drunk?

And now, her husband's
saying she didn't touch the stuff?

Well, you know
what that's about.

Are you planning to take legal
action against Matt Sawyer?

You're damn right I am.

I lost my wife,

my daughter, her fiancé...

Leslie, would you
please turn that off?

But somebody's
got to answer for this.

Sorry, Mr. Marshall.

Okay, everybody,
back to work, please.

No secret stash,
no breath mints.

You know, she told her sister
she was gonna to take the kids

to get ice cream
before hitting the road.

Right. So, maybe some place
between her sister's and the highway.

I remember her, two
vanillas with jimmies,

a strawberry, and a pistachio.

That paper cup she's
sipping from could be a juice,

or a soda she
bought for a mixer.

Did she seem intoxicated to you?

She was in a good mood.
She put 5 bucks in the tip jar.

That's the lady that
killed all those people?

Damn.

She tossed her drink.
You still have that garbage?

I put it out for
sanitation that night.

Thanks.

Between leaving work
and getting the kids,

she bought a bottle
of booze and a mixer.

Maybe now we can get the
straight story from the husband.

I am telling you
for the last time,

my wife is not a drinker.

We have the bottle of
grain alcohol from the car.

We have her on video sipping from a
drink cup 15 minutes before the crash.

I don't care what it says.
Brenda would never do that.

Never.

We know it's hard
to admit, Mr. Sawyer.

But, you could
help a lot of people.

They need to hear the
truth so they can move on.

You don't think I
want to move on?

I've got in-laws
that hate my guts.

I can't leave the apartment because
the papers have turned me into a pariah.

My daughter is dead.

My wife and son...

And I've got a mother in
there who's dying of cancer.

I've known Brenda
since high school.

We don't keep secrets
from each other.

Something is
off here, all right?

My daughter-in-law
is a terrific mother.

She would never put my
grandchildren in danger.

It's all right, Ma.

I'm begging you guys,
find out what happened.

Please.

We could show him
pictures of his wife

taking swigs of grain alcohol,

and he still
wouldn't believe it.

When you know somebody,
you know somebody.

Hello?

Yeah, this is him.

What?

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

It's his wife, she
didn't make it.

One more look, okay?

Her cell phone records confirm
the call from her husband at 4:45.

The one where he
tells her to get the kids.

Yeah. Then she got a call
10 minutes before the crash

from a cell phone
registered to her company.

The call lasted
less than a minute.

She was probably too wasted
by then to talk to anybody.

Nasal spray, for her allergies.

You see alcohol
in the ingredients?

No. But some of these allergy
medications make you drowsy.

I'm sending it to the lab.

Contents of her GI tract
corroborate the hospital tox screen.

Grain alcohol mixed with
orange juice, banana and coconut.

High-octane smoothie she
drank on an empty stomach.

Could something she took for
allergies have interacted with that?

Like what, an antihistamine?

There was an over-the-counter
nasal spray in her car.

The mass spectrometer
didn't detect anything

besides alcohol that would
account for her behavior.

There's no big
mystery here, fellas.

This lady was
hammered on jungle juice.

Thanks.

We've tried it every other way.

It all comes back
to her being drunk.

I'd feel a lot better if we could find
the store that sold her the booze.

Hey, sorry to crash the party.

After you told me
about her allergies,

I took another look
at her nasal mucosa.

There was chronic inflammation.

So, I checked with the tox
lab about the nasal spray.

Propofol? An anesthetic, right?

Yeah, a powerful one. Also
known as "Milk of Amnesia."

It's been in the news.

It would cause
immediate disorientation,

and lack of control if
she sprayed it in her nose.

And all the tox screens of
Brenda Sawyer missed it?

It dissipates in minutes.
It wouldn't be detected.

So somebody spiked her
nasal spray with this stuff?

Without a doubt.

When you're right, you're right.

The lot number
on the nasal spray

traces to a pharmacy
on 23rd Street.

Alert the Health Department.

They'll need to pull all the sprays
from that store and have them tested.

Another Tylenol scare. Great.

Just covering the bases.

How about this base?

Guess who's one of four
companies that makes Propofol?

Woodmoor Pharma.

The company Brenda
Sawyer worked for.

Well, that opens up a
whole new world of suspects.

Maybe someone there had a beef
with Miss Sawyer. Talk to her husband.

So, it wasn't her fault?

Let's take one thing at a time.

But, you have to let people
know it wasn't Brenda's fault.

First we find the person who
tampered with her nasal spray, okay?

Was she having
problems at her work?

She was busy
lately, a lot of stress.

With anything or
anyone in particular?

I'm not sure. She was
staying late at work.

I've been preoccupied with
my mom and her cancer.

So, Brenda and I, we
hadn't had a lot of time to talk.

Excuse me. They just
brought my son down from ICU.

He's been asking about his mom.

Yeah, go ahead, Mr. Sawyer.

Staying late at work, huh?

- I want to be helpful.
- You're doing okay.

Yeah, let's start with
some easy questions.

Okay.

Brenda, she had
allergies, right?

Yes. She was always
spritzing stuff up her nose.

Where did she keep
her nasal spray?

In her purse.

And her purse, where
did she keep that?

On her desk, or next to it.

Is this helping? Big time.

Okay, touchier subject now.

How did she get along
with the people here?

Oh, everyone thought
the world of her.

We heard she'd been
staying late the last few weeks.

What was that
about? She and Zach,

that's Mr. Marshall, the
head of the sales department,

they had this big
project together.

"Project," that
sounds interesting.

Oh, for sure. The night
before the accident,

they were in his office,
in this big hush-hush,

and they stopped
when they saw me.

And how about the day of the
accident, were they getting along?

Zach called in after
he left looking for her,

and I said that she
went to pick up her kids.

He didn't seem too happy.

Did he call from a cell phone?

You know the number?

This isn't his personal phone,

it's the one the
company gave him.

Thanks. You've
been very helpful.

Really? Yeah.

I'm glad.

A big hush-hush.

It's either personal,
professional or... Mineral.

Yeah, well, his number
matches the number

that called Brenda
in the minivan.

Maybe her son overheard
the conversation.

Her son who just
got out of the ICU?

You IA guys are cold.

I can really keep it?

It's yours.

Especially since
you're gonna help us

with some of our detective work.

Okay.

Now, we know some of this
stuff may be hard to talk about.

So, you just let us know, and we
can talk about it some other time.

I don't care.

Okay.

Now, when you were in
the car, before the accident,

do you remember your
mom getting a phone call?

Yes, from her boss.

She couldn't hear
him, so she hung up.

She was acting weird.

We understand, Nicky. We
know it wasn't your mother's fault.

Did she say anything
about her boss?

She said he was nice.

And he bought her a
JamJuice smoothie.

The smoothie she was drinking

when you guys stopped
to buy ice cream?

A JamJuice franchise three
blocks from Woodmoor Pharma

made a delivery
late Friday afternoon.

Eight smoothies, enough
for the whole sales staff,

charged to Zach
Marshall's corporate card.

He spiked her smoothie
and her nasal spray?

She parked in the
company garage.

He could've planted that
liquor bottle in her minivan too.

He wanted us to think she crashed
her car because she was drunk,

not because she was
knocked out on Propofol.

Crazy scheme.

Well, you're gonna
love this. Here.

The 911 calls about the minivan,

they were all made
between 5:24 and 5:25.

All except one, made at 5:16
from a payphone in Tuckahoe.

Ten miles from the
West Side Highway.

Someone must
have a big crystal ball.

Zach Marshall's phone call to
Brenda Sawyer, two minutes earlier,

hit off a cell phone
tower in Tuckahoe.

I treat my team to smoothies every
Friday, kind of a "attaboy" motivator.

And you didn't notice Brenda pouring
a little extra kick into her cup, did you?

She knew I didn't tolerate
that kind of behavior.

After you both left the
office, you called her?

No.

This is the list of all
the calls you made.

See that one right there?

You didn't tell
us you called her.

I didn't know. I was driving
with my phone in my pocket,

and I had Brenda on speed
dial, I must have hit it by mistake.

Why did you have
her on speed dial?

Well, I have all my
team on speed dial.

Could we see your phone?

Well, I don't know, I
deleted Brenda's entry,

I think I deleted some others, moving
them around, I'm not good at these gadgets.

Anyway, it's not
important, is it?

Oh, it is. You see,
you and Brenda

have been staying late together
these last couple of weeks.

People saw you, Zach.

What were you working on?

I can't say.

It's confidential information.
It belongs to the company.

You sure you were working?

What else would it be?

You tell us.

Oh, no.

No way. I'm married.

She was married, she
had kids, for God's sake.

Her kids and her nieces.

This is what they looked
like before the accident.

You want to see
the after pictures?

No. I don't need to see that.

Yeah. We know, had
this been in your power,

you would have done everything
to stop it from happening.

Of course. It was terrible.

But, you did try, didn't
you? You called 911.

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

From a pay phone in Tuckahoe.

She's in a dark blue
minivan with New York plates.

She's got kids with her. Send
somebody right away, please.

What location, sir?

You see, you tried to get
the police to pull her over

before she got on the highway,
before she was knocked out

by the Propofol you
put in her nasal spray.

I didn't mean...
I didn't mean...

You didn't mean what?

You didn't mean what, Zach? Huh?

You didn't mean to
get these kids killed,

is that what you mean?

You didn't know they were
going to be in the minivan,

is that right?

Look at the
pictures, Zach. I can't.

You didn't mean to
kill these kids, did you?

I gotta go to the bathroom.

Please, I gotta go. Please...

Hey, we'll hang on to
your jacket. Give it to me.

You okay in there?

Get a paramedic. Get
a paramedic, damn it.

Oh, God.

Let me go. Let me die.

No. I'm not going to let
you go that easy, my friend.

Lupes!

He stuck a ballpoint
pen in his neck.

Pressure. More
pressure. Grab his hands.

Don't think that
didn't cross my mind.

Should I stand over there?

You're fine where
you are, Mr. Cooper.

"People v. Zachary Marshall. Murder
in the Second Degree, seven counts."

How does Mr. Marshall plead?

Not guilty on all charges.

People request remand.

I wanna see my wife.

I'm working on that.

Your Honor, my
client's obviously

under a doctor's care,
and not a flight risk.

He's under a doctor's care
due to a suicide attempt,

which evinces
consciousness of his guilt.

It wasn't guilt. He was
upset by the allegations.

He was upset because
he killed more people

on a New York roadway
than anyone in history.

Your Honor, even the
police claim that my client

tried to avert this tragedy.

Sounds like Mr. Cooper is
admitting intentional murder

and asserting renunciation.

No, not necessarily.

I suggest you figure
it out, Mr. Cooper.

Your client's remanded.

His lawyer practically
stumbled into a confession.

Well, we could use a confession.

A suicide attempt and a
smoothie won't convict Mr. Marshall.

The police found the foil wrapper
to a nasal spray in Marshall's house,

same brand as the
one in Brenda's car.

Better. Not as good
as evidence of an affair

or putting the
Propofol in his hands.

His company stores it in a
warehouse in White Plains.

Well, have a nice drive.

Zach Marshall, he's been
out here in the past month.

Been out here a few
times, by the looks of it.

Would he have access to any
products here, maybe samples?

Salespeople are
issued samples, sure.

How about Propofol?

We don't give out
samples of Propofol.

How would Mr. Marshall
get access to it?

He wouldn't. We have
security measures.

We got a dozen government
agencies breathing down our necks.

Is it normal for a sales manager

to visit the warehouse so often?

If he has an issue
with distribution.

Did he?

Not that I recall.

I see a couple times where
Brenda Sawyer signed in with him.

Did they always come together?

Couple of times
she came by herself.

Do you remember what for?

She was looking at sales
data for one of our drugs,

Lextenda.

Brenda Sawyer
didn't rep Lextenda.

She say why she was interested?

She said there was
a distribution issue

with the cancer clinic one
of her relatives was using.

Losing Brenda was a
horrible loss for Matt.

And Nicky, growing
up without a mother.

It's nice that they have
you here with them.

For as long as I last.

Oh, I'm a realist, dear.

People my age don't
beat colon cancer.

Now, what can I do for you?

I need to know, did
Brenda ever talk to you

about a drug called Lextenda?

Yes. My clinic had me on it.

But, Brenda made
me stop taking it.

Even though her company
made the drug? Did she say why?

She didn't think
it was right for me.

It was after she
spoke with Albert's son.

Albert was at the clinic, he
had colon cancer. Mmm-hmm.

He was taking Lextenda.

When Albert's son found out
that Brenda worked for Woodmoor,

he got very upset with her.

Because of Lextenda?

I'm not sure.

She spent a lot of
time talking to him.

My father made peace with dying.

He even signed his own DNR.

The clinic then put him
on the new medicine

they said would extend his
life for months, even years.

And that medicine was Lextenda?

Right. 1,000 bucks a day.

The cancer had already
maxed out my pop's insurance,

so we had to pay for it
out of our own pocket.

What happened?
Pops kept getting worse.

That Lextenda didn't
do anything for him.

I wanted to take him off it, but the clinic
talked my mom into keeping him on it.

And she used up all her
savings to pay for that drug,

and for what?

My pop spent the last five
weeks of his life in agony.

And now my mom can't
afford to be in the house

that she's been in for 40 years?

I'm so sorry.

I was told that you got very
upset with Brenda Sawyer

when you found out she worked
for the company that made Lextenda.

Yeah, I kind of lost it there.

Brenda was a real
angel. She listened to me.

She didn't know about Lextenda.

She said she'd look into it.

What did she find out?

I'm not sure.

I lost touch with her
after my pops died.

I know she got into this
big thing with Dr. Price,

the head of the clinic.

People with loved ones
who are terminally ill

want miracles.

When they don't get
them, they get angry.

They blame the doctor.
They blame the drugs.

What specifically did Brenda
Sawyer discuss with you?

She didn't want her
mother-in-law on Lextenda.

Why?

She wanted to show me
some data on her laptop,

but she was a salesperson,
she had no medical training.

Did she question why you
were keeping Mr. Quintana

on Lextenda, even though he was
getting no medical benefit from it?

It was really none of her
business. Or yours, for that matter.

What percentage of your terminally
ill cancer patients are on Lextenda?

I don't see how that's relevant.

I'll decide what's relevant.

Or, if you'd rather, I could
come back with a subpoena

for all of your records.

Why don't you do
that, Ms. Rubirosa?

You get your subpoena.

In the meantime,
I'll talk to my lawyer.

You're a golfer.

Some of my friends would
disagree with that statement.

Woodmoor Invitational,
Hawaii. Dominican Republic,

Honduras, wow, you get around.

You and your little golf balls.

Well, I got a hold
of Dr. Price's data,

through the state's
morbidity studies.

He's prescribed
Lextenda to all his patients

at the end-stage
of their disease.

Their bodies were shutting
down, in a process called wasting.

Did Lextenda help them?

Compared to similar patients
who weren't taking Lextenda,

Price's patients lived an
average of 36 days longer.

That's on the low end of
Woodmoor's marketing materials.

It's 36 days they wouldn't
have had otherwise.

A couple of them
lived for a few months,

and one for almost a year,

but the vast majority
only lived a week or two.

Still.

It's living, but barely.

At $1,000 a day.

Drug company perks
are nothing new.

Well, this is for a drug
that has no palliative value.

It's what the medical
community calls a "rescue drug."

It extends life by a matter of
days, but, at an exorbitant cost.

Not to mention it
targets a very vulnerable

and desperate group of patients.

Still, unless the company's
paying the prescribing Doctors

to misrepresent the
drug's effectiveness...

Maybe Brenda Sawyer
found out that they are.

She was in the warehouse, digging
through Lextenda's sales data,

along with Zach Marshall.

Maybe she confided in him.

She probably thought
she could trust him.

He went back
afterwards by himself.

And what if he didn't share Brenda's
outrage at what she found out?

He's a sales manager.

Brenda blows the whistle
and Lextenda's sales tank,

then so might his
career, and his company.

So he silenced Brenda?

He might be a company man,
but loyalty goes only so far.

Do you have any idea how much
Woodmoor grosses annually on Lextenda?

Hmm.

That would buy a lot of loyalty.

What happened to Mr. Cooper?

Trade him in for someone
who knows where to stand?

Courtesy of Woodmoor
Pharma, we presume.

Not your concern.

What brings you to
scenic Riker's Island?

Your client's facing seven
life sentences, Mr. Hoyt.

I'm new here, but your case
feels very circumstantial to me.

Foil packaging?

Juries tend to lower
the bar quite a bit

when dead children are involved.

And now we know why he did it.

Oh, it wasn't a lover's
spat? Please. Share.

Brenda Sawyer was about to
blow the whistle on Lextenda.

Lextenda?

You remember, Mr. Marshall,

the cancer drug
Brenda was asking about

when she was with you at
Woodmoor's distribution facility?

Your client can fill
you in on the specifics.

Other words, you can't
put either the alcohol

or the Propofol in
his hands, can you?

I'll contact you when I
get up to speed. Or not.

Come on, Mr. Marshall.

First thing we're gonna
do is make a bail application

and get you home to your family.

It sounds like Woodmoor is
trying to do damage control.

If they can force us to
cut Marshall a quick deal,

maybe they can
keep Lextenda out of it.

Or maybe Marshall cut
his own deal with them.

He'll keep his mouth
shut about Lextenda,

in return for some high-priced
legal representation.

And where are we with Lextenda?

Anything beyond speculation
and educated guesswork?

Brenda's research was
on her company laptop.

Her assistant told me Woodmoor
security removed it from her office

the weekend after
she was killed.

That laptop holds our motive.

I'm sure if you ask Woodmoor
nicely, they'll hand it right over.

Woodmoor is moving to quash
the D.A.'s subpoena for this laptop.

There's nothing on the computer,

which relates to this
tragic drunk driving case.

Well, they can't seriously
expect us to take their word for it.

Is Mr. Cutter admitting that
this is a fishing expedition?

No, we're looking for documents,

which relate to the
motive for seven murders.

What documents
are those, Mr. Cutter?

Anything concerning a
medicine called Lextenda.

Lextenda is a closely
held patent, Judge.

Any information on a
Woodmoor computer,

about Woodmoor
products, is proprietary.

The People aren't interested
in stealing trade secrets.

I'll give the Court my
personal guarantee

that anything unrelated
to Lextenda sales,

marketing or distribution

will remain
confidential and secure.

He's still fishing, Your Honor.

I agree. Mr. Cutter, your
subpoena is quashed.

Well, asking nicely didn't
work. What's plan B?

I'll ask.

I haven't seen you since you came
knocking with your hand out, Jack.

Belated congratulations.

Thanks again for the
campaign contribution, Austin.

Don't thank me. Thank
my Board of Directors.

I assume this
isn't a social call.

I heard my guys beat
up your guys today.

Zach Marshall and Brenda
Sawyer were your employees.

A terrible tragedy.

And terrible for Woodmoor.

It's not the kind of
publicity we aspire to.

Especially if it got out those seven
deaths were really about Lextenda.

Excuse me?

Brenda Sawyer was gathering
data about your miracle drug,

until she was killed
by a rogue employee.

But, why am I telling you
something you already know?

I don't know what
Marshall did or didn't do,

but I do know Lextenda
is an effective product.

Brenda Sawyer thought otherwise.

That you were selling false hope

to desperate people
at 1,000 bucks a day.

Doing it by co-opting
doctors with timeshares,

and tropical vacations,
that it's a rigged game.

Don't get self-righteous
on me, Jack.

If corporations
didn't make profits,

where would
politicians like you be?

You're right, and it stinks.

There are too
many office-holders

in the health
industry's pockets.

It's one of the
reasons we can't pass

a decent health-care
bill in this country.

And oh, by the way...

It's a certified check, reimbursing
your campaign contribution.

What do you want me to do?

Grow a conscience.

Unless you want to be personally
named as an accomplice, Austin,

you can order your guys
to hand over that computer.

All the files have been
deleted. And I mean, all of them.

We expected that.

All I could recover were
some basic applications

built into the operating system,
clock, address book, calendar.

Can I take a look?

Yeah. Thanks.

The police went back through
Marshall's home and computer,

nothing on Lextenda.

Brenda's computer
was wiped clean.

Everything's gone except
her address book and calendar.

Look at this. Her appointments
the week after she died.

This one here.

J. Wigand. Tuesday, 10:00 a.m.

And there is no J. Wigand
in her address book.

I don't remember seeing that
name in her phone records.

Jeffrey Wigand, the king
of the whistle-blowers.

He blew the whistle
on Big Tobacco.

It's hard to believe she'd
be meeting with him.

Exactly. So maybe
this was her inside joke.

A code name for a meeting
with a regulatory agency.

An agency that could do
something about Lextenda.

The FDA.

She said she worked for Woodmoor,
but she wouldn't tell me her name.

We set up the Tuesday
meeting, she never showed.

She say why she
insisted on anonymity?

Most people who contact us
don't give us their name at first.

They don't want
to risk their jobs

if we're not going to
act on their information.

This lady wouldn't even tell me
what drug she was calling about.

She didn't mention Lextenda?

Is that what it was?

I got a call about Lextenda
later that week from a doctor.

He was very eager
to move forward.

I even sent him an
informational packet.

You sent it to him? This
doctor left you his name?

Yeah, he did.

But, under the
whistle-blower protection laws,

I can't divulge his identity
without a court order.

Well, we'll take care of that.

Any other inquiries
about Lextenda?

Not that I'm aware of.

But, I wouldn't be surprised
to see an up-tick in complaints

on these end-term cancer meds.

Why, because
they're not effective?

No, big money at stake, not just for
corporations, but for whistle-blowers.

They get a piece of any
penalty imposed on the company.

Ever since a
whistle-blower got 50 million

on that Pfizer settlement,
drug company employees

have been coming
out of the woodwork.

The $2 billion
penalty against Pfizer

was for illegal
marketing, which is exactly

what Brenda suspected
Woodmoor of doing with Lextenda.

Zach Marshall saved
his company a tidy sum.

They should be
very proud of him.

And, they're doing everything
they can to show their appreciation.

The erased computer
files, his bail money,

the fancy lawyer.

The FDA just turned
over the name and address

of the doctor who called
them about Lextenda.

It's a Dr. Sherin,
up in Dobbs Ferry.

Well, if he gives us information

about Woodmoor's
illegal marketing,

then maybe you can use
it to convince your friends

at Woodmoor to
cut Marshall loose.

My friends. Ha!

Dr. Sherin rents a
box here, box 819.

But he hasn't
come in for a while.

Do you have a home
address on him?

All I know is he's from Florida.

He's only been in here twice,
including when he rented the box.

You mind if we have a look?

I'm not supposed to do that.

I mean, if it was
terrorism, maybe.

Do you remember all those kids that died
in that crash on the West Side Highway?

This is that.

Oh.

When did Dr. Sherin
rent the box?

Six weeks ago.

He said he'd be coming
through here every few weeks

to see a patient.

Here you go.

Return address
says it's from the FDA.

The last time he came
in, what was it for?

He had a package,
sent by registered mail.

I had to get his DEA number
before I could release the package.

His DEA number?
Was it medication?

I think so. Let me check.

Here it is. It was from
Woodmoor Pharma.

Is this Dr. Sherin?

That's right. I thought you
said you didn't know him.

We tracked the package
back to Woodmoor.

One vial of Propofol,

sent to Dr. Sherin,
i.e. you, Mr. Marshall.

And we're ready
for trial, Mr. Hoyt.

Another piece of circumstantial
evidence. Not the end of the world.

Are you kidding me?

I didn't mean for any of this to
happen. I swear, I tried to stop it.

What did you mean to happen?

Zach, I'm advising
you to shut up.

No. I don't want
your advice anymore.

I just wanted her
to get pulled over.

The police would think she
was drunk, she'd get a DWI,

she'd get fired and lose
her credibility with the FDA.

Her credibility as
a whistle-blower?

Yes.

She was going to give all
the reward money away.

I couldn't let that happen.

You didn't do this to save your
company or your job, did you?

Zach... ZACH: Shut up.

I didn't care about Woodmoor.

Not after Brenda showed me
what they were doing with Lextenda.

She had a list of all the doctors in
the country who were prescribing it,

all the kickbacks they were
getting from the company.

She even found an
internal cost analysis

of how much money
Woodmoor could make

off of every terminal cancer
patient before they died.

She came to you why?
She was looking for help?

No, I found out
what she was doing,

and I wanted us to
go to the FDA together.

But then she wanted to
give all the money away

to Hudson University for
Pediatric Cancer Research.

All the money. Tens
of millions of dollars.

I mean, she didn't need it.

Her husband makes a good living.

But, me, my wife
doesn't work, I have kids,

I don't have a house in the
country, I don't have savings.

So you decided to
drug her with Propofol,

so that she'd get
in a fatal accident?

No. I told you.

I thought she was gonna get in
a little fender bender in the city.

When I called in,

her assistant told me that
she had the kids with her.

I tried to stop Brenda.

I called her. I told her to come
back to the office, to pull over.

But, she couldn't hear me. And
I called 911, I tried to tell them.

Oh, God, what did I do?

What did I do?

If I'm not mistaken, my client
has a viable renunciation defense.

Now, you are kidding.

I'll take his plea
to seven counts

of depraved indifference murder.

Twenty-years-to-life, subject to
approval by the victims' families.

Okay.

Okay.

I think we're done here.

Not quite.

The evidence you were turning
over to the FDA, where is it?

You don't need
that. It's immaterial.

He gives it to us
or there's no deal.

It's on a flash drive, in a
knapsack in my son's closet.

I'll call Lupo and Bernard.

Twenty years.

It's your call, Mr. Sawyer.

What about Brenda's
sister, and her husband,

and the people in the other car,
their family, what did they say?

We came to you first.

My mother died last week.

We're very sorry.

It was her time.

My son's doing well.

It's been hard,
but, we just go on.

Brenda was never a
mean-minded person.

I guess 20 years is fair.

All right.

And the reward
money, when it comes,

I want some to go to Brenda's
sister, and the other family.

But the rest of
it, I don't want it.

It should go where
Brenda wanted.

Cancer research.

Yes.

I guess that's it, then.

Thank you.

Twenty years it is.