Law & Order (1990–2010): Season 4, Episode 7 - Apocrypha - full transcript

(male 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.

[vehicle horn honking]

Excuse me.

A car like this, you need
to see where you're going.

You have a nice day, now.

[siren wailing]

You press the button, you take a
ticket, and you pay on the way out.



Guy drives a $60,000 car,
and he can't read English.

Brains got nothing
to do with it.

My idiot brother drives a Vette.

It costs $40 to
fill that sucker.

$20. Thank you.

Round two is on me.

Heavy cream, three
sugars. Real sugar this time...

maybe a chocolate-covered...

[car alarm sounds]

Jeez.

I could've been inside.
They don't pay me enough.

You see anybody peculiar
go in there this morning?

I look at the cars,
not the people.

You know, you seen one
Jag, you seen them all.



All right, if you
remember anything, huh?

(Grady) It took six units
and an hour to contain it.

Never got out of the garage.

We're lucky this was a
Class A fire-restrictive building.

If our guy was one block
south, it would still be burning.

Find the source?

Char patterns, radius
of structural damage...

My guess? Car bomb.

What's the tab?

The tenants will have
the next month or two off.

[people chattering]

Some of them longer than that.

[siren wailing]

(Briscoe) Tell me
you found a photo ID.

Our guys went over every inch.

Most of the damage was
centered around a spot...

in the northeast
corner of the garage.

Hope this guy was
up-to-date on his premiums.

I doubt he'll be making
any claims, Mike.

So, the bomb was right here?

More likely in the trunk. Here.

Take a whiff.

[people chattering]

Central Park South in July.

Very good.

Chemical fertilizer.

Mix it with diesel fuel, light
it, you get a hell of a bang.

This dude knew what was what.

Here, take a look at this.

Condoms?

(Hines) We found them
about 20 feet from the car.

Told you the earth moves.

(Hines) Observe.

This is the same grade
latex they use in condoms.

I poured some acid onto it
about five minutes ago and voilà.

It's a makeshift fuse.

Giving the mad bomber time to haul
ass before the acid burns through...

and lights the fertilizer
cocktail. Exactly.

You know, it's cheap, efficient, and
you don't have to be Einstein to play.

I never did like those things.

Forensics says we should count
our luckies that only one person died.

Looked like a kid.
You talk to the family?

Well, if she had ID,
it's barbecued or buried.

No one's claimed the body.

Well, we've got every member of
the lunatic fringe claiming credit.

FBI terrorist section is
checking out the calls.

What, terrorists
blowing up a garage?

Hey, maybe they're not
that good at what they do...

the Calloway building's
filled with heavy hitters.

Two brokerage
firms, four law firms...

two banks, including the
Banco de Cali. Colombian.

I guess we're talking drugs.

Drugs, mob, IRA,
Symbionese Liberation Army...

Excuse me, folks. Forensics came
up with the serial number for the car.

I ran it by the DMV.

It's a 1990 Mercedes 300D,
leased to the Egyptian Embassy.

And it's being used by a
gentleman named Assad Asalam.

Last known address,
Radcliff Hotel.

Take some backup. Who knows
what other toys he's got in his suitcase.

You wanna stop this crap?

Put a fence around
the country...

run a couple of
thousand volts through it.

So sure this guy wasn't
hatched in Brooklyn?

Come on, listen.

Some guy gets picked
up for littering in Cairo...

and then his buddies hijack a
plane headed out of Kennedy.

"Give me your tired, your poor."

Yeah. Well, that
was then, this is now.

We got enough
homegrown nuts as it is.

[chattering on PA system]

You Assad Asalam?

Yes. What is this?

You'll have to get back to
them later. Okay, let's go.

I come here three
times a year on business.

And what sort of business were
you conducting yesterday morning?

As a matter of fact, I was with three
members of your State Department...

from 8:00 a.m. until noon.

Did you drive downtown?
(Asalam) I took a cab.

Look, you have to understand, the
night before, I drove back from Albany.

I was exhausted. I parked
the car on 58th Street...

the next morning it was gone.

(Briscoe) The stolen car story?

I told that one in high school.

(Asalam) Well, I went
to the Wharton school...

and I assure you, I could
come up with a better story.

(Logan) Did you
report the car missing?

I was in a rush.

Tell me, Detective, what
motive could I possibly have?

Hey, I don't know. Allah calls,
I hear you people get antsy.

Take five.

Hey, what's going on?

We're lighting a fire under
this guy. He's just a little cool.

That's 'cause he's innocent.

Meet Agent Garrett, FBI.

Mr. Asalam's father is one of
the top industrialists in Egypt.

He's here on an
economic mission.

So he can afford first-class
accommodations...

what does that prove?

He can also afford
a first-class alibi.

His story checks.

He was with Kenny, Dukes,
and Fried of State all morning.

[sighing] So, in other words,
we're back to square one.

The fact is we're
all running in circles.

Whoever's responsible has probably
crossed three time zones by now.

You might have been
right about homegrown nuts.

The dead girl had
blonde hair, hazel eyes.

The ME's report said she also had traces
of ammonium nitrate under her fingernails.

So she set the bomb?

Either she dawdled on
her way out of the garage...

or there was a
leak in the condom.

Bomb went off before she
had a chance to get away.

They ran her prints.
She's clean in this state.

Most girls her age are
worried about their SATs.

Lennie, your kid's
about 18, right?

Well, you don't hear from her
for a couple days, what do you do?

I hear from her,
that's an occasion.

I'm just thinking...

maybe nobody claimed the body
because nobody knew she was alive.

Missing Persons.

We started with
anyone 19 and younger.

That narrowed it to
15,000, give or take.

The appendicitis
scar cut that in half.

The tattoo on her derrière
made it manageable.

We'd be better off
looking at milk cartons.

Don't kid yourself, Logan.

If we don't find them
first couple of days...

odds are they ain't
gonna get found.

But this girl is one of
the lucky ones. Lucky?

She had an I-beam
land on her head.

She also had loving parents who
spent a lot to straighten her teeth.

We lucked out.
The dental records.

Wendy Alice Berman.

Reported missing five years
ago when she was 14. Runaway.

Thanks, Mark.

We had a storybook life.

David was a doctor, a surgeon.

He put Wendy on a horse
when she was eight years old.

Every year she
won her age group.

She had lots of friends.
She liked school.

(Briscoe) Well, sorry
to say, Mrs. Berman...

but kids don't usually
run away from perfection.

When she was 13, we sent her to
equestrian camp for the summer.

On July 17, David
had a heart attack...

jogging around the
reservoir in Central Park.

He was dead before
the paramedics arrived.

And the following year,
Wendy spent with psychiatrists.

Then the promiscuity started...

and the drugs.

And she ran away, but she
always came back in a few days.

One day she just
didn't come back at all.

Last year I got a letter.

She said she was all right...

but something terrible would
happen if I tried to contact her.

If we could see that letter.

I'd like it back,
if that's okay.

"And the fifth angel
sounded the trumpet...

"and I saw a star fall from
heaven upon the earth...

"and there was given to him
the key of the bottomless pit."

Shrinks did a hell of a job.

What is it, she
joined a convent?

Get this. Return address:

476 avenue bearing the initial of
our Lord into the New Kingdom.

Great. This time of day, it's gonna
take us an hour to get downtown.

Since when do you have
a road map to Heaven?

I don't. But I've been
up and down Avenue C.

"C" for Christ.

(man) for your son.

Thank you, God, for the delivery of
your son the Savior upon this earth.

Thank you, God, for the
cleansing of our system senses...

and the enlightenment
of our souls.

We are the lambs...

that you have put among us.

He will lead us through
the valley, and into...

We are in search of a
peaceable kingdom, Detective.

Surely, that can't
be against the law.

Well, it is, when the path to it runs
through a Wall Street parking garage.

I read about the explosion.

I prayed for those
who were injured.

Yeah. Well, I'm sure you've got a
seat reserved in Heaven, Donald.

But I'm not too sure about
another member of your flock.

Wendy Berman.

[sighs]

Our congregation
has a lot of members.

I couldn't possibly
know them all.

Well, Miss Berman used your
church as her mailing address.

The doors to our Temple are
open to everyone, Det. Briscoe.

Well, I got tired of pickup
trucks and drive-ins.

(Logan) So you traded them in
for subways and street muggings?

Well, you stay, don't you?

(Logan) I was born here. And I
couldn't be happier living here.

You ever watch the 11:00 news?

Mike, I'm gonna
get a cup of coffee.

(Munn) I see a different city.

My kid should be so sweet.

Yeah, well, I'm
starting to get cavities.

You make it sound
like a small town.

Things will change, Det. Logan.

There's a lot more
good in man than evil.

Is that what they preach
in that church of yours?

You're a skeptic.

Ten years in Our Lady of
Mercy will do that to you.

Sister Theresa, at
Saint Luke's in Boise...

used to make us have
silent lunch every day.

We had to wear plaid
skirts below the knees.

Blue blazers.

You got it.

What about your folks,
do they know you're here?

Two years, my stepfather
probably doesn't even know I'm gone.

Daniel Hendricks is here.

He says he's the grand poo-bah.

I formed the Acherusian
Temple seven years ago.

The people that come to me
are in search of something...

although most of them
don't know what it is.

(Logan) But you do?

Well, we're all ultimately in
search of the same thing, Detective.

What about this girl? How
was her search progressing?

She was extremely
troubled. So you knew her?

I found Ruth maybe a year ago.

She was on the
corner of 12th Street...

selling her body
for a vial of crack.

A little prayer and
some real food...

I thought she was
back on the right path.

But she zigged when
she should have zagged?

She disappeared
several months ago.

You called her Ruth, her
mom called her Wendy.

She was trying to
forget her past life.

Can you blame her?

Most of these kids,
they're stray kittens.

All they really need is
someone to care about them...

someone to pay a little
attention when they cry out.

Yeah. Or a little jail time.

It's amazing that some
of them have survived.

Dysfunctional
families, drugs, abuse.

I won't lie to you, we
don't always succeed.

But more often than not, I think
we're able to turn their lives around.

There's nothing else.

He seems sincere.

Oh, come on, Lennie.
Church? That's not church.

Church is stained glass windows
and nuns running around with rulers.

The gospel according to
Logan. (Logan) That's right.

And rule number one
is e girl I just talked to...

should be giving rave reviews to
her boyfriend, not some Bible-banger.

You think Hendricks
forced these kids?

Well, didn't you have
to be dragged to church?

Hendricks said the Berman girl fell
off the wagon a couple of months ago.

Yeah. Well, Jim Bakker swears on a stack
he didn't know where the money was going.

Listen. How many crackheads do you
know can cook up a bomb in a basement?

Somebody must have helped her.

See if he'll give you a
list of his congregation.

And try to be polite.

(Logan) Well, nobody
here's running for sainthood.

Half of them have yellows.

Narcotics, prostitution,
armed robbery.

That farm girl you were bonding
with spent six months at Spofford...

tried to off her pimp
with a pair of scissors.

Two-to-one he deserved it.

Hendricks got a commendation from
the city for his work with street kids.

Yeah, clean them
up, feed them...

then fill their heads
with religious garbage.

You're so sure it's garbage?

Listen.

My old lady had a
rosary in her left hand...

while she beat the crap
out of me with her right.

Next time I go to a church...

six of my closest buddies
will be carrying me.

It's going to be a lot sooner
than that, Mike. Look at this.

'82, Saint Paul's Lutheran on 23rd
tossed Hendricks from their congregation.

They got a restraining order to keep
him 100 yards from their front door.

I bet that wasn't just for
singing off-key at choir practice.

[bell tolling]

Daniel Hendricks was
young, charismatic...

knew the scriptures
backwards and forward.

By himself he expanded
our congregation by 50%.

Sounds like a guy you'd
want to keep around.

He was also crazy.

And became crazier when the
membership chose me as their president.

Did he ever threaten you?

One Sunday, he
stood on the pulpit...

screaming that we would
all die in a lake of fire.

Yeah, well, he's got
his own pulpit now.

"Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing...

"but inwardly they
are ravening wolves."

Yeah, but his congregation
seems to think he's the real thing.

The real thing doesn't
ask you to donate...

all the money you can
steal from your parents.

I wouldn't call what
he has a congregation.

I'd call it a cult.

Danny always had to be on top.

President of the class,
captain of the basketball team.

Leader of the congregation.

My son played the lead in
the school play, year after year.

I thought he'd become an actor.

Are you disappointed?

Danny's alive,
that's all I can ask for.

They found my oldest dead in
the bathroom of a gas station...

with a needle in his arm.

One of these days...

maybe he'll stop trying
to save the world...

get married, raise a family.

Any prospects?

One of those kids that
hangs around his church.

Pretty girl.

Ruth something or other.

Is this her?

She was older, but, yeah.

When was the last
time you saw her?

Maybe a month ago.

She and Danny came for dinner.

He lied about the girl.
He saw her a month ago.

Maybe he can't tell time. Maybe he
just didn't want any trouble at the church.

Okay, I'll make the call.

Hey. Fax from Washington.

Hendricks was booted out of
the military on a psycho discharge.

You've got to bay at the moon
before they give you a Section Eight.

[sighs]

Special Forces. I'm impressed.

Yeah, well, his military
training might've come in handy.

Guess what his specialty
was? Demolitions.

Making a bomb out of
fertilizer and diesel fuel...

would be a walk in the
park for a Green Beret.

(Van Buren) Diesel fuel.

The car that blew up. It
was a Mercedes 300D, right?

The "D" stands for diesel.

They wanted to siphon
gas from the tank.

The Egyptian said he drove to Albany and
back. That would make the tank near empty.

If we're lucky, the
preacher refueled.

You know how many gas
stations there are in this city?

I know there aren't that
many that sell diesel.

Start on Avenue C,
work your way up.

You're kidding.

That guy was a preacher?

(Logan) Are you
saying he was in here?

Him and his honey.

Real kumquat, you
know what I'm saying?

This her?

Sure is.

What's a preacher doing
with a honey like that?

Any chance he
used his credit card?

After 7:00, it's cash
only, exact change.

Dude had a $20, which
meant a $4 tip for me.

Now you're sure that was him?

Around here, a guy comes in
with diplomatic plates, I remember.

Being a fanatic's
not against the law.

His girlfriend had ammonium
nitrate under her nails.

They bought the
diesel fuel together.

It doesn't mean he knew
what she was going to do with it.

The girl liked to ride horses.

What does she know
about explosives?

Hendricks spent four years
blowing up things for the army.

You have a motive?

Who knows? Maybe
he saw a burning bush.

Look, he lied about
seeing the girl.

We can get the
entire congregation...

from his old church
to swear he's a nut job.

We're talking arson
and felony murder.

Pick him up.

(Hendricks) And I
saw another man...

and he was up to his
knees in the river of fire.

And his hands were
outstretched and bloody...

and worms came
out of his mouth...

and from his nostrils.
(Briscoe) All right...

boys and girls, church is out!

And he was groaning,
weeping and crying.

Daniel Hendricks, you're under
arrest for the murder of Wendy Berman.

You have the right... And he
said, "Help me from this suffering...

"for I shall see..." Mike,
tell him about his right...

to keep his mouth shut.

"I am all and in all." You
have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can be used
against you in a court of law.

Do you understand that?

(Hendricks) "And he
laid his hand upon me...

"saying unto me, 'Fear not,
I am the first and the last.""

Your client lied about his
contact with the deceased.

He recognized the ramifications
of Miss Berman's actions.

Admittedly, it was
inappropriate behavior, but...

Inappropriate, Louise, is
using the wrong fork for salad.

I was trying to
protect the Temple.

By purchasing diesel
fuel in a stolen car?

Ruth told me it was her father's
car. Why wouldn't I believe her?

Bottom line, the most you
can hang on Mr. Hendricks...

is possession of a stolen auto.

And that's assuming
you can show knowledge.

He not only had knowledge,
he had intent. And what?

You're gonna prove it with a
Ouija board? See you in court, Ben.

Of course you convinced
the grand jury, Ben.

Your voice is the
only one they heard.

I presented the facts, they
drew the obvious conclusion.

Well, all you can
prove for sure...

is that this Berman
girl planted the bomb.

Unless this Hendricks fellow
has a pocket full of miracles...

she's still six feet under.

Someone had to teach her
how. Hendricks had the expertise.

I know how to scramble eggs.
Doesn't mean I made breakfast.

That is not entirely
analogous, Adam.

(Schiff) To a jury it is.

That's why you're gonna
withdraw the indictment...

unless I can see you connect the dots
with something more than a number 2 pencil.

I doubt we're gonna get anything
out of the other Acherusians.

I read the police transcripts.
They're like family.

They won't turn on Hendricks.

These people have
real families, don't they?

For years we made excuses.
Donny was hyperactive.

Donny had a learning disability.

Judy and I both worked.

Then you wake up one morning and
realize that the cause is irrelevant...

and you have no energy
left to deal with the effect.

When was the last time
you spoke with Donald?

Two years ago.

He asked me to invade the principal
of the trust his grandfather left him.

Did he say what he
needed the money for?

For God's work, what else?

When he first got involved with Hendricks,
I thought, maybe it'll do some good.

The rehab programs
certainly didn't work.

Well, there was no evidence
of drug use in the Temple.

Hendricks' brand of religion's not
the opiate of the masses, Miss Kincaid.

It's the crack cocaine.

We graduated from high school,
got married, moved to the Big Apple.

We figured it'd be
two years, tops...

before one of us hit the neon
lights and the grease paint.

I guess the closest
we came was...

Judy working the refreshment stand
at Sunday in the Park with George.

Well, it pays the rent.

Sure, if it's a one room
walk-up on West 46th.

I mean, we could've
survived, but...

Joanne came along,
the show closed.

And you met Daniel Hendricks.

[children chattering]

Like manna from heaven.

But at that point in my life, a little
prayer wasn't such a bad thing.

And Daniel, I don't
know. He just made sense.

So, why did you leave?

One day, I was playing
cards with Joanne, Go Fish...

and I said, "It's Daddy's turn."

And she looked right at me,
and she said, "You're not Daddy.

"Daniel is Daddy, Daniel
is everybody's Daddy."

Why didn't your
wife leave with you?

She couldn't. She
agreed with Joanne.

It took over a
year, a court order...

and every penny my parents had to
get my daughter out of that nuthouse.

I'm sorry I can't
be of more help.

I never heard Daniel talk
about blowing up buildings.

But I wouldn't put
anything past him.

Hendricks preys upon
the lonely and vulnerable.

They've got the limp,
he supplies the crutch.

That isn't a crime.

I assume nobody heard anything
about blowing up buildings?

No, it's part of his scam.

Once you're on the inside,
the rest of the world is off-limits.

Kids stop talking
to their parents...

wives will have nothing
to do with their husbands.

That doesn't get us into court.

There is one
thing. It's a stretch.

In the letter Wendy Berman
wrote to her mother, she said:

"If you try to contact me,
something bad will happen."

A former church member
told me his wife couldn't leave.

We might be able to
make a case for kidnapping.

Kidnapping?

That requires restraint.
They are restrained.

They're brainwashed. They are
physically unable to leave the church.

Wendy Berman died while
under Hendricks' control.

So we still charge
him with felony murder.

Only in this case, the predicate
felony isn't arson, it's kidnapping.

Kidnapping! Ben, please.

The Temple doesn't even
have a lock on the front door.

Case law has been expanding
the definition of the word "restraint"...

as used in the statute.

When they expand it to
the ethereal, give me a call.

The members of Hendricks'
Temple were powerless to leave.

And I can't drag myself out of Rumplemyer's
without eating a hunk of cheesecake.

You gonna give the chef 7-to-21?

We're serious
about this, Louise.

Then we have got ourselves
a real situation here, Ben.

You don't have a case...

and I don't have a client that
can help me defend against it.

I just spent three
hours with him.

Whatever criminal acts that
man may have committed...

I assure you he is
not legally responsible.

He's zealous, Louise.
He's not insane.

Billy Sunday was
zealous, Ben. This guy's...

Look, I am pleading him guilty
by reason of mental defect.

You want to waste the
taxpayers' time and money, fine.

He needs help, and I don't
mean the kind dished out...

by a couple of 200-pound
prison guards up in Attica.

Be my guest, have your
own expert chat with him.

Who hasn't wished for simple
answers to complex questions?

It's everyone's dilemma. Who
am I? What am I supposed to do?

Why am I here? Tell me
you've never wondered.

Of course I have.

Did you find the
answers in science?

I've accepted that
there are no answers.

Well, that might
work for a while.

But when something hurts, when
there's a sudden need, you'll want more.

And you found the answer.

I know what you're
saying. I denied it myself.

I didn't want to be what I am.

But I was chosen.

The choice was His, not mine.

He gave you a sign?

My brother, Mark...

was once a loving human being,
turned into a drug-crazed animal.

I have no choice.
That's my real burden.

What burden is that, Daniel?

Don't you see evil
everywhere you look?

We're living in Babylon.

And he asked you
to destroy it? No.

I don't hear little voices,
Doctor. I am not crazy.

Do you want me to
sound like a minister?

It's the fornicators,
adulterers, sodomites...

those who defile God
and worship Mammon.

Do you want me to
sound like everyone else?

Go outside and look around.

He's a manic-depressive.

He has delusions of both
grandeur and persecution.

But he can be very subtle
and convincing, even charming.

He actually believes
he's the Messiah?

He believes God
commanded him to combat evil.

And he does this
by setting off bombs?

The defining moment of his life was
when his older brother died of an overdose.

At first, he blamed the pushers, but
then he saw a greater conspiracy...

the manufacturers, the
importers, the moneymen.

The Colombian bank
in the Calloway building.

The FBI's been after them
for laundering for years.

Exactly.

Liz, can he distinguish
between right and wrong?

On his own terms, sure.

Everything he does is predicated
on Judeo-Christian fundamentalism.

In his mind he believes that planting
the bomb was an act necessary...

to save humanity and
fulfill the higher will of God.

I'm sorry, but in my opinion...

Daniel Hendricks cannot be held
legally responsible for his actions.

"Docket number 583906...

"People v. Daniel
Thomas Hendricks."

[people chattering]

It says here Judge Myer has
ordered your client held without bail.

I'm not wont to set aside the
decision of a colleague, Miss Fryman.

This doesn't concern
bail, Your Honor.

The defense wishes to
withdraw its plea of not guilty...

and enter a plea of guilty
by reason of mental defect.

Miss Kincaid? The State
accepts the plea, Your Honor.

We have already
arranged for Mr. Hendricks...

to enter a state mental
facility for treatment.

Wait a minute,
nobody talked to me.

It's the best thing.
I am not insane.

I would listen to
my attorney, sir.

She's no longer my
attorney. You're fired.

I'll keep my plea of
not guilty, Your Honor.

Mr. Hendricks, I assume you'll
have new counsel for the trial.

I am all, and in all.

He is smarter than he is crazy.
But considering Liz's report...

he'd stand a better chance
getting a parole board's approval...

than that of a panel
of psychiatrists.

Somehow I don't think Hendricks thinks
he needs anyone's stamp of approval.

And I have to go into court
and play the head Pharisee.

Only now the defendant has
much better representation.

His new attorney just filed notice
of appearance. Nicholas Burke.

I bet he had to pass
the collection plate twice.

His first order of business,
motion to dismiss on the grounds...

that the indictment violates the
Acherusians' right to freedom of religion.

Religion by kidnapping,
Ben? This better be good.

Your Honor, we are
not attacking religion.

We are attacking Mr. Hendricks'
abuse of that religion...

to manipulate the vulnerable.

Ben, the Supreme Court
prohibited judicial intervention...

into internal church matters.

This is not about internal
disputes, Your Honor.

It's about manipulation.
It's about brainwashing.

(Burke) Show me one religion...

that isn't at least one
part brainwashing.

These people, once they enter the church,
it's almost impossible for them to leave.

(Burke) They take vows.

So do monks and
nuns and priests.

Your Honor, the Constitution clearly
bars excessive government entanglement...

in the affairs of religion.

And the Ballard case holds
that courts are only barred...

from adjudicating the
truth of religious beliefs.

Thank you for
making my point, Ben.

We are not questioning
what the Acherusians believe...

we are questioning the
means and the purpose...

for which Mr. Hendricks
instilled those beliefs.

Well, I haven't been
overruled in six months.

I'm gonna let this one go ahead.

But, Ben, if I hear one word
questioning the doctrines of this church...

it's an immediate mistrial.
I understand, Your Honor.

And I doubt that your next
judge will be as progressive as I.

Well, while you were
out making up new law...

Nicholas Burke turned this
into the Scopes trial revisited.

He looks like Clarence Darrow,
we look like the Spanish inquisition.

This is not about
religion, Adam.

It's about freedom of choice...

which became unavailable
to the kids in this church.

Tough to prove.

One kid after another testified that he
entered the church of his own free will.

Which he couldn't
have left if he wanted to.

Religion and choice...

strange bedfellows
for 2000 years.

Well, I never had a problem
with religion and choice.

Oh, no?

Let me guess. Agnostic?

Give yourself 40 years.

(Rudolph) I've been away from
the Temple for almost two years now.

(Stone) Have you seen
your wife in that time?

Only in a courtroom.

I had to sue to get my
daughter out of there.

Did you ask your wife to
leave the Temple with you?

Of course. But she was scared.

She believed Daniel.

(Stone) What did he
say that she believed in?

Those who did not accept him...

would drown in a river of fire.

(Stone) Thank you.

(Burke) In your opinion...

did your wife really believe
there was a river made out of fire?

No, it was a metaphor.

I see.

Did Mr. Hendricks ever give you a
key to the front door of the Temple?

There was no key.

That's because that door was
never locked, isn't that right?

Yes.

So people could come
and go as they pleased?

That's right.

As a matter of fact, no one
tried to stop you when you left.

Isn't that right?

You don't understand.
These people are scared...

they... Of a metaphor.

That would certainly have
me shaking in my boots.

Had I known she was
involved with this man...

I surely would have
done something.

How did you think
that she was involved?

In her letter, she quoted
a lot from the Bible.

I thought it was
something religious.

Is this the letter
you're referring to?

Yes.

Please read the
highlighted portion.

Objection, Your
Honor. It's hearsay.

(Stone) Your Honor,
it is offered to show...

the declarant's
then-existing state of mind.

Overruled.

You can read the
letter, Mrs. Berman.

"I am fine.

"But I fear what will happen
if you try to contact me."

Thank you.

(Burke) Referring to
the letter, Mrs. Berman...

does your daughter say
specifically who she's scared of?

No.

(Burke) So it could be her
boyfriend, her next-door neighbor...

even the bogeyman
for all that matter.

We get the point,
Mr. Burke. Continue.

Who is Doctor Goodwin?

He was Wendy's psychiatrist.

(Burke) And Wendy
started seeing him...

after she tried
to kill herself...

by slitting her wrists with a
kitchen knife. Isn't that right?

Her father died. She was upset.

Do you ever think, Mrs. Berman, that
maybe Wendy never got over his death?

That maybe she finally found a
more efficient way to end her life?

[sighs]

Wendy didn't know
anything about bombs.

How do you know?

You hadn't seen her
in, what, four years?

For every step forward that we
take on direct, we lose three on cross.

Yeah. Well, what'd you expect?

You're crawling out
on a very weak limb.

Unless there's a patsy
on Burke's witness list...

you can plan on
a very long fall.

But that's the basis of my case.

He has them under his
spell, they can't turn on him.

There may be someone who will.

Joanne Rudolph, her father
just won a court battle for custody.

No. You can't expect an 8-year-old
to say that she was brainwashed?

No. But a jury might
see that for themselves.

When my dad left the Temple...

Daniel said that he
would be chained...

and devoured by worms.

Joanne, did Daniel tell
you why that would happen?

That's what happens
when you forsake the Lamb.

And did you believe him?

I was scared.

Did you want to leave the
Temple when your father left?

I wanted to be safe.

What was it that you
wanted to be safe from?

The world will end
with a great explosion...

and be consumed
by a river of fire...

and only those who accept
the Lamb will be saved.

Now, Joanne, who is the Lamb?

Daniel.

Thank you.

Joanne...

did you ever hear Daniel
tell anyone to plant a bomb?

No.

Thank you.

Of course nobody forced
me. The Temple saved my life.

(Burke) So, if you wanted
to leave, that was okay?

I left every day. I worked
in a grocery in the Village.

Barbara...

do you feel that Mr. Hendricks
brainwashed you in any way?

Daniel did for us what our parents,
our teachers, our doctors didn't do.

He loved us and respected us.

He taught us to be better human
beings by following the ways of the Lord.

Thank you.

Miss Munn...

for all these things
that Daniel did for you...

what did he get in return?

Our love and respect.

What about your faith?

My faith is in the
word of the Lord.

As interpreted by
Daniel Hendricks, right?

Yes.

Now, didn't Daniel Hendricks
speak to you often of the Apocalypse?

Yes. Does that scare you?

God cares more for one righteous man
than for a whole generation of the ungodly.

Yes. But didn't
Mr. Hendricks say...

that the people who worked in
the Calloway building were ungodly?

He said they are faithful
only to their greed.

And did you believe him?

True faith is blind faith.

So that if he asked you to
never contact your parents...

you wouldn't question him?

Daniel knows what's best for me.

And if he asked you to go on a
five-day fast you'd believe him, right?

Of course. And if he
asked you to plant a bomb...

Objection.

I can't ignore the word
of the Lord, Mr. Stone.

(Hendricks) They are all lost
souls when they come to me.

They're involved with
drugs, alcohol, crime.

And what do you do with them?

(Hendricks) I teach them
that they are misguided.

They shouldn't try to escape
their problems by running away.

They should eliminate
them by running toward.

Towards what, sir?
(Hendricks) God.

And in God they
will find peace...

and love and eternal happiness.

Tell us about Wendy
Berman, Mr. Hendricks.

Wendy prayed with
us at the Temple.

We convinced her to give
up drugs and prostitution.

Did she ever tell you
anything about her plan...

to plant a bomb in a
Wall Street garage?

Absolutely not.

Mr. Hendricks...

if you had known of Wendy Berman's
plan, what would you have done?

We do not preach destruction.

Certainly, I would have
tried to discourage her.

But do you have any idea why she
chose that particular building to destroy?

The love of money
is the root of all evil.

Therefore the money lenders are at
the foundation of this new Babylon.

(Stone) Oh, yes.

Well, isn't this new Babylon,
isn't that to be destroyed, too, sir?

The great earthquake, the
turning of the rivers into blood...

the darkening of the
sun and the moon...

the stars falling from the sky,
the plagues will visit the wicked.

I understand that,
Mr. Hendricks.

But what's supposed
to happen after that?

The Messiah shall appear...

and lead the worthy
into the City of God.

And isn't that what you
taught to Wendy Berman?

It is the gospel.

And didn't she believe
everything you preached?

I took her out of
the burning pit...

and led her into the City.

Are you supposed to do
that for all of humanity?

You cannot survive without me.

Oh, to the contrary, sir.

We will not only
survive. We will endure.

Is there a question
here, Your Honor?

Are you claiming to
be the Messiah, sir?

I am a man...

approved of God among you...

with miracles and
wonders and signs.

Yes. But didn't Jesus warn...

that, "anyone say unto you,
that, Lo, here is the Christ...

"believe it not"?

(Stone) No further questions.

There was a great explosion and
the person responsible for it is dead.

Wendy Berman
caused her own death.

The case should be closed.

But the folks at
the DA's office...

have a hard time sleeping...

when they think someone is murdered
and there is no one left to put in jail.

So they racked their brains,
and they came up with my client.

He kidnapped poor Wendy.

She died while under his
control. He's responsible.

But what exactly did he do?

He didn't lock
Wendy in a closet.

He didn't tie her
to a chair. No.

He made her give up drugs.

He made her give up crime.

My God! He actually
made her read the Bible.

And that, according to
Mr. Stone, is brainwashing.

And the son of a
bitch should rot in jail.

Two hundred years ago this
kind of thing went on all the time.

That's why we loaded up
the ships, sailed the seas...

and set up shop here.

Beware of the false prophet.

In the last century, he rode
on a horse-drawn wagon...

and he sold snake oil.

And in the '70s, he carried a
briefcase and a calculator...

and he sold real
estate in Florida.

But Mr. Hendricks, he doesn't
sell snake oil or real estate.

He sells death and
he sells destruction.

He doesn't call it that.

He bottles it as the Apocalypse.

And Wendy Berman bought it.

The perfect victim for a
charlatan, a conman, a grifter.

And it's interesting that he chose
to camouflage his scam in religion.

That's the genius of it, see?

If you proclaim
from the pulpit...

and quote from the Good Book...

it is an almost inescapable trap
for the innocent and the vulnerable.

And Wendy Berman
came to that with her need.

And Mr. Hendricks
gave her the hope.

But the hope he gave her was a ruse
to get her to do what he wanted her to...

which was murder.

But in the end, it was
Wendy Berman that was killed.

(Judge Link) On the first
count of the indictment...

kidnapping in
the first degree...

how do you find?

We find the defendant guilty.

(Judge Link) On the second
count, murder in the second degree...

how do you find?

Guilty.

Forgive them Lord, for
they know not what they do.

Thumbtacks in his palms.

At least he didn't
try walking on water.

Next, I want to see you
pull out the tablecloth...

and leave the glasses standing.

No way you should
have won this case.

I sold the jury a bit
of my own snake oil.

There's no question that Hendricks was
responsible for Wendy Berman's death.

Yes, but he was not
entirely a conman.

He actually believed
in his own deification.

[intercom buzzing]

Yes?

Oh, my God.

Call the ME's office.
And keep the media out.

[camera clicking]

(policeman) There's
more in the other room.

Come on, Mike.