Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…): Season 3, Episode 11 - Monogamy - full transcript
The case involves the beating of a seven-months-pregnant woman, whose unborn child has been torn from her body via a primitive cesarean section. Among the many witnesses questioned is the woman's husband, a psychiatrist with sever...
In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives who
investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
You're being ridiculous.
You're being ridiculous.
Excuse me? You practically got
into a fistfight with the parking guys.
So I'm just supposed
to let them rip us off?
SUVs cost more to park.
Didn't you read the sign?
It didn't say 45 bucks.
That's an entire dinner at
Fort Lee, including parking.
Now there's gonna
be traffic on the GW.
I hope you had fun tonight.
You obviously didn't.
Kevin. What?
The door is all wet.
Damn it, I just had it washed.
What did you get on my car?
I don't know. I got a
leaky pipe up there.
- I don't know.
- What is this?
Oh, God!
That was quick from Queens.
I stayed in the city tonight.
What do we know?
Parking attendant found
her on the second level,
naked from the waist down.
IDed from her purse.
Nicole Manning.
There's no robbery. 60
bucks cash left in her wallet.
How's she doing?
She's alive, but
it's a real mess.
- She conscious?
- In and out.
Got bashed in her
head pretty good.
We got a description
on the perp? Nothing yet.
Better get one quick.
I'll ride. STABLER: Okay.
CSU says condition of
her blood at the scene
looks like she was attacked
minutes before she was found.
How many stab wounds?
She wasn't stabbed, Detective.
Pressure's dropping. EMT 2:
Come on, Nicole, stay with us.
Two large-bore IVs, 02, 15
liters, non-rebreather mask.
She's C-spined,
sinus tach at 150.
Nicole, did you
get a look at him?
She's seizing. Two of Ativan.
Trauma to the head, pupils
equal, round and reactive.
Patient sustained
massive abdominal trauma.
Looks like emergency
C-section to me.
This woman was pregnant?
No pulse. Start CPR.
Any sign of the baby? Not yet.
What the hell did he do with it?
Sick son of a bitch must
have taken it with him.
Cut was made with a
dull or serrated blade.
Head trauma, multiple contusions
around the abdomen, like she'd been kicked.
Anything from the rape kit?
Positive for fluids.
What are her chances? Not good.
Developed an amniotic embolism.
Clots in her lungs cut
off oxygen to the brain.
Any word on the baby? Not yet.
Guy could have dumped
that body anywhere.
Or kidnapped it. Kidnapped?
Well, at this age, it's viable.
Mother's at 28 weeks,
baby was normal weight,
no apparent complications.
You think it's possible this baby
could be out there somewhere alive?
It's possible, but not for long.
She was by herself. I didn't
even think to go with her.
This is a safe neighborhood.
Who else was up there?
Usually nobody but me.
Then why was she?
Well, Mrs. Manning, she's a
monthly. She always gets her own car.
Okay, did you hear anything?
Maybe you hear a woman screaming?
No, no, no. I would
have checked on that.
What about someone
leaving the building?
Maybe carrying a bag or
something wrapped up in a coat?
No. No, no.
But there's another way
down from the second floor.
The stairs, they lead
onto the back alley.
Hey, what's the latest?
Still waiting to talk to the
husband. Any leads on the baby?
Got every available cop out
canvassing the neighborhood.
That's him.
Whoever did this,
it was personal.
Can't rule him out.
We were supposed to
meet for dinner at 7:00.
I waited at the restaurant.
She's usually late, so I
didn't worry right away.
What about before that?
I was in a session
with a patient.
You're a doctor? Psychiatrist.
My practice is in midtown.
Dr. Manning, there's no
easy way to ask you this.
Were you intimate with your
wife during the past 24 hours?
No. Why?
We think that your wife
may have been assaulted.
We'd like to ask for a
blood sample from you.
Of course. Anything you need.
What did you do when your wife
didn't show up at the restaurant?
I tried calling her. And,
after an hour, I went home.
Can you think of any reason that
somebody would want to hurt Nicole?
No.
Nicole was a good
person. She is.
Nicole is a good person.
The doctor said there's
still a chance she'll recover.
Plenty of prints off her car.
After we rule out the parking staff,
the victim's friends and family, and
every valet in the city, who knows?
We just might get
lucky. This car's for sale.
We're not gonna get too lucky
if she had people test-driving it.
What about signs of the baby?
Lot of blood. Don't
know whose yet.
No placenta or cord.
Took everything with him.
Looks like he got in
and out through there.
Cleaned up before he left.
With those slimy antibacterial
hand wipes. He came prepared.
He gets rid of the blood,
leaves out that door. It's
like nothing ever happened.
But why take the baby?
Maybe that was the
reason for the attack.
He didn't want the woman
dead. He wanted her to suffer.
Husband's credit card records
confirm he was at the restaurant.
Cell phone records coincide with
the calls he made looking for his wife.
Preliminary on the rape
kit rules him out anyway.
Husband's AB-positive,
perp's O-negative.
What did Latent turn
up in the victim's car?
Just got a solid hit from
prints, interior and exterior.
Kyle Novacek.
Not a complete lunatic,
but did time for assault
three and heroin possession.
Don't really see that kind
of violence with heroin users
unless somebody slipped him a
hotshot and mixed in some PCP,
guy could've gone psycho.
Well, get on him. That
baby might still be alive.
The victim is an RN at a methadone
clinic. That can't be a coincidence.
But might be the
connection between them.
Hey, Maureen. Hey.
Dad? Sweetheart, what's wrong?
Can I talk to you, please?
Come on.
Go ahead. Use my office.
So we'll hit the methadone clinic.
Novacek could have been a client.
We talk to area hospitals?
No premature newborns admitted
yet, but the hospitals are on alert.
Well, what did
the search turn up?
The neighborhood canvass
was a complete bust.
Nothing at the airports, bus terminals.
Still waiting to hear on the PATH trains.
We'll have to widen the
search. I'll use another phone.
So how's school going,
Maureen? It's fine.
Yeah? You get your
college applications out yet?
Pretty much.
You're gonna be late.
Okay. Bye, Olivia.
Everything okay? Yeah.
You ready?
Kyle Novacek? What,
I'm on every cop's list now?
Third time this
year with you guys.
You wanna be left alone, don't
stab your smack dealer in the forearm.
I'm working steady
now. I'm clean.
Got nothing to do with that life
anymore. That all you wanna know?
Not even close. Where
were you last night?
I take a class at
Brooklyn College.
A man of intellect.
What time's the class start?
7:00. Before that, here till 6:00.
What kind of car you drive?
I don't. Car died last week.
That's a shame.
Looking for a new one?
Gold Ford parked in a
garage a few blocks away,
some interesting fingerprints.
That's the car I looked at.
I saw a sign in the window.
The woman let me take
it for a drive last week.
What, did somebody steal it?
- How'd the program go?
What program? The
methadone treatment.
You know, sometimes
they don't give you enough.
You need a little more to
make it through the day.
What's this all about?
Did she get hurt?
Do you even remember last
night or were you too loaded?
Look, I already told you, I saw the
car once. I haven't been back since.
Where is it? What?
The baby. What the
hell you talking about?
It's alive, you can still get out
of this without a broken neck.
You telling me somebody hurt
that baby? Take the DNA test.
You didn't touch her,
we leave you alone.
I don't have to do that. Sound
like a guilty man to me, Novacek.
I just know the way
you guys operate.
If you had anything on me, my ass would
be in the back of your car already, right?
Anything else?
Count on it.
You know methadone
client lists are confidential.
We give their names out to police,
they never come in for treatment.
How about I show you the ER
photos they took of Nicole Manning?
That change your mind?
Her baby might still be alive,
but we are running out
of time. I wish I could help.
Well, you do have armed
guards and surveillance videos.
I'm sure not all of your
clients are perfect angels.
Have any of your employees
ever been harassed?
On a daily basis, but
nothing overtly violent.
What about in the neighborhood?
I'd imagine this place
attracts some real winners.
Actually, the only person we've
had a problem with is another nurse,
Erin Sena.
Nicole found out she'd been
diverting methadone for herself.
What happened to Erin?
I'm required to report
all incidents to the police.
She was arrested. She lost
her job and her nursing license.
Nice place.
I cleaned up especially for you.
Your boyfriend
doesn't mind the mess?
Who says I've got a boyfriend?
Come on, a girl like you.
I'm sure you have a few.
You coming on to
me? I'm into that.
Your friend can
watch. All right.
Why don't we start by having you sit
down and answer a few of my questions?
Okay?
Nicole Manning.
You seen her lately?
Yeah.
We hang out all the
time and have tea.
She screwed you
over, didn't she?
Got arrested, lost your job. She's
the reason that your life sucks, right?
So? This is what I'm thinking.
You and your boyfriend follow
Nicole Manning into the parking garage.
You have a fight, it
gets a little out of hand,
your boyfriend goes
crazy, not your fault.
I don't have a boyfriend.
You have to leave now.
What's that? None
of your business.
Do you have a son, Erin?
They took him away from me.
They who?
Two cops and some
bitch from Social Services
think they know how to take
care of my own son better than me.
Must have been
jealous of Nicole.
The woman who took everything from
you, and now she's having her own baby.
Get out.
You still using? Yeah, we are.
Look, I gotta tell you that no agency
is gonna give a junky back her kid.
Yeah? Screw you.
That baby needs to
be in a hospital, Erin.
Now, we can help you.
No, you can't.
Nicole pissed off the wrong
person. Look what happened to her.
Who'd she piss off?
I don't know.
Yeah, I think you do.
Only thing I know is Nicole asked
for it, and she got what she deserved.
I had nothing to do with it.
Now, get out.
Someone scared the hell
out of her to shut her up.
Partner in crime.
We need to get back in there
and search for signs of that baby.
Right. Stabler.
We're on it.
Take him down to the shelter.
Get him something to eat.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Homeless guy reported it. Says
he didn't see anybody around.
Where? Dumpster.
We positive it's the
Manning baby? Right size.
Decomposition
fits the time frame.
Sorry, Detectives.
What was it?
Little boy.
I should probably make some
arrangements, I don't know.
Am I supposed to get a birth
certificate issued first before...
You don't have to
do anything right now.
Actually, the Medical Examiner is
gonna need a little time to investigate.
Well, I'd like to take care of
things before she wakes up.
We know this is a very
difficult time for you,
but we need to ask
you about another nurse
that your wife worked
with. Erin Sena.
Oh, yeah, I know the name.
She tried to get Nicole to testify
on her behalf at some hearing.
I think the state was
trying to take away her son.
Did she testify? No.
No, Nicole thought it was
ludicrous of the girl to even ask.
So what happened?
Well, she screamed at our
answering machine a few times,
and I wanted to call the police,
but Nicole wouldn't hear of it.
She thought it was unnecessary.
She doing any better?
They performed a hysterectomy.
How do I tell her that
we'll never have a family?
Depressed skull fractures
along the right temporal lobe,
extensive contusions.
Cause of death was a subdural
hematoma resulting from blows to the head.
Whoever did it did not
want this baby to live.
Perp kicked the mother
before removing the baby.
Could the head trauma
be from the beating?
No way to tell if the injuries
were sustained in- or ex-utero.
But once the fetus was aborted, no
apparent effort was made to save it.
How long did he live?
Still trying to determine that.
If there's a God,
it wasn't long.
Kyle Novacek's
alibi cleared him.
That leaves Erin Sena
as our only suspect,
assuming we can find the man
who was her partner in crime.
I want options. Now, how
else can we get to her?
Probation violation.
She was higher than a
kite when we talked to her.
We haul her in for a drug test.
Judge made random testing a
requirement for her probation.
She fails the test, we got
leverage to make her talk.
Now all we got
to do is find her.
She in methadone treatment?
Her PO says she's a client at Tenth
Avenue where she used to work.
Well, that's one appointment a
heroin addict's always gonna keep.
You think we missed her?
She needs her fix.
Could've gotten it this
morning. No, she's coming.
You want to leave, go ahead.
Or you could just stop being a jerk and
tell me what the hell's going on with you.
This about Maureen?
I screwed up. I didn't send in a
check for the Columbia application.
Is it too late?
I don't know.
Elliot, what is this?
I've been distracted.
That's her.
Where you off to?
Oh, just let me go in.
Right after your drug test. Oh,
please, just let me... Let me just go in!
You tested positive for heroin.
Fine. Arrest me.
There's no rush, really.
We got, what, 24 hours?
Yeah, give or take.
I really, really need to
get out of here, okay?
Yeah, what
happened to your face?
I got hit.
Someone's fist, looks like.
Can I have a soda?
Can you do that?
Soon as you tell us who
you've been hiding from, sure.
No, no. No way.
Then you're going
down for everything, Erin.
Cutting Nicole
and killing her baby.
Trained nurse. You knew
exactly what you were doing.
It all points to you.
I told you, I didn't have
anything to do with it!
But you're a liar, Erin,
and everybody knows it.
Nicole knew it.
She has everything,
and she comes after me?
Exactly.
She has everything you want,
and you made her pay for it.
I didn't. Yeah, but someone did.
Who was it? Come on, your boyfriend?
Some junkie you met on the street?
You're afraid that he's going to
hurt you, just like he did Nicole.
Who're you hiding from?
Who is he, Erin?
Kyle.
Kyle Novacek's your boyfriend.
Hers. Nicole's.
We got a communications
problem, Kyle.
We keep asking you
questions, and you keep lying.
I didn't lie. I told you
where I was that night.
Half the guys in
Sing Sing got alibis.
Come on, look. Wait a second.
I'll tell you the truth. We
don't care about the truth.
We're gonna take you
in for a little DNA test,
prove you raped her.
That's all the truth we need.
The test's gonna be positive.
Nicole and I made love that afternoon.
You raped her, you cut her open.
Then you beat up another
woman to keep her mouth shut.
I knew you'd think I was guilty.
Well, that's 'cause you are, you
sick bastard. You killed the baby.
It was mine.
The baby was mine.
Would I do that to my own child?
Where is Novacek?
Crying his eyes out in One.
CSU's looking for the
weapon at his place.
Waiting on the semen match,
and we threw in a
paternity test on the baby.
Doesn't prove he's innocent.
She's seeing Novacek on the side,
gets pregnant, won't leave her husband,
Novacek decides to punish her.
Or maybe the husband did it.
Novacek says that Manning
was probably catching on.
He never mentioned
anything about it.
Which means he didn't know
or he didn't want us to know.
Ask the wife. She just woke up.
I remember something hitting me
in the back of the head, that's all.
I didn't even see who did it.
I woke up here,
and they told me what happened.
Tell us about Kyle Novacek.
I suppose you know already.
I've been seeing him almost a year.
Did you see him the
night of your attack?
No.
I saw him earlier
that afternoon.
That's really the only
time we can be together.
I know how bad this sounds.
Had you two argued recently?
You can't think he did this.
Kyle wanted to get married.
Did you?
I told him I would,
but everything changes
when you're having a baby.
It's about what's safest, not
what's going to make you happy.
And you felt it was safest
to stay with your husband.
Did he know about you and Kyle?
I told him that I
was leaving him
and that the baby wasn't his.
How did he react to that?
I thought he would be angry,
but, at the time,
he was really calm.
Your husband said that you
were meeting for dinner at 7:00.
Did he know that
you were running late?
I was meeting him at 7:30.
Did Richard tell you 7:00?
Why wasn't the husband
a suspect to begin with?
'Cause none of the
evidence pointed to him.
What do we know about this guy?
Well, he's a shrink, so he knows
how to mess with your head.
Not you.
No, you're exactly right.
What's more, psychiatrists go
through four years of medical school
and a one-year
medical internship.
So he'd know how to
do a crude C-section.
I want Dr. Manning's
alibi broken.
Timewise, it's tight, but
there's room for maneuvering.
Restaurant receipt says that
Manning had a drink at 6:59.
The bartender remembers
him, but he didn't see him leave.
Two calls from his cell phone.
One at 7:50, the other at 7:52
to Nicole's cell and their home.
Now, Manning claims that he
was still at the restaurant waiting.
Unless he was across
town attacking his wife.
The cell phone company would
have a better idea of where he was
when he made those
calls. We'll check on that.
Neighbor said Manning
got in before 8:30.
Hour at the restaurant, plus
walking time. It's plausible.
Nicole didn't get to
the garage until 7:20.
Because Richard told her
that they were meeting at 7:30.
We're thinking
that it's deliberate,
so he'd know exactly where she'd
be and still have time to set up his alibi.
One hour window, tops.
Crosses the park, attacks
her, cleans up, goes back home.
All because his wife was
carrying another man's child.
Well, you know, it could've been
enough to push him over the edge.
He was cuckolded. It's pretty
common. You see it in nature.
The female of the
species seeks out the male
who exhibits the
most desirable traits.
You know, most species
aren't naturally monogamous.
That explains my
entire marital history.
Let's knock off the jokes, all right?
We're talking about a dead baby here.
All right, his wife cheats
on him. Why not kill her?
Because, you see, in his mind the
problem was the baby, not his wife.
Get rid of the baby, get rid of the
problem. His world remains intact.
Well, let's tear it apart.
Start by getting a warrant
for the cell phone company.
Hey.
You know, everybody in
that room is on your side.
But we're not mind-readers,
and if you're not going to say
what's going on with you, that's fine,
but there's not a whole
hell of a lot we can do.
I know you're on my side.
Elliot, what is going on?
Would you talk to me?
Is there somebody else?
No, it's nothing like that.
To be honest, it'd be
easier if there was. I...
I don't know what this is.
It's... It just never
goes away, you know.
Every case, a little bit
more horrific than the last.
And I go home.
What am I supposed to do,
talk about my day at work?
"Honey, today a guy cut a baby out of his
wife's stomach. Pass the gravy, please."
So you just don't talk at all.
That's no solution, Elliot.
Well, one of us has to
be able to sleep at night.
She thinks I'm shutting her out.
You are. That's
exactly what you do.
You keep this up, you're going
to ruin the best thing you ever had.
The phone wasn't GPS assisted, so
we can't give you a precise location.
But the call detail record will
tell us which cell site he used.
How close will it get us?
With all the wireless
companies operating
there are anywhere from 400
to 600 cell sites all over the city.
Depending on the angle
and the time-distance
arrival of the radio frequency,
sometimes we can narrow
it down to a couple of blocks.
This is it. Cell site 24.
Lincoln Center. Not far from
where Nicole was attacked.
Manning said he made the calls from
the restaurant in the Upper East Side.
So what's he doing on
the other side of town?
Changing his
clothes most likely.
Manning belongs to a
gym near Lincoln Center.
Signed in at 8:00.
What, he just walked in
wearing bloody clothing?
Cleaned up most
of it at the scene.
The dump site where they
found the baby was on the way.
Gym receptionist said that he was wearing
a long coat and carrying a duffel bag.
Probably made the calls to
establish he was looking for Nicole,
showered, and went home.
What'd we find at the gym?
Unfortunately, nothing
there links to the crime scene.
The dumpster was
empty, no regular locker,
and CSU won't even bother checking
the drain traps on public showers.
Can't blame them.
We canvassing the cab companies?
He had less than half
an hour to get home.
No. I don't think he took a cab.
He's been fairly
meticulous so far.
That would be one more
witness he didn't need.
Could he have run?
We clocked it. Manning
had plenty of time.
You both ran it?
Walked it, and we still had
a couple of minutes to spare.
He's got a motive.
He lied about his alibi.
The gym bag could be at his house.
He had to carry that baby in something.
Along with the murder
weapon and blood evidence.
I'll call Cabot for a warrant.
Doc, I want you in on this search.
You know how shrinks operate.
Time to give up your
trade secrets. Okay.
What've you got? Well,
there's no gym bag.
And aside from these manicure
scissors, there's no cutting instrument.
But this guy is a piece of
work. You gotta check this out.
His laundry is nicer
than my entire wardrobe.
Folds and labels them.
Whites, colors, dry cleaning.
Anything marked
"bloody clothes"?
He's got enough personal hygiene
products in here to open his own salon.
All his.
So do I, but that doesn't
make me a murderer.
Everything about him
is all about appearances.
Working out, this gym equipment.
For some reason, he has
feelings of being unattractive,
unmanly.
His advantage is that
he's extremely intelligent
as evidenced by
his careful planning.
Ironically, he's probably
a pretty gifted psychiatrist.
I especially admire
his gift for killing babies.
It's a symptom of the same
problem. He's preoccupied with order.
He thinks that if he can
control every detail of his life,
then he can become this
man that he wants to be.
His wife wasn't so easy to
control. Look at this mess.
Well, when she threatened to
destroy the order that he created
then he went to
extremes to get it back.
What's it look like?
We're taking every knife
from the kitchen back to the lab,
but I'm not hoping for much.
I doubt he brought anything
from the crime scene back here.
What the hell is this?
It's a search, Dr. Manning. We'll
be out of your way in a minute.
You can't march in here
and destroy my home.
Yeah, it's a real bite in the ass, isn't it?
All those new labels you'll have to make...
Those your only set of keys?
Yeah.
Tough.
I need those.
Ramone. Yeah?
Luminol these for me, will you?
See, the problem with blood
is, it gets absorbed by plastic.
Can't wash it off.
What is that supposed to be?
Exactly what we're looking for.
You remember Dr. George
Huang from our search today?
He's a psychiatrist, too.
This is Dr. Richard Manning.
They brought you in to
shrink the shrink, huh?
Does that make
you feel important?
It just seems unnecessary.
I didn't do anything wrong.
Your wife did though, right? No.
We were having marital problems,
and we were working on solving them.
She left you.
I wouldn't say she
was leaving me
so much as going to the
man who fathered her child.
She just thought that was the
best solution to her problem.
But it was the wrong solution.
And now her problem doesn't
exist because there is no child.
Well, yes. BENSON:
Well, actually, Dr. Manning,
Nicole wasn't going
to marry Kyle Novacek.
All she wanted was
to get away from you.
Nicole doesn't know
what she wants.
Apparently she wanted to have a
relationship with another man. Why?
She probably felt our
relationship was lacking.
Lacking is a real
interesting word.
What is it you
were lacking, Dick?
Challenging my masculinity.
A little amateurish, don't you think?
- No.
I think he's challenging your masculinity
because it's a pretty obvious weakness.
You're a smart guy.
Your problem is you think
you're smarter than everyone else.
That's why you screw up.
You been to the gym lately?
Yes. I forgot to mention that.
I did go to the gym that night.
I was very worried
about Nicole, so I left.
Oh, well, there you go, mystery solved.
See, that's why you're such a genius.
Can't fool you, not for a second.
So, genius, what I want to know is
how in the hell Nicole
fooled you into believing
you were the
father of her child.
Your wife made you look stupid,
and you made her pay for it.
I love my wife.
You almost killed her.
No, he killed the baby.
He just wasn't smart
enough to do the job right.
I don't even know
what that means.
Nicole will never have children
again, Dr. Manning, and neither will you.
You screwed up, smart guy.
You couldn't be
more wrong about me.
All I care about is
my wife and my family.
It ruined everything.
Your wife's child.
Yeah. And so you got rid of it.
Wouldn't anyone?
Arrest him.
We've got him for attempted
murder and assault one
for the attack on the
mother, plus abortion one.
And murder. He killed that baby.
Warner's certain of that?
Baby was alive, now it's
dead. What's the problem?
The problem is whether
or not we can establish
the baby was legally a person.
But how do we do that?
Prove the baby was born alive
according to New York State Law.
Something that indicates
it took a breath, moved.
If it died while it was
still in its mother's womb,
it technically wasn't a
person, so it's not murder.
If that baby had been born
in a hospital, it would've lived.
Doesn't matter.
Neo-natacides are
notoriously difficult to prosecute
because the medical evidence
is almost always inconclusive.
Without a witness stating
unequivocally the baby was a live birth,
I'm just not certain we'd get
a murder conviction through.
Best we can do is illegal
third-trimester abortion.
That's a D-felony. We'll get
more out of the assault charge.
At seven months, a baby
moves inside of the mother.
The only reason that baby is dead
is because he bashed its skull in.
Now, I don't care if you call it
a person or not, that's murder.
That argument could also be
used to condemn legal abortion.
Do you want me to charge every doctor
who performs an abortion with murder?
Abortion is different.
It's the mother's choice.
We're not talking about
the mother's rights.
You want to charge for
homicide with the fetus as victim,
you give the fetus rights. Do
you want to go down that road?
It's not the same thing.
In the eyes of the law, it is.
Well, the law needs to change.
I don't know, Elliot. You
can't have it both ways.
A fetus is either
a life or it's not.
You saw that baby.
Olivia, you saw that baby.
This guy's gonna walk. And I
don't like it any more than you do,
but this is very
dangerous territory.
And I am not prepared to dismantle
reproductive rights on an inconclusive case.
We're going to let a murderer get
away to preserve a political ideal.
I don't even know
what I'm doing here!
Take a break, Detective.
Your ME comes back
with solid medical evidence
the baby was born alive, we've
got something to work with.
But I will not charge for murder
on the death of an unborn child.
You and your partner park
yourself in Warner's office
until she hands
over that autopsy.
Alex, unless you've got other
plans, I want you there, too.
Why? You need solid
medical evidence?
Make sure Warner's got it.
Presence of gas in the stomach,
contracted umbilical cord,
subpleural and
subepicardial petechiae,
partially expanded pulmonary alveoli,
fully-aerated, crepitant, salmon-pink lungs.
In English?
He took a breath.
Probably more than one.
So, he was a live birth?
That's what I'm
saying in my report.
To be clear, if I'm going
to charge Richard Manning
with the murder of the baby, that
means I drop the abortion charge
and the attempted
murder charge of Nicole.
We can only have
one theory of the crime.
Either he was trying to
kill his wife or his child.
Meaning we better be damn
sure, he only goes down for assault.
Neonates decompose at a faster rate,
so there's an inevitable margin of error.
Which doesn't do us any favors.
You need to be willing to testify to a
reasonable degree of medical certainty
this was a live birth. I am.
I'll supersede the indictments.
I also performed a
hydrostatic test on the lungs
in order to determine if
they had been inflated.
Dr. Warner, you are looking at
a guy who failed biology twice.
I'm a science idiot.
What is a hydrostatic test?
The lungs are placed in water. If a
significant portion of the lungs float,
it means they had been
inflated, as was the case here.
So this means the
fetus took a breath? Yes.
Dr. Warner, will you define
postmortem putrefaction for me?
It describes the series of changes
that occur to tissue after death.
Those changes include
the formation of gases,
such as mercaptans and
hydrogen sulfide, right?
Yes. Let me ask this.
After your initial
hydrostatic test,
did you deflate the lungs, re-inflate
them, and then repeat the test
to expel any gasses that may have
been present due to decomposition?
Performing the test
twice is often misleading.
So you probably didn't
do it, then. Objection.
I'm sure there are plenty of
tests the doctor did not perform,
none of which are relevant.
Overruled. The witness
may answer the question.
I did not perform the
test a second time.
Okay. You were
probably busy that day,
that's understandable...
Your Honor...
Let's keep up the
pace, Mr. Langan.
Is it possible the
expansion of the lungs
could be attributed to
post-mortem putrefaction?
It is possible, but there
were other factors...
Assume you're right, though,
and the fetus took a breath.
Dr. Warner, tell me, for a
baby to be considered born,
it has to be completely expelled
from the uterus, am I right?
Yes.
Is it possible a fetus
can take a breath
while partially expelled
but die before it
is fully expelled?
Yes, it is possible.
Is there any way to determine
when the breath was taken,
assuming it was
taken to begin with?
Short of eyewitness
testimony, no.
But we don't have that.
Thank you, Dr. Warner. You've
been very patient with my ignorance.
Tell me that looked
worse than it actually was.
If you think it looks like we just lost
our murder conviction, you're right.
Warner said exactly what
you wanted her to say,
and you let Manning's lawyer
sandbag her. Why didn't you stop him?
Because he's right, Detective.
We can't prove how
and when that baby died
beyond a reasonable doubt,
and if you want to blame
me for that, go right ahead.
So we got nothing?
Barring an outright
confession the child was alive,
he gets three-and-half to
nine for the assault, out in two.
Unless he gets off entirely
on extreme emotional distress.
I wish I could do more, Elliot.
Detective, what a surprise.
Don't say anything.
Please, start harassing
my client. I'd love a mistrial.
Trevor, leave us
alone for a bit, please.
I'm going to waste my breath
and strongly advise against it.
Anything you say is
going right to the DA.
Just a few minutes.
Usually my time is
worth $200 an hour.
Not worth much now, is it?
It's a matter of opinion.
You must be pretty
proud of yourself.
Getting everybody
to buy your story.
It's the truth.
Tell me again how it happened,
how you murdered that baby.
You don't actually think you're going
to get me to confess something, do you?
But that's not why
you're really here, is it?
You're gonna shrink me now?
You want me to?
You're married. Eighteen years.
Children as well?
Four of them.
Wouldn't you do anything
to protect your family?
Killing a child? No, I
don't see myself doing that.
Maybe not, but you know
what your problem is?
You understand that impulse.
You know exactly why
I did what I had to do.
Protect what you
have by destroying it?
No. I didn't destroy anything.
Think about it.
I didn't destroy anything.
Nicole and I agreed to meet
to try to salvage our marriage.
I was waiting at the restaurant,
and all I could think was,
"She's with him.
"She's with him, right now,
and they're laughing at me."
Not very rational
thoughts. Objection.
Put a question mark
on it Mr. Langan.
In your estimation,
as a psychiatrist,
were your thoughts
those of a rational person?
No.
I could only describe it as a
textbook, total break with reality.
And then suddenly I was running
across the park, finding her,
and acting solely on these powerful
emotions that I could not control.
Can you characterize your
state of mind during that time?
It was as if I was possessed
or being controlled
by someone else.
I look back now,
and I can't believe
what I've done to
the woman I love.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
No further questions.
People are entering into
evidence the People's Four.
Defense has no
knowledge of this evidence...
Which my detectives
only just brought to me.
Knock it off. Bring that over here.
This evidence was not made available
in discovery. It can't be presented.
This is an extraneous matter
not material to the charge.
The People had no duty
to tender it upon discovery.
I'm letting it in, assuming Miss
Cabot convinces me it's relevant.
Request a recess to
confer with my client.
So, what, you can
advise him to lie?
He's on the stand, and
he's staying there. Step back.
Dr. Manning, you
testified that you snapped
because your wife told
you she was having an affair
and that her unborn child
was fathered by another man,
causing you to attack her
and cut the child from
her body. Is that correct?
Yes.
How did you know she
was telling you the truth?
Why would she lie about that?
Were you unable to have
children, Dr. Manning?
I'm capable of having children.
And were you having sexual relations with
your wife seven months prior to her attack?
Yes.
But you took her word for it
that she was having an affair?
I knew about that
before she told me.
For how long?
From the beginning?
Close to it.
Then it's fair to say
you would know,
probably, if your wife was having
an affair with yet another man.
Objection. That
is totally irrelevant.
I think we both know
it's not, Your Honor.
Speak for yourself, Miss Cabot.
Prove relevance quickly or move on.
Is it all possible your wife was having
an affair that you didn't know about?
No, absolutely not.
How do you know this?
I am aware of what
goes on in my own house.
So the only two people who could have
possibly fathered Nicole Manning's child
were yourself and Kyle Novacek?
She told me it was him.
People's Four.
This is the paternity test against
Nicole Manning's child and Kyle Novacek,
proving that, in fact,
Mr. Novacek is not the father.
Objection.
So the logical deduction
is that you were the father
of your wife's
child, Dr. Manning.
Whether he was right or not
about the paternity of the fetus
has no bearing on
his state of mind.
Overruled.
Isn't it probable, Dr. Manning,
that you were the father
of your wife's child?
I would've known. How?
How could you have known?
You were so sure he
couldn't have been your child.
But he had to be, Dr. Manning.
There's no other explanation,
is there? I don't know.
You held your own
child in your hands,
your own living child.
Did he cry?
Did your son cry
before you killed him?
He only cried a little.
He only cried a little.
sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives who
investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
You're being ridiculous.
You're being ridiculous.
Excuse me? You practically got
into a fistfight with the parking guys.
So I'm just supposed
to let them rip us off?
SUVs cost more to park.
Didn't you read the sign?
It didn't say 45 bucks.
That's an entire dinner at
Fort Lee, including parking.
Now there's gonna
be traffic on the GW.
I hope you had fun tonight.
You obviously didn't.
Kevin. What?
The door is all wet.
Damn it, I just had it washed.
What did you get on my car?
I don't know. I got a
leaky pipe up there.
- I don't know.
- What is this?
Oh, God!
That was quick from Queens.
I stayed in the city tonight.
What do we know?
Parking attendant found
her on the second level,
naked from the waist down.
IDed from her purse.
Nicole Manning.
There's no robbery. 60
bucks cash left in her wallet.
How's she doing?
She's alive, but
it's a real mess.
- She conscious?
- In and out.
Got bashed in her
head pretty good.
We got a description
on the perp? Nothing yet.
Better get one quick.
I'll ride. STABLER: Okay.
CSU says condition of
her blood at the scene
looks like she was attacked
minutes before she was found.
How many stab wounds?
She wasn't stabbed, Detective.
Pressure's dropping. EMT 2:
Come on, Nicole, stay with us.
Two large-bore IVs, 02, 15
liters, non-rebreather mask.
She's C-spined,
sinus tach at 150.
Nicole, did you
get a look at him?
She's seizing. Two of Ativan.
Trauma to the head, pupils
equal, round and reactive.
Patient sustained
massive abdominal trauma.
Looks like emergency
C-section to me.
This woman was pregnant?
No pulse. Start CPR.
Any sign of the baby? Not yet.
What the hell did he do with it?
Sick son of a bitch must
have taken it with him.
Cut was made with a
dull or serrated blade.
Head trauma, multiple contusions
around the abdomen, like she'd been kicked.
Anything from the rape kit?
Positive for fluids.
What are her chances? Not good.
Developed an amniotic embolism.
Clots in her lungs cut
off oxygen to the brain.
Any word on the baby? Not yet.
Guy could have dumped
that body anywhere.
Or kidnapped it. Kidnapped?
Well, at this age, it's viable.
Mother's at 28 weeks,
baby was normal weight,
no apparent complications.
You think it's possible this baby
could be out there somewhere alive?
It's possible, but not for long.
She was by herself. I didn't
even think to go with her.
This is a safe neighborhood.
Who else was up there?
Usually nobody but me.
Then why was she?
Well, Mrs. Manning, she's a
monthly. She always gets her own car.
Okay, did you hear anything?
Maybe you hear a woman screaming?
No, no, no. I would
have checked on that.
What about someone
leaving the building?
Maybe carrying a bag or
something wrapped up in a coat?
No. No, no.
But there's another way
down from the second floor.
The stairs, they lead
onto the back alley.
Hey, what's the latest?
Still waiting to talk to the
husband. Any leads on the baby?
Got every available cop out
canvassing the neighborhood.
That's him.
Whoever did this,
it was personal.
Can't rule him out.
We were supposed to
meet for dinner at 7:00.
I waited at the restaurant.
She's usually late, so I
didn't worry right away.
What about before that?
I was in a session
with a patient.
You're a doctor? Psychiatrist.
My practice is in midtown.
Dr. Manning, there's no
easy way to ask you this.
Were you intimate with your
wife during the past 24 hours?
No. Why?
We think that your wife
may have been assaulted.
We'd like to ask for a
blood sample from you.
Of course. Anything you need.
What did you do when your wife
didn't show up at the restaurant?
I tried calling her. And,
after an hour, I went home.
Can you think of any reason that
somebody would want to hurt Nicole?
No.
Nicole was a good
person. She is.
Nicole is a good person.
The doctor said there's
still a chance she'll recover.
Plenty of prints off her car.
After we rule out the parking staff,
the victim's friends and family, and
every valet in the city, who knows?
We just might get
lucky. This car's for sale.
We're not gonna get too lucky
if she had people test-driving it.
What about signs of the baby?
Lot of blood. Don't
know whose yet.
No placenta or cord.
Took everything with him.
Looks like he got in
and out through there.
Cleaned up before he left.
With those slimy antibacterial
hand wipes. He came prepared.
He gets rid of the blood,
leaves out that door. It's
like nothing ever happened.
But why take the baby?
Maybe that was the
reason for the attack.
He didn't want the woman
dead. He wanted her to suffer.
Husband's credit card records
confirm he was at the restaurant.
Cell phone records coincide with
the calls he made looking for his wife.
Preliminary on the rape
kit rules him out anyway.
Husband's AB-positive,
perp's O-negative.
What did Latent turn
up in the victim's car?
Just got a solid hit from
prints, interior and exterior.
Kyle Novacek.
Not a complete lunatic,
but did time for assault
three and heroin possession.
Don't really see that kind
of violence with heroin users
unless somebody slipped him a
hotshot and mixed in some PCP,
guy could've gone psycho.
Well, get on him. That
baby might still be alive.
The victim is an RN at a methadone
clinic. That can't be a coincidence.
But might be the
connection between them.
Hey, Maureen. Hey.
Dad? Sweetheart, what's wrong?
Can I talk to you, please?
Come on.
Go ahead. Use my office.
So we'll hit the methadone clinic.
Novacek could have been a client.
We talk to area hospitals?
No premature newborns admitted
yet, but the hospitals are on alert.
Well, what did
the search turn up?
The neighborhood canvass
was a complete bust.
Nothing at the airports, bus terminals.
Still waiting to hear on the PATH trains.
We'll have to widen the
search. I'll use another phone.
So how's school going,
Maureen? It's fine.
Yeah? You get your
college applications out yet?
Pretty much.
You're gonna be late.
Okay. Bye, Olivia.
Everything okay? Yeah.
You ready?
Kyle Novacek? What,
I'm on every cop's list now?
Third time this
year with you guys.
You wanna be left alone, don't
stab your smack dealer in the forearm.
I'm working steady
now. I'm clean.
Got nothing to do with that life
anymore. That all you wanna know?
Not even close. Where
were you last night?
I take a class at
Brooklyn College.
A man of intellect.
What time's the class start?
7:00. Before that, here till 6:00.
What kind of car you drive?
I don't. Car died last week.
That's a shame.
Looking for a new one?
Gold Ford parked in a
garage a few blocks away,
some interesting fingerprints.
That's the car I looked at.
I saw a sign in the window.
The woman let me take
it for a drive last week.
What, did somebody steal it?
- How'd the program go?
What program? The
methadone treatment.
You know, sometimes
they don't give you enough.
You need a little more to
make it through the day.
What's this all about?
Did she get hurt?
Do you even remember last
night or were you too loaded?
Look, I already told you, I saw the
car once. I haven't been back since.
Where is it? What?
The baby. What the
hell you talking about?
It's alive, you can still get out
of this without a broken neck.
You telling me somebody hurt
that baby? Take the DNA test.
You didn't touch her,
we leave you alone.
I don't have to do that. Sound
like a guilty man to me, Novacek.
I just know the way
you guys operate.
If you had anything on me, my ass would
be in the back of your car already, right?
Anything else?
Count on it.
You know methadone
client lists are confidential.
We give their names out to police,
they never come in for treatment.
How about I show you the ER
photos they took of Nicole Manning?
That change your mind?
Her baby might still be alive,
but we are running out
of time. I wish I could help.
Well, you do have armed
guards and surveillance videos.
I'm sure not all of your
clients are perfect angels.
Have any of your employees
ever been harassed?
On a daily basis, but
nothing overtly violent.
What about in the neighborhood?
I'd imagine this place
attracts some real winners.
Actually, the only person we've
had a problem with is another nurse,
Erin Sena.
Nicole found out she'd been
diverting methadone for herself.
What happened to Erin?
I'm required to report
all incidents to the police.
She was arrested. She lost
her job and her nursing license.
Nice place.
I cleaned up especially for you.
Your boyfriend
doesn't mind the mess?
Who says I've got a boyfriend?
Come on, a girl like you.
I'm sure you have a few.
You coming on to
me? I'm into that.
Your friend can
watch. All right.
Why don't we start by having you sit
down and answer a few of my questions?
Okay?
Nicole Manning.
You seen her lately?
Yeah.
We hang out all the
time and have tea.
She screwed you
over, didn't she?
Got arrested, lost your job. She's
the reason that your life sucks, right?
So? This is what I'm thinking.
You and your boyfriend follow
Nicole Manning into the parking garage.
You have a fight, it
gets a little out of hand,
your boyfriend goes
crazy, not your fault.
I don't have a boyfriend.
You have to leave now.
What's that? None
of your business.
Do you have a son, Erin?
They took him away from me.
They who?
Two cops and some
bitch from Social Services
think they know how to take
care of my own son better than me.
Must have been
jealous of Nicole.
The woman who took everything from
you, and now she's having her own baby.
Get out.
You still using? Yeah, we are.
Look, I gotta tell you that no agency
is gonna give a junky back her kid.
Yeah? Screw you.
That baby needs to
be in a hospital, Erin.
Now, we can help you.
No, you can't.
Nicole pissed off the wrong
person. Look what happened to her.
Who'd she piss off?
I don't know.
Yeah, I think you do.
Only thing I know is Nicole asked
for it, and she got what she deserved.
I had nothing to do with it.
Now, get out.
Someone scared the hell
out of her to shut her up.
Partner in crime.
We need to get back in there
and search for signs of that baby.
Right. Stabler.
We're on it.
Take him down to the shelter.
Get him something to eat.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Homeless guy reported it. Says
he didn't see anybody around.
Where? Dumpster.
We positive it's the
Manning baby? Right size.
Decomposition
fits the time frame.
Sorry, Detectives.
What was it?
Little boy.
I should probably make some
arrangements, I don't know.
Am I supposed to get a birth
certificate issued first before...
You don't have to
do anything right now.
Actually, the Medical Examiner is
gonna need a little time to investigate.
Well, I'd like to take care of
things before she wakes up.
We know this is a very
difficult time for you,
but we need to ask
you about another nurse
that your wife worked
with. Erin Sena.
Oh, yeah, I know the name.
She tried to get Nicole to testify
on her behalf at some hearing.
I think the state was
trying to take away her son.
Did she testify? No.
No, Nicole thought it was
ludicrous of the girl to even ask.
So what happened?
Well, she screamed at our
answering machine a few times,
and I wanted to call the police,
but Nicole wouldn't hear of it.
She thought it was unnecessary.
She doing any better?
They performed a hysterectomy.
How do I tell her that
we'll never have a family?
Depressed skull fractures
along the right temporal lobe,
extensive contusions.
Cause of death was a subdural
hematoma resulting from blows to the head.
Whoever did it did not
want this baby to live.
Perp kicked the mother
before removing the baby.
Could the head trauma
be from the beating?
No way to tell if the injuries
were sustained in- or ex-utero.
But once the fetus was aborted, no
apparent effort was made to save it.
How long did he live?
Still trying to determine that.
If there's a God,
it wasn't long.
Kyle Novacek's
alibi cleared him.
That leaves Erin Sena
as our only suspect,
assuming we can find the man
who was her partner in crime.
I want options. Now, how
else can we get to her?
Probation violation.
She was higher than a
kite when we talked to her.
We haul her in for a drug test.
Judge made random testing a
requirement for her probation.
She fails the test, we got
leverage to make her talk.
Now all we got
to do is find her.
She in methadone treatment?
Her PO says she's a client at Tenth
Avenue where she used to work.
Well, that's one appointment a
heroin addict's always gonna keep.
You think we missed her?
She needs her fix.
Could've gotten it this
morning. No, she's coming.
You want to leave, go ahead.
Or you could just stop being a jerk and
tell me what the hell's going on with you.
This about Maureen?
I screwed up. I didn't send in a
check for the Columbia application.
Is it too late?
I don't know.
Elliot, what is this?
I've been distracted.
That's her.
Where you off to?
Oh, just let me go in.
Right after your drug test. Oh,
please, just let me... Let me just go in!
You tested positive for heroin.
Fine. Arrest me.
There's no rush, really.
We got, what, 24 hours?
Yeah, give or take.
I really, really need to
get out of here, okay?
Yeah, what
happened to your face?
I got hit.
Someone's fist, looks like.
Can I have a soda?
Can you do that?
Soon as you tell us who
you've been hiding from, sure.
No, no. No way.
Then you're going
down for everything, Erin.
Cutting Nicole
and killing her baby.
Trained nurse. You knew
exactly what you were doing.
It all points to you.
I told you, I didn't have
anything to do with it!
But you're a liar, Erin,
and everybody knows it.
Nicole knew it.
She has everything,
and she comes after me?
Exactly.
She has everything you want,
and you made her pay for it.
I didn't. Yeah, but someone did.
Who was it? Come on, your boyfriend?
Some junkie you met on the street?
You're afraid that he's going to
hurt you, just like he did Nicole.
Who're you hiding from?
Who is he, Erin?
Kyle.
Kyle Novacek's your boyfriend.
Hers. Nicole's.
We got a communications
problem, Kyle.
We keep asking you
questions, and you keep lying.
I didn't lie. I told you
where I was that night.
Half the guys in
Sing Sing got alibis.
Come on, look. Wait a second.
I'll tell you the truth. We
don't care about the truth.
We're gonna take you
in for a little DNA test,
prove you raped her.
That's all the truth we need.
The test's gonna be positive.
Nicole and I made love that afternoon.
You raped her, you cut her open.
Then you beat up another
woman to keep her mouth shut.
I knew you'd think I was guilty.
Well, that's 'cause you are, you
sick bastard. You killed the baby.
It was mine.
The baby was mine.
Would I do that to my own child?
Where is Novacek?
Crying his eyes out in One.
CSU's looking for the
weapon at his place.
Waiting on the semen match,
and we threw in a
paternity test on the baby.
Doesn't prove he's innocent.
She's seeing Novacek on the side,
gets pregnant, won't leave her husband,
Novacek decides to punish her.
Or maybe the husband did it.
Novacek says that Manning
was probably catching on.
He never mentioned
anything about it.
Which means he didn't know
or he didn't want us to know.
Ask the wife. She just woke up.
I remember something hitting me
in the back of the head, that's all.
I didn't even see who did it.
I woke up here,
and they told me what happened.
Tell us about Kyle Novacek.
I suppose you know already.
I've been seeing him almost a year.
Did you see him the
night of your attack?
No.
I saw him earlier
that afternoon.
That's really the only
time we can be together.
I know how bad this sounds.
Had you two argued recently?
You can't think he did this.
Kyle wanted to get married.
Did you?
I told him I would,
but everything changes
when you're having a baby.
It's about what's safest, not
what's going to make you happy.
And you felt it was safest
to stay with your husband.
Did he know about you and Kyle?
I told him that I
was leaving him
and that the baby wasn't his.
How did he react to that?
I thought he would be angry,
but, at the time,
he was really calm.
Your husband said that you
were meeting for dinner at 7:00.
Did he know that
you were running late?
I was meeting him at 7:30.
Did Richard tell you 7:00?
Why wasn't the husband
a suspect to begin with?
'Cause none of the
evidence pointed to him.
What do we know about this guy?
Well, he's a shrink, so he knows
how to mess with your head.
Not you.
No, you're exactly right.
What's more, psychiatrists go
through four years of medical school
and a one-year
medical internship.
So he'd know how to
do a crude C-section.
I want Dr. Manning's
alibi broken.
Timewise, it's tight, but
there's room for maneuvering.
Restaurant receipt says that
Manning had a drink at 6:59.
The bartender remembers
him, but he didn't see him leave.
Two calls from his cell phone.
One at 7:50, the other at 7:52
to Nicole's cell and their home.
Now, Manning claims that he
was still at the restaurant waiting.
Unless he was across
town attacking his wife.
The cell phone company would
have a better idea of where he was
when he made those
calls. We'll check on that.
Neighbor said Manning
got in before 8:30.
Hour at the restaurant, plus
walking time. It's plausible.
Nicole didn't get to
the garage until 7:20.
Because Richard told her
that they were meeting at 7:30.
We're thinking
that it's deliberate,
so he'd know exactly where she'd
be and still have time to set up his alibi.
One hour window, tops.
Crosses the park, attacks
her, cleans up, goes back home.
All because his wife was
carrying another man's child.
Well, you know, it could've been
enough to push him over the edge.
He was cuckolded. It's pretty
common. You see it in nature.
The female of the
species seeks out the male
who exhibits the
most desirable traits.
You know, most species
aren't naturally monogamous.
That explains my
entire marital history.
Let's knock off the jokes, all right?
We're talking about a dead baby here.
All right, his wife cheats
on him. Why not kill her?
Because, you see, in his mind the
problem was the baby, not his wife.
Get rid of the baby, get rid of the
problem. His world remains intact.
Well, let's tear it apart.
Start by getting a warrant
for the cell phone company.
Hey.
You know, everybody in
that room is on your side.
But we're not mind-readers,
and if you're not going to say
what's going on with you, that's fine,
but there's not a whole
hell of a lot we can do.
I know you're on my side.
Elliot, what is going on?
Would you talk to me?
Is there somebody else?
No, it's nothing like that.
To be honest, it'd be
easier if there was. I...
I don't know what this is.
It's... It just never
goes away, you know.
Every case, a little bit
more horrific than the last.
And I go home.
What am I supposed to do,
talk about my day at work?
"Honey, today a guy cut a baby out of his
wife's stomach. Pass the gravy, please."
So you just don't talk at all.
That's no solution, Elliot.
Well, one of us has to
be able to sleep at night.
She thinks I'm shutting her out.
You are. That's
exactly what you do.
You keep this up, you're going
to ruin the best thing you ever had.
The phone wasn't GPS assisted, so
we can't give you a precise location.
But the call detail record will
tell us which cell site he used.
How close will it get us?
With all the wireless
companies operating
there are anywhere from 400
to 600 cell sites all over the city.
Depending on the angle
and the time-distance
arrival of the radio frequency,
sometimes we can narrow
it down to a couple of blocks.
This is it. Cell site 24.
Lincoln Center. Not far from
where Nicole was attacked.
Manning said he made the calls from
the restaurant in the Upper East Side.
So what's he doing on
the other side of town?
Changing his
clothes most likely.
Manning belongs to a
gym near Lincoln Center.
Signed in at 8:00.
What, he just walked in
wearing bloody clothing?
Cleaned up most
of it at the scene.
The dump site where they
found the baby was on the way.
Gym receptionist said that he was wearing
a long coat and carrying a duffel bag.
Probably made the calls to
establish he was looking for Nicole,
showered, and went home.
What'd we find at the gym?
Unfortunately, nothing
there links to the crime scene.
The dumpster was
empty, no regular locker,
and CSU won't even bother checking
the drain traps on public showers.
Can't blame them.
We canvassing the cab companies?
He had less than half
an hour to get home.
No. I don't think he took a cab.
He's been fairly
meticulous so far.
That would be one more
witness he didn't need.
Could he have run?
We clocked it. Manning
had plenty of time.
You both ran it?
Walked it, and we still had
a couple of minutes to spare.
He's got a motive.
He lied about his alibi.
The gym bag could be at his house.
He had to carry that baby in something.
Along with the murder
weapon and blood evidence.
I'll call Cabot for a warrant.
Doc, I want you in on this search.
You know how shrinks operate.
Time to give up your
trade secrets. Okay.
What've you got? Well,
there's no gym bag.
And aside from these manicure
scissors, there's no cutting instrument.
But this guy is a piece of
work. You gotta check this out.
His laundry is nicer
than my entire wardrobe.
Folds and labels them.
Whites, colors, dry cleaning.
Anything marked
"bloody clothes"?
He's got enough personal hygiene
products in here to open his own salon.
All his.
So do I, but that doesn't
make me a murderer.
Everything about him
is all about appearances.
Working out, this gym equipment.
For some reason, he has
feelings of being unattractive,
unmanly.
His advantage is that
he's extremely intelligent
as evidenced by
his careful planning.
Ironically, he's probably
a pretty gifted psychiatrist.
I especially admire
his gift for killing babies.
It's a symptom of the same
problem. He's preoccupied with order.
He thinks that if he can
control every detail of his life,
then he can become this
man that he wants to be.
His wife wasn't so easy to
control. Look at this mess.
Well, when she threatened to
destroy the order that he created
then he went to
extremes to get it back.
What's it look like?
We're taking every knife
from the kitchen back to the lab,
but I'm not hoping for much.
I doubt he brought anything
from the crime scene back here.
What the hell is this?
It's a search, Dr. Manning. We'll
be out of your way in a minute.
You can't march in here
and destroy my home.
Yeah, it's a real bite in the ass, isn't it?
All those new labels you'll have to make...
Those your only set of keys?
Yeah.
Tough.
I need those.
Ramone. Yeah?
Luminol these for me, will you?
See, the problem with blood
is, it gets absorbed by plastic.
Can't wash it off.
What is that supposed to be?
Exactly what we're looking for.
You remember Dr. George
Huang from our search today?
He's a psychiatrist, too.
This is Dr. Richard Manning.
They brought you in to
shrink the shrink, huh?
Does that make
you feel important?
It just seems unnecessary.
I didn't do anything wrong.
Your wife did though, right? No.
We were having marital problems,
and we were working on solving them.
She left you.
I wouldn't say she
was leaving me
so much as going to the
man who fathered her child.
She just thought that was the
best solution to her problem.
But it was the wrong solution.
And now her problem doesn't
exist because there is no child.
Well, yes. BENSON:
Well, actually, Dr. Manning,
Nicole wasn't going
to marry Kyle Novacek.
All she wanted was
to get away from you.
Nicole doesn't know
what she wants.
Apparently she wanted to have a
relationship with another man. Why?
She probably felt our
relationship was lacking.
Lacking is a real
interesting word.
What is it you
were lacking, Dick?
Challenging my masculinity.
A little amateurish, don't you think?
- No.
I think he's challenging your masculinity
because it's a pretty obvious weakness.
You're a smart guy.
Your problem is you think
you're smarter than everyone else.
That's why you screw up.
You been to the gym lately?
Yes. I forgot to mention that.
I did go to the gym that night.
I was very worried
about Nicole, so I left.
Oh, well, there you go, mystery solved.
See, that's why you're such a genius.
Can't fool you, not for a second.
So, genius, what I want to know is
how in the hell Nicole
fooled you into believing
you were the
father of her child.
Your wife made you look stupid,
and you made her pay for it.
I love my wife.
You almost killed her.
No, he killed the baby.
He just wasn't smart
enough to do the job right.
I don't even know
what that means.
Nicole will never have children
again, Dr. Manning, and neither will you.
You screwed up, smart guy.
You couldn't be
more wrong about me.
All I care about is
my wife and my family.
It ruined everything.
Your wife's child.
Yeah. And so you got rid of it.
Wouldn't anyone?
Arrest him.
We've got him for attempted
murder and assault one
for the attack on the
mother, plus abortion one.
And murder. He killed that baby.
Warner's certain of that?
Baby was alive, now it's
dead. What's the problem?
The problem is whether
or not we can establish
the baby was legally a person.
But how do we do that?
Prove the baby was born alive
according to New York State Law.
Something that indicates
it took a breath, moved.
If it died while it was
still in its mother's womb,
it technically wasn't a
person, so it's not murder.
If that baby had been born
in a hospital, it would've lived.
Doesn't matter.
Neo-natacides are
notoriously difficult to prosecute
because the medical evidence
is almost always inconclusive.
Without a witness stating
unequivocally the baby was a live birth,
I'm just not certain we'd get
a murder conviction through.
Best we can do is illegal
third-trimester abortion.
That's a D-felony. We'll get
more out of the assault charge.
At seven months, a baby
moves inside of the mother.
The only reason that baby is dead
is because he bashed its skull in.
Now, I don't care if you call it
a person or not, that's murder.
That argument could also be
used to condemn legal abortion.
Do you want me to charge every doctor
who performs an abortion with murder?
Abortion is different.
It's the mother's choice.
We're not talking about
the mother's rights.
You want to charge for
homicide with the fetus as victim,
you give the fetus rights. Do
you want to go down that road?
It's not the same thing.
In the eyes of the law, it is.
Well, the law needs to change.
I don't know, Elliot. You
can't have it both ways.
A fetus is either
a life or it's not.
You saw that baby.
Olivia, you saw that baby.
This guy's gonna walk. And I
don't like it any more than you do,
but this is very
dangerous territory.
And I am not prepared to dismantle
reproductive rights on an inconclusive case.
We're going to let a murderer get
away to preserve a political ideal.
I don't even know
what I'm doing here!
Take a break, Detective.
Your ME comes back
with solid medical evidence
the baby was born alive, we've
got something to work with.
But I will not charge for murder
on the death of an unborn child.
You and your partner park
yourself in Warner's office
until she hands
over that autopsy.
Alex, unless you've got other
plans, I want you there, too.
Why? You need solid
medical evidence?
Make sure Warner's got it.
Presence of gas in the stomach,
contracted umbilical cord,
subpleural and
subepicardial petechiae,
partially expanded pulmonary alveoli,
fully-aerated, crepitant, salmon-pink lungs.
In English?
He took a breath.
Probably more than one.
So, he was a live birth?
That's what I'm
saying in my report.
To be clear, if I'm going
to charge Richard Manning
with the murder of the baby, that
means I drop the abortion charge
and the attempted
murder charge of Nicole.
We can only have
one theory of the crime.
Either he was trying to
kill his wife or his child.
Meaning we better be damn
sure, he only goes down for assault.
Neonates decompose at a faster rate,
so there's an inevitable margin of error.
Which doesn't do us any favors.
You need to be willing to testify to a
reasonable degree of medical certainty
this was a live birth. I am.
I'll supersede the indictments.
I also performed a
hydrostatic test on the lungs
in order to determine if
they had been inflated.
Dr. Warner, you are looking at
a guy who failed biology twice.
I'm a science idiot.
What is a hydrostatic test?
The lungs are placed in water. If a
significant portion of the lungs float,
it means they had been
inflated, as was the case here.
So this means the
fetus took a breath? Yes.
Dr. Warner, will you define
postmortem putrefaction for me?
It describes the series of changes
that occur to tissue after death.
Those changes include
the formation of gases,
such as mercaptans and
hydrogen sulfide, right?
Yes. Let me ask this.
After your initial
hydrostatic test,
did you deflate the lungs, re-inflate
them, and then repeat the test
to expel any gasses that may have
been present due to decomposition?
Performing the test
twice is often misleading.
So you probably didn't
do it, then. Objection.
I'm sure there are plenty of
tests the doctor did not perform,
none of which are relevant.
Overruled. The witness
may answer the question.
I did not perform the
test a second time.
Okay. You were
probably busy that day,
that's understandable...
Your Honor...
Let's keep up the
pace, Mr. Langan.
Is it possible the
expansion of the lungs
could be attributed to
post-mortem putrefaction?
It is possible, but there
were other factors...
Assume you're right, though,
and the fetus took a breath.
Dr. Warner, tell me, for a
baby to be considered born,
it has to be completely expelled
from the uterus, am I right?
Yes.
Is it possible a fetus
can take a breath
while partially expelled
but die before it
is fully expelled?
Yes, it is possible.
Is there any way to determine
when the breath was taken,
assuming it was
taken to begin with?
Short of eyewitness
testimony, no.
But we don't have that.
Thank you, Dr. Warner. You've
been very patient with my ignorance.
Tell me that looked
worse than it actually was.
If you think it looks like we just lost
our murder conviction, you're right.
Warner said exactly what
you wanted her to say,
and you let Manning's lawyer
sandbag her. Why didn't you stop him?
Because he's right, Detective.
We can't prove how
and when that baby died
beyond a reasonable doubt,
and if you want to blame
me for that, go right ahead.
So we got nothing?
Barring an outright
confession the child was alive,
he gets three-and-half to
nine for the assault, out in two.
Unless he gets off entirely
on extreme emotional distress.
I wish I could do more, Elliot.
Detective, what a surprise.
Don't say anything.
Please, start harassing
my client. I'd love a mistrial.
Trevor, leave us
alone for a bit, please.
I'm going to waste my breath
and strongly advise against it.
Anything you say is
going right to the DA.
Just a few minutes.
Usually my time is
worth $200 an hour.
Not worth much now, is it?
It's a matter of opinion.
You must be pretty
proud of yourself.
Getting everybody
to buy your story.
It's the truth.
Tell me again how it happened,
how you murdered that baby.
You don't actually think you're going
to get me to confess something, do you?
But that's not why
you're really here, is it?
You're gonna shrink me now?
You want me to?
You're married. Eighteen years.
Children as well?
Four of them.
Wouldn't you do anything
to protect your family?
Killing a child? No, I
don't see myself doing that.
Maybe not, but you know
what your problem is?
You understand that impulse.
You know exactly why
I did what I had to do.
Protect what you
have by destroying it?
No. I didn't destroy anything.
Think about it.
I didn't destroy anything.
Nicole and I agreed to meet
to try to salvage our marriage.
I was waiting at the restaurant,
and all I could think was,
"She's with him.
"She's with him, right now,
and they're laughing at me."
Not very rational
thoughts. Objection.
Put a question mark
on it Mr. Langan.
In your estimation,
as a psychiatrist,
were your thoughts
those of a rational person?
No.
I could only describe it as a
textbook, total break with reality.
And then suddenly I was running
across the park, finding her,
and acting solely on these powerful
emotions that I could not control.
Can you characterize your
state of mind during that time?
It was as if I was possessed
or being controlled
by someone else.
I look back now,
and I can't believe
what I've done to
the woman I love.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
No further questions.
People are entering into
evidence the People's Four.
Defense has no
knowledge of this evidence...
Which my detectives
only just brought to me.
Knock it off. Bring that over here.
This evidence was not made available
in discovery. It can't be presented.
This is an extraneous matter
not material to the charge.
The People had no duty
to tender it upon discovery.
I'm letting it in, assuming Miss
Cabot convinces me it's relevant.
Request a recess to
confer with my client.
So, what, you can
advise him to lie?
He's on the stand, and
he's staying there. Step back.
Dr. Manning, you
testified that you snapped
because your wife told
you she was having an affair
and that her unborn child
was fathered by another man,
causing you to attack her
and cut the child from
her body. Is that correct?
Yes.
How did you know she
was telling you the truth?
Why would she lie about that?
Were you unable to have
children, Dr. Manning?
I'm capable of having children.
And were you having sexual relations with
your wife seven months prior to her attack?
Yes.
But you took her word for it
that she was having an affair?
I knew about that
before she told me.
For how long?
From the beginning?
Close to it.
Then it's fair to say
you would know,
probably, if your wife was having
an affair with yet another man.
Objection. That
is totally irrelevant.
I think we both know
it's not, Your Honor.
Speak for yourself, Miss Cabot.
Prove relevance quickly or move on.
Is it all possible your wife was having
an affair that you didn't know about?
No, absolutely not.
How do you know this?
I am aware of what
goes on in my own house.
So the only two people who could have
possibly fathered Nicole Manning's child
were yourself and Kyle Novacek?
She told me it was him.
People's Four.
This is the paternity test against
Nicole Manning's child and Kyle Novacek,
proving that, in fact,
Mr. Novacek is not the father.
Objection.
So the logical deduction
is that you were the father
of your wife's
child, Dr. Manning.
Whether he was right or not
about the paternity of the fetus
has no bearing on
his state of mind.
Overruled.
Isn't it probable, Dr. Manning,
that you were the father
of your wife's child?
I would've known. How?
How could you have known?
You were so sure he
couldn't have been your child.
But he had to be, Dr. Manning.
There's no other explanation,
is there? I don't know.
You held your own
child in your hands,
your own living child.
Did he cry?
Did your son cry
before you killed him?
He only cried a little.
He only cried a little.