08x03 - How Much Is That Bentley in the Window?
Posted: 12/20/23 12:39
- There he is!
Mr. Levinson, I'd like to ask you some questions.
- --an insanity premise? - No chance.
- Even though your client confessed?
- Right.
- How are you planning on getting him off?
- By introducing evidence to suggest
someone else committed the crime.
- Who? - I'd rather not say right now.
- Was it someone who knew the deceased?
- Yes. - You won't say who?
- It was a member of her immediate family.
I won't say more than that. Thank you.
[clamoring]
- Mr. Levinson.
- Counselor.
I'd like to talk to you for a moment.
- By all means.
Catch up with you.
- OK.
- Isn't it customary to have the proof
before you make the charges?
- I'll take it in whatever order it comes.
- In other words, you're turning up the heat in the hope that I
might panic and make a mistake.
- Something like that.
Why?
Wouldn't it work?
- What exactly is it that you think happened?
- I think that you were involved with Pamela Reisenfeld
and with every intention of remaining involved.
I think that your wife, had she known,
would have been deeply wounded by your infidelity.
So much so that remaining married to you
would have been out of the question.
- And you're suggesting that I choose
m*rder rather than divorce?
- Yes, I am.
[chuckles]
- Why would I do that?
- Your wife was an heiress.
Maybe you wanted to get your hands on her money.
Maybe you didn't want to be mired
in a long melodramatic divorce.
Or maybe you felt as though you were a genius,
and that gave you the right to do whatever you wanted.
- And so, not only did I k*ll my wife,
I manipulated events and circumstances
so as to implicate your client.
- Yours is a prodigious talent, Mr. Burgee.
I have no doubt but that you're capable.
- What if I told you--
You were right?
- What if you did?
- I would have confessed to you.
What would you do with that?
- I would resign as trial counsel.
I would take the witness stand, and I would testify.
- Naturally, I have no intention of confessing.
I was just curious.
[theme music]
[music playing]
- The Bentley Continental R. You ever seen one?
- No, I haven't.
- Few people ever have.
Even fewer have contemplated owning one.
- And how long is this contemplation
going to go on for, Arnie?
- He's only been talking about it for what, less than a month?
- Given that I can't afford it and given that I do want it,
do you see any reason that I shouldn't buy it?
- If you're not bothered by the display of wealth
and you enjoy arousing the feelings of envy in others
and if you have no better use to put that kind of money,
I think you should.
- Have we concluded our bi-weekly
discussion of Arnold's Bentley?
- Yes, we have.
- In that case, Douglas, can we get started with the meeting?
- Wilton versus Wilton.
- That's mine.
I'm representing the wife.
The husband is CEO of Western and Telecom,
and a very rich man.
I'm seeking to set aside a prenuptial agreement.
And if I succeed, the wife will become a very rich woman.
- Where does it stand?
- We're in depositions.
- People versus Sandy Morrison.
- The trial's underway.
I think pretty much my only shot is to make the kid
look as likable as possible.
And to point the finger at someone else.
- That someone else being the husband.
- Right.
- Do you think the husband actually did it,
or he's just looking to stir the pot?
- Yes to both.
Without the husband, there is no reasonable doubt.
And I think he's guilty.
- May have been a mistake getting
Tom Mullaney off this case.
- Why?
- If there were questions to be asked
of the husband or anyone else, I suspect that Tom
would be willing to ask them.
- Are we done with that?
- I don't know.
Are we done? - I'm done.
- I just wanted to know if we were done, because if we are,
I'd like to discuss this renovation a little bit.
- I don't know when it's going to be finished.
- I don't care when it's going to be finished,
I care about why we're doing it on the cheap.
- As opposed to what?
- As opposed to doing it right.
From the drawings, this place is going
to look like we specialize in hack licenses
and drunk driving arrests. - What are you saying?
- I'm saying it's low rent.
- It's not supposed to be that, Douglas.
It's not supposed to be low rent.
- Daniel, I don't understand how you can tell this
or anything else for that matter just
from looking at the drawings.
- I got my undergraduate degree in architecture.
- Ah, then I have a suggestion.
Why don't you deal with it?
You meet with Lauren Chase.
You pick out fabric samples, you pick out furniture.
I have never wanted to be the one to be in charge of this.
Believe me, I've been ducking this woman for days.
- I'm not angling for the job, Douglas.
- Excuse me.
I don't know the procedure here, but there's
a Lauren Chase who's been waiting about minutes.
- Tell her Mr. Morales will be out to see her momentarily.
In fact, take her directly into his office.
- All right.
- Thank you.
- Hi.
I'm Daniel Morales.
How do you do?
- Other than the fact that I've been waiting
for nearly an hour, I'm fine.
- My apologies.
- I need your approval on fabrics and window treatments.
- Tell you what, I've got a client coming in minutes.
Why don't you leave the samples here?
I'll look at them and I'll get back to you.
- No. - What do you mean no?
- I mean I've been chasing one member of your firm or another
around for three months trying to get answers.
Trying to get one of you to focus on what it is you've
hired me to do.
I know that to busy attorneys, architects' time
can't be all that valuable.
Let me assure you that while my hourly rate
may pale next to yours, my time is indeed quite valuable to me.
- Let's you and me go to the Pacific Design
Center tomorrow afternoon.
- I'll meet you at the entrance at :.
- : it is.
- You've got a -minute grace period.
After that, I'm gone.
- All right.
- Mrs. Wilton, when you signed this agreement,
did you understand it to say that in the event of a divorce,
that your husband would relinquish to you your home
in Hancock Park and pay you the sum of $, a month
for the next five years?
- Yes.
- Did you further understand that anything either of you
owned prior to this marriage as well as all income subsequently
derived from these holdings would remain
each individual's sole property should
this marriage be dissolved?
- Yes.
- And did you have your own lawyer representing you
when you signed this agreement?
- Yes, I did.
Someone who frequently did work for my husband.
- But you did have both the time and the opportunity,
did you not, to make a thorough investigation
of your husband's record of assets
before signing this document?
- I would have signed anything you'd asked me to, Matthew.
I loved you and trusted you.
- I was your mentor at a point in your career
when you needed one.
You attached yourself to me like a remora to a shark.
- Can we try not to have this degenerate into a series
of recriminations?
- When you resigned from your husband's company,
he provided you seed money for you to start your own,
didn't he? - Yes, he did.
And six months ago, after I'd poured seven years of sweat
and caring and imagination into it,
he sold the company out from under me.
- I owned % of the voting stock.
I was well within my rights to act as I did.
- You knew how much it meant to me.
- Look, I have a few more questions I'd like to ask--
- [FIRMLY] It was not a well run business.
- I ran it the way I wanted to run it.
I thought that was my prerogative.
- Prerogatives have their limits.
Especially when you're dependent on other people
for your finances.
- For our anniversary one year, I bought
him a painting he'd admired.
A Remington.
I thought he'd be thrilled.
- I'd like to get into the area of assets
held separately by you at the--
- He returned it.
He said it was a bad investment.
- It was.
- It was a gift.
We have more money than we could ever spend.
What good is it if it doesn't bring pleasure
to you or to other people?
- One thing you have never been capable of,
Jessica, is calculating the proper value of things.
- You don't have a clue what's really valuable, Matthew.
And that's why I'm divorcing you.
[knocks]
- Yeah, come.
Hello, Mr. Levinson.
- Mr. Mullaney.
- To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?
- I want to talk to you about the Morrison case.
- It's not my case anymore.
- I know that.
- So why are you here?
- Because Beverley Halleran's not going to listen to me.
I was hoping you would.
I think you've got the wrong man.
- In case you've forgotten, your client confessed.
- My client is mentally ill.
He was browbeaten into confessing
by an overzealous cop, and your office was happy to take
the path of least resistance.
- Are you kidding?
- No, I'm not kidding.
I think your office is more interested in getting
a conviction than they are in convicting the right man.
- I think it's safe to say that this conversation is over.
- Want to hear who I think m*rder*d Gail Burgee?
- Not particularly, no.
- Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.
I think it was Jonah Burgee.
I think he m*rder*d his wife because he was cheating on her,
because he wanted her money, because he thought
he could get away with it.
- And I think you're doing what any defense
lawyer who doesn't have two facts to rub together does.
You are flailing around and you're looking for somebody
else to point the finger at.
- Leland McKenzie has a pretty high
opinion of you, you know that?
He thinks you don't care about office politics, about
conviction rates or anything else
if it goes against what you think is right
- Nice try, counselor.
- Thanks for your time.
[door slams]
- Detective Riley, would you describe the events
of July , , for us?
- I was on duty in the homicide unit of the Los
Angeles Police Department.
I got a call.
I went to the social services walk-in facility
located on Sixth near La Brea.
At that location, I found the body of Gail Burgee.
- Would you describe the condition
of Gail Burgee's body?
- She had been stabbed numerous times
and was lying face down, fully clothed, on the floor.
- Did you recover a m*rder w*apon at the scene?
- Yes, I did.
Located in close proximity to the decedent's body
was a hunting knife.
A police lab report revealed that there
were fragments of tissue and blood
belonging to the decedent on that knife.
- Is this the knife, detective?
- Yes, it is.
- Ask that said knife be admitted into evidence
as people's exhibit one.
- So ordered.
- Ask that aforementioned lab report
be stipulated into evidence as people's exhibit two.
- So stipulated.
- Detective, were there any fingerprints
found on this knife?
- Yes.
The fingerprints of the defendant, Sandy Morrison,
were found on it.
- And were you involved in the apprehension
and arrest of Mr. Morrison?
- Yes, I was.
- What statement, if any, did Mr. Morrison make following
his apprehension and arrest?
- He admitted having committed the m*rder of Gail Burgee.
[muttering]
- I have here a copy of a confession
signed by Mr. Morrison and ask that it
be admitted into evidence as people's exhibit three.
- So ordered.
- I have no further questions.
- You're a pretty good interrogator,
aren't you, detective?
- I'm good at my job, counselor.
- And one of the primary aspects of your job
is interrogating suspects and exacting confessions,
is that not the case?
- Yes, it is.
- Did you ever have occasion to interview the husband
of the deceased detective?
- Yes, I did.
- Did he say anything that led you to suspect Sandy Morrison
of having committed this crime?
- Yes, he did.
- So at the point you brought the defendant into that room,
you had a m*rder w*apon with his fingerprints on it.
You knew he had a history of mental illness
and you knew he had been to see the deceased
on the day she was k*lled.
As far as you were concerned, was there even a possibility
he didn't commit that crime?
- No, there wasn't.
- So you didn't bother investigating anyone else,
did you? - No, I didn't.
- Tell us.
How long did you question the defendant before you got
him to sign that confession?
- Approximately hours.
- Did he ask to leave?
- Yes, he did.
- How did you respond?
- I said that he couldn't.
- What else did he ask for?
- He asked if he could lie down and go to sleep.
- How did you respond to that?
- I said he couldn't do that, either.
- What was his response?
- He started to cry.
- And at that time, you informed him, did you not,
that the only way he was going to leave that room
or lie down and go to sleep or get away from you
was by signing a confession?
- I may have used words to that effect, yes.
Wasn't a casual conversation at that point.
He was my prisoner.
He was the primary suspect in a m*rder investigation.
And he wasn't leaving that room until I was done with him.
- I have no further questions.
- Put some three penny finishings in there.
- There you are.
- Were you looking for me?
- I was just thinking I never properly
welcomed you to the firm.
Never said how glad I was that you
were going to be working here.
- Thank you.
- I was hoping that I could steal you to lend
me a hand on this Wilton case.
- Sure.
Just let me know what you need me to do.
- Well, the first thing I want you to do
is accept my apology for trying to initiate
a personal relationship before you were even hired.
- Apology accepted.
- Good.
Now, given that you are hired and given
that we are colleagues, what would
you say to a collegial dinner?
- I would say, well, thank you.
[sighs]
- You are a striking looking woman, you know that?
- What am I, your backup position?
- No, I was just noticing you for the first time.
You're Eli's secretary, right?
- Right.
- Let me ask you something.
- Don't. - Don't what?
- Look, don't embarrass yourself twice in one day, all right?
- My net worth at the time of the prenuptial agreement
was exactly what I said it was.
- Would that have been inclusive or exclusive
of the venture in Palo Alto?
- That was a highly speculative venture, Mr. Becker.
I doubt that it would have impacted on my net worth
one way or another.
- What would you estimate your net worth is today, sir?
- I really don't know.
The market's still open.
- How does $ million sound with another $ million
coming your way in December when you
can exercise your Western and telecom stock options?
- You're in the ballpark.
- What's Western's connection with Raleigh Microsystems?
- We acquired Raleigh in , shortly
after I became president.
- And who is responsible for the Raleigh
acquisition, Mr. Wilton?
- I made the decision to take over Raleigh.
- Who brought it to Western?
- A great many people were involved.
- I did.
- All right, Jessica.
You did.
- At this point, I'd like to ask that we be provided
with all corporate bank records going
back to the beginning of Mr. Wilton's tenure at the company.
- You're not entitled to that.
- I think the fact that he was actively concealing
assets suggests that I am.
There's no reason for us to quibble about it.
Tomorrow morning, I'll be in court.
I'll make my request to the judge.
- You know what?
I'm not going to give you anything.
You're going to disrupt not only my life, but the operation
of a business.
Now, where do you get off thinking that you are
entitled to do that, Jessica?
- Talk to me, Mr. Wilton. I'm the lawyer.
I'm the one making the request.
- Could we possibly take a little break?
- As far as I'm concerned, we're done.
- We'll be objecting to that request.
- Did you ever talk to your wife about Sandy
Morrison, Mr. Burgee?
- Yes, I did.
- Why was that?
- Because after her sessions with him,
she came home a complete wreck.
- Objection.
- Overruled.
- And what, if anything, did you suggest she do?
- I suggested that she stop seeing him.
- How did she respond?
- You have to understand something about Gail.
She felt that no one was beyond redemption.
And she took the responsibility of redeeming them personally.
At first, she insisted that she could get through to Sandy.
His condition continued to deteriorate.
And she finally agreed that he needed to be in some sort
of controlled environment.
The day that she was k*lled was the day that she told him that.
- Objection, hearsay.
- Sustained.
- The day that she was k*lled was the day she told me
that she planned to tell him.
- Objection, hearsay.
- Sustained.
The jury will disregard.
- Would you describe your wife's condition when
she left for work that day?
- She was utterly terrified.
- I have no further questions.
- What do you do for a living, Mr. Burgee?
- It's a little difficult to encapsulate in a few words.
- Use as many words as you like.
- I do a variety of things.
I design what I call epigrammatic signage.
- What is that?
- Words and phrases.
Painted, projected, or digitally superimposed.
Designed to alter people's view of art and of the world.
I also compose electronic greeting cards,
interactive computer games, theatrical holograms.
I'm trained in a number of different disciplines
and I draw on all of them.
- How much did you make last year drawing on all of them?
- Objection.
- Overruled.
- I made about $,.
- Are you familiar with an individual by the name
of Pamela Reisenfeld?
- Yes, I am.
- Would you characterize for us the kind of relationship
you have with Ms. Reisenfeld?
- Counselor, although I know that you're
barely able to control yourself from springing forth
with some damning piece of evidence,
let me move us beyond that point.
The kind of relationship that Ms. Reisenfeld and I had
was that we were lovers.
- Was your wife aware of that fact, Mr. Burgee?
- To the best of my knowledge, she was not.
- You've testified that your wife discussed Sandy Morrison
with you, is that right?
- Yes, I did.
- Did you ever have occasion to read your wife's journals
regarding Sandy Morrison?
- No, I never have.
- Ask to receive into evidence said journals.
Defense exhibit one.
- So ordered.
- Would it surprise you to learn, sir,
that nowhere in your wife's journal
is a single entry that indicates that she
was afraid of Sandy Morrison?
- Oh, it wouldn't surprise me at all.
She was ashamed to admit it.
- Are you aware of the fact that what is recorded in her journal
are numerous entries expressing her affection for Sandy?
And one which states that he had turned his knife over to her
for safekeeping.
- No.
I was not aware of any of that.
- If, for the sake of argument, you had been aware of the fact
that Sandy's knife was in her office,
it would have been possible, would it not,
for you to have gained entry to your wife's office,
put on gloves, and use that w*apon
to s*ab your wife to death?
- Objection! - Mr. Levinson.
- You waited till Sandy left the office.
You would have known that his fingerprints
were on the m*rder w*apon. - Objection!
- Mr. Levinson.
- Because after all, you knew that it was his knife.
- Mr. Levinson.
In the state of California when an objection is made,
the attorney asking the question stops until a ruling is made.
Do you understand?
- Yes, Your Honor.
- The objection is sustained.
Move on.
- The house you live in is valued at $. million.
Who paid for it?
- It was purchased with money that my wife
inherited from her grandmother.
- Are you aware of the fact that an inheritance
is not considered community property
in the state of California?
- No, I wasn't aware of that.
- So you weren't aware of the fact that it had you
and your wife divorced, you wouldn't
received any of the money that she had inherited?
- Neither my wife nor myself ever
considered getting divorced.
- How much did you inherit when your wife
was k*lled, Mr. Burgee?
- Objection, irrelevant.
- Overruled.
- I inherited about $ million.
- I have no further questions.
- Oh, sure.
That sounds great.
- So you like this couch, right?
- It's a Corbusier.
What's not to like?
- Right.
- It's a lot more money than I was told to spend.
- You shouldn't be dictated, too, by the timid.
You were hired to design a new office.
You should design a new office.
- And I don't have to get approval from anyone else?
- They turn this over to me, and I
want offices that have a little sophistication,
a little refinement, you know.
- From my experience, attorneys are
not usually inclined to spend money for things like that.
- You've obviously been dealing with a more
vulgar class of attorney.
- I take it, then, that you have an appreciation
for architecture and design.
- Yes, I do.
- Did you come by that naturally?
- To some extent.
My father was an engineer.
And I studied architecture when I was in college.
- What stopped you?
- Talent.
Or lack thereof.
The architects I admired were geniuses,
and the best I could hope to be was ordinary.
- Who are the architects who admired?
Neutra.
Aalto, Saarinen.
Louis Kahn.
- You're right.
Those guys are geniuses.
- So you're a little impressed now, right?
When's the last time you talked to a lawyer
who knew about Neutra?
- I am a little impressed.
- Good.
I'd like to think I got something
out of four years of college.
So what do we think of this building we were just in?
- I think it's great.
- Cesar Pelli, right?
- Right.
- You're impressed, right?
- I am impressed.
- All right, now I can stop.
[laughs]
[siren]
- Up until he was , Sandy was a normal kid.
- In what way at the age of did
he cease to be a normal kid?
- He stopped having a normal life.
He stopped going out with his friends.
He stopped going to school.
He'd leave our apartment in the morning
and just go drifting around New York.
Riding the subway, walking, drinking coffee at McDonald's.
He'd be expelled from one school and we'd
enroll him into another.
- What kind of schools did he go to?
- Every kind.
Public schools, private schools.
We tried every approach, from Trinity to Montessori.
Sandy just didn't want to be in school.
- What kind of behavior did your son manifest when
he was around the apartment?
- He stayed in his room.
There were periods he wouldn't sleep,
then there were periods he'd sleep all the time.
I'd wake him up in the morning and make a point of having
bowls of cereal and eggs, toast, coffee,
orange juice all laid out.
I prod him to have a good breakfast,
get his day started right.
His mother would, too.
We both would.
He'd sit there and pick at the food,
and sooner or later make it back to his room.
- Did you see professional help for your son?
- Sandy saw one psychiatrist or another since he was .
He also was treated at Austen Riggs
on and off for about four years.
- And what mental condition was your son
diagnosed to be suffering with?
- Chronic recurrent dysthymia.
Depression.
My son is a young man who finds a great deal
of difficulty coping with the world around him.
His response to it is retreat.
- Objection.
The witness is not qualified to render a psychiatric opinion.
- Sustained.
- My son was never violent.
He was never cruel, and I would stake my life on the fact
that my son never k*lled anyone.
- I have no further questions.
- I don't have very many questions for you, sir.
I would like to know how long prior to the arrest of your son
for the m*rder of Gail Burgee had
it been since you'd seen him?
- Six years.
- So if, in fact, during that six-year period,
your son had become violent, you wouldn't know, would you?
- I didn't stop knowing my son.
No matter how long it had been.
I'd never stopped knowing him.
- Would you, sir?
- Do you know what a sweet, happy little boy he was?
Do you know how hard it was to watch him change?
- Mr. Morrison.
- To see him desperately try to stay sweet and happy
and not to be able to?
- Mr. Morrison.
- Not to be able to get out of the way
of this dense black cloud that he carried
around inside of his skull?
- Mr. Morrison, I have to admonish
you to stop this outburst.
- I'll ask you once again, sir.
Would you have known it if in the last six years
your son had become violent?
- No.
- I have no further questions.
- Your Honor, the attorney who advised my client to sign
this prenuptial was an associate of her then soon-to-be husband.
- Be that as it may, Your Honor, there's absolutely
no evidence of collusion here.
- Do you have any evidence of undisclosed assets, Mr. Becker?
- We know that Mr. Wilton had proprietary interest
in at least one computer venture that was never disclosed.
- How do we know that?
- As an addendum to our motion is a copy of a letter
memorializing said interest.
- When the prenuptial was signed,
his interest in that venture was worth nothing.
- It's not worth nothing now.
Moreover, I can't determine the full extent
of non-disclosure or negligent representation
without access to Mr. Wilton's corporate records.
- Your Honor, Mrs. Wilton blames her husband for her bad choices
and professional failure.
She's pursuing this simply because she knows what
kind of a burden fulfilling this motion
will create for him right now a scant two days
before his shareholder's meeting.
- I really don't care about your client's meeting, Mr. Fein.
We're talking about a great deal of money here.
Mr. Becker and Mrs. Wilton have a right to take
a look at these documents.
I'm going to uphold Mr. Becker's request.
- It's an invasion of privacy, Your Honor.
- It's done, Mr. Fein.
- Jessica.
I'm really very tired of dealing with this whole business.
Now whatever vendetta you're trying to satisfy by upsetting
my life with this scavenger hunt,
will it be satisfied with $ million in cash?
- Arnie?
- Would you excuse us?
- Don't let this guy push you around, Jesse.
- I think I ought to take it.
- No.
- Matthew bought a lot of that money to the marriage.
[sighs]
Maybe he was right about my company.
I'm not a gold digger, Arnie.
- Listen to me.
You made a significant contribution to his wealth
with your work at Western and Telecom.
You spent years trying to make a marriage work with him.
The law says you're entitled to share in the marital assets.
He's an equal partner.
Given that, $ million is nothing.
- OK.
- The suit looks good on you.
- Yes, it does.
- It's big on me.
- Eli thought it should be a little big.
- Your clothes are too big, you generally
look a little smaller.
A little less threatening to the jury.
- Well, not that you looked all that threatening to begin with.
- It's just something lawyers do.
- But it's a trick?
- Right.
- That's why we need a lawyer, Sandy.
They know these things.
- I'm going to need to put you on the stand today, Sandy.
- You said maybe you wouldn't have to.
- I think we need to let the jury
hear you speak for yourself.
- Why?
- I think we should help ourselves where we can.
I think this will help us.
- Yeah, well, you think I could be alone in this room
for a minute by myself?
- Sure.
[buzzes]
- Two guys, I think they said they were looking for--
- Excuse me.
- Yeah?
- Are you going to be in court when I testify?
- I'll be there if you want me there.
- Well, every day I go to court, I look to see
if you're going to be there.
I mean, it's like I don't even know you.
But every day, there I look to see if you're there.
- That's a nice thing to say.
- Well, I wish it didn't have to be in court.
- I know.
- I wish I could be getting a hamburger and coffee shop
or going for a drive.
Taking a walk.
Something-- something good.
- Sandy, listen to me.
You can get through this.
- Yeah, well you don't know that, because I can't
do a lot of the things that--
that everybody else can do.
- Well, I think you can do this.
Really, I do.
- Well, you're going to be there, right?
- Yeah, I'll be there.
- OK.
- Bye.
[buzzes]
- Sandy, could you tell the court how you met Gail Burgee?
- Well, she came up to me in a park
and she offered me a sandwich.
She said it was part of that outreach program,
she called it.
And I started talking to her and she seemed all right.
- What happened next?
- She told me she was a psychiatric social worker.
She gave me her card.
She said if I ever wanted to come see her, then I could.
- Did you?
- Yeah, eventually I did.
- How often would you go?
- Well, sometimes it was like once a week,
and sometimes it was every day.
- What, if anything, changed as a result of your seeing Gail?
- I got a place to live.
And I got in touch with my mom.
And Gail, Gail helped me work out
a way so my mom can send me enough money
so I could get a place.
She got me to wash and she got me
to change my clothes a little more often than I had been.
- How did your knife come to be found in Gail's office, Sandy?
- She asked me to give it to her, so I gave it to her.
She said since I wasn't staying in the park
anymore, that I didn't need it.
- Did you k*ll Gail, Sandy?
- No.
- I have no further questions.
- That is your signature on the confession, isn't it, Sandy?
- Yeah. Yes.
- And yet, you're in here claiming to be innocent.
I guess my question is, why would you confess
to a crime you didn't commit?
- Because I was tired.
- You were tired?
- Yeah, sometimes I get tired.
- Are you telling us that you confessed to m*rder
because you were tired?
- I couldn't keep my head up anymore.
I couldn't keep hearing the detective ask me the questions.
I couldn't keep listening to him talk.
He kept saying he knew what happened,
so I thought maybe he did.
- If I were as good at asking questions as the detective,
would you confess to me?
- Objection.
- Sustained.
- I'll not answer that question.
- Do you understand the concept of truth, Mr. Morrison?
- Yeah.
- Your father sat up here yesterday and testified
that in all the time he was around you,
you had never gotten violent.
Was he telling the truth, Sandy?
Your father knew he wasn't telling the truth,
didn't he, Sandy?
Your father knew he wasn't telling
the truth because you had, in fact,
become violent in his presence.
Wasn't what happened Sandy that you att*cked
your father with a screwdriver?
- He had all these ideas.
He kept wanting to make lists and he kept wanting
to make plans, you know?
Kept wanting me to be happy.
- Isn't the reason you left New York
that your parents were ready to put you in an institution?
And it wouldn't have been Austin Riggs,
and you wouldn't have been able to check yourself out.
It would have been a secured mental hospital,
and you would have been locked up.
- I'm different now than I was then, all right?
- Are you, Sandy?
- Yep.
- I have no further questions.
- The background noise level is rather high.
I think there are things we can do to reduce it.
- Not surprisingly, they cost money.
- What kind of things and how much money will they cost?
- We can use a better grade of ceiling tile.
We can use fabric on the walls, and we can consider
an electronic masking system.
- How important is all that?
- I don't know.
How important is it that the secretaries
out here be comfortable?
- Not very.
- But think about this, Douglas.
There are eight secretaries and four
paralegals working out here.
In the aggregate, that comes to, what, almost half $ million
in salary, right?
- It comes to $, a year in salary.
- Well, if noise accounts for them
being distracted % of the time, we're losing over $,
a year.
- Did you two work out this formula together?
- Actually, this is the first I'm hearing of it.
- You're overseeing this job, Daniel.
If you feel the money is well spent, let's spend it.
- By all means.
We don't want to have bad acoustics
and distracted secretaries.
- OK.
- That was pretty good.
- Douglas?
What's all this?
- Matthew Wilton's corporate records.
- Yikes.
- Douglas.
I'm going to need all hands on deck tonight.
- Why?
- I've got to get through all these files
before the Western and Telecom stockholders
meeting convenes on Friday. - I'll stay if you need me.
- Great.
Jane said that she would stay, too.
- She's going to be working with you here at night, Arnold?
- Yeah.
- Stuart, try to prevent this from resulting
in a sexual harassment suit.
- "Beyond a reasonable doubt."
You've heard the phrase thousands of times.
But what exactly does it mean?
The court in US versus Pfizer said reasonable doubt is such
as would cause prudent men to hesitate before acting
in matters of importance.
Let's consider why you might want to hesitate now.
Jonah Burgee had access to his wife's office.
He had access to his wife's journals.
He knew she had a knife belonging
to the defendant in her desk.
He had the opportunity to k*ll her
and the information necessary to implicate the defendant.
He also had a motive.
He was involved with another woman.
And he wanted out of his marriage.
The only problem was he had gotten used
to living on his wife's money.
Of course, that problem could be overcome.
The terms of Gail's will left $ million to him.
All he had to do to get it was to k*ll her.
On the other hand, Sandy Morrison confessed.
You may well ask yourself, why would anybody
do that if they weren't guilty?
That's a good question.
And I'm going to try to answer it.
The young man who signed it is mentally ill.
He lives enshrouded in a depression so deep,
that the simplest human interactions
are altogether unbearable.
A skilled interrogator locks him in a room for hours.
He grinds down whatever resistance Sandy is capable of.
And by the end, unsure himself of what he did or didn't do,
Sandy confesses.
What you now have to do, ladies and gentlemen,
is look beyond the four corners of that document.
You have to look.
Please look at the young man who signed it.
You've listened to his father, you have listened to him.
I submit to you that he's not a k*ller.
I submit to you that he mourns this woman's death
more than anybody in this room.
And I ask that you find him not guilty.
Thank you.
- What I am going to ask is that you distinguish
between fact and fancy.
Now my adversary has invented an elaborate scenario
whereby Gail Burgee's husband is guilty
and his client is innocent.
Now, the problem with this scenario
is there are no facts to support it.
The problem is my adversary made the whole thing up.
Jonah was having an affair, Gail was rich.
Jonah must have k*lled his wife.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, Jonah didn't k*ll his wife.
The man who's charged with k*lling her did.
The defendant has a long history of mental problems.
And contrary to the sworn testimony of his father,
he does have a history of v*olence.
He came to trust and depend on the young woman who
was attempting to treat him.
And when she determined that she couldn't treat him anymore,
when he felt betrayed and abandoned by her,
he reacted in the same way he had reacted before--
with v*olence, with rage.
And so he raised up his knife and he stabbed her to death.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the only scenario
supported by fact.
There's no reasonable doubt here.
There's no doubt at all.
I ask that you find the defendant guilty as charged.
- Stuart?
Oh, Stuart?
Wake up.
- What?
What time is it?
- It's about :.
I thought you left when I did.
- Yeah, I--
I had a few questions, so I came back.
Ooh.
- Wow.
I can't believe you slept here all night.
- May I?
Did you bring any donuts?
- Just as well.
So.
- Well, your guy walks a very thin line, doesn't he?
He's definitely feathered his own nest using his Western
and Telecom connections, and he had several ultimately
profitable deals pending at the time of the prenup that he
didn't mention to anybody.
But there's no slam dunk there.
- Anything?
- I don't know.
Take a look at this.
No.
[typing]
You see there's a whole series of unexplained one and two
night trips to Saint Louis?
Yeah, well couple that with some small
but what I would call very odd stock purchases.
- What makes them odd?
- Well, he's buying up World Electronics.
That's his company's main competition.
- And they're located in--
- You got it.
- Saint Louis.
- Now, this could mean nothing.
- I don't know.
- What are you going to do?
- Improvise.
[music playing]
Good morning, gentlemen.
We need to talk.
- Not now, we don't.
I have to finish preparing to address tomorrow's
stockholder's meeting.
- $ made me a Western and Telecom stockholder.
Address me.
- What's this about, Arnold?
- I want him to give his wife what
she's entitled to under California
community property laws.
That said, we'll settle for $ million.
- Most people don't think I have a sense of humor, Mr. Becker.
You've obviously seen past that.
Now, if you'll excuse us.
- What do you suppose my fellow stockholders would think
about their revered leader dumping Western and Telecom
and joining the competition?
- Now why would they think that?
- Because that's what I'm going to tell them at tomorrow's
stockholder's meeting.
Unless you give your wife a fair settlement.
- Are you threatening me, Mr. Becker?
- Just thinking out loud.
Wondering if the other stockholders will be as curious
as I am about all those trips you've
been making to Saint Louis.
I mean, I guess you could just be trying to get
a closer look at the arch.
But I don't think so.
- What do you think?
- I think you're planning to jump ship as soon as you
can cash in your stock options.
I think your relationship with World
violates your fiduciary relationship with Western.
I think once news of that hits the street,
you'll be the named defendant in a great many lawsuits,
and your stellar career will go into something of an eclipse.
- I'm late, Mr. Becker.
And you're delusional.
- Am I?
See you at the meeting!
- That's exactly right.
[dings]
- Can I speak to you for a moment, counselor?
- Sure.
- So I've interviewed witnesses, I've gone over police reports.
I've done everything I know how to do.
- And? - And nothing.
If Jonah Burgee k*lled his wife, he's done a good job
of covering his tracks.
- OK.
- So you know, I tried very hard not to send
innocent people to prison.
The prospect of doing that disturbs me at least as much
as it does you.
- Counselor.
The jury's back.
- Good luck.
- Thank you.
- Has the jury reached a verdict?
- We have, Your Honor.
- What say you?
- In the case of the State of California versus Sandy
Morrison on the charge of m*rder in the second degree,
we find the defendant--
Not guilty.
[shocked muttering]
- The jury is dismissed with the thanks of the court.
The defendant is free to go.
This court's adjourned.
- I told you that there's a reasonable doubt.
- How about if we go out for a celebration?
Would that be all right, Sandy?
- Yeah, Mom.
- Ring!
Did you talk to the receptionist?
- Yes.
Mr. Wilton hasn't left a message there, either.
- Damn!
- Arnie?
- Jessica.
- What have you done?
- Thanks.
- Matthew called this afternoon.
He gave me a cashier's check--
[SHOCKED] of $ million.
- Yeah?
- How did you do it?
- A magician never tells his trick.
[laughs]
- I would have been here sooner, but I
wanted to get you something.
- You shouldn't have.
What's this?
No.
- I noticed the brochures in your office.
I asked a couple of your partners.
They said this is the car you want.
- Oh, it is.
But I can't possibly accept this.
It's way too much money.
- Arnie, I don't ever want to hear another man
tell me how to spend my money.
- Jessica, it's not that I don't appreciate the gesture.
I do.
It's outrageous.
- I know.
[giggles]
- Oh.
It's too extravagant.
- It's yours.
- I love this car.
[engine starts]
[beeps]
[honks]
- Butthead.
- Walking after a meal is something people
don't do in LA.
- One of life's great pleasures.
- Isn't it?
- Sandy, your father and I were planning
on heading back to New York.
- All right.
- I'd like you to come with us.
- It wouldn't have to be permanent, son.
We thought it would be an opportunity for us to spend
some time together so we could figure out what
your next step ought to be.
- Would also give you a chance to decompress a little.
There's nothing like clean sheets and hot meals
to help put this whole thing behind you.
- Yeah, well I can't just do that.
- Why not?
- Because I can't keep up my end of the conversation.
- You don't have to, Sandy.
- Well, I can't--
can't pass you in the hall.
I can't be there when you get up in the morning and go to work
and still be there at night when you come home.
It's--
- Maybe you'll start going out yourself.
Maybe you won't still be there.
- Look, I will, all right?
I know I will.
- Maybe you won't, Sandy.
I went nuts not too long ago.
I couldn't get out of my room.
I was in a mental hospital.
I wasn't able to work.
I wasn't able to be with anyone else, talk to anyone else.
I finally trusted other people enough to let them help me.
And I got so I could get out of my room.
- I'm not like you.
I'm sorry.
I have to go.
- Where will you go?
- Sandy, we can't just let you go.
We have to know where you're going, what you're going to do.
- I don't know those things, see, so I can't tell you.
What I know is that I got to walk
away from you here and from all of you and just be by myself.
- Will you call?
- You bet.
- You call me, Sandy?
- Yeah.
- Dad.
Please, don't follow me.
- OK.
[theme music]
[audio logo]
Mr. Levinson, I'd like to ask you some questions.
- --an insanity premise? - No chance.
- Even though your client confessed?
- Right.
- How are you planning on getting him off?
- By introducing evidence to suggest
someone else committed the crime.
- Who? - I'd rather not say right now.
- Was it someone who knew the deceased?
- Yes. - You won't say who?
- It was a member of her immediate family.
I won't say more than that. Thank you.
[clamoring]
- Mr. Levinson.
- Counselor.
I'd like to talk to you for a moment.
- By all means.
Catch up with you.
- OK.
- Isn't it customary to have the proof
before you make the charges?
- I'll take it in whatever order it comes.
- In other words, you're turning up the heat in the hope that I
might panic and make a mistake.
- Something like that.
Why?
Wouldn't it work?
- What exactly is it that you think happened?
- I think that you were involved with Pamela Reisenfeld
and with every intention of remaining involved.
I think that your wife, had she known,
would have been deeply wounded by your infidelity.
So much so that remaining married to you
would have been out of the question.
- And you're suggesting that I choose
m*rder rather than divorce?
- Yes, I am.
[chuckles]
- Why would I do that?
- Your wife was an heiress.
Maybe you wanted to get your hands on her money.
Maybe you didn't want to be mired
in a long melodramatic divorce.
Or maybe you felt as though you were a genius,
and that gave you the right to do whatever you wanted.
- And so, not only did I k*ll my wife,
I manipulated events and circumstances
so as to implicate your client.
- Yours is a prodigious talent, Mr. Burgee.
I have no doubt but that you're capable.
- What if I told you--
You were right?
- What if you did?
- I would have confessed to you.
What would you do with that?
- I would resign as trial counsel.
I would take the witness stand, and I would testify.
- Naturally, I have no intention of confessing.
I was just curious.
[theme music]
[music playing]
- The Bentley Continental R. You ever seen one?
- No, I haven't.
- Few people ever have.
Even fewer have contemplated owning one.
- And how long is this contemplation
going to go on for, Arnie?
- He's only been talking about it for what, less than a month?
- Given that I can't afford it and given that I do want it,
do you see any reason that I shouldn't buy it?
- If you're not bothered by the display of wealth
and you enjoy arousing the feelings of envy in others
and if you have no better use to put that kind of money,
I think you should.
- Have we concluded our bi-weekly
discussion of Arnold's Bentley?
- Yes, we have.
- In that case, Douglas, can we get started with the meeting?
- Wilton versus Wilton.
- That's mine.
I'm representing the wife.
The husband is CEO of Western and Telecom,
and a very rich man.
I'm seeking to set aside a prenuptial agreement.
And if I succeed, the wife will become a very rich woman.
- Where does it stand?
- We're in depositions.
- People versus Sandy Morrison.
- The trial's underway.
I think pretty much my only shot is to make the kid
look as likable as possible.
And to point the finger at someone else.
- That someone else being the husband.
- Right.
- Do you think the husband actually did it,
or he's just looking to stir the pot?
- Yes to both.
Without the husband, there is no reasonable doubt.
And I think he's guilty.
- May have been a mistake getting
Tom Mullaney off this case.
- Why?
- If there were questions to be asked
of the husband or anyone else, I suspect that Tom
would be willing to ask them.
- Are we done with that?
- I don't know.
Are we done? - I'm done.
- I just wanted to know if we were done, because if we are,
I'd like to discuss this renovation a little bit.
- I don't know when it's going to be finished.
- I don't care when it's going to be finished,
I care about why we're doing it on the cheap.
- As opposed to what?
- As opposed to doing it right.
From the drawings, this place is going
to look like we specialize in hack licenses
and drunk driving arrests. - What are you saying?
- I'm saying it's low rent.
- It's not supposed to be that, Douglas.
It's not supposed to be low rent.
- Daniel, I don't understand how you can tell this
or anything else for that matter just
from looking at the drawings.
- I got my undergraduate degree in architecture.
- Ah, then I have a suggestion.
Why don't you deal with it?
You meet with Lauren Chase.
You pick out fabric samples, you pick out furniture.
I have never wanted to be the one to be in charge of this.
Believe me, I've been ducking this woman for days.
- I'm not angling for the job, Douglas.
- Excuse me.
I don't know the procedure here, but there's
a Lauren Chase who's been waiting about minutes.
- Tell her Mr. Morales will be out to see her momentarily.
In fact, take her directly into his office.
- All right.
- Thank you.
- Hi.
I'm Daniel Morales.
How do you do?
- Other than the fact that I've been waiting
for nearly an hour, I'm fine.
- My apologies.
- I need your approval on fabrics and window treatments.
- Tell you what, I've got a client coming in minutes.
Why don't you leave the samples here?
I'll look at them and I'll get back to you.
- No. - What do you mean no?
- I mean I've been chasing one member of your firm or another
around for three months trying to get answers.
Trying to get one of you to focus on what it is you've
hired me to do.
I know that to busy attorneys, architects' time
can't be all that valuable.
Let me assure you that while my hourly rate
may pale next to yours, my time is indeed quite valuable to me.
- Let's you and me go to the Pacific Design
Center tomorrow afternoon.
- I'll meet you at the entrance at :.
- : it is.
- You've got a -minute grace period.
After that, I'm gone.
- All right.
- Mrs. Wilton, when you signed this agreement,
did you understand it to say that in the event of a divorce,
that your husband would relinquish to you your home
in Hancock Park and pay you the sum of $, a month
for the next five years?
- Yes.
- Did you further understand that anything either of you
owned prior to this marriage as well as all income subsequently
derived from these holdings would remain
each individual's sole property should
this marriage be dissolved?
- Yes.
- And did you have your own lawyer representing you
when you signed this agreement?
- Yes, I did.
Someone who frequently did work for my husband.
- But you did have both the time and the opportunity,
did you not, to make a thorough investigation
of your husband's record of assets
before signing this document?
- I would have signed anything you'd asked me to, Matthew.
I loved you and trusted you.
- I was your mentor at a point in your career
when you needed one.
You attached yourself to me like a remora to a shark.
- Can we try not to have this degenerate into a series
of recriminations?
- When you resigned from your husband's company,
he provided you seed money for you to start your own,
didn't he? - Yes, he did.
And six months ago, after I'd poured seven years of sweat
and caring and imagination into it,
he sold the company out from under me.
- I owned % of the voting stock.
I was well within my rights to act as I did.
- You knew how much it meant to me.
- Look, I have a few more questions I'd like to ask--
- [FIRMLY] It was not a well run business.
- I ran it the way I wanted to run it.
I thought that was my prerogative.
- Prerogatives have their limits.
Especially when you're dependent on other people
for your finances.
- For our anniversary one year, I bought
him a painting he'd admired.
A Remington.
I thought he'd be thrilled.
- I'd like to get into the area of assets
held separately by you at the--
- He returned it.
He said it was a bad investment.
- It was.
- It was a gift.
We have more money than we could ever spend.
What good is it if it doesn't bring pleasure
to you or to other people?
- One thing you have never been capable of,
Jessica, is calculating the proper value of things.
- You don't have a clue what's really valuable, Matthew.
And that's why I'm divorcing you.
[knocks]
- Yeah, come.
Hello, Mr. Levinson.
- Mr. Mullaney.
- To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?
- I want to talk to you about the Morrison case.
- It's not my case anymore.
- I know that.
- So why are you here?
- Because Beverley Halleran's not going to listen to me.
I was hoping you would.
I think you've got the wrong man.
- In case you've forgotten, your client confessed.
- My client is mentally ill.
He was browbeaten into confessing
by an overzealous cop, and your office was happy to take
the path of least resistance.
- Are you kidding?
- No, I'm not kidding.
I think your office is more interested in getting
a conviction than they are in convicting the right man.
- I think it's safe to say that this conversation is over.
- Want to hear who I think m*rder*d Gail Burgee?
- Not particularly, no.
- Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.
I think it was Jonah Burgee.
I think he m*rder*d his wife because he was cheating on her,
because he wanted her money, because he thought
he could get away with it.
- And I think you're doing what any defense
lawyer who doesn't have two facts to rub together does.
You are flailing around and you're looking for somebody
else to point the finger at.
- Leland McKenzie has a pretty high
opinion of you, you know that?
He thinks you don't care about office politics, about
conviction rates or anything else
if it goes against what you think is right
- Nice try, counselor.
- Thanks for your time.
[door slams]
- Detective Riley, would you describe the events
of July , , for us?
- I was on duty in the homicide unit of the Los
Angeles Police Department.
I got a call.
I went to the social services walk-in facility
located on Sixth near La Brea.
At that location, I found the body of Gail Burgee.
- Would you describe the condition
of Gail Burgee's body?
- She had been stabbed numerous times
and was lying face down, fully clothed, on the floor.
- Did you recover a m*rder w*apon at the scene?
- Yes, I did.
Located in close proximity to the decedent's body
was a hunting knife.
A police lab report revealed that there
were fragments of tissue and blood
belonging to the decedent on that knife.
- Is this the knife, detective?
- Yes, it is.
- Ask that said knife be admitted into evidence
as people's exhibit one.
- So ordered.
- Ask that aforementioned lab report
be stipulated into evidence as people's exhibit two.
- So stipulated.
- Detective, were there any fingerprints
found on this knife?
- Yes.
The fingerprints of the defendant, Sandy Morrison,
were found on it.
- And were you involved in the apprehension
and arrest of Mr. Morrison?
- Yes, I was.
- What statement, if any, did Mr. Morrison make following
his apprehension and arrest?
- He admitted having committed the m*rder of Gail Burgee.
[muttering]
- I have here a copy of a confession
signed by Mr. Morrison and ask that it
be admitted into evidence as people's exhibit three.
- So ordered.
- I have no further questions.
- You're a pretty good interrogator,
aren't you, detective?
- I'm good at my job, counselor.
- And one of the primary aspects of your job
is interrogating suspects and exacting confessions,
is that not the case?
- Yes, it is.
- Did you ever have occasion to interview the husband
of the deceased detective?
- Yes, I did.
- Did he say anything that led you to suspect Sandy Morrison
of having committed this crime?
- Yes, he did.
- So at the point you brought the defendant into that room,
you had a m*rder w*apon with his fingerprints on it.
You knew he had a history of mental illness
and you knew he had been to see the deceased
on the day she was k*lled.
As far as you were concerned, was there even a possibility
he didn't commit that crime?
- No, there wasn't.
- So you didn't bother investigating anyone else,
did you? - No, I didn't.
- Tell us.
How long did you question the defendant before you got
him to sign that confession?
- Approximately hours.
- Did he ask to leave?
- Yes, he did.
- How did you respond?
- I said that he couldn't.
- What else did he ask for?
- He asked if he could lie down and go to sleep.
- How did you respond to that?
- I said he couldn't do that, either.
- What was his response?
- He started to cry.
- And at that time, you informed him, did you not,
that the only way he was going to leave that room
or lie down and go to sleep or get away from you
was by signing a confession?
- I may have used words to that effect, yes.
Wasn't a casual conversation at that point.
He was my prisoner.
He was the primary suspect in a m*rder investigation.
And he wasn't leaving that room until I was done with him.
- I have no further questions.
- Put some three penny finishings in there.
- There you are.
- Were you looking for me?
- I was just thinking I never properly
welcomed you to the firm.
Never said how glad I was that you
were going to be working here.
- Thank you.
- I was hoping that I could steal you to lend
me a hand on this Wilton case.
- Sure.
Just let me know what you need me to do.
- Well, the first thing I want you to do
is accept my apology for trying to initiate
a personal relationship before you were even hired.
- Apology accepted.
- Good.
Now, given that you are hired and given
that we are colleagues, what would
you say to a collegial dinner?
- I would say, well, thank you.
[sighs]
- You are a striking looking woman, you know that?
- What am I, your backup position?
- No, I was just noticing you for the first time.
You're Eli's secretary, right?
- Right.
- Let me ask you something.
- Don't. - Don't what?
- Look, don't embarrass yourself twice in one day, all right?
- My net worth at the time of the prenuptial agreement
was exactly what I said it was.
- Would that have been inclusive or exclusive
of the venture in Palo Alto?
- That was a highly speculative venture, Mr. Becker.
I doubt that it would have impacted on my net worth
one way or another.
- What would you estimate your net worth is today, sir?
- I really don't know.
The market's still open.
- How does $ million sound with another $ million
coming your way in December when you
can exercise your Western and telecom stock options?
- You're in the ballpark.
- What's Western's connection with Raleigh Microsystems?
- We acquired Raleigh in , shortly
after I became president.
- And who is responsible for the Raleigh
acquisition, Mr. Wilton?
- I made the decision to take over Raleigh.
- Who brought it to Western?
- A great many people were involved.
- I did.
- All right, Jessica.
You did.
- At this point, I'd like to ask that we be provided
with all corporate bank records going
back to the beginning of Mr. Wilton's tenure at the company.
- You're not entitled to that.
- I think the fact that he was actively concealing
assets suggests that I am.
There's no reason for us to quibble about it.
Tomorrow morning, I'll be in court.
I'll make my request to the judge.
- You know what?
I'm not going to give you anything.
You're going to disrupt not only my life, but the operation
of a business.
Now, where do you get off thinking that you are
entitled to do that, Jessica?
- Talk to me, Mr. Wilton. I'm the lawyer.
I'm the one making the request.
- Could we possibly take a little break?
- As far as I'm concerned, we're done.
- We'll be objecting to that request.
- Did you ever talk to your wife about Sandy
Morrison, Mr. Burgee?
- Yes, I did.
- Why was that?
- Because after her sessions with him,
she came home a complete wreck.
- Objection.
- Overruled.
- And what, if anything, did you suggest she do?
- I suggested that she stop seeing him.
- How did she respond?
- You have to understand something about Gail.
She felt that no one was beyond redemption.
And she took the responsibility of redeeming them personally.
At first, she insisted that she could get through to Sandy.
His condition continued to deteriorate.
And she finally agreed that he needed to be in some sort
of controlled environment.
The day that she was k*lled was the day that she told him that.
- Objection, hearsay.
- Sustained.
- The day that she was k*lled was the day she told me
that she planned to tell him.
- Objection, hearsay.
- Sustained.
The jury will disregard.
- Would you describe your wife's condition when
she left for work that day?
- She was utterly terrified.
- I have no further questions.
- What do you do for a living, Mr. Burgee?
- It's a little difficult to encapsulate in a few words.
- Use as many words as you like.
- I do a variety of things.
I design what I call epigrammatic signage.
- What is that?
- Words and phrases.
Painted, projected, or digitally superimposed.
Designed to alter people's view of art and of the world.
I also compose electronic greeting cards,
interactive computer games, theatrical holograms.
I'm trained in a number of different disciplines
and I draw on all of them.
- How much did you make last year drawing on all of them?
- Objection.
- Overruled.
- I made about $,.
- Are you familiar with an individual by the name
of Pamela Reisenfeld?
- Yes, I am.
- Would you characterize for us the kind of relationship
you have with Ms. Reisenfeld?
- Counselor, although I know that you're
barely able to control yourself from springing forth
with some damning piece of evidence,
let me move us beyond that point.
The kind of relationship that Ms. Reisenfeld and I had
was that we were lovers.
- Was your wife aware of that fact, Mr. Burgee?
- To the best of my knowledge, she was not.
- You've testified that your wife discussed Sandy Morrison
with you, is that right?
- Yes, I did.
- Did you ever have occasion to read your wife's journals
regarding Sandy Morrison?
- No, I never have.
- Ask to receive into evidence said journals.
Defense exhibit one.
- So ordered.
- Would it surprise you to learn, sir,
that nowhere in your wife's journal
is a single entry that indicates that she
was afraid of Sandy Morrison?
- Oh, it wouldn't surprise me at all.
She was ashamed to admit it.
- Are you aware of the fact that what is recorded in her journal
are numerous entries expressing her affection for Sandy?
And one which states that he had turned his knife over to her
for safekeeping.
- No.
I was not aware of any of that.
- If, for the sake of argument, you had been aware of the fact
that Sandy's knife was in her office,
it would have been possible, would it not,
for you to have gained entry to your wife's office,
put on gloves, and use that w*apon
to s*ab your wife to death?
- Objection! - Mr. Levinson.
- You waited till Sandy left the office.
You would have known that his fingerprints
were on the m*rder w*apon. - Objection!
- Mr. Levinson.
- Because after all, you knew that it was his knife.
- Mr. Levinson.
In the state of California when an objection is made,
the attorney asking the question stops until a ruling is made.
Do you understand?
- Yes, Your Honor.
- The objection is sustained.
Move on.
- The house you live in is valued at $. million.
Who paid for it?
- It was purchased with money that my wife
inherited from her grandmother.
- Are you aware of the fact that an inheritance
is not considered community property
in the state of California?
- No, I wasn't aware of that.
- So you weren't aware of the fact that it had you
and your wife divorced, you wouldn't
received any of the money that she had inherited?
- Neither my wife nor myself ever
considered getting divorced.
- How much did you inherit when your wife
was k*lled, Mr. Burgee?
- Objection, irrelevant.
- Overruled.
- I inherited about $ million.
- I have no further questions.
- Oh, sure.
That sounds great.
- So you like this couch, right?
- It's a Corbusier.
What's not to like?
- Right.
- It's a lot more money than I was told to spend.
- You shouldn't be dictated, too, by the timid.
You were hired to design a new office.
You should design a new office.
- And I don't have to get approval from anyone else?
- They turn this over to me, and I
want offices that have a little sophistication,
a little refinement, you know.
- From my experience, attorneys are
not usually inclined to spend money for things like that.
- You've obviously been dealing with a more
vulgar class of attorney.
- I take it, then, that you have an appreciation
for architecture and design.
- Yes, I do.
- Did you come by that naturally?
- To some extent.
My father was an engineer.
And I studied architecture when I was in college.
- What stopped you?
- Talent.
Or lack thereof.
The architects I admired were geniuses,
and the best I could hope to be was ordinary.
- Who are the architects who admired?
Neutra.
Aalto, Saarinen.
Louis Kahn.
- You're right.
Those guys are geniuses.
- So you're a little impressed now, right?
When's the last time you talked to a lawyer
who knew about Neutra?
- I am a little impressed.
- Good.
I'd like to think I got something
out of four years of college.
So what do we think of this building we were just in?
- I think it's great.
- Cesar Pelli, right?
- Right.
- You're impressed, right?
- I am impressed.
- All right, now I can stop.
[laughs]
[siren]
- Up until he was , Sandy was a normal kid.
- In what way at the age of did
he cease to be a normal kid?
- He stopped having a normal life.
He stopped going out with his friends.
He stopped going to school.
He'd leave our apartment in the morning
and just go drifting around New York.
Riding the subway, walking, drinking coffee at McDonald's.
He'd be expelled from one school and we'd
enroll him into another.
- What kind of schools did he go to?
- Every kind.
Public schools, private schools.
We tried every approach, from Trinity to Montessori.
Sandy just didn't want to be in school.
- What kind of behavior did your son manifest when
he was around the apartment?
- He stayed in his room.
There were periods he wouldn't sleep,
then there were periods he'd sleep all the time.
I'd wake him up in the morning and make a point of having
bowls of cereal and eggs, toast, coffee,
orange juice all laid out.
I prod him to have a good breakfast,
get his day started right.
His mother would, too.
We both would.
He'd sit there and pick at the food,
and sooner or later make it back to his room.
- Did you see professional help for your son?
- Sandy saw one psychiatrist or another since he was .
He also was treated at Austen Riggs
on and off for about four years.
- And what mental condition was your son
diagnosed to be suffering with?
- Chronic recurrent dysthymia.
Depression.
My son is a young man who finds a great deal
of difficulty coping with the world around him.
His response to it is retreat.
- Objection.
The witness is not qualified to render a psychiatric opinion.
- Sustained.
- My son was never violent.
He was never cruel, and I would stake my life on the fact
that my son never k*lled anyone.
- I have no further questions.
- I don't have very many questions for you, sir.
I would like to know how long prior to the arrest of your son
for the m*rder of Gail Burgee had
it been since you'd seen him?
- Six years.
- So if, in fact, during that six-year period,
your son had become violent, you wouldn't know, would you?
- I didn't stop knowing my son.
No matter how long it had been.
I'd never stopped knowing him.
- Would you, sir?
- Do you know what a sweet, happy little boy he was?
Do you know how hard it was to watch him change?
- Mr. Morrison.
- To see him desperately try to stay sweet and happy
and not to be able to?
- Mr. Morrison.
- Not to be able to get out of the way
of this dense black cloud that he carried
around inside of his skull?
- Mr. Morrison, I have to admonish
you to stop this outburst.
- I'll ask you once again, sir.
Would you have known it if in the last six years
your son had become violent?
- No.
- I have no further questions.
- Your Honor, the attorney who advised my client to sign
this prenuptial was an associate of her then soon-to-be husband.
- Be that as it may, Your Honor, there's absolutely
no evidence of collusion here.
- Do you have any evidence of undisclosed assets, Mr. Becker?
- We know that Mr. Wilton had proprietary interest
in at least one computer venture that was never disclosed.
- How do we know that?
- As an addendum to our motion is a copy of a letter
memorializing said interest.
- When the prenuptial was signed,
his interest in that venture was worth nothing.
- It's not worth nothing now.
Moreover, I can't determine the full extent
of non-disclosure or negligent representation
without access to Mr. Wilton's corporate records.
- Your Honor, Mrs. Wilton blames her husband for her bad choices
and professional failure.
She's pursuing this simply because she knows what
kind of a burden fulfilling this motion
will create for him right now a scant two days
before his shareholder's meeting.
- I really don't care about your client's meeting, Mr. Fein.
We're talking about a great deal of money here.
Mr. Becker and Mrs. Wilton have a right to take
a look at these documents.
I'm going to uphold Mr. Becker's request.
- It's an invasion of privacy, Your Honor.
- It's done, Mr. Fein.
- Jessica.
I'm really very tired of dealing with this whole business.
Now whatever vendetta you're trying to satisfy by upsetting
my life with this scavenger hunt,
will it be satisfied with $ million in cash?
- Arnie?
- Would you excuse us?
- Don't let this guy push you around, Jesse.
- I think I ought to take it.
- No.
- Matthew bought a lot of that money to the marriage.
[sighs]
Maybe he was right about my company.
I'm not a gold digger, Arnie.
- Listen to me.
You made a significant contribution to his wealth
with your work at Western and Telecom.
You spent years trying to make a marriage work with him.
The law says you're entitled to share in the marital assets.
He's an equal partner.
Given that, $ million is nothing.
- OK.
- The suit looks good on you.
- Yes, it does.
- It's big on me.
- Eli thought it should be a little big.
- Your clothes are too big, you generally
look a little smaller.
A little less threatening to the jury.
- Well, not that you looked all that threatening to begin with.
- It's just something lawyers do.
- But it's a trick?
- Right.
- That's why we need a lawyer, Sandy.
They know these things.
- I'm going to need to put you on the stand today, Sandy.
- You said maybe you wouldn't have to.
- I think we need to let the jury
hear you speak for yourself.
- Why?
- I think we should help ourselves where we can.
I think this will help us.
- Yeah, well, you think I could be alone in this room
for a minute by myself?
- Sure.
[buzzes]
- Two guys, I think they said they were looking for--
- Excuse me.
- Yeah?
- Are you going to be in court when I testify?
- I'll be there if you want me there.
- Well, every day I go to court, I look to see
if you're going to be there.
I mean, it's like I don't even know you.
But every day, there I look to see if you're there.
- That's a nice thing to say.
- Well, I wish it didn't have to be in court.
- I know.
- I wish I could be getting a hamburger and coffee shop
or going for a drive.
Taking a walk.
Something-- something good.
- Sandy, listen to me.
You can get through this.
- Yeah, well you don't know that, because I can't
do a lot of the things that--
that everybody else can do.
- Well, I think you can do this.
Really, I do.
- Well, you're going to be there, right?
- Yeah, I'll be there.
- OK.
- Bye.
[buzzes]
- Sandy, could you tell the court how you met Gail Burgee?
- Well, she came up to me in a park
and she offered me a sandwich.
She said it was part of that outreach program,
she called it.
And I started talking to her and she seemed all right.
- What happened next?
- She told me she was a psychiatric social worker.
She gave me her card.
She said if I ever wanted to come see her, then I could.
- Did you?
- Yeah, eventually I did.
- How often would you go?
- Well, sometimes it was like once a week,
and sometimes it was every day.
- What, if anything, changed as a result of your seeing Gail?
- I got a place to live.
And I got in touch with my mom.
And Gail, Gail helped me work out
a way so my mom can send me enough money
so I could get a place.
She got me to wash and she got me
to change my clothes a little more often than I had been.
- How did your knife come to be found in Gail's office, Sandy?
- She asked me to give it to her, so I gave it to her.
She said since I wasn't staying in the park
anymore, that I didn't need it.
- Did you k*ll Gail, Sandy?
- No.
- I have no further questions.
- That is your signature on the confession, isn't it, Sandy?
- Yeah. Yes.
- And yet, you're in here claiming to be innocent.
I guess my question is, why would you confess
to a crime you didn't commit?
- Because I was tired.
- You were tired?
- Yeah, sometimes I get tired.
- Are you telling us that you confessed to m*rder
because you were tired?
- I couldn't keep my head up anymore.
I couldn't keep hearing the detective ask me the questions.
I couldn't keep listening to him talk.
He kept saying he knew what happened,
so I thought maybe he did.
- If I were as good at asking questions as the detective,
would you confess to me?
- Objection.
- Sustained.
- I'll not answer that question.
- Do you understand the concept of truth, Mr. Morrison?
- Yeah.
- Your father sat up here yesterday and testified
that in all the time he was around you,
you had never gotten violent.
Was he telling the truth, Sandy?
Your father knew he wasn't telling the truth,
didn't he, Sandy?
Your father knew he wasn't telling
the truth because you had, in fact,
become violent in his presence.
Wasn't what happened Sandy that you att*cked
your father with a screwdriver?
- He had all these ideas.
He kept wanting to make lists and he kept wanting
to make plans, you know?
Kept wanting me to be happy.
- Isn't the reason you left New York
that your parents were ready to put you in an institution?
And it wouldn't have been Austin Riggs,
and you wouldn't have been able to check yourself out.
It would have been a secured mental hospital,
and you would have been locked up.
- I'm different now than I was then, all right?
- Are you, Sandy?
- Yep.
- I have no further questions.
- The background noise level is rather high.
I think there are things we can do to reduce it.
- Not surprisingly, they cost money.
- What kind of things and how much money will they cost?
- We can use a better grade of ceiling tile.
We can use fabric on the walls, and we can consider
an electronic masking system.
- How important is all that?
- I don't know.
How important is it that the secretaries
out here be comfortable?
- Not very.
- But think about this, Douglas.
There are eight secretaries and four
paralegals working out here.
In the aggregate, that comes to, what, almost half $ million
in salary, right?
- It comes to $, a year in salary.
- Well, if noise accounts for them
being distracted % of the time, we're losing over $,
a year.
- Did you two work out this formula together?
- Actually, this is the first I'm hearing of it.
- You're overseeing this job, Daniel.
If you feel the money is well spent, let's spend it.
- By all means.
We don't want to have bad acoustics
and distracted secretaries.
- OK.
- That was pretty good.
- Douglas?
What's all this?
- Matthew Wilton's corporate records.
- Yikes.
- Douglas.
I'm going to need all hands on deck tonight.
- Why?
- I've got to get through all these files
before the Western and Telecom stockholders
meeting convenes on Friday. - I'll stay if you need me.
- Great.
Jane said that she would stay, too.
- She's going to be working with you here at night, Arnold?
- Yeah.
- Stuart, try to prevent this from resulting
in a sexual harassment suit.
- "Beyond a reasonable doubt."
You've heard the phrase thousands of times.
But what exactly does it mean?
The court in US versus Pfizer said reasonable doubt is such
as would cause prudent men to hesitate before acting
in matters of importance.
Let's consider why you might want to hesitate now.
Jonah Burgee had access to his wife's office.
He had access to his wife's journals.
He knew she had a knife belonging
to the defendant in her desk.
He had the opportunity to k*ll her
and the information necessary to implicate the defendant.
He also had a motive.
He was involved with another woman.
And he wanted out of his marriage.
The only problem was he had gotten used
to living on his wife's money.
Of course, that problem could be overcome.
The terms of Gail's will left $ million to him.
All he had to do to get it was to k*ll her.
On the other hand, Sandy Morrison confessed.
You may well ask yourself, why would anybody
do that if they weren't guilty?
That's a good question.
And I'm going to try to answer it.
The young man who signed it is mentally ill.
He lives enshrouded in a depression so deep,
that the simplest human interactions
are altogether unbearable.
A skilled interrogator locks him in a room for hours.
He grinds down whatever resistance Sandy is capable of.
And by the end, unsure himself of what he did or didn't do,
Sandy confesses.
What you now have to do, ladies and gentlemen,
is look beyond the four corners of that document.
You have to look.
Please look at the young man who signed it.
You've listened to his father, you have listened to him.
I submit to you that he's not a k*ller.
I submit to you that he mourns this woman's death
more than anybody in this room.
And I ask that you find him not guilty.
Thank you.
- What I am going to ask is that you distinguish
between fact and fancy.
Now my adversary has invented an elaborate scenario
whereby Gail Burgee's husband is guilty
and his client is innocent.
Now, the problem with this scenario
is there are no facts to support it.
The problem is my adversary made the whole thing up.
Jonah was having an affair, Gail was rich.
Jonah must have k*lled his wife.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, Jonah didn't k*ll his wife.
The man who's charged with k*lling her did.
The defendant has a long history of mental problems.
And contrary to the sworn testimony of his father,
he does have a history of v*olence.
He came to trust and depend on the young woman who
was attempting to treat him.
And when she determined that she couldn't treat him anymore,
when he felt betrayed and abandoned by her,
he reacted in the same way he had reacted before--
with v*olence, with rage.
And so he raised up his knife and he stabbed her to death.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the only scenario
supported by fact.
There's no reasonable doubt here.
There's no doubt at all.
I ask that you find the defendant guilty as charged.
- Stuart?
Oh, Stuart?
Wake up.
- What?
What time is it?
- It's about :.
I thought you left when I did.
- Yeah, I--
I had a few questions, so I came back.
Ooh.
- Wow.
I can't believe you slept here all night.
- May I?
Did you bring any donuts?
- Just as well.
So.
- Well, your guy walks a very thin line, doesn't he?
He's definitely feathered his own nest using his Western
and Telecom connections, and he had several ultimately
profitable deals pending at the time of the prenup that he
didn't mention to anybody.
But there's no slam dunk there.
- Anything?
- I don't know.
Take a look at this.
No.
[typing]
You see there's a whole series of unexplained one and two
night trips to Saint Louis?
Yeah, well couple that with some small
but what I would call very odd stock purchases.
- What makes them odd?
- Well, he's buying up World Electronics.
That's his company's main competition.
- And they're located in--
- You got it.
- Saint Louis.
- Now, this could mean nothing.
- I don't know.
- What are you going to do?
- Improvise.
[music playing]
Good morning, gentlemen.
We need to talk.
- Not now, we don't.
I have to finish preparing to address tomorrow's
stockholder's meeting.
- $ made me a Western and Telecom stockholder.
Address me.
- What's this about, Arnold?
- I want him to give his wife what
she's entitled to under California
community property laws.
That said, we'll settle for $ million.
- Most people don't think I have a sense of humor, Mr. Becker.
You've obviously seen past that.
Now, if you'll excuse us.
- What do you suppose my fellow stockholders would think
about their revered leader dumping Western and Telecom
and joining the competition?
- Now why would they think that?
- Because that's what I'm going to tell them at tomorrow's
stockholder's meeting.
Unless you give your wife a fair settlement.
- Are you threatening me, Mr. Becker?
- Just thinking out loud.
Wondering if the other stockholders will be as curious
as I am about all those trips you've
been making to Saint Louis.
I mean, I guess you could just be trying to get
a closer look at the arch.
But I don't think so.
- What do you think?
- I think you're planning to jump ship as soon as you
can cash in your stock options.
I think your relationship with World
violates your fiduciary relationship with Western.
I think once news of that hits the street,
you'll be the named defendant in a great many lawsuits,
and your stellar career will go into something of an eclipse.
- I'm late, Mr. Becker.
And you're delusional.
- Am I?
See you at the meeting!
- That's exactly right.
[dings]
- Can I speak to you for a moment, counselor?
- Sure.
- So I've interviewed witnesses, I've gone over police reports.
I've done everything I know how to do.
- And? - And nothing.
If Jonah Burgee k*lled his wife, he's done a good job
of covering his tracks.
- OK.
- So you know, I tried very hard not to send
innocent people to prison.
The prospect of doing that disturbs me at least as much
as it does you.
- Counselor.
The jury's back.
- Good luck.
- Thank you.
- Has the jury reached a verdict?
- We have, Your Honor.
- What say you?
- In the case of the State of California versus Sandy
Morrison on the charge of m*rder in the second degree,
we find the defendant--
Not guilty.
[shocked muttering]
- The jury is dismissed with the thanks of the court.
The defendant is free to go.
This court's adjourned.
- I told you that there's a reasonable doubt.
- How about if we go out for a celebration?
Would that be all right, Sandy?
- Yeah, Mom.
- Ring!
Did you talk to the receptionist?
- Yes.
Mr. Wilton hasn't left a message there, either.
- Damn!
- Arnie?
- Jessica.
- What have you done?
- Thanks.
- Matthew called this afternoon.
He gave me a cashier's check--
[SHOCKED] of $ million.
- Yeah?
- How did you do it?
- A magician never tells his trick.
[laughs]
- I would have been here sooner, but I
wanted to get you something.
- You shouldn't have.
What's this?
No.
- I noticed the brochures in your office.
I asked a couple of your partners.
They said this is the car you want.
- Oh, it is.
But I can't possibly accept this.
It's way too much money.
- Arnie, I don't ever want to hear another man
tell me how to spend my money.
- Jessica, it's not that I don't appreciate the gesture.
I do.
It's outrageous.
- I know.
[giggles]
- Oh.
It's too extravagant.
- It's yours.
- I love this car.
[engine starts]
[beeps]
[honks]
- Butthead.
- Walking after a meal is something people
don't do in LA.
- One of life's great pleasures.
- Isn't it?
- Sandy, your father and I were planning
on heading back to New York.
- All right.
- I'd like you to come with us.
- It wouldn't have to be permanent, son.
We thought it would be an opportunity for us to spend
some time together so we could figure out what
your next step ought to be.
- Would also give you a chance to decompress a little.
There's nothing like clean sheets and hot meals
to help put this whole thing behind you.
- Yeah, well I can't just do that.
- Why not?
- Because I can't keep up my end of the conversation.
- You don't have to, Sandy.
- Well, I can't--
can't pass you in the hall.
I can't be there when you get up in the morning and go to work
and still be there at night when you come home.
It's--
- Maybe you'll start going out yourself.
Maybe you won't still be there.
- Look, I will, all right?
I know I will.
- Maybe you won't, Sandy.
I went nuts not too long ago.
I couldn't get out of my room.
I was in a mental hospital.
I wasn't able to work.
I wasn't able to be with anyone else, talk to anyone else.
I finally trusted other people enough to let them help me.
And I got so I could get out of my room.
- I'm not like you.
I'm sorry.
I have to go.
- Where will you go?
- Sandy, we can't just let you go.
We have to know where you're going, what you're going to do.
- I don't know those things, see, so I can't tell you.
What I know is that I got to walk
away from you here and from all of you and just be by myself.
- Will you call?
- You bet.
- You call me, Sandy?
- Yeah.
- Dad.
Please, don't follow me.
- OK.
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