"In the city of Los Angeles the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders." "These are their stories." "Excuse me, sir." "Can I see your withdrawal receipt?" "Martin, please." "He's okay." "Martin, no!" "No, no, no, no!" "Call it in." "We just got held up." "What the hell's the matter with you?" "They've got my baby." "He handed me this picture." "He told me to give him $50,000 or his partner would kill my Tony." "He said if I tripped the alarm," "I would never see my son again." "Does your son have a cell phone?" "Have you called him?" "He didn't answer." "He was supposed to be at lacrosse camp this morning, but they said he never showed up." "When was the last time you saw him?" "Yesterday afternoon." "He stayed with his dad last night and his dad dropped him off at the bus stop this morning, but Tony texted me from the bus stop to see if he could have a friend come over." "It's from the security cam." "Not much help." "Our suspect's a better a photographer." "Looks like it's printed on cheap photo paper, the kind you get at a copy store." "Your son, when did he text you?" "It was just after 9:30." "And this bus stop, where is that?" "Ventura and Coldwater." "9:30, the suspect shows up here at 10:36." "They snatch the kid, take the photo and stop to make a print at a copy store." "Ventura and Coldwater's only like a mile and a half away." "There can't be that many copy stores between here and there." "Please, don't let them hurt him." "Promise me you'll bring him back to me." "I promise." "We'll find him." "Way to hedge your bets." "There was only one person who sort of could have been your guy with a hoodie." "What time was he here?" "We just opened, so 9:30ish." "Sir, we need a computer." "I just paid for a half hour." "She'll refund you." "I see your PC only takes credit cards." "I'm going to need your charge information." "Well, that's the thing, your guy wanted to pay cash." "He went all righteous on me, like money's money and it's against the law to refuse legal tender." "Bingo." "Is it just me, or does he have the same look on his face?" "He photoshopped him." "He scammed the bank teller." "And us." "Guitar case." "I may be wrong, but I don't think you use guitars at lacrosse camp." "Mom always gets it wrong." "Saturday morning is rock, Saturday afternoon is lacrosse." "Well, you can explain it to her when you see her." "This morning at the bus stop, did anybody try and take your picture?" "Uh, yeah, this guy on a bike." "What happened?" "Nothing." "Just playing a game on my phone." "He was on a bike and was like, "Hey!" "" right in my face and takes my picture." "Then he rode off." "Just thought he was some perv." "Is that him?" "Uh, I can't tell." "He just had on a white T-shirt, jeans and sunglasses." "What kind of bike was he riding?" "Mountain bike." "Color?" "I don't know." "Flying V. You any good?" "I kill it." "Oh, it was red with black stripes." "That's great." "My baby!" "Go." "Go hug your mother." "I'm just saying you can't go to camp for it, you got to live it." "Me and my friend spent three years in my garage." "I still got a ringing in my left ear." "We opened for The Offspring." "The Offspring?" "You must be very proud." "Here we go." "Whoa." "That's got to hurt." "Yeah, there is no way he rode that bike home." "They searched a 10 block radius, no bike." "Maybe he lives in the neighborhood and walked." "Or maybe he had an accomplice down the street with a car." "Or my vote, took public transportation." "It's mostly old people who forget stuff." "You know, bags of yarn and canned salmon." "But every once in a while, you'll score an iPod or something." "Is that right?" "An iPod?" "I mean, what's not claimed goes to charity." "Did you say that it was left on the 150 bus?" "Yeah, in the bike rack." "That's what the driver said." "Here we go." "All nice and safe." "We keep a log, date, serial numbers." "Oh, here we go." "Y-150, Saturday morning." "Ah, that one." "That's a nice bike." "Sorry to ruin your Christmas." "Latent got a set of prints off the bike." "Stanley Vaughn." "40, white." "Two priors." "One for bank robbery in '94." "Six year bid." "The second bid in '05." "Two years for involuntary manslaughter." "He got out after two years on a second strike?" "How'd he swing that?" "Isn't that your department, Counselor?" "It wasn't my case." "I'd have remembered." "Stanley's last known, 3501 Enfield Avenue, Reseda." "Okay." "Police!" "Open the door!" "Hey!" "That door costs money!" "Hold." "Ma'am, go back inside!" "I own that house." "Stanley's never here in the daytime." "I can unlock it for you unless you'd like to buy me a new door." "Thanks." "It doesn't make sense." "This place was floor to ceiling junk." "You couldn't put one foot in front of the other." "How did you not see him move out?" "Who am I, Gladys Kravitz?" "His rent was paid up till the end of the month." "As long as he kept that stink out of here, I left him alone." "What stink?" "Something he was cooking up on the stove." "Smelled to high heaven." "Stanley was a real quack scientist." "I told him to take that crap outside if he wanted to play junior Einstein." "Doesn't smell like he was cooking meth." "Did you notice anything else odd about him?" "Once, when he brought me the rent, he tells me," ""Spend it while you can." ""Pretty soon what you call money won't be worth anything."" "Look at this, dates, numbers." ""L.F."" "That's gold." "The London Fix." "This is the daily global rate for gold." "Stanley was tracking gold prices." "Help me!" "Officer down at 3501 Enfield." "Officer down." "I need a rescue unit and a bomb squad team now!" "What happened?" "I don't know." "He was just kicking at the ground and it just blew up." "Officer Briar is going to make it." "Yeah, minus a leg." "Here." "Thanks." "Listen, the material in the backyard was PETN, explosive of choice for IEDs in Iraq." "Someone planted a bomb in the yard?" "We don't think it was a constructed device." "This guy was cooking PETN in his kitchen, probably dumped some in the backyard to get rid of it." "It was inert until the officer kicked at it." "Well, what did he use to make the stuff?" "We won't have a breakdown for a couple of days, but 99% of the stuff he'd need could be bought at a hardware store." "And the other 1%?" "The fact that he didn't blow up the whole block means he was able to keep it stable." "He had to use a plasticizer." "I'm guessing you can't get a plasticizer at a hardware store." "I sure hope not." "And I'm telling you, there are many uses for plasticizers." "In heart medication, in flooring, in..." "Mr. Gil." "Look, look, you can make a bomb out of dishwashing liquid." "Did you know that?" "One more time." "Look, he bought a small, like, six ounces of Shore-A plasticizer." "Hobbyists use it all the time." "It's totally harmless." "We have a young officer with half a leg blown off who might take a different view of harmless." "I don't sell to the general public and I told him..." "Do you have an invoice?" "Uh, yeah." "I mean, he seemed, I mean, he even gave me references." "Cash, no address." "Figures." "What kind of references?" "He said he was a collector, a gold collector, did business all over town." "He gave me the number of his broker and said the guy could vouch for him." "So this person gives you my name and now I'm what?" "A suspect?" "I have a vast range of clientele." "Now, this one may have bought gold, maybe a lot of it." "Somewhere in your database, who knows?" "This is my database, Mr..." "Detective." "Oops." "There goes some of your clientele." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Stanley, is that what you said his name was?" "No, we didn't." "All right, well, if that's him, the guy in the picture, his name is Stanley." "He bought one gold eagle coin off of me, maybe two." "He's very knowledgeable." "He follows the Fix, the daily gold prices." "Last time he came in?" "Couple of days ago." "Specifically?" "Monday." "Maybe Monday." "Every gold seller I know has paper on every fleck of gold that's passed through his hands." "This guy's security camera, it's not even connected." "Why should it be?" "So it can tape him laundering money?" "211 in progress , Western Trust Bank." "3401 Sherman Way at Haskell, 211 in progress." "Another photoshop job." "She found out 30 seconds after he left that her daughter was safe at home." "This is from the security camera." "No bike this time." "He got away on foot with 11 grand." "Last time, Stanley bought gold off of Manny right after the Studio City job." "Now he's got even more disposable income." "Maybe our boy's itching to invest." "And if I don't?" "Then, after the State Board of Equalization completes its investigation and you're convicted of tax evasion, instead of getting a suspended sentence for cooperating with the police, you'll go away for 10 years." "You can be pen pals with Wesley Snipes." "So who's the new guy?" "He is my nephew from Seattle." "Dumber than a box of hammers, but what can you do?" "You got to admit, this is priceless." "How much is something like this?" "Oh, I think my uncle could let you have that for $25." "Serious?" "Want to take a look at it?" "Yeah." "Are you Manny?" "I'm Emily." "Stanley sent me here to buy coins." "Oh, yeah, the double eagles." "I'm all out of those." "Someone just cleaned me out this morning." "Really?" "You don't have any?" "I'll get some more tomorrow." "I'll have more." "Thanks." "Police!" "Drop the backpack." "Hands behind your back." "What did I do?" "Little over 10 grand." "Bad move, Emily." "I swear, okay?" "I didn't know it was from a robbery." "Stanley said he was turning his life around." "Oh, level with me, Emily, $11,000?" "You didn't wonder where Stanley got it?" "He told me he'd been saving." "God, I've only known him three months." "Three months?" "And he trusted you to buy the gold all by yourself?" "What Stanley and me have, it's intense." "He trusts me." "Look, I'm an honest person!" "Yeah, except for priors for burglary in '95 and dope in '99." "She owned the car." "It was in a garage around the corner." "If she was in on the robberies, you'd think she wouldn't let" "Stanley try to make a getaway on a busted bike." "Hmm." "She already has two strikes." "Let's see how bad she wants to avoid a third." "I've been clean for over eight years." "Miss Watson, I'm Connie Rubirosa from the D.A.'s office." "Let me lay this out for you." "As an accomplice to two bank robberies..." "But I am not an accomplice!" "As an accomplice, you face prosecution under three strikes." "That's a sentence of life without parole." "God, I mean, please, no!" "But if you agree to help us catch Stanley Vaughn and testify against him," "we can talk about a reduced charge, maybe even a suspended sentence." "I have to choose?" "Stanley or jail?" "Trust me, if a man really loves you, he doesn't want to see you go to jail." "Oh, damn." "Sit." "Sit." "Detective, I need you not to move." "There's something flashing in here." "Hoover's reacting." "He detected explosives." "I need you to turn off your lights." "And your phones and electronic devices." "You need to remain perfectly still until we figure out how to disarm this." "You're the boss, Sergeant." "Hoover, retreat!" "Everybody else out." "I'm staying with my partner." "It's your call." "All personnel vehicles back 500 feet." "I bet the D.A.'s office is looking pretty good about now." "Her boyfriend took a job in D. C., so she moved with him." "I didn't realize Stanton had a boyfriend." "Come on, really?" "She looked pretty good in those grey skirts." "Yeah, she did." "Right about now I wish I'd taken a shot." "I'm beginning to regret that fourth cup of coffee." "You guys okay in there?" "Yeah." "Couldn't be better." "We have a visual on the suspect 10 blocks away on a bicycle." "We're going to apprehend." "No." "Let him through." "Push all your people back, let him come in the house." "Got it." "Emily?" "You here, sweetmeat?" "Hey, Stanley." "Don't move." "LAPD." "Put your hands on your head." "Okay, come on." "Snug little place you got here." "Let's go." "How you doing, sweetmeat?" "Okay, here's the deal." "You get my partner out of there safely or you die." "Uh..." "Okay." "Come back out of the room, only make sure to step on the decals." "You step on the decals, okay?" "Or boom!" "So everything's cool, right?" "Oh, yeah, we're cool." "And you, you're under arrest." ""People v. Stanley Raymond Vaughn." ""Two counts robbery," ""one count assault on a police officer," ""one count possession of explosives."" "Your plea, Mr. Vaughn?" "Not guilty, ma'am." "I would never set foot in a bank." "It is a dying institution." "The Betamax of finance..." "Save it for your blog, Mr. Vaughn." "People on bail?" "We ask for remand to custody." "Mr. Vaughn is a threat to the community." "He booby-trapped his house with explosives." "I was defending my castle." "Mr. Vaughn, my castle has a dungeon and I'm going to throw you in it if you don't keep quiet." "Your Honor, since the police haven't actually searched his house yet, it's premature to claim it's booby-trapped." "They haven't searched his house because it's booby-trapped." "And Mr. Vaughn has refused to help the police disarm the explosives." "My client denies there are explosives." "You're giving me a headache, Mr. Limpett." "Bail is one million dollars." "I hope that house is the jackpot because frankly, we're light on evidence to sustain four counts." "Fire department and bomb squad won't let our people in yet." "Unless we find the plasticizer Vaughn bought, we can't make a match with the explosive that blew up Officer Briar." "No match, no assault charge." "Bottom line, we've got to get into that house." "I don't know about any booby-traps." "Stanley just kept saying there are alarm systems everywhere and I shouldn't touch anything when he's not around." "Miss Watson, if we find out later you're lying and someone gets hurt, our deal is off." "I didn't know Stanley was making bombs." "He told me he was an inventor." "An inventor?" "Really, Miss Watson?" "Emily's a high school dropout." "She's no chemistry major." "She knows enough chemistry to be a two-time convicted drug dealer." "I'm not the kind of person you think." "My last boyfriend, the reason I got arrested the second time was I found out he was HIV positive, then I found out I was pregnant." "I didn't have insurance." "I figured if I sold a little weed," "I'd get enough money to get it taken care of." "I lost the baby in prison anyway." "Stanley knew what it was like for me." "He had been in twice, too." "Uh, but he got lucky." "They gave him a pretty light sentence the second time." "So he told me he was going to be my lucky charm." "I sure could pick them, huh?" "Emily's held the same job for six years at a car part store." "I have letters from her parole officer testifying to her complete rehabilitation." "You don't need to hammer her." "You know if her testimony's going to mean anything, we need corroboration." "The gold, the chemicals he used to make the explosives, where are they?" "I don't know." "Fair warning, Miss Fynley, we have a seriously injured cop." "We're not going to tolerate any nonsense from your client." "We understand." "How'd it go with your mom?" "Um, she's okay." "She starts speech therapy this morning." "I know her first words will be a seven letter one followed by the word "stroke."" "She's really lucky to have you here." "Thank you." "Stanley Raymond Vaughn." "Bank robber." "What about him?" "He took a plea on a manslaughter charge six years ago." "Right." "His second offense." "He got two years on manslaughter." "It was your case." "I know." "Make it plain." "You think I was too lenient?" "You declined to charge it as a second strike." "Vaughn said that he was held up at knife point outside a bar." "Now, his lawyer argued that he acted in reasonable response." "The eyewitnesses, the forensics, were contradictory." "If I had applied the second strike against Vaughn, he'd have served a mandatory eight years." "For killing a man." "Yeah." "Arguably in self-defense." "Now, you may not be familiar with California three strike sentencing guidelines." "Hey, I passed the bar first in California." "I know you know the theory, I'm talking reality." "A second strike conviction means double the standard sentence." "A third strike is 25-to-life." "Six years ago, people with two strikes were getting life for stealing a slice of pizza." "Vaughn had only one prior and he had been straight for five years." "I wasn't second guessing you." "Yes, you were." "And you were right to do so." "Dekker." "What the hell did you say?" "We still don't know what's in there." "And I'm not risking the neighborhood." "Sergeant, we have a warrant allowing the police to search the premises." "Frame it." "The governor declared this neighborhood a state of emergency." "We're doing a controlled burn so we don't risk an explosion." "Our whole case is in that house." "Let us get what we need before you burn the place." "We'll risk it." "I won't." "The amount of explosives that took that cop's leg was minute." "There could be enough material in there to make this a beachfront." "This is how it's got to be." "Let's go, boys." "Let's go." "District Attorney Hardin." "Hi, Rachel." "How are you?" "Sir, can I get your reaction to the critics who suggest that the bank robberies and the wounding of Officer Briar are the result of your negligence?" "I beg your pardon?" "Isn't it true Stanley Vaughn was out ofjail because you declined to prosecute him to the fullest when you had the chance six years ago?" "I'll have to get back to you on that, Rachel." "The governor declared a state of emergency prompting the fire department to conduct a controlled burn of the premises..." "Joe." "... rather than risk..." "Vaughn's house." "Yeah." "Stay tuned, it gets better, thanks to you." "Did you let a repeat offender walk on a second strike?" "Because I just heard that from a reporter." "Yes." "I declined Vaughn's second strike." "Do you have any idea how that makes this office look?" "I know that six years ago, this office was catching heat about how unfair the three strikes law was." "The law is made for guys like Vaughn, repeat offenders, so that stuff like this doesn't happen." "I didn't put the pen in your hand, Jerry." "You signed off on Vaughn's deal." "And that makes me a fool for taking your advice." "How many counts do we have on Vaughn?" "Four." "Two for the robberies, one for assault and one for explosives." "Make them stick." "I want Vaughn put away for good this time." "The People presented no evidence my client manufactured the explosives that injured the police officer." "That evidence was in the house that was condemned by the state of California as a safety risk." "On the word of a dog." "His client's booby-traps caused the house and the evidence to be destroyed in the first place." "He shouldn't profit from it." "I didn't write the law, Your Honor." "They had 10 days to come up with something." "They haven't." "The charges should be dismissed." "As for the robberies, where's the money my client is accused of stealing?" "Or the gold he allegedly bought with that money?" "Again, Your Honor, the evidence was hidden in the house, but we do have the defendant's fingerprints on a bicycle that was used in the first bank robbery and we are confident that we will find traces of the gold" "in the ashes of his house." "And I'm confident the Clippers will win the division." "What matters is what's on the table now." "Mr. Dekker, he's right." "There's insufficient evidence to hold him on the second robbery count or for the assault and possession of explosives." "Those charges are dismissed." "One lousy count of robbery, even as a second strike, it's 10 years max." "Yeah, well, I can get 15." "Still not good enough." "The bank robbery is the second strike." "We need a third strike to put him away once and for all." "And the one robbery's all we have." "Find me something else." "What, for example?" "Like, he stole a pen on the way out of the bank?" "If it'll get me a life sentence, I'll take it." "Oh, Jerry, you know as well as I do that that would violate the spirit of the law." "The spirit of the law is protecting the people." "The three strikes law has cut crime in this city in half." "Yeah, that's debatable." "I think you want Vaughn's sentence not for what he did today, but for what we didn't do six years ago." "Joe, I am not too proud to admit my mistakes and I'm not too particular about how I correct them." "The only people we should be worried about staring in the face are the victims of Stanley Vaughn's crimes." "Get me the third strike." "What do you want to do?" "I think I need to take a walk." "Hey, I reviewed the evidence." "I don't see another charge." "Yeah, well, count the pens at the bank if you have to." "We're giving the boss what he wants." "Honest, he didn't say anything about robbing any second bank." "He used a digital camera to take a photograph of the teller's kid." "Do you know where that camera is?" "Stanley only had the one camera, it was in the house." "This bike, it's a $2,000 bike." "Do you know where Stanley got it?" "Emily, you agreed to tell us the truth." "You're not going to be happy." "Stanley stole it." "How do you know?" "Because I kind of helped him." "I was coming back from Costco, the one on Mission, off the Pomona Freeway." "And I stopped for gas at a 76." "After Stanley pumped, this guy, he leans his bike against the door of the mini-mart and goes in." "Stanley tells me to start the car and meet him at this McDonald's we passed." "I told him don't do it." "I said I was going to leave him out there if he did it." "But you didn't." "It just happened so fast." "Stanley said, "Whoever doesn't lock up his bike deserves to get it stolen."" "I should have just left him out there, like I said, shouldn't I?" "My client is charged with possession of stolen property, which the district attorney has decided to apply as a third strike." "The actual theft took place at a gas station in San Bernardino County, but thanks to fingerprints and a bank photo, we can prove Vaughn possessed the bike in our jurisdiction." "My client now faces the certainty of spending the rest of his life in prison over a stolen bicycle." "That's what you had in mind?" "That's exactly what I had in mind." "... unjust by the majority of the states in this country." "I drove to McDonald's and waited for Stanley." "He rode up real fast on the bike." "He put the bike on the backseat and told me to drive off." "Is that the bike that Stanley put in your car?" "Yes." "That's the one." "Thank you." "No more questions." "Look, I just want to say, when I first met Stanley," "I thought we could be like a safe place for each other or we could have a good life." "Nothing fancy, maybe make a family." "Look, I'm sorry it didn't work out between us." "Miss, you may step down." "Court is adjourned." "This preliminary hearing will resume tomorrow morning." "Emily, that man sent you out there alone with stolen money to do his bidding." "He didn't protect you." "That's not love." "I know." "I know." "From now on, I'm only going to go out with doctors and lawyers." "Oh, let me tell you what's wrong with that plan." "Emily Watson?" "We're from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's office." "We have a warrant for your arrest." "Please place your hands behind your back." "Excuse me." "I'm her lawyer." "I want to see that warrant." "She's being charged with grand larceny for a stolen bicycle?" "What the hell kind of stunt is this?" "Deputy, this woman is a witness in an ongoing court proceeding." "This warrant is straight out of the San Bernardino County D.A.'s office, sir." "You'll have to take it up with them." "Yeah, I read her testimony." "She drove the getaway car." "In San Bernardino, we call that a bona fide accomplice." "She testified under a grant of immunity." "For crimes committed in your jurisdiction." "The bike was stolen in mine." "I don't see what all the fuss is." "You're prosecuting Vaughn for possession of the same stolen bike." "Vaughn is in a class by himself." "He's got a prior for manslaughter, he robbed two banks, he blew up a police officer." "We're trying to put him away for life." "That's a good thing." "Emily Watson is a felon with two strikes, including one for drug dealing." "If we can put her away for life, that's another good thing." "Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about, for life?" "I intend to apply the third strike to this larceny." "For a stolen bike?" "You can't be serious..." "Jerry Hardin is not the only district attorney in So Cal that's tough on crime." "Mr. Exley, you can make your point without applying a third strike." "I'm not playing politics, Mr. Dekker." "I'm sending a law enforcement message." "You commit a crime in San Bernardino, you're gonna pay for it." "Now, you might want to get back to L.A. before the 10 turns into a parking lot." "Joe, this is wrong." "Of course, it's political." "Exley got re-elected by the skin of his teeth." "Well, you have to talk him out of it, Jerry." "Emily Watson cooperated fully with this office." "She doesn't deserve prison, let alone a life sentence." "Our responsibility stops at the county line." "What Exley decides to do in San Berdoo is his business." "And ours." "If we weren't prosecuting Vaughn for the bike," "Exley wouldn't have a case against Miss Watson." "Nothing we can do, Joe." "There is something we can do." "We can withdraw the charge against Vaughn for the bike." "That charge is his third strike." "That's where we put him away for life." "We still have the bank robbery count." "He's still looking at 15 years." "Listen, Jerry, Emily Watson is the reason that we have the third strike against Vaughn." "That girl trusted us." "It's worth it to lose the strike in order to save her life." "Worth it?" "For whom, Joe?" "Officer Briar?" "His family?" "Emily Watson played in the dirt." "She got dirty." "Yeah, well, you're in the dirt now, Jerry." "You know, I thought that Morales was just too thin skinned, but maybe he got it right." "Before you do something rash, let me remind you what you said when you took this job." "You said you wanted to work for change from the inside." "You quit, you're an outsider." "You are ineffective." "You promised she wouldn't be prosecuted." "We can't control Mr. Exley." "Emily's testimony is part of the public record." "He can use it against her." "I swear, if there was a way to make this right, I'd do it." "And while we'll answer the People's evidence on the bank robbery charge at trial, we dispute that the People have shown cause to proceed to trial on the charge of possession of stolen property, namely the bike." "The charge requires the intent to possess stolen property." "The only evidence the People have that my client knew the bike was stolen is the testimony of a former girlfriend, a convicted drug dealer." "The credibility of a witness is for a jury to decide at trial." "The flimsiness of their evidence would be laughable, if it weren't for the fact that they're trying to bootstrap a third strike on my client." "This is a transparently political prosecution." "It shames the office of the district attorney and this court." "Mr. Dekker, would you like to respond?" "Your Honor, my response to Mr. Limpett's charges" "is the testimony of the person who decided to apply the third strike against Mr. Vaughn." "I call to the stand District Attorney Gerald Hardin." "Mr. Hardin, will you take the stand?" "Swear the witness in." "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" "I do." "State your name and occupation." "Gerald Hardin, District Attorney, Los Angeles County." "Thank you, Mr. Hardin." "Please explain the decision to apply the third strike against Mr. Vaughn." "Mr. Vaughn is a repeat offender and while possession of a stolen bicycle is not of the same order as the bank robbery charges, it is a felony." "And falls within the sentencing guidelines of the three strikes law." "So you were guided by the law?" "And the facts of the case." "And what do you say to the Defense's claim that this attempt to get life in prison for Mr. Vaughn by any means necessary is for political gain?" "Well, that would be a very cynical calculation on our part if it was the case." "But as you pointed out, Counselor, our office was guided by the law." "And the facts of the case." "Yes." "And wouldn't you agree, that's why you were elected to your office, to enforce the laws?" "Yes." "To do what's right?" "Not what's popular?" "I try to do that." "So you disregarded the public outcry when it became known that Mr. Vaughn had been released years ago because your office decided not to apply a second strike to a manslaughter conviction?" "I don't know about disregarded." "Well, you were upset by the public reaction." "Well, I felt that we had failed the people of Los Angeles in that instance." "And justice hadn't been served." "That's right." "And you were intent on correcting that mistake this time around, no matter the facts of the case, as long as Mr. Vaughn spent the rest of his life in jail?" "Maybe." "Mr. Hardin, as the chief law enforcement officer in the county, as one who sets the example for every prosecutor in your office," "is that what you mean by justice?" "No, it's not." "No more questions." "No cross, Your Honor." "The witness is excused." "Thank you." "You made your point." "Withdraw it." "Your Honor, at this time, the People withdraw the charge of possession of stolen property." "The charge is dismissed." "As for the remaining charge of robbery, the court rules insufficient evidence to proceed to trial." "You can send Vaughn on an all-expense paid trip to Disneyland for all I care." "It doesn't affect my case against Miss Watson." "I still have her statement admitting she helped steal that bike." "About that statement." "When the police and I questioned Emily, we were looking for evidence to use against Vaughn." "Emily wasn't a suspect, but when she started talking about the bike theft and her involvement in it, at that point, she became a suspect." "So, you mirandized her." "Since we had no intention of prosecuting her, no, we didn't." "Her lawyer must have known she was a suspect." "She didn't have a lawyer present." "That would make her statement, and any evidence derived there from, inadmissible." "I am so sorry about your case, Mr. Exley." "You better hope you never get a ticket in San Berdoo." "You know I wanted Vaughn down for life, too." "Mmm-hmm." "But 15 years, it's something." "Well, by the time he gets out, it'll be some other D.A.'s problem." "Let's hope whoever it is, is up to the task." "Oh, he will be." "Is that right?"