"Last week onShark..." "GORDIE:" "My lawyer, boys, why not let me go right now?" "MAYOR:" "We're starting a high-profile crime unit in the D.A.'s office." "To nail rich folks with fancy lawyers like you." "What schmo would take that job?" "Come on." "Me, a prosecutor?" "I eat prosecutors for breakfast." "They're my main source of fiber-- come on." "Who better to shake up the D.A.'s office, huh?" "Winning is what you do, it's what makes you the man." "Trial is war, second place is death." "Truth is relative." "Pick one that works." "Having reached the age of 16, you must now designate which parent will act as custodian until your 18th birthday." "I choose to live with my dad." "CLAIRE:" "Do you have any idea what it takes to raise a teenage girl alone in Los Angeles?" "No, but..." "This is the biggest case you are ever going to get." "Don't blow it." "You are a good attorney, but the people in your office-- they" "I don't know, what's the word I'm looking for?" "Oh, yeah-- suck." "Well, this should be fun." "Jesus, Manny, it took you less time to settle the transit strike-- come on." "That wasn't my money." "Call." "Shapiro?" "Raise 500." "BOTH:" "Ooh." "Profiles in courage." "Position in the 9th circuit?" "Mm, judicial restraint." "Wolfie?" "These cards are crap." "Your bet, big guy." "A:" "I'm going to put you all in... and B:" "if you win, I am writing a check for ten large to that soup kitchen on Fig that you're always trying to save, okay?" "And if you pull off this miracle?" "I need decent work space for my unit at the D.A.'s office." "No, that's Jessica's call." "Come on, you're the Mexican Monty Hall, make a deal." "I've got you cold, hermano." "No, no." "You need a queen to beat me." "Ten Gs buys a lot of minestrone, Manny." "Sorry to interrupt." "I was just going to say good night." "There's my brilliant girl, huh?" "How's it going?" "3.8 at the Beverly School." "Bob, what do you think of that-- nice, huh?" "Heredity is such a beautiful thing." "Not to break up this touching family moment, but can we get back to this game?" "We had never left this game." "You're virtually drawing dead." "I have a million outs, okay, so you're either going to call like a man or fold like a mouse." "Yes." "Give me the clubs, give me the queen, give me the queen" "And the queen of clubs!" "Thank you very much." "Send the sherbet to Herbert, send the bread to Fred." "I am thinking kind of open-floor plan, very modern with traditional touches" "Problem?" "For both of us." "MAYOR:" "What have we got, Chief?" "One of ours." "Detective Joe Rodriguez, undercover narcotics." "Wife and two kids." "In the middle of a buy?" "I'll call you when we make an arrest." "You can earn a few bucks getting the scumbag acquitted." "Maybe you missed the memo;" "I'm on your side now." "Stay behind the yellow tape." "Was it something I said?" "They risk their lives putting away bad guys." "You made a living letting them go." "Yeah, but it was never personal." "It was for them." "Who is that?" "That's the dead cop's partner." "You want to make things right with the LAPD?" "You nail the son of a bitch who did this. sync:" "FRM@gadence" "?" "is a crime against our entire city." "My office will work closely with the LAPD to insure that this vicious cop-killer is apprehended, prosecuted and convicted." "Deputy Chief Martinson will now take your questions." "Thank you." "I want Sebastian on this one." "In case you haven't noticed, the cops hate his guts." "You have an election in two months, Jess." "You need a win." "The relationship between this office and the LAPD is a powder keg, and Stark's a blow torch." "Exactly, and if he loses, they'll be scraping him off the pavement and not you." "All this on the turn of a card." "This place rocks the planet." "Narcotics Division must be pissed." "It's like working at a real firm." "Minus the salary." "We got our own kitchen." "Oh, nice priorities." "I get hungry." "MADELEINE:" "How did you get Devlin to sign off?" "Oh, we worked out a little system." "I go behind her back to get whatever I want, she wonders what happened." "All right, strap in, kids." "We caught last night's cop-killing." "Who's the suspect?" "Cover your ears." "Scott Ransom-- big money family, busted twice for selling drugs, walks both times." "Undercover narcs are about to pop him for moving methamphetamine." "Things blow up, Ransom pulls a gun." "Detective Joseph Rodriguez ends up dead in the street." "Any witnesses?" "Yeah, Rodriguez's partner, a Detective Isaac Wright, was monitoring the buy, says he saw Ransom standing over his partner's body." "Well, we got a police eyewitness-- we're golden." "No." "Why haven't they picked up Ransom?" "Because Wright says he didn't see the actual shooting and Ransom's got an alibi." "Says he was with his girlfriend all night in Los Feliz." "Oh, hey, thanks." "Doesn't an LAPD detective trump a drug dealer's girlfriend?" "Normally, yes, but don't forget, this kid has already beaten two drug raps due to the fact that he is represented by none other than Elliott Dasher." "When's the last time that guy lost?" "1999, County of L.A. v. Pendleton, back when he worked for the law firm of Stark, Bell." "You were his boss?" "Taught him everything he knows." "Let's hope he forgot a few things." "PHONE GUY:" "Hey, can I get back to work?" "30 more seconds, you're a champ." "All right, assignments." "Raina, Martin." "Yes?" "Rodriguez's widow is having people over." "Pay our respects." "Since when are you so sentimental?" "Since how about never?" "Look, guys, this is the hard part about a case like this." "These undercover narcs, they're around drugs and cash all day long every day." "Any defense attorney worth his salt is going to try to impugn the integrity of the dead officer." "Get over there, sniff around..." "Meaning?" "Meaning I want to make sure I got a dead hero and not a dirty cop on my hands." "That's disgusting." "The woman just lost her husband." "You want to be a nun?" "Join a convent." "You want to win?" "Stick a Band-Aid on that bleeding heart of yours and do what I tell you." "Madeleine, Casey." "Judge Pearlman denied Kaufman's search warrant petition for Ransom's condo." "Now, the cops have been staking it out since shortly after the murder." "Ransom, of course, is lying low, probably at his lawyer's, so..." "I don't care what it takes-- you get us inside that condo before drug-boy decides to head home and destroy evidence." "You got me?" "By any means necessary." "The whole world's watching." "No mistakes." "MARTIN:" "There's the wife." "Let's just tell Stark that we talked to her." "I'll handle it." "Gracias." "Señora Rodriguez." "Buenos días, yo soy Martin Allende, esta es Raina Troy." "Somos de la oficina del jurado del distrito." "Condolencias por nuestro parte." "ANA:" "Thank you." "We'd like you to come in and prepare a testimony in the event of a trial." "Whatever I can do." "I want you to understand that we really want to put this guy away." "It will help to know anything that could potentially hurt the case." "I don't understand." "We're very sorry for your loss." "MARTIN:" "In cases like this, the defense often tries to blame the victim." "How could this be Joey's fault?" "It couldn't." "But reputations come into play." "Lawyers will pry into your private lives." "Wait a minute." "You're asking me if my husband was a criminal?" "No, of course not." "Does this look like the house of a dirty cop to you?" "You see a lot of fancy cars in the driveway?" "No, Senora, I didn't mean to imply..." "Yeah, the hell you didn't." "You come here, speaking Spanish, all de lagente, pretending like you give a damn." "I'll testify, but it won't be for you." "Now get the hell out of here!" "?" "According to the M.E., the slug they took out of Rodriguez" ""appears to be nine millimeter."" "Ransom has a nine millimeter handgun registered in his name." "The report's vague." "We need a conclusive finding to have a shot at a warrant." "Partner's statement puts Ransom at the scene." "Judge Pearlman is a Fourth Amendment freak." "We have no gun." "She won't grant our search warrant petition unless the bullet's a solid match." "Ballistics'll confirm the caliber of the slug in a few days." "We don't have a few days." "We need to get into Ransom's condo now." "It's not like we can misstate the M.E.'s report." "Of course not." "That would be unethical." "Unless it was a simple oversight made under time pressure." "Forget it." "Fortune favors the bold." "And what's that supposed to mean?" "Sometimes you got to have some balls." "Well, I've never had any complaints." "So I hear." "So, it was an oversight." "Happens all the time." "Okay, better." "Good." "Just tap the brake, though." "You don't want to stomp on it, right?" "I barely even touched the pedal." "These brakes are completely different than the ones on Mom's car." "That's 'cause these brakes cost more than Mom's car." "Okay?" "Good." "See?" "Nice." "This thing is so huge." "Why needs a car this big?" "Oh, just think of it as eight Priuses welded together." "There you go." "Good." "When's your, uh, test?" "Tomorrow morning." "Hmm." "Can't believe I'm finally going to get my learner's permit." "I still remember my Driver's Ed teacher, Mrs. Romanoff." "Built like a Buick." "I mean, tremendous calves." "Hello." "Daughter." "Right." "Sorry." "Uh, hey, I noticed you're still living out of boxes upstairs." "Oh, yeah." "It just takes a while to settle in." "Yeah." "I was thinking I might have my decorator-- you remember Sophia?" " call you, and you know, maybe help you pick out some cool stuff, make the place your own." "What do you think?" "Thanks, but I was just going to hang some posters, and paint the walls." "You're gonna paint?" "Oh, yeah, my friend Kim just redid her room this amazing shade of purple." "Purple?" "Wow." "Oh, here we go." "Uh, we got to go back to the house... carefully." "Hey, you did great." "And I'm going to have Sophia give you a call." "Just, you know, trust me." "You'll love her." "Easy." "Take a breath." "Nice place..." "for a condo." "My dad says hi." "Sebastian Stark, a prosecutor..." "It's like Babe Ruth getting sent down to the minors." "Heard you haven't lost in a while, Elliot." "Don't worry." "It's like riding a bike-- you never forget." "Are we almost done here?" "My client has a business meeting." "Why, is there a rave somewhere without enough crank?" "Screw you." "It's a date." "Hope you like it rough." "What do you say we end this farce?" "My client has an alibi." "His father's a respected business leader, and I'm not a third chair associate anymore." "CASEY:" "We got something." "Found a baggie by the back door, looks like methamphetamine." "Hook him up." "And that's blood on the bag." "No way!" "That's not mine!" "Make sure you read him his Mirandas." "Mr. Dasher is an excellent attorney." "I always wondered what it would be like to take you on, Sebastian." "Be careful what you wish for." "What's that you used to say?" "Trial is war, second place is death?" "I'll notify your next of kin." "You got a second, Detective?" "Already gave my statement." "Yeah, I read it." "There are some things I need to clarify -- I'm busy." "Look, I get that I'm not on the LAPD's Christmas card list, but I am trying to convict a guy who shot your partner." "You don't even remember, do you?" "Enlighten me." "Eight years ago, you defended a rich scumbag named Palmer on an assault charge." "Yeah, so?" "So." "So, I was the arresting officer, the guy you accused of beating a confession out of your client, now is this all coming back to you?" "Technically that wasn't an accusation." "Okay, I-- it was more like subtle innuendo." "I faced a disciplinary board." "They cleared me, but I had to switch precincts." "Start over again." "Look, I'll make you a deal, okay." "No, no, you help me out, and I promise you," "I will screw Scott Ransom ten times harder than I ever screwed you." "If you cross me again" "I promise you I won't." "We were setting Ransom up on a big-time meth score." "Joey was running point, I was backup." "Everything was SOP." "Joey's about to get the cash when a... a truck pulls in front of the alley I was set up in." "By the time I get the guy to move his rig," "Joey's on the ground and Ransom's getting in his car." "Detective, I saw you drive up to the scene." "Where did you go after the shooting?" "After the paramedics arrived, I went after Ransom." "But he drives one of these Italian sports car with a damn airplane engine." "I couldn't even get close." "It wasn't your fault, Isaac." "I don't need your sympathy, Stark." "Just put Ransom away." "Cops still haven't found the murder weapon." "Who cares?" "The blood type on the baggie matches Rodriguez." "We're a DNA test away from paradise." "My opening will be brilliant." "Whoa." "Who said anything about Tinkerbell doing the opening?" "She asked." "Can I close?" "I have no idea." "Can you?" "I'm just kidding." "So could I close?" "No." "Judge just called a suppression hearing." "Dasher's challenging our warrant petition for Ransom's condo." "DASHER:" "The petition states the bullet that killed Detective Rodriguez was nine millimeter." "The M.E.'s report makes no such conclusive finding." "Hence the search and all evidence yielded should be excluded." "This is a desperate request based on a trivial error, Your Honor." "JUDGE PEARLMAN:" "I'm inclined to grant" "Mr. Dasher's motion and recommend disciplinary action against both Ms. Poe and Mr. Woodland." "As lead attorney, I take full responsibility for this oversight." "Then I should pursue disciplinary action against you." "SEBASTIAN Your prerogative, Your Honor, of course." "But I assure the court that this oversight was completely unintentional, caused by our zeal for justice in the wake of the tragic loss of a peace officer." "That heartfelt explanation not withstanding, the warrant for my client's home was obtained with a factually flawed petition." "That's true." "But I'm going to deny your motion to suppress the search." "Your Honor-- The court finds that even without the prosecution's misstated claim there remains sufficient factual basis for probable cause, but I warn you," "Mr. Stark." "Ma'am." "You represent the people of Los Angeles now, conduct yourself accordingly." "Proud to serve." "Proud to serve." "Well, you can settle at any time." "Oh, you wish." "Impressive team." "Thought you had higher standards." "Look, you screwed up, I fired you." "You landed on your feet, let it go." "Like you always used to say, "Never let go of your grudges, they make you stronger."" "Well, they can also get you killed." "For the record," "I didn't screw up." "I lost." "I'm sorry." "Is there a difference?" "You're about to find out." "Well, you dodged a bullet." "That wasn't even a BB, everything's under control." "I want Poe and Woodland reprimanded." "I'm going to read them the riot act." "Listen up." "Everybody stop talking and listen to me." "Everybody nod your heads, pretend I just kicked your puppy, okay." "You understand me, right GQ?" "Cue you, thank you." "Good, we're in great shape." "All we have to do is break down" "Ransom's alibi and we are home free, all right." "GQ," "I want you to go over to the girlfriend's house," "I want you to use that million dollar smile, and I want you to knock her off her story." "Do you understand me?" "Say yes." "Yes." "Thank you." "You and you." "Talk to Ransom's Venice neighbors and see what they know." "Got it?" "So you're not mad about the petition thing?" "Almost forgot." "Consider this a lesson." "The next time that you cheat, don't get caught." "Got it?" "!" "You're pretty cute for a cop." "Thanks." "But I'm from the D.A.'s Office." "Casey Woodland." "Oh, yeah I've seen you at the clubs, right?" "You used to go out with that Australian model chick?" "And total psycho." "Listen, I need to ask you a few questions about Scott Ransom." "Yeah, well, forget it." "Like I told the detectives, he was with me the whole night." "There's no way he could have killed that cop." "He's a bad guy, Carrie." "If you lie for him, you're an accessory to murder." "You're a rich kid, right?" "Your daddy's some big shot congressman." "Senator." "Well, my daddy's a used-car salesman in Rhode Island." "All right, Scott pays for this place, he takes care of me." "He's a great guy" "There's better ways to pay the rent." "Well, that's easy for you to say." "Nice chatting with you." "Excuse me." "Hey, sorry to bother you." "I'm with the District Attorney's office." "You live right here?" "13 years." "So you've heard what's going on." "Yeah, just a matter of time." "Carrie's a sweet girl, but her boyfriend, coming and going at all hours of the night, stupid Ferrari." "That's a pretty loud car." "Must have woken you up a few times." "Yeah, try every night." "Excuse me." "Oh, yeah." "Hold it, okay." "And... open." "Ta-da." "Congratulations, baby." "You got me a car?" "That's not just a car." "It's the ultimate PC-mobile, for young tree-huggers on the go." "Half a cylinder, solar-powered, 400 miles to the gallon-- it's you." "And you hate it." "No, it was really sweet of you." "I asked, it doesn't come in purple-- No, that's not the problem, I..." "I failed my driving school road test." "That's funny." "I can't get my learner's permit." "Julie, how is that possible?" "I don't know, I-I got distracted." "The other kids in the car were talking, and then the instructor started yelling at me and..." "I'm sorry, is this funny?" "No." "Well... just a little." "But, hey, um, it's okay." "You can just take it over, right?" "No, I have to take the whole stupid course again." "I didn't know that." "Glad I could amuse you, thanks for the car." "Julie, please, Julie, sweetie." "I'm sorry." "Hey, come on." "Ransom's alibi is dead." "The girlfriend's neighbor has a bedroom window overlooking her driveway." "Whenever Ransom pulls in or out, this guy gets a 12-cylinder wake-up call." "He heard Ransom leave 12:45 the night of the murder, and he came back at 1:37." "MADELEINE:" "How can he be so precise with the time frame?" "Ah, because the guy's got a five month old." "Every time Ransom pulls in or out, this guy checks the baby monitor, which has a time code." "Detective Wright put the shooting at 1:15 a.m. That's more than enough time for Ransom to kill Rodriguez." "Not bad for a pretty boy." "STARK:" "It's not good either." "What are you talking about?" "Sharpie." "Ransom leaves Los Feliz at quarter to 1:00, heads into L.A." "to make his buy, he shoots Detective Rodriguez at 1:15, he's back in girlfriend's loving arms at 1:37." "But under our theory," "Ransom didn't go straight back to Los Feliz, did he?" "The bag of drugs." "Exactly." "So Ransom would've had to drive from downtown-- the murder scene-- to his Venice condo, drop the conveniently incriminating bag of dope and make it back to Los Feliz." "And this, what, in 22 minutes?" "MADELEINE:" "Forget the Ferrari-- you couldn't do that in a helicopter." "So if Ransom didn't put the drugs in the condo, who did?" "Can I help you?" "Hey!" "Tell me-- scale of one to ten-- just how incredibly stupid are you?" "You don't want to talk to me like that." "You weren't at the scene when I arrived." "Where were you?" "I told you, I went after Ransom." "Which took about five minutes." "Where did you go after that?" "Get the hell out of here." "What did you do, Detective?" "!" "Let me guess." "You found the drugs on the ground, sitting in your partner's blood." "The ambulance arrives, you take off after Ransom." "You get to the condo, he's not there." "So you plant the bag of drugs, and you take off." "Just tell me, am I getting warm?" "I don't know what you're doing here." "You got everything you need to nail the guy who killed Joey." "Yeah, and I could've done it without your help, Detective." "I've seen too many rich perps walk by hiring hotshot lawyers willing to lie, cheat and steal to win." "Yeah." "?" "?" "?" "forget his eyewitness testimony, we are done." "MADELEINE:" "Wright never admitted it." "RAINA:" "He's the only one who could have dropped drugs covered in Rodriguez's blood at Ransom's place." "It's potentially exculpatory evidence." "And we have to turn it over." "CASEY:" "What if we don't call Wright?" "He's our eyewitness." "We've got squat without him." "Correct, so here's the deal." "Casey never talked to the girlfriend's neighbor." "We're just going to trade the hole in Ransom's alibi for the drugs at the condo." "You let Wright lie on the stand?" "No." "He doesn't have to lie." "He just testifies to what he saw, nothing more." "Exactement." "Nothing more." "Rule number 2: truth is relative; pick one that works." "I will just never ask Wright where he went after the shooting." "That's grounds for disbarment, not to mention totally unethical." "You know what, Raina-- you are so getting on my nerves!" "No, this is wrong, and you know it!" "You want Scott Ransom to get away with murder?" "You don't give a damn about that." "No, this is all about winning." "How dare you say that to me?" "Screw the law, screw the system." "And I'm here to tell you that sucks." "Hello." "Yes, I can." "Thank you." "Well, I've just been summoned to a meeting with the LAPD." "My problem is" "I don't believe in God, and he hates me for it." "Ah, the gang's all here." "DEVLIN:" "Did you barge into Crenshaw Precinct and accuse a detective of planting evidence?" "Wait, let me try to remember..." "Yeah, that was me." "This isn't a joke, Stark." "You're damn right it isn't." "Because of your guy, my case is in the crapper." "MAYOR:" "Can you prove the officer in question planted evidence?" "No." "But I'm praying the defense can't, either, because he was the only one with motive and opportunity." "That's lawyer talk." "Listen, wiseass, you pissed off a lot of people at Parker Center." "Did you know anything about this?" "If I did, we wouldn't be here." "I think we can all agree Mr. Stark's actions were regrettable." "My actions?" "A police detective plants evidence..." "Allegedly!" "The department's just coming off Rampart." "Recruitment is up, the public's finally starting to trust cops again." "The chief doesn't want another scandal." "He should want to relay that to the troops." "The relationship between the D.A. and LAPD is based on trust." "When that trust is violated, the system suffers." "Cops don't show up to testify..." "Evidence suddenly disappears." "Nobody wants that." "This relationship goes both ways, George, and I don't respond well to threats." "Well, I think that went pretty well." "What was that you were saying about avoiding political fallout if Stark takes this case?" "Not your finest hour." "Manny, I'm just the messenger here-- come on." "We can't afford a war with the police." "Is there enough to convict Ransom without the drug evidence?" "That's not the point-- we have an obligation to disclose what we know to the defense." "You two work out the legal stuff." "This is your deal, Jessica." "I can't give you any cover." "...more time in class or something." "STARK:" "Hey, how are you doing?" "You here to enroll?" "No, no, I'm looking for, uh, "Norman Elby."" "It's pronounced "eel-bee."" "Ah, that's too bad." "Hey, listen, I think you tested my daughter yesterday." "Julie Stark?" "Wait." "You're on TV, right?" "I host a game show." "You know, Julie is a really great driver and a great kid." "She was a little nervous yesterday, so..." "Norm, can I confide in you?" "Yeah, I actually have a class in about five minutes." "Julie's going through a hard time right now, you know?" "Her mom went to New York, she's very vulnerable." "You know how that is, and if you could possibly..." "She violated the posted freeway speed limit, she rolled a stop sign." "In other words, she's perfectly qualified to drive in Los Angeles, huh, Norm?" "Anything else?" "Yeah." "January 23, 1999." "Does that ring a bell?" "Not at all." "Oh, really?" "'Cause you were stopped right over here in Culver City for driving erratically." "Suspected DUI." "Pretty big ticket, Norm." "How did you find out about that?" "I'm a game show host;" "we know people." "I made a deal with the prosecutor's office." "I went into rehab, and they dropped the charges." "But did you tell your bosses about it, Norm?" "'Cause they kind of like to know who's teaching safe driving skills to minors, don't you think?" "So, Norm, how'd you like to trade your job for what's behind curtain number 1?" "DEVLIN:" "Today is your lucky day." "?" "I'm offering a sentence of 15 years to life to settle this matter." "15 years-- that's a bad joke." "DASHER:" "Might I ask why the district attorney has decided to make a plea offer at this time?" "SEBASTIAN:" "Yeah, actually, I was kind of wondering that myself." "The death of a police officer is a traumatic event for the community." "The sooner this matter is settled, the sooner we can all move on." "That's touching, but I assume there's more to the story." "Oh, you bet your sweet ass there is." "Scott's old man controls half the portfolios on the West Side-- boy, there are a lot of campaign contributions, there, huh, Jess?" "You shut your mouth." "STARK :" "Sure." "This is a one-time offer." "You have 30 seconds to make up your mind." "No deal." "Thank you, God!" "You're going to like it up there Folsom, Scotty boy." "Guys up there are going to vote you Miss Congeniality." "You know, this little water ballet notwithstanding, you clearly have a flawed case, or you wouldn't be offering an alleged cop-killer a break-- and sooner or later, I'm going to find that flaw." "I kind of liked the campaign contribution thing." "That was pretty good." "You were a little over the top." "Well, I'm the bad cop;" "I got to be over the top." "We got to drop the case." "No way." "Fine." "But you will to turn over everything you have to Dasher." "I will." "Eventually." "SEBASTIAN:" "The killing of a police officer represents the ultimate crime against society." "Ah, focus, you idiot." "It's about their sense of security, so make it personal." "Personal, personal." "When we walk down the street... we feel safe, because every few minutes, we spot a police officer." "Men and women willing to put their lives on the line to protect us." "JULIE:" "That's a lot better." "Hey." "Sorry, I know you're working." "No, I'm glad to see you." "I wanted to apologize." "I was a... a jerk." "That's not exactly a first." "Look, it's not your fault that I failed my driving test." "I-I totally freaked out and choked, so..." "What is this?" "Apparently, your brilliant lane changes put you over the top." ""'Driving Course Completion Certificate"?" "How did..." "Brief negotiation." "God, Dad." "You went down there and you, what, you bribed someone?" "I don't bribe." "Okay, so you threatened someone?" "Well, that depends what your definition of "threaten" is." "You don't get it, do you?" "I'm just..." "I thought you'd be happy." "I don't need you to fight my battles for me, okay?" "I can pick out my own car, and I can decorate my own room." "God, can't you see, Dad?" "!" "I'm not a little girl anymore." "You missed that part." "While you were busy in here, I grew up." "I know;" "I'm trying to make it up to you." "You can't, because this is where we are!" "Look, Jules, you're the one who wanted this." "It was your choice to move in here, not mine." "I had to make this choice, because we both know you weren't going to fight for me." "Why... why didn't you fight for me, Dad?" "Shouldn't we be prepping our opening statement, and..." "We are." "What do you see here?" "This is the spot where Detective Joseph Rodriguez was killed." "Right here." "This is where Ana Rodriguez became a widow, where two little girls lost their father." "A murder trial is not about facts and evidence... which is good for us, since we're screwed on both." "It's about asking a jury to demand justice for this family." "We don't want them to see a lawyer." "We want them to see Ana Rodriguez, a young mother in pain." "It's no problem." "Good, 'cause I'm giving it to Raina." "Me?" "You got to be kidding." "Those kids got to you." "I saw." "Use that bleeding heart of yours, make 12 people understand what Scott Ransom took away." "RAINA:" "Joseph Rodriguez woke up like it was any other morning." "He kissed his wife, Ana, brushed his daughters' hair, made them some oatmeal." "Then he left for work." "He never saw them again." "Detective Rodriguez loved working as a narcotics officer." "See, he knew what drugs could do to a neighborhood, especially the children." "He wanted his daughters to grow up in a city where poison wasn't being sold on every street corner." "The evidence will show that he was killed by the defendant trying to protect his kids and yours from that poison." "He wanted drug dealers like Scott Ransom off the street." "Now it's up to you to step up and finish what he started." "JUDGE:" "Is the defense prepared to make its opening statement?" "Your Honor, uh, information has just come to light that may fundamentally impact this proceeding." "I warned you, Mr. Stark." "Your Honor..." "The neighbor told the prosecution that Mr. Ransom departed Ms. Reed's home and then returned such that he couldn't have reached his condominium in Venice where the blood evidence was found." "The prosecution knew the inescapable implication of this statement was that the evidence had been planted." "They failed to share this information with the defense." "That's a flagrant 1054 violation." "Sure sounds like one to me." "We fully intended to reveal this evidence as soon as our own crime lab could verify that Mr. Ransom's high-performance vehicle couldn't have traveled the distance in question." "Give me a break." "Defense moves for immediate dismissal." "Any reason I shouldn't grant Mr. Dasher's motion?" "Yes, Your Honor, because his client killed a police officer, and you don't want to be the judge to let him walk." "Your Honor, the rules of evidence clearly state..." "I'm familiar with the rules of evidence, Mr. Dasher." "Then you'll invalidate the search and all evidence thereby gathered?" "Yes." "But I'm also invalidating all inferences of police misconduct arising from that evidence." "It all goes." "Fair enough." "No, no, no, hardly." "That evidence was clearly planted by Detective Wright." "I should have the right to challenge his credibility if prosecution calls him as an eyewitness." "So ordered." "Your Honor, you're going to take away my key piece of physical evidence and my eyewitness?" "Actually, you did that, Mr. Stark." "And if you lose, you'll be the one who lets a cop-killer go free." "JULIE:" "I don't know what happened, Mom." "One minute, we were talking, the next, we were screaming." "Actually, I was doing most of the screaming." "It was pretty awful." "No, no, you don't need to come out here." "No, I can handle it, yeah." "I know; it's strange being so far away from you, too." "New York must be beautiful." "I'm coming out as soon as exams are over." "Look, please don't worry about me." "Things are weird, but I'll be okay." "Yeah, I miss you, too." "Okay." "Bye." "You have no drug evidence, you have no eyewitness." "It's over." "Drop the charges." "Just let me play it out." "I'll go after the girlfriend." "You want to lose, go for it." "But this is a direct order:" "stay away from Detective Isaac Wright." "Do not embarrass the police." "Got it?" "Yes, ma'am." "All rise!" "Be seated." "PEARLMAN:" "Mr. Stark, is the prosecution ready to proceed?" "Mr. Stark?" "Yes, Your Honor." "The prosecution calls Detective Isaac Wright." "PEARLMAN:" "Mr. Stark, I remind you that all, previous rulings are in effect." "Detective, did you witness the murder of your partner," "Detective Joseph Rodriguez?" "Yes." "You were both working undercover to bust a methamphetamine dealer-- is that correct?" "That's right." "Is that drug dealer in court today?" "Objection-- there's no evidence my client is involved with drugs." "PEARLMAN:" "Sustained." "Jury will disregard any characterization of the defendant as a drug dealer." "Your Honor, he's on tape discussing various drug deals with the victim on several occasions." "What should I call him?" "Mr. Stark..." "Withdrawn." "Is the subject of your investigation in this room, sir?" "Yes, he is." "Let the record show that Detective Isaac Wright has pointed out the defendant." "Detective, why were you unable to come to your partner's aid that night?" "A truck blocked me in." "By the time I got free, Joey was already hit." "What did you do next?" "After the ambulance arrived, I went after Ransom." "You went to Mr. Ransom's Venice condominium-- is that correct?" "Yes." "Was Mr. Ransom home when you arrived?" "No." "So what did you do?" "I went back to the crime scene." "You went back to the crime scene." "Is that what you said?" "You went back to the crime scene." "You didn't go to Mr. Ransom's condominium, break in and plant evidence implicating him in your partner's murder, did you?" "PEARLMAN:" "You don't have to answer that question, Detective." "Did you?" "DASHER:" "Sidebar, Your Honor." "Did you?" "No, I'll answer." "PEARLMAN:" "You have a right to counsel." "You want a lawyer, Detective, or do you want to stand up and be a man?" "PEARLMAN:" "Mr. Stark..." "You're damn right" "I planted the evidence!" "There was a bag of meth sitting in my partner's blood." "I picked it up, I put it in my pocket," "I went to Ransom's place and I stuck it inside." "Why did you do that, Detective?" "Because he killed my partner!" "And I wanted him to go to jail for what he did." "But wouldn't your eyewitness testimony accomplish that?" "Objection-- calls for speculation." "Overruled." "Rich perps hire expensive lawyers." "They get away with all kind of things." "I couldn't let that happen." "So you broke the law to keep your partner's killer from going free?" "You're damn right I did." "Do you like being a police officer?" "It's all I ever wanted to be." "Did you realize that by planting evidence you were putting your entire career in jeopardy?" "Yes." "But you did it anyway." "Why?" "Why would you do that, Detective?" "Why?" "Because I let my partner get killed." "You did the best you could." "The truck got in the way." "No." "It wasn't your fault." "It was." "How?" "!" "I fell asleep!" "I fell asleep." "We'd been up for 36 hours putting this buy together." "I set up in the alley, I waited for Ransom to show." "I was dead tired." "I closed my eyes for what seemed like a second." "The truck woke me up." "When I ran out of the alley," "I saw Ransom standing over Joey, who was lying in the street." "You understand that by your testimony here today, you will almost certainly lose your job?" "Yes." "STARK:" "And yet you are willing to do that rather than let the man who killed your partner... go free." "Telling the truth is the least I can do for Joey." "STARK:" "Thank you, Detective." "LAPD could use a lot more men like you." "We're prepared to accept your previous offer of 15 to life." "That offer was good for 30 seconds." "You missed it by 47 hours, 59 and a half minutes." "You managed to make Isaac Wright look like a saint." "When I'm done, he'll look like Mark Fuhrman." "You lost the jury, Elliott, and they're not coming back." "20 to life." "Twenty-five." "Or your client's looking at life without parole." "We'll take it." "I say this from the heart, Elliott." "It's good to lose every once in a while." "It keeps you grounded." "From what I hear." "Hell of an opening." "Thanks for the shot." "You've got a big mouth, you're stubborn, and your tedious sense of morality drives me nuts." "I know." "Keep up the good work." "All right, just tell me one thing." "How'd you know Wright fell asleep in the car?" "I didn't." "I wanted to show the guy did the wrong thing for the right reason by planting the drugs." "His guilt over falling asleep in the car was a tragic, added bonus." "Hmm." "Better to be lucky than good." "Better to be both." "You took a reckless chance that could've caused a huge rift between this office and the LAPD." "Uh-huh." "Oh, you think, what, just because you got lucky and won, that makes it all okay?" "Is LAPD happy?" "Yes." "Is Delgado happy?" "Yes." "And you nailed a cop-killer, but still you're not happy." "You should see someone about that." "Hear you turned in your badge." "I figured I'd save everyone the hassle of a disciplinary hearing." "You've got a lot of support on the force." "Maybe you could win, if you had the right lawyer." "Not even you're that good." "Look..." "Save the apology." "It's done." "I'm moving on with my life." "I wasn't going to apologize." "I did what I had to do." "We finally have something in common." "Where you gonna go?" "I don't know." "Friend of mine owns a private security company-- pays pretty good." "It's a waste of talent." "So's my partner being dead." "But some things we can't change." "I need an investigator-- somebody with guts, who will do what it takes, even when it's not pretty." "You're offering me a job?" "Sounds like it." "Why would I want to work for you?" "Because you like to put away bad guys, and that's what I do." "Even if I was interested" "Which..." "I'm not saying I am" "Of course not." "I'm damaged goods." "You'd catch hell." "You say that like it's a bad thing." "I need somebody who can work with the police." "Who better than a hero cop?" "I'm no hero." "That's another thing we have in common." "Oh, wow." "Don't worry-- I'll keep the door closed." "No, it's... it's colorful." "So I heard you put away the guy who killed the cop." "Yeah, I did." "But I still can't figure out how to talk to my own daughter." "Dad..." "Julie, you listen to me." "Okay?" "I..." "love that you are here." "And the only reason I didn't fight for you is I felt I didn't have a right." "You need to get over that." "The thing is, I thought we were doing better, but, you know..." "I mean, you seemed less pissed off at me." "And now, it's just..." "It's different since you moved in, huh?" "Yeah." "Yeah, it is." "I didn't mean to interfere with the..." "Oh, no..." "driving instruct..." "Dad, look, I know you were just trying to help." "But... see the thing is," "I'm not ready for that." "To rely on you." "I am your father." "Yeah, but..." "I don't, I don't trust you yet." "So you want me to step up and be there for you... and you have absolutely no faith in me." "Jules, come on." "Look, no one said this was gonna be easy."