Happy Birthday!
Excellent birthday cake.
WOMAN: District Attorney's office-- may I help you?
Excuse me... can I help you?
( screaming )
( shouting )
( alarm blaring )
( gasping )
Hi... you okay?
Yeah, yeah.
No... I'm-I'm okay.
You sure?
Yeah, I'm sure.
But I am never taking our kids
to that damn arcade again.
Bridge, come on... you have to eat.
Bridgette, move it!
I have to get to Hannah's,
and Marie has to get to day care!
Bridgette!
But I don't understand.
Mommy said we were going to the park today.
I don't know what to tell you, kiddo.
Mommy got a call early this morning
and she had to rush to work.
So you're coming to the office with me.
But why can't I go with Ariel?
Because you're not invited.
Because I'm going to Hannah's
and Hannah and I are going to dance class together.
I'm in the car. ( door shuts )
BRIDGETTE: But that's not fair.
How come school gets canceled for teachers' conferences
but not dance class?
Probably to torture those of us who have to entertain you
and drive you from place to place.
MAN: The death
of Amy Bannister is a tragedy.
But the facts are the facts:
Ms. Bannister, after an evening of drinking and drugging,
chose to accompany my client
back to his apartment.
Unfortunately, that has now turned
into a tragedy for both of them.
And while it may titillate some people
to think that something sinister happened that night,
the sad truth is that my client was fast asleep
when Ms. Bannister apparently entered the bathroom,
slipped, cracked her head open on the shower door
and summarily bled to death.
Mr. Watt...
Mr. Watt, Mr. Watt... you said in your
opening statements yesterday
that you're confident the jury will believe
your client's version of the events
and not the District Attorney's.
How can you be certain of that?
Well, my client's telling the truth.
Look, Damon Hodges is a throwback to a time
when the phrase "student-athlete
actually meant something.
Last year, he led his team
into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament
and made the Dean's List both semesters.
Now the District Attorney's decision to charge him
using a case that relies solely
on flimsy circumstantial evidence and hearsay
smacks of election year desperation.
I mean, there's got to be a better way
to boost one's name recognition
than falsely accusing our brightest and our best.
Don't you think?
REPORTER: Mr. Watt, Mr. Watt...
Just a hunch, but I sense that man doesn't like you.
He doesn't like losing.
Unfortunately, with this particular client,
he has no choice.
Why don't you folks go ahead in?
I'll join you in a minute.
Just between us, I have a witness
who's about to testify under oath that Amy Bannister
never touched a drop of alcohol in her life.
I think it will be quite clear
by the time I'm through
that Mr. Wonderful drugged Ms. Bannister
he raped her, accidentally killed her
and then force-fed her alcohol to cover his tracks.
And you can prove that?
With my crack team of young turks...
Why, the Mayor nervous?
Well, Attorney Watt is right about it being an election year,
and people do prefer being associated with winners.
Let's chat at the lunch recess.
It's incredible how she does that.
You don't even see her reach for the blade.
You just look down and there it is, lodged in your gut.
What is so fascinating?
Nothing. I had this crazy dream last night,
and she was wearing the same blouse in it.
But it's okay, you were wearing a different tie.
So, I'm sorry,
you asked me to be here early for a reason.
This young kid's something of a local celebrity,
and juries are funny with celebrities.
Sit with me today and watch 'em, see if you can tell
which way they're leaning.
That barracuda out there is right.
It is an election year.
If you're not getting a good feeling, I need to know that.
See if perhaps I want to cut a deal.
The government has approached 16 other design firms
for bid-designs and proposals.
My sense is, if we land this, it's a small piece
of a much bigger, much more lucrative pie,
a pie that this firm would love
to ultimately get the lion's share of.
So...
let's sharpen our pencils, ladies and gentlemen,
and reconvene... in 48 hours.
He's kidding, right?
48 hours to come up with a chip
that can withstand that kind of temperature,
those kind of G-forces and that atmospheric pressure?
Hey, stop griping.
Smaller, faster, cheaper-- that's what we do.
Daddy?
What's that thing?
What thing is that, honey?
That thing you're talking about building.
( people chuckling )
An algorithmic microprocessor component?
( laughs ): Well, honey, it's...
Well, in this case, it's a little machine
that the government wants to use
to help fix blurry pictures, photographs.
You give it a blurry photo,
and then it tells you what the picture's
supposed to really look like.
Oh. Okay.
( chuckling )
Junior engineer in the making. Yes!
Thank you for being so good.
I know that meeting lasted a long time.
Eh, it's okay, I was doing my picture.
Oh, yeah? Let's see it.
What is this, sweetie?
You know.
It's an al... gor... rithmic...
Whatever that thing is.
No, no, it isn't.
Yes, it is.
It's what you and your friends are making.
At least that's what he thinks you're making.
No, no, he doesn't.
We're making a microprocessor.
He knows that.
It's part of a very, very small computer.
Oh. Okay.
Can we do the vending machine thing now?
DEVALOS: Ms. Staley, how well do you know Ms. Bannister?
We've been roommates for over a year and a half.
Were you close?
I mean... some roommates barely see each other.
I think it would be fair to say
that we considered each other best friends.
Best friends in college, anyway.
DEVALOS: So when you heard that your best friend, your...
best friend in college, anyway, had gotten drunk
and allegedly slipped in a bathroom
and cracked her head open and then bled to death,
what was your reaction? Well, I knew that
it was a lie-- I knew that it couldn't have happened that way.
Objection, Your Honor.
The witness knows no such thing.
Duly noted, Counselor.
The jury will disregard the witness's claims
of certainty.
So... what was it about that scenario
that gave you pause?
Amy didn't drink.
Not at all. Not ever. Really?
You're certain of that?
Yeah, she hated drinking; she hated drugs.
She would go to clubs because that's what college kids do,
but she would only drink soda water.
If they found drugs and alcohol in her system,
she didn't put them there.
No further questions at this time, Your Honor.
Defense counsel,
your witness. ( clears throat )
( sighs )
So it's your testimony, Ms. Staley,
that, to the best of your knowledge,
Ms. Bannister didn't drink.
No. It's my testimony that
Ms. Bannister didn't drink, period.
Look, I applaud your loyalty to your friend,
but the truth is, you don't know that.
I certainly do.
I beg to differ.
Just because Ms. Bannister may have told you
she didn't drink doesn't guarantee that
on occasion, she may... Objection.
Sustained.
This court and the jury recognize that Ms. Staley
cannot absolutely warrant that Ms. Bannister
has never taken a drink, Counselor.
Any further questions?
WOMAN: Psst.
JUDGE: Mr. Watt?
Mr. Watt, I'm still waiting to hear if you have
any further questions...
JUDGE: Mr. Watt.
He's stalling for some reason.
JUDGE: Mr. Watt.
My apologies, Your Honor.
Um, and I have several more questions,
if you please.
JUDGE: Proceed. Thank you.
You knew Ms. Bannister very well, didn't you, Ms. Staley?
As I said, we were roommates.
Do you know my client?
STALEY: No. I have heard of him,
read about him.
I don't know him personally.
Well, do you like him?
I... don't know him.
But you don't hate him.
I mean, you have no reason to lie here today,
no reason to say anything that might prejudice
this jury against my client.
STALEY: No, of course not. I mean,
it's not like you were jealous of him.
Excuse me?
WATT: Well, I mean, given...
how he felt about Ms. Bannister, and...
given how you felt about Ms. Bannister.
Excuse me? Well, you were...
in love with her...
weren't you, Ms. Staley?
( gallery murmuring )
Oh, my God.
A simple "yes" or "no" will suffice.
Uh...
( softly ): Oh, my God.
Let the record show that Ms. Staley refused to answer.
No further questions.
Don't look so shocked.
You, of all people, should have seen that coming.
Who deposed that woman?
I did. For seven hours.
Seven hours?
And in all that time you didn't think
that perhaps Ms. Staley's statements
might be colored by...?
No.
No. Someone on Watt's team did.
MAN: Happy Birthday.
DEVALOS: I want everyone to pore over
the witness list, review all the depositions,
re-prepare all the witnesses if you have to.
I can't have another witness torpedoed like that.
( knocking ) What?
Lloyd's birthday.
They wanted to be sure you had a piece.
I can come back.
No, no...
Thank you, Sondra.
( sighs )
I'm not losing this case.
I may lose a few assistant district attorneys,
but I'm not losing this case.
Am I clear?
Yes, sir. Yeah.
Thank you.
For what it's worth,
most of the jurors are still with you.
Well, that's good to know.
Unfortunately, I need all 12 of them
if I'm going to lock this kid up.
Did you happen to notice this woman
sitting behind Attorney Watt?
She was wearing a scarf on her head.
You hungry?
Right before Watt went in for the kill,
she leaned forward and whispered something
to one of his assistants.
Private detective?
Friend of the defendant?
( grunts )
Damn it.
I don't... I don't know what to tell you, Allison.
You think it's important? Should I have someone look into it?
SONDRA: The Mayor on line one.
( whispers ): Of course he is.
Court resumes tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.
Can you be there?
Of course. Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Mayor.
Are you all right?
I'm fine.
That's a lovely blouse.
Thanks. It's new.
( elevator bell dings )
( gasps )
( alarm blaring )
( inaudible shouts )
( employees screaming, alarm continues )
I'm confused.
You didn't actually see a man with a gun?
No.
And yet you felt compelled to scream,
"There's a man with a gun in the elevator"?
Apparently so.
Were you expecting a man with a gun?
No.
I made a terrible mistake.
Are you currently on any kind
of prescription medication, Mrs. Dubois?
Chief Parker... I recognize that this false alarm
was a major inconvenience to you and your staff,
me and my staff, but it's clear to me
that what we're looking at here
is a result of a simple mistake in judgment.
Well, that's very understanding of you, Mr. District Attorney,
but I still have to explain to my bosses
on the City Council why a person would yell "gun"
when there is no gun
or pull a fire alarm when there is no fire.
And I have every confidence you'll find a way to do that,
but if you run into any trouble,
be sure to have the people you answer to call me.
But, Mr. District...
Thank you, Chief.
Now do we have the all clear
to go back in?
Yeah, we're all clear.
I'm sorry, Chief.
Thank you, Chief.
( chuckles )
What is so funny?
Just imagining the headline in tomorrow's paper.
"D.A. Burned in Court, Not in Office."
I'm so terribly sorry.
I don't even know where to begin.
It's okay.
I take it this had something to do with a dream?
MAN: Excuse me, Mr. District Attorney.
Excuse me.
Are you the one who pulled the alarm ?
This is for you.
$500?
I'll pay for it.
We'll take it out of my money.
Your money, my money, it's all...
Wait a second, I mean, can't we appeal this?
Well, we can, but we'd lose.
It was a stupid dream when I dreamt it.
I didn't even mention it 'cause it seemed so silly,
but all the pieces seemed to come together.
I was so certain.
Okay, fine. Well, I'll just add it to the list
of all the other bills we can't figure out how to pay.
I'm sorry.
( knocking )
Who is it?
BRIDGETTE: It's me.
JOE: Hey, it's my work buddy.
What you got there, Pumpkin?
It's a picture.
A picture of what?
Daddy's work.
Daddy's what?
His bomb.
He and his friends are making it at work.
Bridge, I told you
Daddy is not making a bomb.
Daddy is making an algorithmic microprocessor
component, remember?
Whatever you say.
Who's going to tuck me in?
( Joe groans )
Could we not?
I promised her I'd put it up.
So where do you think she came up with something like this?
She's a kid. Who knows?
So this component you're working on--
what exactly is it a component of?
I have no idea.
It could be the component of a lot of things,
but one thing I'm reasonably certain of
it isn't a component of a bomb.
And how are you so sure?
Because, my dear, my company doesn't make bombs.
We're an aeronautical firm, remember?
As in airplanes and gliders and spaceships.
Not things that go boom.
What?
Nothing.
It's just...
I'm not the only person
who gets feelings in this house, you know?
If you don't know what it is you're building,
you might think about asking somebody, that's all.
Okay, I'll add that to my to-do list.
Since I have to be up in six hours,
you'll understand if it doesn't go right to the top.
( woman screams )
( gasps )
You okay?
Fine. I'm fine.
Stupid dream.
( clock ticking )
Ah, so that's who you are.
DEVALOS: You're kidding me.
Watt hired a psychic of his own?
A pretty good one, too, according to her Web site.
Supposedly, she's been working with the Albuquerque police
on missing persons cases for years.
Although they won't corroborate that on the record.
Supposedly, even the FBI calls her for a consult
every once in a while...
although they, too, won't corroborate.
She's worked missing persons, kidnapping cases,
serial killers, you name it.
She's even written a book.
According to her Web site.
Dueling psychics.
This just might be a first for the American justice system.
I don't get it.
You aren't concerned?
Don't take this the wrong way,
but for the most part, recent false alarms
notwithstanding,
I believe in you.
I believe you believe everything you tell me.
And I'm astonished at how often you're right.
But I also believe that people like you
are extraordinarily rare.
So, am I worried about some woman
who advertises in the newspaper?
I believe in the justice system.
I believe in the power of truth,
and I believe in the wisdom and the fairness of juries.
Randy Pilgrim has been a teammate of Damon Hodges
for the last two years.
In about 20 minutes, he's going to testify
that Hodges has a habit of putting GHB into women's drinks.
Apparently, he's even boasted about it in the locker room.
If my belief systems hold water,
then Mr. Pilgrim's going to help me
establish a pattern of behavior with this jury
that's going to put Damon Hodges behind bars.
Care to predict how it's going to go?
DEVALOS: One last question, Mr. Pilgrim.
How do your teammates feel about you testifying today?
Some of them weren't very happy.
But I don't understand.
If Damon Hodges is truly guilty
of what's being alleged here today
wouldn't they want to see him punished?
Wouldn't they want him put away
where he could pose no harm to their wives,
their sisters,
their girlfriends?
Yeah, but...
He helps us win games.
No more questions, Your Honor.
WATT: So if I understand your testimony accurately,
my client, Mr. Hodges,
has been boasting of drugging and taking advantage
of women for months?
Yes, sir, that's what I said, sir.
How many months exactly?
Excuse me?
What I'm asking you is how many months
have you allegedly known that my client drugs women
for the purpose of having sex with them?
How many months was it that neither you
nor anyone else on your team, for that matter,
felt it necessary to call the authorities
or tell a coach
or tell anyone?
Not until now.
Objection. We've already established that Mr. Pilgrim
did not come forward immediately...
that there was enormous peer pressure
to remain silent. Sustained.
Move along, Mr. Watt.
You know my client pretty well, don't you?
You played ball on the same team for a couple of seasons.
Would you describe him as a handsome man?
I don't know.
I guess.
Does he strike you as the type of man
who would have to drug women to have sex with them?
Objection. Council is calling for an opinion from the witness
that is completely irrelevant
and immaterial and inappropriate.
And for which the witness has no expertise.
JUDGE: Mr. Watt, if you don't have any substantive questions
for this witness, I'm going to ask him to sit down.
So what will it be, Mr. Watt?
Because right now you are trying this court's patience.
Have you any more substantive questions for this witness?
Begging the court's indulgence.
I'd like a minute to confer with my colleagues.
( indistinct whispering )
If it please the court,
the defense would like to present
a few more questions to Mr. Pilgrim.
All right, Mr. Watt, but mind your manners.
Absolutely, Your Honor.
Mr. Pilgrim...
do you hate my client?
God, no.
Come on...
maybe just... just a little bit?
Objection. Leading the witness.
Mr. Watt...
I'll hurry it along, Your Honor.
Ever been to a Klan meeting,
Mr. Pilgrim?
I'm sorry, was that a "yes" or a "no"?
You can't use that against me.
Isn't it true that your Uncle Marshall,
your father's brother, sits on the council...
Objection. Of what relevance are the
associations of the witness's uncle...?
Overruled.
The witness will answer the question.
Which one?
Have you ever been to a Klan meeting, Mr. Pilgrim?
Not because I wanted to go, no.
Was that a "yes" or a "no"?
I've been to a Klan meeting, yes.
My... my uncle took me,
I was a kid. I was, like, six.
It was some kind of picnic or something.
But it wasn't like something I wanted to do.
Let the record show
that the witness answered in the affirmative.
This witness is excused.
( keyless entry beeps )
( horn honks )
I don't know what to tell you, boss.
We're giving it our best shot.
Tomorrow at noon, I guess you'll tell us.
( chuckles )
Right, that's easy for you to say.
You think I don't know that what I asked you to do is impossible?
No, I know you know.
You're the best engineer in this building.
Best engineer I've ever met.
We just, we want to... we want to get this for you.
We want to, uh...
well, we don't want to let you down.
I appreciate all the hard work.
Yeah, I appreciate the job.
Oh, hey, you know what I've been meaning to ask you?
Um, this algorithmic
microprocessor, what exactly is it being integrated into?
I mean, I understand
it's a small part of a larger project,
but what exactly is the initial application?
It's a government project, Joe.
No, I know.
I heard you say that yesterday.
But I mean specifically.
Specifically?
Specifically for the first 18 months of its life
my guess is that it will live on the nose of a missile
for our own use or for sale to our allies
and help guide it to its target
so that innocent people won't get hurt.
Shortly thereafter
it will probably appear on home computers to facilitate
personal video conferencing.
A few years after that, my hunch is
some clever fellow will use the technology
in a child's game of some kind.
Hopefully, it'll be a big hit at Christmas.
Pay us a lot of royalties.
That would be my hunch.
Night, Joe.
( engine starts )
ARIEL: And then Mr. Newberry
told Hannah that she should spend less time
downloading music and more time studying...
Mom, I was still eating that.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Are you even listening to me?
Honestly, I'm a little distracted.
I noticed.
There's something I need to do tonight
and I need Daddy to watch you girls.
What is it?
Oh, it's this lecture.
This woman that I noticed in court, she wrote a book.
And she's going to speak tonight downtown.
Sounds boring.
Thank you.
Hey...! Where's my picture?
The picture I drew of Daddy's bomb.
I was going to bring it in to school for show-and-tell.
Daddy doesn't have
a bomb, doofus. ALLISON: Hey.
Not yet. Mom, tell her, please.
( door closes ) You know... Look, Daddy's home.
Daddy! Shh-shh-shh-shh!
You're going to wake your sister. Daddy!
Sorry I'm late.
Hi.
I stopped and had a talk with my boss, and...
Uh, Marie's asleep.
I need a favor. Will it hold?
Uh, yeah, it'll hold.
Okay.
Mwah.
Bye, guys. Bye, Mom.
OLGA Z: "When little Autumn Mowry
"was 13, she broke her neck diving into a pool.
"At her funeral, her mother and her younger sister cried so hard
"they had to be hospitalized.
"That... was in 1987.
"When Autumn appeared to me in the year 2000,
"she was practically screaming.
"Her younger sister had been missing for three days.
"The police suspected that Autumn's sister
"had been abducted by a janitor at her school--
"a man they realized was a registered sex offender
"who had lied about his identity.
But Autumn told me differently..."
What a load of crap.
"Her spirit led me to an intersection
on the outskirts of Albuquerque..."
You had a sudden bout of diarrhea,
you lying whore.
If you hadn't been looking for a bathroom,
you'd have never been caught dead in that part of town.
Hey. Excuse me, could you keep it down
over there? Shh! Shh!
"And that's when I saw them...
"standing in the gas station convenience store.
"He was holding her hand. She looked terrified.
I was buying her something
for dinner, you lying whore.
And she was smiling, by the way.
Right up until the point where that police car
came roaring up that you called
and shot me three times in the head.
"How do I explain these
extraordinary encounters with the dead?"
It's called a coincidence.
and you've been dining off it for years, you fake.
Can't wait 'til she gets down here
to the hot zone where I live.
Man, are there a lot of pissed-off souls down here
that want a piece of her.
"It is truly a gift."
Hey, where are you going with that?
That's my work.
This is not your work.
You've never spent one single moment of your life
contemplating how to hurt someone else.
You knew the whole time.
Didn't you, you witch?
I remember being seven, I remember drawing pictures...
seeing them come true...
not understanding.
I'm not going to quit, Allison.
I can't quit.
I got you, I got the kids.
I got a mortgage and a stack of bills
I can't pay already.
I can't quit.
Maybe your company won't get the contract.
Maybe it'll all be moot.
No, we're going to get it.
I can feel it in my bones.
We're going to get it.
How was the lecture?
She was okay.
Very interesting crowd.
( groans )
( clock ticking )
( ticking faster )
Excuse me, can I help you?
What are you up to?
What are you doing?
You're killing everyone here, you know that?
Why would you do that?
( gasps )
Does it matter at all that the young man's guilty,
that he killed this girl?
It matters.
But it's not the subject
of this particular conversation.
Look...
I get in your face a lot and so does the Mayor.
But we both like you.
And we both want you to stick around.
He wants you on the ticket.
But you can't be there
if this guy's going to make an ass out of you
in that courtroom every day.
I know. Same blouse.
Didn't get home last night.
Campaign season.
( knocking on door )
Can I talk to you for a minute?
Ten after 1:00. You might have to walk with me.
I spent some time last night with Olga Z.,
Watts' psychic. The woman is a fraud.
I don't know, Allison.
Two days ago, I might have agreed with you.
But she's kicking the stuffing out of me in that court.
No, I don't think so, not her.
Someone's giving Watt information we don't have,
but I don't think it's her.
Well, then who?
I've been having this nutty dream lately
which is the reason I pulled the fire alarm
the other day. It's a massacre,
here in the office.
This shooter comes in, wipes everybody out.
I was certain it was going to happen for real,
but last night I realized,
it was a metaphor.
I'm sorry, I'm not following any of this.
This new assistant district attorney, Elliot?
He's holding the gun.
Are you saying he's the one that's feeding
Watt information?
But he's only privy to what we're privy to--
the information in the depositions.
In fact, he didn't even depose some of these witnesses.
I can't explain it yet.
I don't know how it works, but...
Okay.
Here's the walk with me part.
Allison, I have to be honest with you,
what you're saying doesn't...
make a whole lot of sense.
And unless you can fill in the blanks
and do it quickly, I have no choice
but to head over to Watt's office
and try to cut a deal. What?
I'm on my way there now. I'm boxed in.
Unless I can assure the Mayor that
Larry Watt's not gonna catch me with my pants down again in court,
I really have no option. You all right?
What are you staring at, Allison?
My metaphor, I hope.
Larry Watt's waiting for me.
No, don't go yet. I have to go.
This woman matters.
This woman is important.
We have to go speak with her.
DEVALOS: Come in.
Elliot.
Mr. District Attorney.
I've asked you to come in, Elliot, because even though
you've worked here only a short time,
I've come to feel a certain connection with you,
and I wanted to share something.
Something that very few people
other than Mrs. Dubois here know about me.
Well, thank you, uh, I guess.
I'm a psychic, Elliot.
( chuckles )
Excuse me?
I'm a psychic.
I can pluck things from people's minds.
For instance, even though you've never introduced us,
I know that your fiancee works
in Student Services over at Mesa University
as a psychiatrist, I believe.
How am I doing?
May I sit down?
No.
And I bet if I subpoenaed her records,
I'd find that she met with young Amanda Staley,
helped her cope with her heartache
after she realized that she fell in love with her roommate.
If could just sit...
I need you to stay right where you are.
I'm also sensing that she met with Randy Pilgrim.
Helped him deal with the guilt
of growing up in a family
filled with racists and worse.
Am I warm?
I'm feeling a little faint, actually...
Stay where you are.
So Attorney Watt would come into the courtroom
armed with all this information ahead of time.
He'd put on a little act,
pretend that the District Attorney
was beating the pants off him,
and then just in the nick of time,
he'd get some new and explosive information from his psychic,
all to convince us that he was unbeatable.
All to convince us that we'd better make a deal.
How much you make a year working for the city, Elliot?
And what was Watt promising? About three times that?
There are two options here, Elliot,
and I want you to pick one.
I fire you right here and now,
report you to the Arizona Bar.
They strip you of your license
and you never work as a lawyer again ever, anywhere.
Or option two:
you help me even the score a bit,
I still fire you,
write a horrible letter of recommendation for your file,
but with hard work in four or five years,
you might get with a decent firm
and be able to actually earn a living.
Don't tell me.
Don't tell me 'cause I'm guessing
that you pick option number two.
Mr. James, in your deposition,
you described yourself as the team manager.
And isn't it true that part of your responsibility
was to pick up Damon Hodges
at 6:30 every morning, make sure he was
there for practice?
Yes, sir.
And isn't it fair
to say that you enjoyed that part of your job,
that you admired Mr. Hodges, found him glamorous,
enjoyed being in his company?
Yes, sir, I did.
Now, in your deposition,
you stated that you picked up Damon Hodges for practice
on the morning in question at 6:30.
And he confessed that he had a young woman over the night before
who apparently had left in the middle of the night.
You then go on to describe how Damon said
he just needed to brush his teeth
and headed into the bathroom,
that you then heard Damon hollering,
screaming for you to call 911.
Isn't it true
that when you were deposed by my office,
we showed you these phone records
indicating you received a phone call
at 4:30 in the morning?
A phone call that was made from a pay phone
not three blocks from Damon Hodges' townhouse?
A phone call that you repeatedly insisted
was simply a wrong number
and that woke you from a sound sleep?
That's what I said.
Is that the truth?
No, it is not.
Objection. Overruled.
You'll have your opportunity to cross.
Proceed.
The truth is it was Damon Hodges
who called you at 4:30 that morning, isn't it?
Yes, sir.
And you went to his apartment at 4:45,
not at 6:30. Yes.
Objection, Your Honor. Counsel's leading the witness.
Overruled, Mr. Watt.
Now what really happened when you arrived there?
I saw Amy Bannister.
Damon told me that he brought her home to party,
but she wasn't into it.
She wanted to leave.
They had a fight, and he pushed her down,
she hit her head on the shower door.
He said it happened really fast.
He was scared and he wanted me to help him cover it up.
( people murmuring )
We poured vodka down her throat
and then waited until 6:30 to call 911.
And what did you do until 6:30?
We played cards. Damon wanted to play cards.
( people murmuring )
No further questions.
JUDGE: Mr. Watt, your witness.
It's pretty interesting, Mr. James.
You tell one story for months and months,
you tell it to the police, you tell it in depositions,
and then you get here in court and you change it.
Why would you do a thing like that?
I felt bad. I couldn't sleep.
You couldn't sleep because you felt badly
about lying before, or you couldn't sleep
because you felt badly about having to lie today?
Objection, Your Honor.
Sustained. Mr. Watt, if you're going
to attack this witness's testimony,
I need you to do it based on matters of record,
not by restating the obvious.
I apologize, Your Honor.
Mr. Watt,
are you going to proceed
or shall we dismiss the witness?
Mr. Watt, I need to know
if you've concluded your cross.
( people murmuring )
Mr. Watt?
Your Honor, actually, I have several more questions
for this witness.
We are all ears, Mr. Watt.
Thank you, Your Honor.
So you couldn't sleep
and that's why you changed your story today?
Yes, sir. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't study.
I couldn't do much of anything.
And you're sure this doesn't have anything to do
with you father, Mr. James?
How do you mean?
Well, isn't it true that your father is staring
at multiple felony charges filed by this district attorney?
Objection: irrelevant.
Whoever this young man's father is...
Overruled.
For theft, for forgery,
for credit card fraud,
for the sale of narcotics to a minor?
Objection.
Overruled, Counsel.
Get to the question, Counsel.
And isn't it true that the sudden change
in your story today has more to do
with the District Attorney promising
to go easy on good ol' dad?
I must object!
Overruled.
Remember, Mr. James,
you are under oath.
You are in a court of law
and I am asking you a direct question.
Isn't it true that the reason for changing your story today
has nothing to do with my client
nothing to do with the truth, nothing to do with justice,
but has everything to do with your degenerate father
and some understanding between you
and the District Attorney here?
That is not true, sir.
Oh, really?
Are you denying that as we speak,
your father sits in a cell in Prescott,
awaiting extradition to Phoenix?
Sir, my father's an appellate court judge
in the Sixth District of the state of Missouri.
Although, currently he's on temporary leave
to work on a U.N. commission investigating aid to Africa.
In fact, the two of you went to the same law school.
He was a year behind you-- Bennett James?
He said to say hello.
( people murmuring )
Oh.
( people laughing )
( gavel pounding )
JUDGE: Mr. Watt, is there any follow-up?
Was there any basis to this line of questioning?
You just attacked this witness ruthlessly,
and I-- and I'm sure I'm speaking for these 12 jurors--
as well, would like to know why.
Begging Your, Your Honor's pardon.
Before proceeding, defense would like to take a moment
to confer with the prosecution.
This is highly irregular.
Keep it brief.
Hey, Manny, I got to believe
there's some kind of a deal to be made here.
You know, one that's good for everyone.
What do you say?
Me? I say manslaughter, minimum of 15 years.
( sighs )
Don't look so shocked.
You, of all people, had to see this coming.