01x05 - Meaning of the Verdict

[bunniefuu]

Next.

-Name?
-Bianca.

-Last name?
-Rousseau.

-Right, get your belongings and go.
-Yes, Sir.

Next.

-Name?
-Mariana Hermansson.

NOTICE: YOUR VISIT MAY BE
MONITORED OR RECORDED

Hi.

What are you doing here?

-Where else would I be?
-I told you.

I don't wanna drag you into this.

I've told you I'm already in this.

I like you with short hair.

You should go home.

-Why would I do that?
-'Cause you don't belong here.

Hanna said it might take years
before they make a decision.

And did she say
what the decision is?

The date.

That's all there is left to write.

Not if, but when.

So how exactly
are you going to help with that?

Maybe I can get them
to reopen the case.

-What?
-Look.

Thanks for coming.

This is not Sweden.

And you have no idea
what you're dealing with.

So just go home.

Accept reality.

I have.

This is about an inmate at
Marcusville, named John Frey.

Do you remember Mr Frey?

He's all over the news.

You were the senior officer on duty
the day when Mr Frey died.

Is that correct?

It was a long time ago.

You worked at Marcusville
for how long?

My whole life.
I retired last February.

-Congratulations.
-Thanks.

Other than Mr Frey,
how many prisoners of yours

died of natural causes
during that time?

I would say
he was the only one, Sir.

Seems odd that
that one time in all those years

didn't leave a greater impression
in your memory.

We have it that you were the officer

who found Mr Frey
in his cell, is that correct?

I think so, yeah.

-Was he dead?
-When?

Was he dead when you found him
or did he die later?

-I'm not a doctor.
-No, you're not.

We've been meaning to interview
the prison doctor, Ethel Davis.

And we can't find her anywhere.

Who identified the body?

That would have been
the warden, Ma'am.

See? Your memory
is not as bad as you thought.

We've troubled you
enough for one day.

We'll let you get back to it.

No, no. We can let ourselves out.

Thanks.

How was he?

That bad, huh?

I can't imagine
what he's going through.

First time he was in there
he wouldn't see me for two weeks.

Just sat in his cell.

He'll come round.

I would like to look into his case.

Ms Klein, Hanna, she's
one of the best lawyers around.

I'm not talking about the pardon,

but the original case.

Maybe I could find something.

Is there anything
that worried you at the time?

Something that
they didn't look into?

Yes, they didn't look into anything.

The cops came round and arrested
him, sure as sh*t it was John.

Nothing was
gonna change their minds.

There was an organization...

Right after John was convicted
they came to see me.

Called themselves Liberty.

-Are they lawyers?
-They're against the death penalty.

-They might know something I don't.
-Thanks.

Seems to me
I should be thanking you.

-Not at all.
-Well...

I'm glad you're here.
So is John.

Whatever he tells you.

LAW OFFICE OF HANNA KLEIN

-When did you get here?
-Two days ago.

Great. John's going to need as much
emotional support as he can get.

Yeah. And actually I was
thinking I could do more.

More, how? Just take a seat.

Tell me about the trial.

Mariana, we have to focus
our attention on Finnigan now.

He's appealing to the supreme court

to have them carry out
John's original sentence.

-That's ridiculous.
-Finnigan's case is that

any delay would further incentivize
escape attempts.

-What does the law say?
-It's complicated.

Remember what I told you
about the judges here?

Okay.

So if he wins,
where does that leave us?

With five days.

To appeal?

Till John dies.

That's insane.

You can see why I'm
concentrating on fighting Finnigan

rather than digging up the old case.

At least let me
go through the files.

I know what it's like.

Believe me.

How powerless you feel.

But my job is
not to get distracted by emotions.

It's hard enough to beat
the son of b*tch as it is.

Just let me go through them.

If nothing else,
that will keep me out of the way.

These are from the attorneys
that tried the case.

I'm warning you,
you won't like what you read.

At best
they were asleep at the wheel.

It's more common than you think.

And at worst both of them
now work for the State Prosecutor.

Put there by Finnigan.
Correlation is not causation.

But it can be pretty damn close.

Good luck.

METRO NEWS

Open B wing.

Open gate one.

Judge: Frey execution to resume

The end closed in today
on recaptured k*ller John Frey,

as Governor Finnigan's legal team
won a historic appeal

to bring forward
the date of Frey's execution

You lost.

-We did everything we could.
-It wasn't enough.

...that his family
be allowed closure

over the tragic m*rder
of daughter Elizabeth...

So what do we do now?

-John will be dead in four days.
-Do you think I don't know that?

Does Ruben know?

I was just about to call him now.

If you'll excuse me.

Hello?

Ruben.

I don't know how to say this...

We'll make sure he gets
what's coming to him.

-Does he know what time?
-Still on for 2:20, Sir.

That's good.

Excellent.

Bring the car around.

Aren't you the cat
that got the cream?

What's that supposed to mean?

You look happy.

Oh.

Mind if I...

You've been talking to
your liberal friends again.

It's always politics with you.

He k*lled our daughter, there's
nothing political about that.

It's the only thing you talk about.

-You should get T-shirts made.
-I don't know what's got into you.

Sometimes I think
you don't even want justice.

-I want peace.
-When he's dead you'll have it.

They say that when
you start a journey of revenge

you'd better dig two graves.

I'm digging just the one.

Just twice as deep.

-Okay, let's go.
-Yes, Sir.

For the Supreme Court order,
dated 8 October, 2021,

it is ordered and adjudged

that the judgment pronounced
and set fourth in this order

entered herein on 12 October, 2021

sentencing the defendant,
John Frey, to death.

Does the prisoner understand
the verdict as read?

I need a verbal confirmation
from the prisoner.

Yes.

Let it be witnessed.

The prisoner understands.

Stand up.

www.stopthekilling.org

Liberty

Can't find the server at
www.stopthekilling.org

Here's looking at you. x E

Are you up early or late?

I lose track.

I couldn't sleep either.

Do you know anything about
a guy called Mike Watson?

He was an old friend of John's.

I know him.

I didn't like him.

John told me about him.

So I read
his statement from the trial.

It sounded pretty unconvincing.

Maybe so.

I wasn't exactly in the loop.

John told me he was framed and
someone planted evidence in his car.

Do you still have it?

Still runs pretty good.

I've had it
near on twenty years.

When John learnt to drive
I moved over to the truck.

-Can I have a look inside?
-Sure.

What was that?

I said she runs good.
I didn't say she was perfect.

Wait.

Was it always like this,
even back then?

-Yeah.
-So technically,

anybody could have
opened it without a key.

Well, there's
a bit of a trick to it.

What?

POLICE DEPARTMENT

You're saying
you're the one who caught Frey.

In a way.

Congratulations.

Had I known that
it would put his life in danger...

The only person who put John Frey's
life in danger is John Frey.

And that's what
I'm here to talk about.

Did you work here back then?

It wasn't my case.

I've been looking into the trial.

I think I've found
some crucial evidence

that was missed
by the investigators.

I'm sorry. What?

The gloves in Frey's car.

Anyone could have put them there.

Look, lady. I don't know how
they do it where you come from,

but over here we have
enough criminals to catch

without trying to uncatch
the ones we already have.

The car can be opened without a key.
Nobody knew this.

His DNA was
all over the crime scene.

-His semen was in the victim.
-He never denied that they had sex.

Wouldn't it be weird to do all that
and then use gloves to k*ll her?

Then put the gloves
in your own car.

People are weird.

You could put that in your report

for the Sweden PD
or wherever you work.

You sure as hell don't work here.

So please excuse me,
I have some work to do.

-Have a good day.
-You, too.

Hi.

Where are you?

Are you my parole officer now?

Stop it. The ring tone
sounded like you were abroad.

-Ohio.
-What?

Maybe it's fine with you
to send John to his death.

That was unfair. Sorry.

The investigators will be
questioning you on Friday.

-This Friday?
-That's why I'm calling.

Could you ask them to postpone it?

Things are a bit complicated here.

Well...

I don't think
they'll do that for you.

But maybe for you?

Sure, I'll see what I can do.

Can I help you?

Ruben Frey.

Come on in.

Going somewhere?

Myrtle Beach.

-Vacation?
-Something like that.

Take a seat.

Want some lemonade?

Yeah.

Nice place you've got.

Thanks.

John told me what you did for him.

I don't know what the hell you mean.

I'm just here to thank you.

I don't know why you did it,

but you gave my boy another chance.

We're both grateful to you.

I spent my whole life in that place.

I told myself it wasn't
my job to question the law.

If the law
made things that way, well...

that's the way you want them.

I saw a lot of bad men come and go.

Some good ones too.

Do you believe
God's every word, Mr Frey?

Tell you the truth,
me and God got a deal going on.

He don't pay me no mind
and I don't trouble him.

After my wife died

I began to think that
maybe God's not everywhere, Mr Frey.

He's in some places,
but not in others.

I started to wonder

if God was not on the row either.

I began to see it
as a godless place.

What happened to John...

wasn't justice.

I think I've found a lead.

A witness questioned by the police
saw a silver pickup truck

that was parked
outside Finnigan's that night.

Nobody looked into it.
The police never followed up on it.

I found this in
the original case officer's notes,

so I started thinking about motives.

And these two guys.

George Stew.

And Mike Watson.

Accomplices of John's
in a robbery g*ng.

He was supposed to do
a job with them that night,

but he never showed up.

So I looked at these guys' records.

Drugs, battery, violent crimes.

Finnigan's men.

Except...

Three years ago in Wisconsin.

He was convicted of r*pe.

New Suspect of the Riverside
r*pe Case Under Arrest

None of this proves anything.

Not alone, but guess what car
George Stew was driving

when John was arrested?

-This car is white.
-Yes.

Though white and silver
are very similar.

And it was dark. Maybe
our witness got it wrong.

So your big theory is based on
a witness we no longer have,

who may or may not
be wrong about a car,

that may have belonged to a guy

who later went on to r*pe
a woman in another state.

Have you got any better ideas?

The only thing that
can save John now is a pardon.

And the only person
who can pardon him is Finnigan,

who just broke the law
to get John back here.

It's a slim chance,
I'm not denying that.

But the strategy now is to associate
Finnigan with John's death.

Forget trials and juries.

We need to make it clear to people
that Finnigan is murdering John.

In every other death row case
he can hide behind the legal system,

as though he's
got no skin in the game.

But not this one.

Everyone knows it and that's
exactly what we're going to use

to shift public opinion
and make his position untenable.

I've got the press lined up all day.

I'm gonna be hammering it home.
This is not an execution.

This is a k*lling.

Man on man.

Does Mike Watson live here?

-And you are?
-A friend of a friend.

Mike!

Hi.

May I help you?

Nice life you've got here.

I wish I could say the same
for John Frey.

Who are you?

A friend of John's.

-What do you want?
-Just to talk.

-I've got nothing to say.
-I've been looking into his trial

and going through your statements.

You were with George Stew
that night.

-I told you, I've got nothing...
-Mike.

I can see that you're not
the person you used to be.

I'm sure you've
worked hard to get here

and I'm not here
to take that away from you.

I'm here only to prove
that John did not k*ll that girl.

Do you think he did it?

He told me you were friends.

He spoke well of you.

Not so much George Stew.

We fell in with the bad crowd.

I know.

None of it is your fault.

But you need to tell me
what you know.

So you were with
George Stew that night?

And John was supposed to join you,
but he didn't show up, right?

It was a big job.

Got the car. He wasn't picking up.

But you knew that
he was with Elizabeth, right?

-So you went there.
-George said he'd break my legs

if didn't take him to John.

He'd got these other guys
to do the job

and we went over
to Finnigan's, but...

John was leaving.

We tailed him back to his place,

but by the time we got
there George got the call

that the job had gone smooth.

So we went.

-The cash...
-So you left?

George was mad as hell,
but he always followed the money.

Why did you lie
in your original statement?

You're asking
why I didn't rat on George Stew?

What time did you see John leave?

It would have been 2 am.

And how far from there to John's?



And another 45 minutes
from John's to Finnigan's.

That means that
he must have left at 12:30.

And the autopsy said...

that Elizabeth was k*lled
between 1:30 and 2:30 am.

That means he's innocent.

-You need to go on record.
-No f*cking way!

-Are you serious?
-Listen, I ain't talking to no cops.

About nothing.

-You could save his life.
-If I could,

yeah, maybe I would.

If you think
the word of a convicted felon

means more to these people
than fingerprint evidence...

you're out of your mind.

Is there any chance that George Stew
made it back in time to k*ll her?

How's Mariana?

Still here.

She's looking at the trial.

She keeps digging and digging.

-Dad.
-Yeah?

I need you to do something for me.

Finnigan?

I need you to accept
that this is going to happen.

It's lonely enough in here

without everyone
telling me it's going to work out.

We lost.

Twice now.

And I've accepted that.

I just need someone
to do it with me.

Can you do it?

I'll try.

POLICE DEPARTMENT

I'll have whatever she's having.

Detective.

What are you doing here?

Having a drink. Stressful day.

Thank you.

Would you ever take a day off?

What do you know about
a silver pickup truck

that was parked outside Finnigan's
house the night of the m*rder?

I told you, it wasn't my case.

I came across this
witness statement.

Is that your signature?

Whoever wrote this down
never followed up on it.

Do you know
a guy called George Stew?

You could say that.

Do you know that he drove
a white pickup?

Stew's not your man.
He had an alibi.

So I heard. I talked to Mike Watson.

You did what?

Relax.

Watson says that they went
to Finnigan's to confront John.

And they saw him leave at 12:30.

At least one hour
before Elizabeth was k*lled.

This witness says that he saw the
pickup truck at nearly 2 am.

If he got the color wrong and it
was George, it changes everything.

What are you asking me?

Get me the name and address
of this witness.

It must be somewhere
in the original case file.

You want me to give you,
a total stranger,

the name and address
of a police witness?

Take me with you
to interview him then.

Look, I like your style,
Miss Heronson.

-Hermansson.
-Mhm.

But you're late to the party.

And I'm not about to risk losing my
job on a whole bunch of maybes.

Sorry.

Can't help.

Good luck.

I can't believe
the police in this town.

Looks like they
don't even care what happened.

The day after tomorrow
none of this will matter.

Exactly.
We need to make them listen.

John...

asked me to be in this with him.

The only way I can do that
is to face it head on.

Maybe that's why I keep trying.

Because I can't face
what's going to happen if I give up.

I just wish
I could find the witness.

Who walks a dog
at two in the morning?

Yeah, this was me.

I remember that
like it was yesterday.

That poor girl.

In your statement you say that
you saw a silver pickup truck.

Yeah, that's right.
Up passed the trees.

When you pass the same way,
the same time every night

you notice anything
that's different.

Do you think there's any possibility
that the truck wasn't white.

-No.
-None?

In the dark silver and white
might almost look the same.

I don't know much about much,
but I do know about trucks.

That was a silver 2010 Dodge Ram.

Okay. Well, thank you.

That wasn't
what you wanted to hear, was it?

Not really. But thank you.

Hold on.
I think I can tell you something.

I used to work in a spray shop

and I remember there was a bad
spray paint job on the front panel.

But the truck was damaged. It looked
like a collision on the front wing.

Okay.

...execution of John Frey, Ohio's
most notorious death row inmate.

Protesters from both sides

are gathering outside Marcusville's
prison ahead of what will be

one of the most divisive
and controversial execu...

Blood suckers.

I'm booked in to see him later.

You should go instead.

Are you sure?

I know whose face I'd rather see.

Thank you.

-Have you heard anything from Hanna?
-No.

I have the name of your witness.

The car was a 2010 silver Dodge Ram
pickup with Ohio plates.

So you did all this on your own?

Is there any way to look at
the owners of those trucks?

The DNV database.

Is that something that you can do?

I can, but it was
a pretty popular truck.

You know this isn't just any case.

If I get caught messing with it
I'm in deep sh*t.

An innocent man is on death row.

So you tell me.

Do you think I'm wrong?

I think your interest in this
is more than just professional.

Leave it to me.

No promises.

Thank you.

MARCUSVILLE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

Where's Dad?

He let me come instead.

I thought I told you to go home.

Mariana?

You're gonna have to
promise me something.

You won't be here tomorrow.

When it happens.

It's gonna be hard enough as it is

and with you there...

I don't think I could take it.

Besides, I don't want you
to remember me like that.

How should I remember you?

Like the night we met.

I mean,
I was a little out of tune, but...

to be fair I was kind of distracted.

Will you do that for me?

It's Mendez.

I'm looking at a list of every owner
of a 2010 silver Dodge Ram

in Ohio from the time of the m*rder.

I did warn you.

How many are there?

More than 2 000.

We'd better get started.

You can't suggest that we follow up
on 2 000 names in a few hours.

Yes, I am.

We're looking for a car
that had front impact collision

in the months
leading up to the m*rder.

-Mariana...
-Who says it is 2 000 names anyway?

Maybe they are
at the top of our list.

I understand what you're doing.

-But even if we found the truck...
-We have to try.

Dear Lord.

I pray that my darling Elizabeth
may find peace with you in heaven.

And grant me the strength to
carry out your will here on Earth.

According to your holy book.

An eye for an eye.

A tooth for a tooth.

A life for a life.

That I may finally find peace.

In the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord.

Amen.