[music playing]
- Nice day to have the top down.
- I'd rather be driving what you're driving.
- You can appreciate the view more fully from the inside.
- Are you offering me a ride?
- Absolutely.
- Generally, I make it a rule not to get
into cars with strangers.
- But there's an exception to every rule, isn't there?
- And are you the exception?
- Yes, I am.
I am the exception.
So what I suggest we do is you follow me back to my office,
you park your car in my space, and we'll
take a ride right now.
- Where's your office?
- South Flower.
- And you want me to follow you there?
- Right this minute.
[tires screeching]
[bang]
[music playing]
- [laughs]
[theme music]
- United States versus Ellison.
- Trial starts today.
- What's your defense?
- That the action taken was justified.
- Aiding and abetting an escape was justified?
- Right. - What about smuggling in a g*n?
- He didn't do that.
- Stuart, are you in accord with this approach?
- Jonathan's trying this case.
I'll defer to his judgment.
- Tomba versus Tomba.
- Arnie asked me to take this one over.
We're representing Gretchen Tomba who's suing for divorce.
Her husband says he wants desperately
to stay married or in the alternative to receive $,
a month in spousal support.
- Good morning, Arnold.
- Where do you stand?
- We're in depositions.
- And you're comfortable dealing with California law?
- I dealt with it when I was handling divorces in New York,
plus I'll be taking the California bar exam soon.
So I'll be boning up on it.
- When is the exam being given?
- Is anybody in here at all interested in what
happened to me this morning?
Is anybody interested in why I am late
and why I am sitting here utterly distraught?
I got rear-ended sitting at a light.
- Your Bentley?
- Yes, my Bentley.
It'll be in the shop for six weeks.
It'll cost five figures, if it costs a dime.
And do you know who hit me?
Or rather, do you know the ethnicity of who hit me?
- The ethnicity?
- I'll give you a hint.
They are the worst drivers on the face of the Earth.
- Chinese.
- Bingo.
- Is that really relevant?
- Is it even accurate?
- What do you mean?
I know who it was who hit me.
- You know that he was Chinese?
You know he wasn't Japanese or Korean or Thai or--
- He was oriental, OK?
D-W-O, Driving While Oriental.
- You know that oriental is considered a derogatory term.
- Oh, is it?
Excuse me.
What is the correct term?
- Asian.
- All right, Asians it is.
Asians can't drive.
They don't know how.
They make right hand turns from the center lane.
They stop in the middle of the street.
And they run into cars sitting at a dead stop.
- No doubt, there are Asian people
who are unaccustomed to driving a car, who
are unfamiliar with the city.
Why wouldn't you attribute it to that?
- I don't know what to attribute it to, Jane.
I don't know whether it's cultural or physiological
or what it is.
All I know is that it's true.
They can't drive.
And because they can't drive, my Bentley Continental R got hit.
I'm going home.
I can't-- I can't stay here right now.
I'm going home.
- Move along, Douglas.
- Mm-hmm.
Mr. Weeks, I'd like for you to tell us where you were
and what you were doing in the spring of .
- I was a correctional officer at the Eastern
Idaho federal prison.
- Was Horus Washington a prisoner at that time?
- Yes, he was.
- Would you describe the events that you
observed on June , ?
- Mr. Washington tried to escape.
- How did he do that?
- By commandeering a laundry truck.
- And what happened?
- He was ordered to stop, at which point
he opened fire, k*lling Donald Foley, a fellow officer.
We returned fire, k*lling Mr. Washington.
- That would indicate that Mr. Washington
had a g*n in his possession.
Is that right?
- That's right.
- Tell us, Mr. Weeks, have you ever seen
the defendant before today?
- I saw him at the prison.
- What were the circumstances surrounding that visit?
- He was visiting Horus Washington.
- I have no further questions.
- What kind of prisoner was Horus Washington, Mr. Weeks?
- Objection, irrelevant.
- The witness's attitude toward the prisoner
is directly relevant to whether or not the prisoner's life
was in danger.
- I'll allow it.
- Mr. Weeks.
- He was a pain in the ass.
What else would you like to know?
- What made him a pain in the ass?
- He was a militant.
He'd stir up the other convicts.
And he'd file a different writ every week.
We always had to keep transporting him to the court.
He was always having visits from his supporters,
like your friend over there.
And he had a big mouth and had a foul mouth.
I didn't like him.
I didn't like what he stood for.
- Did you ever strike a prisoner, Mr. Weeks?
- Only when it was necessary.
- And what would cause it to be necessary?
- They'd act up.
I'd have to show them who was in charge.
- Was that a need that arose with particular frequency
when the prisoner also happened to be a Black Panther?
- I don't know.
I didn't keep track.
- Oh.
You testified that Horus Washington opened fire.
Did you personally observe him opening fire?
- No, I did not.
- No, you did not.
What do you base your testimony on?
- On the fact that a fellow officer was dead on the ground.
You think that Horus Washington was a great man, don't you?
- Mr. Weeks.
- You think his life was in danger?
My life was in danger.
Every hour of every shift of every day
that I went to work in that prison, my life was--
- Mr. Weeks. - --in danger.
As far as I'm concerned, he got what was coming to him.
And you got what's coming to you.
- Mr. Weeks.
- I have no further questions.
- When did you start Roy Tomba seminars, Mr. Tomba?
- Gee, I guess it must have been around when I
first came up with its concept.
- Would you describe for us what that concept was?
- Well, essentially, it was a series
of workshops and weekends during which I talked to couples
interested in improving upon and deepening their relationships
with one another.
- Well, did this prove to be a money-making prospect at first?
- No, it did not.
- As a matter of fact, it wasn't until year four
that it started making a profit at all?
- That is correct.
- Now, you also have a rather extensive expenses.
Is that right, sir?
- Yes, I do.
- Yeah, you rent hotel ballrooms.
You travel around the country.
You produce video and audio tapes.
You buy commercial time on television.
Where does that money come from?
- From my wife.
- From your wife.
- And I want to say something.
We're going through a little bit of a tough time right now.
She has the urge to sprout her wings.
OK.
But what I feel is it's time for us to roll up our sleeves
and work on our marriage.
- Could we get on with this?
- Yes.
So it was your wife using money that she
inherited from her family who provided the startup capital.
It was your wife who covered your overhead.
And you're in here now asking for a lump
sum payment of $ million and spousal support of $,
a month.
Can you tell us how you justify that?
- Well, he doesn't have to justify.
- I call this one of the three dividers.
I'm being used.
I'm being ignored.
I'm being made fun of.
Gretchen feels as though I'm using her.
What she needs to see is that I value her,
that I value the experience of being your husband--
one of the four building blocks to respect, to communicate,
to understand, to value.
- You know, Eli, I can't stay here.
- You don't have to stay.
- Gretchen, the nine pillars, are you forgetting?
- No, Roy, I am not forgetting the nine pillars or the four
building blocks or the seven wake-up calls or the five
life-affirming gestures.
My problem is one that you don't address in your seminars
or your audiotapes.
My problem is that I become physically
ill every time I realize that I am still married to you.
- I want to say something, and I want to say it for the record.
Whether or not we manage to get our marriage back on track,
that lady is a .
[music playing]
- Where were you and what were you doing
in the spring of , sir?
- I was a prisoner at Eastern Idaho Federal Prison.
- What had you been sentenced to prison for, sir?
- Bank robbery.
- Were you affiliated with any particular organization
at that time?
- I was a member of the Black Panther Party.
- Was the treatment received by the members of the Black
Panther Party different from the treatment received by
the general prison population?
- You could say that.
- In what way was it different?
- There were threats.
There were beatings.
I saw a guard sh**t a prisoner from a tower in the yard.
It was made clear to us on a regular basis that
to be a member of the Black Panther Party,
you were a target for anything that the guards thought
they could get away with.
- Objection, speculation.
- Sustained.
The last part of the witness response is stricken.
- Was Horus Washington a member of the Black Panther Party?
- Yes, sir, he was.
- Did you have any reason to believe
that in the spring of Horus Washington's
life was in danger?
- Objection, leading the witness.
- Overruled.
The witness may answer.
- Horus was about to have his book published.
The guards had said on more than one occasion
that they would k*ll him if that happened.
- Objection, hearsay.
- Sustained and stricken.
The jury will disregard.
- Did you yourself observe a change in the behavior
of the prison guards toward Mr. Washington
when it became known that his book was going to be published?
- I observed them b*at him half to death.
- I have nothing further.
- Were you ever privy to any prison directives regarding
the Black Panther Party?
- No official ones.
- Well, then how about unofficial ones.
Did you ever witness a warden or assistant warden giving a guard
a direct order to thr*aten or harass
or abuse members of the Black Panther Party?
- They don't give direct orders.
That's not the way it happens.
- Ask that the witness be directed to answer the question
that he's been asked.
- I-- [sighs] was never a witness
to a direct order being issued.
- Is it possible Mr. Hovey that what
the correctional officers were doing
was nothing more than maintaining order?
- They brutalized us Mr. Shale?
- Were not you yourselves brutal?
We're not you yourselves nothing more than a group
of violent criminals who were treated
the way violent criminals are always perforce treated?
- Does that mean m*rder?
- Who, Mr. Hovey, who has been m*rder*d?
- Horus Washington was m*rder*d.
- Isn't it a fact, Mr. Hovey that Mr. Washington
fired the first sh*t?
- No, Mr. Shale.
It is not a fact.
It's a lie.
They lied about it when it happened,
and you're lying right now.
- Move that the witness's last remarks
be stricken from the record.
- So stricken.
- Horus never fired a g*n.
Horus didn't have a g*n.
- Oh, what's happened, Douglas?
- Someone dented your car, Arnold.
It doesn't require you to reevaluate your life.
- I think it might.
For some time now, everything I touch turns bad.
And it isn't just the car, Douglas.
It isn't just the car.
- What else is it?
- Women aren't going to bed with me anymore.
- Has it been more than a week, Arnold?
- Yes, it has.
- Mm-hmm.
- I engage him, I talk to them, and they don't respond.
They look at me like I'm some mildly amusing
throwback to another era.
It's like the secret council of women
has met and voted unanimously, Becker doesn't get any.
- Well, you know, it is possible that your career as a stickman
is coming to a close.
You've had a good run, a longer run than most.
And now maybe it's time for you to live life
like the rest of us for whom the world
isn't a smorgasbord of sexually willing and
adventurous females.
Every three or four weeks, you have sex with your wife
assuming she's speaking to you, and that's about it.
- Douglas, I'm not ready for that.
- Buck up, skipper, you've got a great car.
[tapping]
- Eli?
- Jinx, what are you doing here?
- You wanted to see me.
We have an appointment.
- That's right.
The husband's name is Roy Tomba.
I need to set up some kind of surveillance on him.
Here's the file.
- What am I looking for?
- Well, he's been rather mercenary in this divorce,
like anything that would make him go away.
- I'll see what I can find.
- Thanks.
- I thought you were headed back to New York.
- I decided to stay.
- Having second thoughts?
- Can I confide something in you?
- Of course.
- I was just lying over there in the midst of a full on anxiety
att*ck. - Why?
- [sighs] In the interest of being spontaneous and groovy,
I acted precipitously.
I sublet my apartment.
I took a leave of absence from my firm, and I moved out here.
- Yeah.
- I think I made a big mistake.
I went from a great apartment in Manhattan
to a hotel room in Los Angeles.
I don't know how to drive.
I don't know any places to eat.
- You don't drive?
- I know it's inconceivable to anyone who lives out here.
- How do you get around?
- Bus, cab, people give me rides.
The other night to get back to my hotel from the restaurant,
I decided to walk.
Halfway back, I started to panic and hyperventilate
and feel a sense of total disorientation.
I said to myself, great, this is all I need.
I'm now coming down with agoraphobia too.
- What can a restaurant do you like?
- All kinds--
Chinese, Italian, Jewish, dairy restaurants.
The other day what I wanted more than anything in the world
was a hot dog.
- Are you free tonight?
- I'm free every night.
- I'll pick you up at :.
- Really?
- Mm-hmm.
Wait for me downstairs so I don't have to park.
- Do you deny taking part in the attempt
to assist Horus Washington's escape from prison?
- No, I don't.
- Would you tell me with some specificity
exactly what part you played.
- I attended meetings of the committee in solidarity
with the Black Panther Party.
I met with Horus Washington at the prison.
I obtained false identification and rented
a car that I left for Horus by the side of the road.
- Did you smuggle a g*n into the prison?
- No, I did not.
- To the best of your knowledge, was a g*n
in fact being smuggled in?
- No, there was no g*n.
- Would you tell us why you saw fit to play a role in the plan?
- I was convinced that if Horus Washington remained in prison
he would be k*lled.
- What was it that convinced you of that?
- A conversation I had with Horus
when I visited with him at the prison.
- What was said?
- He told me that he had been beaten two nights before.
- Objection. Hearsay.
- Goes to the witnesses state of mind your honor.
- I'm going to allow it.
The objection is overruled.
- Did Horus Washington show physical signs
that he had been beaten?
- Yes, he did.
He had both his eyes blackened.
There were several bandages on his face and head.
And he walked with a pronounced limp.
- What specifically made you believe
that his life was threatened?
- He said that the guards had told him that if his book was
published, they would k*ll him.
- Objection, Your Honor, this is now double hearsay.
- Your Honor, once again I maintain
it goes to the defendant's state of mind.
- I'll allow it.
- What, if anything, made you believe
that this thr*at was imminent?
- Well, Horus's book was going to come
out at the end of the month.
- I have nothing further.
- Let me ask you something, Mr. Ellison,
if Charles Manson's life were in danger,
would you help him to escape?
- Objection.
- I'm entitled to pursue this issue, Your Honor.
It was the defense who brought it up.
- As it pertains to Horus Washington not Charles Manson.
- I'm going to allow the government to pursue this.
The objection is overruled.
- Well, Mr. Ellison, how about it?
- In my opinion, Charles Manson is not a political prisoner.
- The last time I looked, Horus Washington was in prison
for bank robbery and m*rder.
Now, what was it exactly that made him a political prisoner?
- What made Horus Washington a political prisoner was the fact
that his treatment in the criminal justice system
followed from his political activities
not from his so-called crimes.
- So he was innocent?
- I don't know whether it was innocent or not.
- Did you ever think about the public's
safety considerations of releasing
a k*ller onto the streets?
- No.
- Did you ever think of the people who might die,
who did die as a result of your adventure?
- Look, we were--
we were trying to--
we were interested in doing something.
I don't know, maybe we just wanted to be outlaws.
Maybe we wanted to violate every middle class convention
possible, I don't know.
I can't say with absolute certainty that what we did
was right or justified.
- Your Honor, may I have a moment
to confer with my client?
- I have no further questions.
Counsel can confer with his client as long as he wants.
- You may stand down, Mr. Ellison.
- I have lived with having played
a part in the death of two men for most of my adult life.
Now, I will not concede that that was wrong.
And I-- and I won't insist that it was right.
The truth is that I don't-- that I don't know.
After-- after all this time, the one thing I am sure of is--
I have to tell the truth.
[music playing]
I didn't do it on purpose.
I just found that I couldn't not say what was on my mind.
- You might have thought to indulge
yourself in that outside the presence of the jury.
- Oh, you think I was being indulgent?
- Yeah, man, I think you're being completely
indulgent and not real smart.
- All right, Jonathan, let's try to be
a little constructive here.
We know Vernon Weeks was lying.
- Is that an ideological position
or are you possessed of some information?
- Why are you being like this?
- Because he's tired.
Because we're all tired.
- Well, why don't we just call it a day then?
- Is it a lost cause, you guys?
- We have to turn the jury against the government,
the government then and the government now.
- And how do we do that?
- We make the actions of the government
appear sufficiently evil, sufficiently
brutal so that they refuse to reward the government
with the conviction.
That's how you do it.
- Where's the file on the prison guard?
- We should have one here someplace.
- Here it is.
[car engine roaring]
- My god, what kind of car is this?
- It's a Ferrari.
- You're not an overly fast driver by any chance, are you?
[car engine roaring]
- OK, I got.
[chatter]
- You're completely without fear.
- That's not true.
- You do drive at an excessive rate of speed.
I hope you realize that.
- I drive as road conditions permit.
What I was doing was not unsafe.
- You're insane.
- You're insane.
You live in a state of total fear.
- Well, the car just now, that was a reasonable apprehension
of death.
That's not living in a state of total fear.
- But you do live in a state of total fear.
- Not really.
I'm afraid of death.
I'm afraid of illness.
I'm afraid of different kinds of illness--
prostate cancer, adult onset diabetes,
embolisms of all forms.
- You think about those things.
- I could say they cross my mind every once in a while.
- I never think about those things.
I'd like to live as good a life as I can.
I don't like to fill it with bad thoughts.
- You do know some good places to eat.
- You like this place?
- I love this place.
- I had a feeling you'd like this place.
- If I could face the prospect of riding in the car with you,
I'd ask you to give me a tour.
- I'll give you a tour.
I'll drive slow.
[knocking]
- Yeah.
- Vernon Weeks?
- Yeah.
- My name is Stuart Markowitz.
- You're one of the lawyers?
- Yes I am.
May I come in for a minute?
[chatter]
[sirens wailing]
- So what can I do for you?
- I'd like you to help me understand
something, Mr. Weeks.
The Department of Corrections forced
you into an early retirement because of a medical
problem, right?
And judging from the number of grievances that you filed,
it's obvious that you feel you got screwed.
I'm trying to understand why you're standing up for them.
- How am I standing up for them?
- You're lying.
You know what happened in the prison yard that day.
You know there was no g*n.
You're about to send a man to jail,
and I'm trying to figure out what you're doing it for.
- You know, I bet you're not even supposed to be here.
- What I don't understand, Mr. Weeks,
is what you think you're getting out of this.
- I don't want to talk to you.
- Are they taking care of your medical costs?
- That's none of your business.
- Are they going to take care of your wife, Mr, Weeks?
- Hey, I don't have to have some smart Jew lawyer come in here
and stick his nose into my affairs.
- Mr. Weeks, I'm going to give you a reason
to change your testimony.
If you get up on the stand and tell the truth about what
happened that day, you're going to buy yourself the services
of one smart Jew lawyer.
And he's going to make sure that your pension
and your disabilities and your medical needs
are completely taken care of.
- You're trying to bribe me, Mr. Markowitz.
- No, I'm trying to induce you to tell the truth, Mr. Weeks.
- And because I'm just some dumb old redneck,
you figure the way to do that is to throw me something.
- I don't think of it that way.
- The hell, you don't.
It never occurred to you that if I was lying that I would have
my reasons and I would be thinking about the men
that I worked with, that I would feel some loyalty to them,
some obligation.
You just don't think that that matters.
- I think there are things that matter more.
- Like what?
My pension, my health benefits, a fistful of $ bills?
- No.
How about being able to die a little bit
easier knowing that you didn't send a man to jail with a lie?
Look, Mr. Weeks, I'm sorry I tried to buy you off there.
That was-- that was a stupid thing to do.
In the end, this has got nothing to do with pensions
or medical benefits or whatever else it is a smart Jew
lawyer can get for you.
- Gretchen, yesterday we talked about your contribution
to your husband's business.
I'd like to talk today about your husband's contribution.
To the best of your knowledge, who ran the company?
- My husband ran the company.
- Mm-hmm.
Who was on the road three days out of every five
to different cities all across the United States?
Your husband was, wasn't he?
- Yes, my husband was.
- You could say he was being a hunter gatherer, couldn't you?
- Are you taking his seminars?
- Yes, I am.
And I find that what they've done
is to increase by a factor of ,
the intimacy and closeness that my wife and I are capable of.
- Well, that's great, Seth.
- Could we move on with the questions and answers, please.
- All right.
Now, you're aware, are you not, that Roy Tomba
seminars is about to take some very dramatic
steps toward expansion.
- I don't know what Roy Tomba's seminars is about to do.
- Well, you know that Roy has been actively pursuing a number
of celebrity endorsements.
You know that he's approached Frank Gifford, Joe Piscopo,
Alan Thicke, that he has gone about doing all of this
confident that you would be there for him.
- Excuse me.
- And Gretchen, now you're saying you won't be there.
- Excuse me, this is a deposition.
That means a question and answer format.
It doesn't mean testimonials for Roy Tomba's seminars.
- I'm getting to a question, Eli.
- And it doesn't mean long, self-serving speeches.
Ask a question or let's get out of here.
- Gretchen, have we really reached this point?
Have we gone through the entire troubleshooting guide
to marital repair?
- Do you have any idea how annoying you are?
- Am I annoying or am I tenacious?
- Annoying.
- Am I annoying or am I determined to use
the principles that I've developed, the-- the pillars,
the building blocks, and so forth,
to help our marriage in the same way that I've helped so many
other people's marriages?
- Well, not this one, Roy.
I can't live inside of a hour a day infomercial.
So, Seth, why don't you ask me whatever you have to ask me?
Let's get the deposition done, and then let's go to trial.
- Don't let's get ahead of ourselves.
- I am not getting ahead of myself.
We've made very generous offers.
He has rejected every single one.
So if a settlement can't be reached,
let's get into a courtroom, and let's go to w*r.
- Gretchen, Eli, why the hostility?
[phone buzzing]
- Excuse me.
- Yes.
- Are you Mr Arnold Becker?
- Yes.
- I understand that you were involved
in an automobile accident with a member of a Chinese community.
- Yes, I was.
Please, come in.
Have a seat.
- Hi.
I'm Chu Hua.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I'm here representing the Chinese-American
benevolent society.
We just want to make sure that everything
is being done that can be done to remedy this great wrong.
- The insurance companies are taking care of it.
- If the insurance companies don't take care of it,
please, Mr. Becker, make sure that you
feel free to call on us.
- If you don't mind my asking, why are you taking such
a special interest in this?
- Well, Mr. Becker, ours is a very close-knit community.
If our driving skills aren't what they should be,
we'd like to make amends for that.
- There's nothing wrong with your driving skills.
- Well, many people feel otherwise.
A quirk that we can laugh about becomes
instead of fodder for those who foster racism and v*olence.
- If anything, I would attribute a lack of skill
in driving to someone being a recent immigrant
rather than their belonging to a specific ethnic group.
Maybe they aren't accustomed to driving a car.
Maybe they're unfamiliar with the city.
- What an unusual man you are, Mr. Becker.
- I don't think I'm so unusual.
I just try to understand the forces that
make us the way we are, that divide us, that turn us
against one another.
- Well, Mr. Becker, I sense that you're a man for whom
race isn't really a problem.
- I love people of all races.
- Wow.
Well, when I came up here I wasn't
expecting anyone like you.
- Listen, being a white male, being a very affluent
white male, I understand that I have
an incredibly privileged life.
I consume an inordinate amount of resources.
I have a standard of living that can only
be called grotesque when compared to that
of the rest of the world.
- I find myself wanting to get to know you, Mr. Becker.
- You ever been over to Kim Choi's on Broadway.
- I don't believe I ever have been.
- King of chaozhou wonton.
- [chuckles] You want to take me there?
- Yes I do.
- Well, Mr. Becker, I wouldn't go
to eat chaozhou wonton with you if it meant never
eating chaozhou wonton again.
- What do you mean?
- I mean you're a r*cist pig.
I'm not here from the Chinese-American
Benevolent Society.
I'm here at the request of the McKenzie
Brackman Minority Alliance.
And I believe that whatever you may have said to me just
now was said for one reason only,
you want to go to bed with me.
Mr. Becker, that's just not going to happen.
Now, that you know that, you may drop the pretense
and go back to being who you really are.
- McKenzie Brackman Minority Alliance?
[laughter]
- Boy, have I got some good news for you.
- What's that?
- Roy Tomba is not exactly your true blue kind of guy.
- No?
- Your names, pictures, the works.
- [sighs] Boy, you're good.
- Thanks.
- I had a pretty good time last night.
- Me too.
- Do you think we could do it again sometime?
- You're willing to get back in the car with me?
- Yes, I am.
I'm willing to get back in the car with you.
- Mr. Weeks, I'm going to ask you some questions
that you answered the other day.
I'd like you to answer them again.
- When Horus Washington was trying to escape,
did he fire at the guards who were trying to stop him.
- No.
- Was it a b*llet from Mr. Washington's g*n
that k*lled Donald Foley?
- No.
- From whose g*n was that b*llet fired?
- From my g*n.
- When Horus Washington's body was examined,
was he found to have had a g*n?
- No.
- How did the g*n he was alleged to have had get there?
- The captain of the guard put it there.
- Was Horus Washington sh*t to prevent him from escaping?
- We sh*t the tires out of the laundry truck.
He was not about to escape.
He had his hands over his head when he was sh*t.
- Who pulled the trigger?
- We all did.
We wanted to k*ll him and we k*lled him.
- I have no further questions.
- Tell us, Mr. Weeks, what happened between the time
you first testified and today?
- Nothing happened.
- Did either of the defendant's attorneys
communicate with you in any way?
- Mr. Markowitz spoke to me.
- I see.
And what did he say?
- He impressed on me the importance
of telling the truth.
- He impressed on you the importance
of telling the truth.
How did he do that?
- I don't know how he did that.
- What did he offer you in return
for changing your testimony?
- Nothing.
- Sir, you are up here admitting to m*rder.
Are you aware of the fact that you can and will be prosecuted.
And if convicted, you will in all likelihood
spend the next to years in prison.
- That won't happen, Mr. Shale.
- It won't happen.
And what do you base your belief that it won't happen?
- On the fact that I will be dead inside of months.
I have cancer.
And even though I have no use for him
or anything that he stands for, I think,
before I leave this world--
I ought to own up to what I did.
I think that I will be able to die easier that way.
- I want to talk about accountability.
I want to talk about the absolute necessity
for judging people's actions by a consistent codified
standard of behavior, the law.
Now, the defense doesn't want you to do that.
No, they would rather you not be quite that rigorous.
They'd rather you apply situational ethics, which
are infinitely malleable to accommodate historical context
or youthful fervor or anything else that
serves to excuse what was done.
This man participated in a conspiracy
to enable a convicted k*ller to escape from prison.
His defense is that said k*ller's life was in danger.
And in lieu of proof, we are offered an array
of anecdotes and conjecture.
We are given the revised testimony of a prison guard
who has suddenly decided to bare his soul.
As to what he may have been offered in return for this,
we can only guess.
- I object to the implication that Mr.
Weeks was offered anything.
- The objection is sustained.
The jury will disregard.
- Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what
your respective politics are.
I don't know what you thought or think
of the Black Panther Party.
What I do know is this, a crime was committed.
The man who committed it remained a fugitive
from justice for some years.
To t*rture the facts into forgiving his crime
does v*olence to the system that we are sworn to uphold
and which he was dedicated to destroy.
Convict him.
Convict him and send him to prison.
- My adversary, Mr. Shale talks about the law and the need
for obedience to the law.
And in general, I would agree with him.
I would ask you to remember that when police officers or prison
guards brutalize, b*at, and k*ll those people in their custody,
they are breaking the law.
To try and save a man's life in such an instance isn't a crime.
The law recognizes that there are times when people must take
decisive, sometimes violent action in defense
of another person's life.
We believe that the evidence speaks resoundingly that this
is what Jay Ellison did.
It isn't conjecture to say that Horus
Washington's life was at risk.
We all saw the sworn testimony of a man that put it at risk.
We have all seen the sworn testimony of one
of the men who k*lled him.
I'm not asking you to take a nostalgic view of these events.
I'm asking you to determine whether the actions Jay Ellison
took were taken in good faith and whether they
were justified by the conditions that existed at that time.
I believe that in doing so you'll come to the conclusion
that the only just verdict is not guilty.
[phone buzzing]
- You know what, I'd like to see if we can't settle this matter.
What do you think about that?
- Hey, Eli, we're for that.
Honest injun, we are for that.
- I think it's important to stress at this point
that we're pretty much at rock bottom as to what
I would consider fair.
- In other words, the $ million up front
and the $, a month that's pared down to the nub.
- It's not Roy who wants a divorce.
- No, it's not Roy who wants a divorce.
It's Roy who wants to get under the hood
of a marriage that is broken down by the side of the road.
It's Roy that wants to fix things.
It's Roy that wants to try.
- I think he's entitled to compensation
for his emotional devastation.
- You know, I'd have to think, Mr.
Tomba, that your image is a great deal
to do with your success.
- I'm sure that's true.
- People whose marriages are foundering come to you
so that you can guide them.
From where I sit, I'd say that your image
is your principal asset.
- I'd be inclined to agree with that.
- Well, what do you think that'll do to it?
- Which of the five life-affirming
gestures are being performed in that first
series of photographs, Roy?
- Gretchen, I think that we should take a moment
and think about how we want to deal with this.
- We've already thought about it.
- You aren't contemplating going public with this, are you?
- Yeah, I've already written a press release.
- Now, Gretchen, that is not being constructive.
That is not a life-affirming gesture.
- It would, however, give me an inordinate amount of pleasure.
- OK.
What is it you're looking for?
- A divorce, that's number one.
Number two, she doesn't have to buy him off.
He can have Roy Tombas Seminars Incorporated
in its entirety, no cash up front, no spousal support.
- Nothing?
- Nothing, zero Z.
- Seth.
- Roy, look, I'd be lying if I said
there wasn't an exposure here.
I mean, if it were simple adultery,
I think we could weather that.
But the fact is we're talking threesomes
and oh, well, costumes involved.
It kind of makes me feel as though this could hurt us.
- Would it change anything if I said that I know
that these sexual exploits correspond to a deficiency
in me and not in you.
- No, dear, it wouldn't change a thing.
[knocking]
- Go away.
- Yeah, you're available then?
- Yeah.
[chatter]
- Does that mean me?
- What are you doing here?
- You said you'd give me a ride.
I came to take you up on your offer.
- How did you find my office?
- You told me the address of the building,
and your parking place has your name on it.
And I know what kind of car you drive.
- But the Bentley is in the shop.
- I asked the parking attendant the name
of the man who drove it.
- Did the Chinese people send you?
- Excuse me.
- The Chinese people, the McKenzie
Brackman Minority Alliance.
Isn't that the point being made, is what I'm asking?
Are you here because my attitude towards women
has been found wanting?
Who's standing outside my door now?
- Maybe this is a bad time.
- Wait a minute.
Why are you here?
- I wanted to apologize.
- For what?
- For driving away instead of sticking around just in case
you needed for me to be a witness.
- It's OK.
- And I'm sorry for laughing.
- God, I love hearing a woman apologize.
- Mm-hmm, how's the car?
- It'll be all right.
- I have to tell you something, Arnold Becker.
I haven't stopped thinking about you since the day we met.
- Do you have dinner plans?
- No, I don't.
- Let's go to dinner.
- Let's go.
[car engine roaring]
- I've got to tell you, I find car culture
and all its ramifications largely insidious in nature.
- Eli-- Eli, try not to let the clutch out all at once.
- It totally atomizes us as a society.
We exist in a world encapsulated in steel.
The random ordering of a real city like New York
doesn't happen out here.
- Eli, pay attention to what you're doing.
- Well-- that's the other thing, all the contemplative time
people have while walking or riding on a bus or subway
is totally transformed.
Now I have to concentrate on driving.
My attention for force is given over
essentially to avoiding death.
- There is no more contemplative place in the world
than the inside of a car.
- This is hopeless.
- Eli, it is not hopeless.
- Yes it is, Jinx.
I'm never going to adapt to life out here.
- Hey, you think I was born doing what I'm doing now?
It wasn't very long ago I was working at a beauty parlor
on Edgecombe Avenue in the Bronx.
- How did you wind up a private investigator?
- You really want to know?
- Yeah.
- I worked as a secretary for a private investigator.
I watched.
I listened.
- And today you're driving a Ferrari.
- I have a weakness for fast cars.
- I would think most people with cars
like this wouldn't want to use them for driving lessons.
- I have more than one weakness.
[car engine roaring]
- Has the jury reached a verdict?
- We have your honor.
- What say you?
- On the charge of aiding and abetting escape,
we find the defendant not guilty.
On the charge of conspiracy, we find the defendant not guilty.
- Thank you, Jonathan. - We did good.
- Yeah. - Thank you.
- We're going to go out and celebrate tonight, right?
- Absolutely.
- I'm going to head back to the office.
Pick a restaurant, call me, and I'll meet you there.
- OK. - Hey.
Good work.
- Thanks, Stuart.
- You came.
- Yeah.
- I'm glad you came.
- Me too.
[chatter]
- Mr. Ellison.
Mr Ellison--
- How do you feel vindicated?
- I feel fortunate.
- What name are you going to go by, Barry, or Jay?
- Jay. - What do you think--
- Stuart. - What are your plans?
[reporters clamouring]
- I'll be back and then I'll answer all your questions.
[music playing]
Stuart.
Thank you.
[music playing]
[theme music]
08x07 - Pacific Rimshot
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High-powered law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak handles both criminal and civil cases, but the office politics and romance often distract them from the courtroom.
High-powered law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak handles both criminal and civil cases, but the office politics and romance often distract them from the courtroom.