03x12 - Split Hairs

[bunniefuu]

There's another one,

down by the spa.

You asked me how to get ahead
at the firm.

That's how you do it.

What about merit? W-What about hard work?

Let me explain something to you.

For you to rise in the ranks,

someone has to make room for you.

They have to give up something,

maybe a raise or part of a bonus.

Now why is someone going to be
giving up something

unless they get something?

Oh, geez. It's behind you,
corner of the bar.

January th, : p.m.

Postmortem examination.

External search: Negative.
Internal trunk exploration:

Negative.

Forensic evidence discovered: None.

How is that possible?

Excuse me?

This man's k*lled four women
in a year and a half.

How is it he can hide
in women's bathrooms,

chloroform his victims, undress them,

undress himself, have sex with them,

strangle them to death,

and still not leave one bit
of forensic evidence?

Not one drop of semen?
Not one fleck of skin?

Listen, I know you're new here,
but, uh, Dr...?

Martin. Julia Martin.

We're talking public bathrooms.

They're a convention center
of forensic evidence.

The victims' bodies,
that's another story.

That's how we'll get him.

Dr. Martin, you're still here?

I'd like to take another look
at Emily Baker's body.

Eh, kind of late. Everyone's gone.

That's okay. I'll be fine.

I'll put everything back
the way I found it.

We're obviously
thrilled that this afternoon,

a jury of his peers
convicted John Malford,

otherwise known as
the "Bathroom Stall Butcher,"

for the m*rder of young Emily Baker.

Special thanks to the New York
City Medical Examiner's Office,

in particular to Julia Martin,

whose tireless work led to the
discovery of the pivotal piece

of evidence against John Malford.

Hi. Welcome to Billy's.

If you're gonna be a successful
attorney in Manhattan,

this is a place you need to know about.

Oh, I didn't even know
there was a Billy's.

Well, consider tonight as a
part of your legal education.

Thanks.

As a matter of fact,
FDR used to settle cases

at that table right there

- in the back.
- Oh, I don't care about all that.

Show me where the Benny Colón booth is.

No, this ain't Dunkin' Donuts.

Why don't you find us a table.

I'll grab us some drinks.

Benjamin Colón.

Stella!

And Ryan.

Wow...

What is the occasion?

You two look like a pair
of breathalyzer tests

waiting to happen.

Well, truth is I have a pretty good sh*t

at getting a client out of prison.

Guy was put away for life, so...

So what'd you do? You bake him
a cake with a hacksaw in it?

- One better.
- Ah.

I discovered the evidence
that got him convicted

may have been tampered with.

- Seriously?
- Yeah.

By, uh, the police, or...?

Medical Examiner's Office.

Yeah. I petitioned to have

a client's DNA evidence retested

and it came back... no match,
not even close.

Well, who's the medical examiner?

You know Julia Martin?

No, no, no, no. That must be a mistake.

She was picked up this morning.

D.A.'s office thinks it was intentional.

Who is your client?

Remember the "Bathroom Stall
Butcher," John Malford?

I hate trolling for cases.

I like to be asked.

I like to be the one who can say no.

We are not trolling.
We are offering our services.

And trust me, so is every other
A-list criminal firm in town.

I mean, this is Julia Martin.

Chief Medical Examiner
for the City of New York.

These are the kinds of cases
that get the town talking.

Plus, I know her. There's no way
she'd tamper with evidence.

Well, obviously the D.A.
doesn't agree with you

or he wouldn't have arrested her.

Plus, I know she has a big title,

but at the end of the day
she's just a civil servant.

What are you trying to say?

Well, is this another pro bono situation?

Because, frankly,
I've become such a pro at bono,

I'm getting ready to start
my own Irish rock band.

You wake up in the morning
and you go over in your head

all those hundreds of things
that you have to do this week.

It just doesn't occur to you
that you might get arrested.

You might spend your first night in jail.

I'm the Chief Medical Examiner
for the City of New York.

We want to help you, Julia.

You know I can't afford to pay
top-shelf guys like you.

We'll be fine.

Will I be?

I also can't afford for you
to do a half-assed job

because you're just in it
for the free press.

Keep in mind the best press for everyone

is about your ultimate acquittal.

You keep that in mind.

All right then,
I guess it's the two of you.

Lucky us.

So here's what I know. Six years ago,

when I found that hair
in the back of a woman's throat,

it was a perfect match
to John Malford's hair, perfect.

%. I still have
the evidence that says so,

so I'm not clear exactly why we're here.

The problem is Malford's attorney

was running out of appeals,

so he decided to throw a Hail Mary

and petitioned for
a new analysis of the hair,

an outside analysis of the hair.

And when an outside lab tested
it, it came back negative.

And after they popped their champagne,

they sent it to three more labs,
and it also came back negative.

It didn't match Malford's hair at all.

That's not plausible.

Someone switched the hairs,
or they tested the wrong hair.

Julia, it's completely plausible.

You don't have to agree with it,
but it's certainly plausible.

No. You're wrong. It isn't.

There's no circumstance
under which I would ever

tamper with evidence in any case.

Everyone knows this about me.

No. Everyone does not.

Think about it.

You performed the examination
sometime after midnight.

You were alone in the autopsy room,

and lack of plausibility
is not the argument

that's gonna win the case for you.

Okay. You know that it was a pubic hair.

Right? It was a man's pubic hair.

I found it in the deepest
recesses of her esophagus.

So let's say that I am
going to plant a hair.

Where would I have gotten
a male pubic hair from?

Oh, come on. Those can't be that
hard to come by in the morgue.

Is it possible you made a mistake?

- Excuse me?
- I mean, maybe

you thought you found evidence

that was relevant to
the case, but it wasn't.

Emily might've

indulged in oral sex with someone else,

consensual contact. You did an autopsy.

You found this hair. It was a mistake.

No, that's not possible.
I ran every test that there was.

I ran every test myself.
That was his hair.

Keep in mind,

if it was truly a mistake,

then there is no criminal intent.

If there is no criminal intent,
then there's no crime.

Mistakes. Everybody makes them.

So you're telling me,
if I say that I made a mistake,

the charges might be withdrawn?

Well, it's certainly something
I'd like to take to the D.A.

I can't imagine that they
would want to go forward

with this trial.

- I can't.
- You can't what?

I can't say that

because I don't make mistakes,

not when it comes to forensic science.

Does that change anything
for the two of you?

Just makes the job harder,
but we didn't take up the offer

because we thought it was gonna be easy.

We told you we wanted
to defend you, and we mean it.

So what's the plan?

Well, to get you out
on bail, for starters.

I'll talk to the D.A.
in the morning, get a lay

of the land and see what they
think they have on you.

Dr. Martin.

Julia.

Thank you.

- Did you say...
- Thank you.

You're welcome.

The truth is you know
she couldn't have done this.

She'd rather cut off her own arm
than give you a false report.

And yet, she did.

You think I'm looking
to take down a medical examiner?

We work with them every day.

I've had these results
checked and rechecked

with four different labs. She screwed up,

which makes all of us look bad.

Have you actually considered
the repercussions of this?

You convict the Chief Medical
Examiner for the City of New York,

and you are handing
a "get out of jail free" card

to everyone you've ever put behind bars.

You will have a mile-long line
of attorneys out your door

claiming that their clients
were falsely convicted.

Is that what you want?

Your discovery packet.

Assuming you're still gonna want the case

once you see what's in there.

Okay, what's in there?

Julia's first examination
of Emily Baker's corpse,

she came up with nothing.

Okay, so she found the evidence
the second time through.

And that's fine, except she
completely deleted the first report.

The one where she came up empty,

just plucked it out of the
system like it never happened.

That's a big no-no.

Okay.

You know it's a breach of
protocol to delete any reports.

Even ones that are later
replaced by updated results,

and you know why.

Because it can be construed
as consciousness of guilt.

Julia's the best there is.

Do you think she'd accidentally
forget protocol?

She couldn't find any evidence
on the dead girl,

she decided to take matters
into her own hands

and create some.

Oh, here's the bail agreement.

- Is she on her way?
- Already here.

She and Benny are waiting in your office.

Assistant District Attorney
Williams is not your friend.

I never said that he was.

He's claiming you destroyed
an official autopsy report.

Did you write an official report
stating that you didn't find

any physical evidence after
your examination of Emily Baker

and then delete that report from
the official citywide records?

Yes.

It was...

years ago. I mean...

You have to know how bad
that's gonna look to a jury.

That first report was useless.

It only said that I didn't find anything.

Yes, but in a court of law,

it's going to look like
a prior inconsistent statement.

You weren't supposed to delete it.

You were supposed to keep it
and turn it over in discovery.

No, I wasn't gonna do that.

Malford's lawyers would've just used it

to-to call in to question
the evidence that I did find.

I know how these people operate.

Julia, that first report
is still evidence.

You can't just destroy evidence

because it doesn't suit your needs.

Okay, technically, that first
report was about an absence

of evidence, which isn't really evidence.

Okay, all right.

The bottom line is, and-and I know

you couldn't see the future
from where you were standing,

you didn't do yourself any favors.

The D.A.'s office is gonna say
that you intentionally deleted

that report to make it easier for you

to intentionally plant the evidence.

But that isn't what actually happened.

Even if it looks like
that's what happened.

It really boils down to this:
either you made a mistake,

or someone, quite possibly you,
is guilty of malfeasance.

Well, Danny's already
looking into malfeasance.

She's trying to find anyone
with the means and motive

to have switched out the hairs.

Which in the meantime
leaves us with: mistake.

As I've already explained to you,

I don't make those kinds of mistakes.

Well, then someone else did.

In either event, we need
to follow chain of custody.

I need to know everyone
who had access to that hair.

Julia, can you talk to my investigator,

talk to her about how evidence
is catalogued and stored,

who had access, how they get access?

- Of course.
- Excellent.

Well, then, Mr. Colón and I will
see you in court

later this afternoon.

Everything all right?

I guess.

I just realized I don't know where to go.

And what to do until court.

You know, my first instinct
is to rush back to the morgue

and then I remembered that I can't.

Not to worry.

It is gonna be tough to find jurors

who aren't put off by our client.

Mm.

Maybe we should look for people
who only see the best in others.

Actually, I was thinking
just the opposite.

What? People who only see the worst?

You ever heard of Hanlon's razor?

No.

"Never attribute to malice

that which is adequately
explained by stupidity."

We need people who will
look at this situation

Julia's gotten into and think,
"This isn't some big conspiracy.

This is probably
just someone's stupid mistake."

Good afternoon.

So let's say you send
an e-mail to your boss

asking him for time off.

A day goes by and he doesn't respond.

What do you make of that?

He's busy.

I like her. Tell me why I shouldn't.

Jennifer Thomas, single mom,

years old, two kids and
you are going to hate this:

she works at an insurance
company as a claims manager.

Can I pick 'em or can I pick 'em?

Probably spends her days looking
at inflated insurance claims.

She's the very definition
of what we don't want.

We'd like to thank and excuse
this juror, Your Honor.

Personally?

I hate it when people
don't respond to my e-mails.

Why is that?

Well, they're trying to tell me
that I don't matter.

I guess I figured
he didn't get the e-mail,

or maybe he deleted it by accident.

Because anyone can make
an honest mistake, right?

Sure.

This juror's acceptable
to the defense, Your Honor.

Then, ladies and gentlemen,
we have our jury.

Trial will commence tomorrow morning.

Court is adjourned.

This thing that you're doing,
it's not gonna work.

I didn't make a mistake.
I don't make mistakes.

You're making one now.

So you were the lab tech
on the Malford autopsies?

It made my career. Julia's, too.

I hear she's a tough boss.

She's a little uptight.

But honestly, that's what
you need around here.

And who handled the
evidence besides Julia?

No one.

Really?

Julia insisted on doing it all herself.

All of it?

She was certified to test DNA?

She's kind of a control freak.

So she put the hair in the bag,
tested it, sealed it,

signed it into the storage
locker all by herself?

Dr. Henson,

you were the defendant's supervisor

during the Malford investigation.

There was a team of us working on it,

looking for something of forensic value.

And you didn't find anything, did you?

No.

But then, something happened.

Dr. Martin stayed on after
we completed the autopsy.

A few hours later, she notified me,

said she found a hair.

We were all stunned.

Why?

Well, we had searched every inch
of the victim's body.

- But you were pleased.
- Of course.

We all wanted to put an end

to this horrible string
of sexual att*cks and murders.

So you were proud of Dr. Martin?

I was proud of our unit.

I sense some hesitation on your behalf

with regard to Dr. Martin.

She has always been very diligent.

Very determined.

But frankly, she was very hard on people.

She could be quite arrogant.

Thank you.

Nothing further.

Good morning, Dr. Henson.

I just need you

to clear something up.

You know, in the whole time that you ran

the medical examiner's office,
you never once did complain

about my client's job
performance, did you?

Not in any performance review,

not even casually,
in a face-to-face with her, say,

in your office?

No.

And isn't it true that she replaced you?

That she went from being your
subordinate to your supervisor?

That's not how I would describe it.

Ah, well, how would you describe it?

I mean, uh, one day,
she's working for you,

and the next day, she's your boss.

It stands to reason
that you probably harbor

some resentment towards
Dr. Martin, wouldn't you say?

Objection.

Ask another question.

I mean, she fired you.

- Didn't she?
- Objection.

What's the relevance?

It goes to bias, Your Honor.

Dr. Henson is using this
courtroom to settle a score.

Overruled.

Please answer the question.

We had differences of opinion
on a number of cases.

But she has the right to work
with whomever she chooses.

I will admit that I did not like
the way she operated the unit.

In my opinion, she was obsessive.

Determined to solve any
case, no matter what.

Sometimes even if the forensics
did not bear her out.

But again, that is your opinion.

The opinion of the man she
replaced and ultimately fired.

Just my opinion.

No further questions, Your Honor.

This is the last of it.

Every piece of information
about the hair that exists.

Your original analysis,
your second analysis,

the independent analysis,
photos, storage data.

Anything jumping out at you?

Not yet.

I'm not trying to get out
of anything, but honestly,

I have no idea what I'm reading here.

Just give it to me.

You, too. Give me yours.

You don't have to sit here.
I don't need a babysitter.

I'll be in my office.

I'll be in my bed.

Should I come back?

Of course not. What's up?

Pollen.

Excuse me?

The hair all the outside labs
have been testing

is covered with pollen.

And that matters because...?

Well, to begin with, it makes me wonder

whether the hair is actually
a pubic hair at all.

And if so, how it possibly
came into contact with pollen.

Well, I'm sure,
with a little imagination,

someone will come up with a scenario.

Emily was m*rder*d in the dead of winter.

And in the dead of winter,
there is no pollen.

This is not the hair
I found on Emily's body.

Dr. Martin,

isn't it true that the night that you

found the sole piece of DNA
evidence against Mr. Malford,

that everyone had gone home

and you were completely alone
with the victim's body?

- Yes.
- And do you regularly

perform autopsies alone,

late at night, when everyone's
gone home for the day?

Yes.

And why is that?

I have a really particular skill set,

and I find that skill set works best

when there's just two of us in the room.

Myself, and the cadaver.

Other people really just end up
being distractions.

All right. Let's talk about that.

When you say that other people
are distractions,

it sounds very... negative.

Very dismissive.

One could easily get the impression

that you just don't like people.

And we want the jurors to like you.

And it helps if they think
you might like them.

I don't know them.

Of course.

Okay, um, let's forget
that line of thinking.

Here's another reason why saying you find

other people distracting might
not serve your best interests:

anything that makes it sound
like you don't like

having people around
when you do your work

might make the jurors
think that you don't

want company because it makes it harder

to manipulate evidence.

You see that, right?

- I don't manipulate evidence.
- I know that.

But you're-you're talking
to people who don't know you.

So how would you suggest I answer that?

Well, maybe there's another
reason you work late

that wouldn't lead them
to the same conclusion.

Maybe you find it impossible to sleep

when there are grieving
friends and relatives

out there waiting for answers

as to what happened to their loved ones?

I can't say that.
That's-that's not the truth.

Maybe there's a truth

that's more palatable to the jury.

Mr. Palmer, I'm a scientist,
and scientists deal with facts.

There is one truth,
there's one right answer.

If you ask me a question, I am
going to give you that truth.

As to whether it's palatable,

that's not something
I've ever concerned myself with.

Well, it ought to be, because
you're gonna be spending

ten years in prison for
something that you didn't do

if we can't make the jury understand

your side of the story.

Okay, again, there is
no "my side" of the story.

There is what happened,

and there is what did not happen.

There is truth and fact,
and there is falsehood.

You can't spin the truth,
you cannot polish it up

or put lipstick on a pig,
which is what I feel like

you're trying to do to me right now.

I am what I am.

I did what I did, and I don't
regret a minute of it

because I did it all by the book.

So are we done here?

It certainly seems that way.

- You talk to Chunk?
- Sure did.

You still want to put her on the stand?

I do.

He said that
she's fundamentally incapable

of shading her answers even one iota.

Even at the risk of sending
herself to prison.

I'm waiting for the bad news.

I'm pretty sure I just
gave you the bad news.

So the truth is, this woman
can't even fudge the facts

to keep herself out of jail.

Now we just have to get a jury
to understand that that means

she couldn't possibly have fudged them

to put someone else behind bars.

We've heard a lot

about the fact
that you like to work alone

and often late at night.

Can you please tell us

why that's your practice, Dr. Martin?

I'm not good with people.

I know how that sounds.

Trust me, it's not made me
a lot of friends.

But I am good at my job.

I'm great at my job.

And in order to be the best at my job,

I have to be able to concentrate.

I have to know that every single
step of that process

was done with precision and care.

And if I do every step myself,
I don't have to worry

that it wasn't done properly.

I don't have to worry

that I offended someone
because I criticized them

for making a mistake.

Or that I forgot to praise someone

for just doing their job.

So what do you say to the allegations

that you falsified evidence

in order to get a conviction
against John Malford?

I would say that's ridiculous.

I don't care about John Malford.

I have never cared
about who gets convicted.

That's not a win for me.

A win for me is finding the right answer.

It's solving the puzzle,
it's making the crime stop.

I do crosswords a lot.

And they have these new apps now.

If you get stuck, you can prompt
it, and it'll give you a word,

or it will give you a letter.

And I would...
I would just never do that.

I would never want to do that,

because having a filled-out crossword,

that does nothing for me.

But solving it myself, that's
the part that's satisfying.

So no, I would never falsify
evidence to get a conviction,

because then I would
never really know who did it.

I wouldn't solve the puzzle.

If you cheat, you never find the truth.

Marissa?

No movement yet,

but they clearly want to believe her.

Baby steps.

I'm starting to think Chunk
doesn't know his own strength.

Kept telling me she was
hopeless, but he actually

turned her into a very effective witness.

- Ah, speak of the devil.
- Oh...

What have we here?

Well,

I wasn't able to connect Malford
directly to any of the people

who worked at the medical
examiner's office,

- but then Danny had a great idea.
- Serial K*llers

like Malford tend to attract
obsessive fans.

Total strangers who begin
to believe they have

an intimate relationship
with these K*llers.

Excessive adoration disorder.

Oh, yeah. I've heard of this.

Crazy ladies who marry prisoners
they've never met before.

Well, they're not all ladies
and they don't all get married,

but yes, that's what we're talking about.

Malford hasn't had a
jailhouse wedding yet,

but he does have quite the fan club.

Our guy's gotten thousands of letters,

and he's responded to hundreds of them.

The good news is, Sing Sing keeps a scan

of all incoming and outgoing mail,

and they gave Taylor access.

Any one of these admirers
sound like they'd be willing

to help Malford break out of prison?

Oh, yeah.

There's no shortage of those.

But we're still talking
about over two dozen people.

The math is not encouraging.

More than people had access

to the evidence storage facility.

More than two dozen crazies
writing love letters.

That's a lot of leads

to be running down in
the middle of a trial.

We don't have the time.

I'm betting a day, maybe two,

before the judge forces
us to rest our case.

Maybe we should just
go right to the source.

Excuse me?

See how early Benny and I
can get into Sing Sing tomorrow

to talk with John Malford.

Uh... John Malford? Seriously?

Yeah. Sometimes the shortest
distance between two points

is a straight line.

We need to figure out
who's helping this guy

break out of prison;
why don't we just go ask him?

So what's the game plan here, boss?

I just want to look him
in the eye, see what I see.

Maybe he'll offer something
useful, maybe he won't.

Serial K*llers tend to be
outsized narcissists.

Nothing they like to talk
about more than themselves.

I just want to get him talking.

Ryan, good to see you.

I didn't know you'd be joining us.

Benny, Dr. Bull, pleasure.

When the prison informed me
you'd requested a meeting,

I thought it wise to sit in.

Of course.

Just to be clear,
this was all very last minute.

Nobody's trying to pull a fast one...

Never even crossed my mind.

Just want to be certain
everyone remembers,

my client isn't on trial.

Yours is.

Oh, I think we're all
very clear about that.

You must be Mr. Malford.

Yeah. John.

Who are you?

These are the gentlemen representing

the medical examiner

who falsified the evidence
that got you locked up, John.

Hmm.

So...

what can we do for you?

Well, we just wanted
to get a look at the man

who's at the center of our case.

How you holding up in here, John?

Holding up good.

Working out, food's okay.

How's your head?

You lonely? You have any friends?

Oh, yeah. I got friends.

Inside and outside.

Aha.

How do you mean, "outside"?

Oh, you know.

I get letters, pictures.
People want to visit.

Want to, um, make friends.

- Women.
- Mm.

Oh. That sounds like a... great life.

Some of those pictures are naked.

So, you two working for the prison now?

Hmm? Conducting a customer
satisfaction survey?

The point is, John here's
been a model prisoner,

he's adapted to prison life flawlessly.

Not a black mark on his record
to hinder his appeal.

Ah. Right. John's appeal.

Hey, I-I've got to ask,

why even bother with the appeal?

You seem so content.

Because he's innocent.

What do I care

if this guy wants to
push some papers around?

No skin off my back.

I mean, what's the worst
thing that happens?

I actually... get out?

You're right.

No harm, no foul.

This has been great.

Really... helpful.

Mr. Vance.

Mr. Malford.

Hey, why'd you cut bait like that?

The guy was just warming up.

Maybe we could've gotten a name,

maybe found our inside man at the morgue.

There is no name.

There is no inside man at the morgue.

How do you mean?

Did Malford seem like
he'd even contemplated

life outside of prison?

No. It didn't seem like

he actually cared much
about his appeal at all.

Exactly. He also showed
very little interest

in Julia's case.

Now, if this guy spent the last six years

hatching this scheme and
manipulating some admirer

to do his bidding,
don't you think he'd be

a little more invested
in the fruits of his labor?

So, Malford didn't do it?

Malford didn't change the evidence?

Back to square one?

Maybe not.

Malford might have no
interest in Julia's case,

but someone put this thing in motion.

Who do you mean?

Ryan? No.

Ryan's his lawyer.
He's just doing his job.

You don't think it strange
that he was there

at that meeting just now,
or that he has been

in court every day of Julia's trial?

I don't know, Bull.

Ryan is not my favorite guy,

but what does he care if Julia goes down?

I'm not sure.

I'm just telling you what I see.

Since we moved off the fangirl theory

and onto Malford's lawyer,

I circled back to the people

who had access to the
evidence storage facility

at the medical examiner's
office to see if I could

try to find some kind of link.

We never did do a deep dive
into any of their finances,

because Malford was broke,

so it didn't seem particularly relevant.

But Malford's attorney,
Mr. Ryan Vance, Esquire, is not.

He has plenty of money to pay off

an overworked, underpaid lab tech.

Like Skylar Brown.

Skylar was wrestling with a
significant amount of debt.

She maxed out four credit cards and has

two delinquent homeowner loans.

But, coincidentally,
Skylar seems to have had

a financial windfall,

just three weeks prior

to the independent analysis
of Malford's hair.

A cash deposit, $ , ,

straight into her
personal checking account.

Hmm. Okay, $ , question.

Can we tie any of this cash
back to Ryan Vance?

Not yet, but we are gonna keep at it.

I feel the heat all the way over here.

Something not clicking for you?

I got everything but the "why."

Why would a successful attorney
like Ryan Vance

put his entire livelihood,
his entire legacy on the line

for a r*pist and a m*rder*r
like John Malford?

So...

why frame Julia?

Why go to all the trouble?

Why risk putting
a homicidal sexual predator

back on the street, earn
the enmity of the D.A.'s office

by forcing them to reopen every
case where Julia's evidence

put someone away?

Why?

What are you thinking?

Taylor, how long do you think it'd take

to get a list
of Ryan Vance's other clients?

The other clients that are
currently incarcerated?

I'm kind of in the middle of something...

I don't care. I want that list.

With Your Honor's approval,

we'd like to call the person
sitting in the third row,

John Malford's attorney
Ryan Vance, to the stand.

Has the defense subpoenaed Mr. Vance?

We don't typically allow

those seated in the gallery to testify.

Yes, we're aware of that, Your Honor.

But we're hoping
that the court will see fit

- to grant us this approval.
- Your Honor,

I'm sorry, I... this is the first
I'm hearing of this.

Mr. Vance's

petition for the independent analysis

of the Malford evidence

initiated this whole trial.

I'd merely like him to speak

to the history of how
that new analysis came to be.

All right. I'll allow it.

So Mr. Vance, when you requested

an independent examination
of the evidence

in the John Malford case,
did you know a negative match

would call into question
the professional conduct

and scientific expertise of my client,

Dr. Julia Martin?

That would be a natural consequence.

She did perform the original analysis.

Isn't it true

that other cases will be
reexamined as a result

of Dr. Martin's prosecution?

Countless other criminals,
murderers, rapists and thieves

are going to file for dismissal
of their sentences.

As well they should be, yes.

Ah. I-Isn't it also true
that you are the sole owner

of Barnaby Bank account number ?

I don't know, I... It very well could be.

I don't have my account number memorized.

I do bank at Barnaby, so yes, I suppose.

A-And isn't it also true that
you withdrew $ , in cash

on September st from this account?

Again, it's months ago.

I don't have every transaction memorized,

so yes, it's possible,
it sounds possible.

If you say so.

Well, it's not me saying it.

Your Honor,

these are Mr. Vance's bank records

for the month of September.

I'd ask that you mark them

as defense exhibit number .

So marked.

And lastly, do you know a Skylar Brown?

Uh...

Uh, name rings a bell.
I-I can't be certain, though.

Well, she's an employee
of the medical examiner's office

with full access to all evidence storage.

- Including DNA samples.
- Objection, Your Honor. Relevance?

I'm moments away, Your Honor, I promise.

I certainly hope so. Overruled.

Isn't it strange

that just two days after
you made your withdrawal,

Skylar Brown paid off
all of her credit cards,

her delinquent loans?

All of her outstanding debts?

Following a deposit
of exactly $ , in cash

into her checking account?

I wouldn't say strange.
I might say coincidental.

Ah.

How old were you when your brother

was convicted of m*rder?

I really don't think
that has anything to do

with the business at hand.

I-Isn't your brother Trevor
one of your clients?

And wasn't the evidence in his
case also assessed by my client,

Dr. Julia Martin?

And if Dr. Martin is found guilty,

isn't Trevor's conviction
likely to be overturned,

just like John Malford's?

And isn't that why you paid

Skylar Brown $ , ,

to replace the hair that was used

to convict your client, John Malford?

Mr. Vance,

do you need the question repeated?

Oh, that's all right, Your Honor.

I think the jury already has
their answer.

No further questions.

Is the prosecution prepared
to cross-examine the witness?

Actually, no.

But we are prepared,
based on Ryan Vance's testimony

and the evidence presented by Mr. Colón,

to withdraw our charges

against Dr. Martin...

...and offer our apologies.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Oh, Dr. Martin, it's : in the
morning, and I heard a noise.

No one else is here, you know,
and I was just about to leave.

You gonna be okay?

I'm going to be perfect.