NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system
the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups,
the police who investigate crime
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Breathe.
You breathe, you pig.
I told you we shouldn't go out.
And I told you we shouldn't get pregnant.
But, no, your mother wanted a grandchild.
(GASPING)
(sun FIRING)
(WOMAN GROANING)
Oh, help me!
I didn't see who was shooting.
I just heard bang, bang, bang, and people started dropping around me.
Three shots?
Three, four, I don't know.
What were the victims doing?
I didn't even notice them until they fell.
Look, I gotta get to the hospital. My wife is gonna kill me.
Hey, can you give this guy a ride to the hospital?
All right, thanks. Come on.
Good luck.
Shooter was under the stoop, there by the garbage cans.
Found three shell casings from the 380.
He leave anything else behind?
Not that we've found yet.
But, uh, Kidwell's dusting for prints.
All right.
Martin Haas. Business manager, tax attorney.
You get anything from the woman?
Tag says the gym bag belonged to P.K. Todd.
As in P.K. Todd the mystery writer?
Yeah. She's still alive. They took her to Providence.
It's locked. Do you want me to force it?
Nah, take it down to the property room.
Anybody you talk to have an opinion as to which one was the target?
No. I'm voting on the dead guy.
Mr. Haas paid for a meal at Cafe Rouge, 8:16 tonight.
Dinner for two?
Looks like it.
Hope he enjoyed it.
If I was having problems with my business manager,
I'd have a new business manager.
Any of Mr. Haas' other clients have problems with him?
I have no idea. You collar the shooter?
Not yet. Is, uh, Mr. Haas married?
Yes. Witnesses see who did it?
No.
He have anything on the side?
A 50-year-old accountant with a comb-over? Please.
He loved his wife.
Any forensics at the scene?
Shell casings. You had...
What caliber?
380.
Garden variety semi-auto.
Won't be much help tracking the shooter.
Yeah, thanks.
Uh, the shooting took place
a block and a half south of the restaurant.
Where were you and Mr. Haas going?
Marty wanted to walk.
Said it helped his digestion.
I tagged along. I don't know where he was going.
You know anyone who would want him dead?
(GASPING)
Why are you assuming Marty was the target?
I'd say it's got "obsessed fan" written all over it.
BRISCOE: You get threats?
I get everything, Detective. There are some strange people out there.
You mind if we take a look at your fan mail?
Oh, this is lovely. "You write worse than an uneducated trout."
If I was the fish, I'd take offense.
Marriage proposals, story ideas, gibberish about aliens.
What do we have on Mr. Haas' wife?
In Acapulco.
Alone? Were they estranged?
Not according to P.K. Todd.
All right, talk to Haas' clients.
All of them? No, just the disgruntled ones.
Cut!
Haas was supposed to be paying our damn taxes,
and then we get a letter from the IRS.
Two years unpaid taxes, plus interest and penalties.
You have any idea what that comes to for people in our bracket?
Mistake or fraud?
Marty said it was a mistake.
I said it better be, and he better take care of it
or I'm gonna rip him a new airway.
Somebody did.
Well, for God's sake, it wasn't us.
BRISCOE: Haas' secretary said you two were pretty pissed off.
I'm always pissed off.
I haven't killed anybody. Yet.
ED: Where were you both Thursday night between 8:00 and 9:00?
I was with my chiropractor. Dr. John Ermanson, Upper East Side.
A miracle worker. Glenn Close recommended him.
I had a damn meeting with Sid Bascom from 7:30 to 10:00.
BRISCOE: The director?
Narcissistic son of a bitch!
He should have been drowned in his own placenta at birth.
Like I'm gonna give him final cut?
He can kiss my ass!
Yeah, can we get back to Haas?
We didn't move in Marty's circle. He worked for us.
We don't know who'd want him dead.
Look, why don't you ask Tony Elias?
The actor? Yeah, the actor.
Haas was supposed to have a meeting with him that night.
Where? At Tony's place, of course, in the West 50s.
Now, look, I have spent far too much time on this.
Cafe Rouge is in Tribeca. Haas' meeting is Midtown.
So why was Haas walking south instead of north?
Why walk at all? He only had 10 minutes to get to the meeting.
P.K. Todd said it was Haas' idea to walk.
No point in asking her if she was lying.
Of course, P.K. complained about Marty Haas. P.K. complains about everything.
Being her agent, I have to listen to all of it.
She have a problem with the way Haas was managing her money?
Oh, P.K. wants more of everything.
More book sales, more acclaim, more glory, more money.
Nothing's good enough. Marty was no exception.
Eleven books, 10 best sellers,
co-op in Manhattan, designer everything.
Still it's not enough.
Only 10 best sellers?
Yes. Um, sales of her new book were down.
Until the shooting.
ED: And now?
It's edging into the New York Times top 10.
BRISCOE: So she hits 10 home runs in a row.
What happened to number 11?
Ah, who knows?
BRISCOE: Not good? Not as good.
What happened?
Oh, she used to agonize and obsess over every sentence.
This one she just dashed off.
So as far as you know, everything between her and Haas was fine and dandy.
Yes. You know, why anyone would want Haas dead,
why anyone would care enough about him to want him dead,
is a mystery to me.
All this milk of human kindness is gonna make me puke.
The guy was hardly a blip on their radar.
Well, if the shooter was waiting a block and a half from the restaurant,
he had to know which way his target was going.
And if Haas was supposed to be going uptown...
Then Haas wasn't the target, P.K. Todd was.
That'll make her happy.
Pin it down.
No, I never see the gentleman before.
Miss P.K. is a regular.
Did you overhear any of their conversation that night?
The gentleman, he is so sorry
she has only 22% return on her investments.
Did either one of them, uh, seem in a hurry to leave?
Miss P.K., she keeps looking at her watch.
Who left first? Miss P.K.
Did you see which way she went?
She turned south.
The gentleman had to scramble his feet to catch up with her.
What would be a good time for us to talk to you?
I can give you three minutes right now.
It may take longer than that.
Three minutes or nothing.
Where were you heading when you left the restaurant?
I told you, Marty said he wanted to walk.
Marty had to run to catch up to you. Where were you going?
All right, he was boring me stiff.
I just wanted to get rid of him.
I knew he was on his way uptown, sol walked downtown.
Didn't work. He followed me.
You know that means you were the target and not him.
I told you that the first time I talked to you.
Who in the world do you think
would waste bullets on a nobody like Marty Haas?
Your book's been chosen by Caroline Moray for her book club.
That must make you feel good.
Wonderful.
It would mean more if Marty were here to share the moment.
Did you find it odd that sales were down till you got shot,
and now they're skyrocketing?
P.K.: Nothing surprises me anymore, Erica.
ERICA: Not even getting shot? Not even that.
We live in an increasingly savage world.
Did you ask her who knew she'd be walking south?
She said nobody.
Whoever believes it was a random shooting, raise your hand.
She writes 10 best sellers in a row.
The eleventh one's a dud.
Until she gets shot.
Some coincidence.
Some publicity stunt.
How are you?
P.K. did lots of research, knew lots of people.
She writes about murderers, she isn't one.
And she didn't hire one.
We hear the new book isn't very good.
How'd she react to the lousy reviews and the crappy sales?
She wasn't happy Neither was I,
but I didn't hit the streets with a gun.
Then what went wrong?
I mean, this woman's had one best seller after another.
I don't know, Detective. She seemed distracted.
Distracted about... No idea.
Mr. James, in this book Todd thanks Dean Tyler and Chris Benefetti, FBI agents.
Know anything about them?
P.K. often used lawyers, doctors, cops,
any expert who'd talk to her.
She use mobsters, too?
'Cause I got a Tommy "The Weasel" Balducci here.
Well, she wanted some information about
how we used to do it when we did it right.
I gave it to her.
What, you told her how to take somebody out?
Like we did any of that.
When was the last time you talked to Miss Todd?
Eight months ago, easy.
How many times?
Just the once.
The lady and me, we took a walk in the park.
The guy waited on the bench.
The guy?
A person she brought with her.
I had a friend watch him.
You, uh, you remember the guy's name?
Names of everyone in here.
It's pure gold.
Doug Purcell.
ED: Anything else?
I check everyone out, Detective.
YOU got a pen?
Are you a cop?
A former cop.
I met P.K. Todd while she was working on a book.
She was going to some pretty seedy places.
Friend of hers told her to get someone to protect her.
I had the right credentials.
She talk to you about her conversation with Tommy Balducci?
No. I asked her about it but, uh,
she's like a pit bull with her research. Keeps it confidential.
ED: Last time you saw her?
Oh, maybe seven months ago at a movie.
You two romantically involved?
I'd like to have been.
Uh, we saw each other a few times.
But she, uh, told me that she already had someone in her life.
I don't spy on Miss Todd or any of the other tenants.
Somebody's trying to kill her, Mr. Wolenski. Help us out here.
She says, "Hello. Get me a cab." She don't confide in me.
She ever have visitors? Bring anybody home with her?
Overnight guests?
She has visitors. Nobody stays overnight that I know of.
She ever stay out all night?
How often?
Hey, man, you want us here? Spit it out.
Every couple of weeks she leaves here with an overnight bag.
Comes back in the morning.
Was it black, like a gym bag?
So she was meeting Mr. X that night,
presumably in that neighborhood.
Which means he probably knew which way she'd be walking.
If he knew she was eating at that restaurant.
It's the first whiff we've had of anybody
who even could've known where she was going.
It was in the property room.
Hmm, nice negligee.
Perfume.
Get a look at this. (CHUCKLES)
Massage oils. I'd say that clinches it.
Key card. BRISCOE: Hotel?
Looks like it.
Check every hotel within walking distance of the Cafe Rouge.
A Phyllis Todd checked in that afternoon.
Record says she never checked out.
She was otherwise occupied.
Phyllis Todd is P.K. Todd? The celebrity? The shot one?
Yeah.
I'd have remembered seeing her.
She's my wife's favorite writer.
I've seen her face on book jackets.
No, she was never here.
Anybody show up looking for her that night?
ED: She was meeting a guy. He show up?
A woman showed looking for her.
She double-checked the reservation.
She wanted to make sure this was the right hotel to find Phyllis Todd.
You remember the time?
I was just setting up. It must have been around a quarter to eight.
Can you describe the woman?
Red hair. Good looking.
As, as.
Yeah, yeah, she had on a windbreaker.
I remember thinking she should have worn a heavier coat
'cause it was cold out.
So she hang around? What?
She paced the lobby a while.
Last I saw her, she was talking to Mr. Hodges.
Security.
Yeah, she seemed antsy I went over to see if there was a problem.
BRISCOE: Was there? I thought so.
She was packing a sidearm underneath her jacket.
I asked her about it. She flashed ID.
She's a cop? FBI.
An FBI agent with a piece came looking for Todd that night,
and you didn't put it together when you heard Todd got shot?
First off, she was an FBI agent.
Plus, I didn't know she was looking for anybody.
You see her leave?
Yeah, somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30.
You get her name?
I only glanced at her credentials when she flashed them.
Name started with a Taylor, Tracer, I don't know.
Those agents Todd thanked at the front of her book, one of them start with a "T"?
I think so, but the list is at the office.
You got a gift shop?
Here it is. Dean Tyler, FBI agent.
Todd thanks him for his tireless willingness to answer questions.
Maybe he was tireless and willing in other areas, too.
P.K.'s really big into research.
She picked my brain several times over Bureau procedures.
This your wife?
My wife, Carolyn. That's my daughter, Courtney. She's fifteen.
Your wife an agent, too?
Yeah, that's how I met her.
Well, as much as I appreciate cooperating with the local authorities,
uh, what's this about?
It's about P.K. Todd getting shot.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry about that.
What's it got to do with me?
You know where your wife was that night?
Probably working late. Why?
We have a description of a woman at the hotel
who looked like your wife.
Uh, she ID'd herself as FBI.
P.K. probably called her asking for information.
Busy woman like your wife could have given information over the phone.
What are you two getting at?
Where were you that evening?
Maybe you didn't hear me.
You tell me what this is about or take a walk.
You having an affair with P.K. Todd?
What?
Maybe you didn't hear me.
No, I heard you.
I went home at 7:30 that night, changed,
went for a run, then back home again.
I never slept with P.K. Todd.
I've never even been alone with her.
Mmm-hmm.
You or your wife own a 380?
Which one of us are you accusing?
Whichever one has the motive.
All right, this is over. Get the hell out of here.
It's just starting. We got more questions.
Well, then ask them someplace else.
I didn't just get off the bus, Detective.
You don't seriously think Carolyn Tyler shot two people.
Okay, prove us wrong.
What kind of a sidearm does she carry?
She's a decorated agent with a spotless record.
Her marriage is solid.
There's no way her husband is having an affair
with P.K. Todd or anybody else.
Standard issue for your people is a Glock nine millimeter,
plus they're allowed a personal gun.
Mrs. Tyler have a second gun?
Yes. So what?
What caliber?
This is ridiculous.
If we're wrong, we'll send flowers.
What caliber?
Let me give you a nudge.
Our victims were shot with a 380 semi-auto.
I told them it's a mistake, Carolyn, but they got the search warrant anyway.
You honestly think I murdered somebody? Are you insane?
We just want the gun, Mrs. Tyler.
Sig Sauer 380.
Fully loaded.
Hasn't been cleaned since it was last fired.
We'll have ballistics run it for a match.
If we're off base, we'll apologize.
You'll do more than just apologize.
And now we got some questions we want to ask you.
Be best if you'd come with us to the precinct.
You don't have to go in. Wait till they run the tests,
and then they'll see it's a load of crap.
I've got nothing to hide. I didn't shoot anybody.
I told you I fired the gun at a range a few days ago.
You don't clean it after you fire it?
I usually do, yes, but I hadn't gotten around to it.
It's not my primary weapon.
And the affair between your husband and Ms. Todd?
There is no affair.
Then what were you doing at the Randolph Hotel?
P.K. asked me to meet her. She had some questions.
Research? Yes.
I'm helping her with a few items.
This really is ridiculous. I didn't shoot them.
Your gun did.
Not possible.
Our ballistic lab says otherwise.
Book her.
BRISCOE: Carolyn Tyler, you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do or say...
Extreme emotional disturbance.
Mrs. Tyler had the presence of mind to stalk her victim and lie in wait for her.
In addition to having earned Senior Agent status,
Tyler is a top-rated marksman.
If she wasn't upset, why did she miss?
She didn't miss, Mr. Hays, she just killed the wrong person.
I am aware that someone was killed, Ms. Carmichael.
Offer her something she can live with.
HAYS: I'll see to it she pleads. This doesn't have to go to trial.
She can plead to the top count of the indictment.
Murder in the second degree?
New York law provides a middle ground, manslaughter.
Mrs. Tyler killed one person, wounded another,
endangered bystanders with premeditation and intent.
Man one? No.
She is an attractive, articulate woman
with an impeccable service record at the Bureau.
No jury is going to convict her of murder two.
Looks like we'll find out.
This is a black eye for the Bureau.
We want to avoid a trial.
Your office has surveillance logs on Wade Sullivan.
HAYS: What's a bank robber got to do with this?
Yeah.
Want to slap a murder charge on him.
That is out of my hands.
My superiors have decided that sharing those records
would endanger our case against Sullivan.
How strongly do your superiors feel
about the black eye Mrs. Tyler has given them?
She's not going to plead to man one, Mr. McCoy, or anything else.
She didn't do it.
You've spoken with your supervisor, Mr. Hays?
Yes. I won't confess to a crime I didn't commit.
Not even to alleviate the Bureau's embarrassment.
Your gun, your motive.
You'd turn down man one and risk a murder two conviction?
Motive.
Did you read today's Times?
P.K. Todd denies having an affair with my client's husband.
No affair, no motive.
Sometimes hard to let go of a secret.
I asked Ms. Todd if she's willing to testify there was no affair.
She said yes.
You think she's going to commit perjury over it?
I've spoken with Dean Tyler six times in my life.
Five were phone conversations about research I was doing,
and once I took him and his wife out to dinner as a thank you.
You live here. If you weren't having an affair, why check into a hotel?
I don't know how many ways I can say it.
There was no affair.
I've never even been alone with Dean Tyler, for God's sake.
Answer the question here and now, Miss Todd
or tomorrow in front of the grand jury.
Certainly.
I frequently check into hotels.
I like to write where there's room service.
Wouldn't a laptop be more useful than a negligee?
I write longhand, and I like be comfortable.
(PHONE RINGING)
One moment.
Under oath or not, the truth's the same.
I was not, am not, have never been romantically involved with Dean Tyler.
I'm sure you can find your way out.
Mr. Tyler told the police he went out for his usual run and then went home?
Yeah, sure. He ran to the hotel,
and when P.K. Todd wasn't there, he ran home to take a cold shower.
Find out.
If he had a regular itinerary, could be somebody saw him.
I'll have Briscoe send his photo to the local precincts.
Good.
If my dad said he was home, he was home.
And where were you?
Upstairs, babysitting for Mrs. Baxter.
She had a parent-teacher meeting.
What time did you get home?
Around 9:30.
My dad was there. He was asleep.
At 9:30?
My parents work funny hours. They sleep whenever they can.
What about your mom? Was she home?
I don't know, I didn't see her.
She could have been in the bedroom.
If you didn't go into your parents' bedroom, how do you know your father was asleep?
He was on the couch, okay?
Does he usually sleep there?
I don't know.
How could you not know?
Do your parents argue a lot?
None of your damn business, okay?
Sounds like one big, happy Tyler family.
So the father was home asleep at 9:30,
and the mother could have been at home or not.
What about the rest of it?
Well, I found three people on their block
who saw Dean Tyler leave his building that evening wearing sweats,
jogging off down the street.
Toward the hotel?
In that direction, but I couldn't find anyone
who saw whether or not he went north or south on 10th,
and nobody at the hotel recognized his picture.
Yeah, asbestos abatement on the seventh floor.
I got stuck with one of the dislocated A.D.A.s.
For how long?
Till it's safe.
Public sector, Abbie. It's no picnic.
If Dean Tyler and P.K. Todd were planning to meet at the hotel,
they must have set it up.
Have the police pull their IUDs.
That's already in the works. And the cops are checking their credit card records.
There might have been other meetings at other hotels.
Oh, sorry.
This Todd girl sure likes hotels.
Yeah, gets her creative juices flowing, I guess.
She says she does a lot of her writing there.
Really? Because she seemed to have acquired the taste pretty recently.
Like four months ago.
How many?
Nine local, plus one each in Philadelphia, Providence and Darien.
Fourteen calls over three months from P.K. Todd to the Tyler apartment.
She told us she'd spoken to Dean Tyler a total of six times.
Todd calls Tyler, Mrs. Tyler answers, Todd hangs up.
No, there are no calls under four minutes.
Phone company says they were having trouble
with that line for the past few weeks.
Power drain.
Really? We're gonna need a search warrant.
For what?
We're gonna be looking for a phone tap on Tyler's line.
Is this FBI equipment? I can subpoena your records Mr. Hays,
but I was hoping for your quiet cooperation.
It could be.
Do you use this type of bug?
Is the reference number yours?
Does Mrs. Tyler know how to install a wire tap?
The train has left the station, Mr. Hays.
There's no stopping it now.
I suppose not.
I still think you're crazy.
Carolyn Tyler is no murderer.
Give me the technical room.
This is Hays.
Phone tap reference number 4-9-2-B-T/9A.
Who requisitioned it and when?
Thank you.
Did Mrs. Tyler requisition it?
No.
Mr. Tyler tapped the phone?
We checked both the Tyler's work schedules
against P.K. Todd's out of town hotel stays.
Mr. Tyler's schedule didn't match.
Mrs. Tyler's did.
Just so I'm clear...
P.K. Todd was having an affair with Mrs. Tyler.
We had the right motive, but the wrong outraged spouse.
Assumption, or can you prove it?
Cut and dried.
J. Edgar Hoover would be proud.
Do what you have to do.
I'm sure you know the drill, but you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney...
I've recited Miranda as many times as you have. I don't need to hear it.
You son of a bitch.
I didn't do it.
You lying son of a bitch!
P.K. called about 4:30.
My God, Dean must have heard everything.
What did he hear, Ms. Tyler?
What did he hear, Carolyn?
I can't.
You don't understand.
The Bureau... Oh, God, Courtney.
It's going to come out.
And you're not going to lose your daughter.
Not over this.
P.K. said she was meeting Haas at Cafe Rouge at 7:00.
After dinner, she'd go back to the hotel.
I was supposed to meet her there at 8:15.
She said she couldn't wait to see me.
It had been so long, she was shaking with anticipation.
We talked about my moving out,
and I can't remember exactly.
ED: And when you got to the hotel?
I went up to her room... You know all that.
And after you left the hotel?
I walked to the Prince Street Cafe. I had a cup of coffee.
I called the hotel, but she still wasn't there.
I went to a bookstore.
I called again, and then I went home.
What time?
CAROLYN: A little after 9:00.
Was your husband there?
He came in about ten minutes after I did.
Did you have any idea that your husband knew about you and Ms. Todd?
No.
Yeah, I tapped our line.
But I wasn't there when she got that call from P.K.
You never listened to the tape when you came home?
What about my wife?
It's her gun, her girlfriend,
and from what I hear, she got to the hotel early and then disappeared.
Do the math.
We did. It doesn't add up to Mrs. Tyler.
Well, then, I suggest you run the numbers again, Detective.
Mr. McCoy. Detective.
Stan Gillum, counsel for Mr. Tyler.
My client's been Mirandized, yes?
He declined the reading.
Oh, that's music to my ears.
Well, we start with a clean slate then.
Mr. Tyler's been telling us how Mrs. Tyler shot Todd and Haas.
We were explaining how she couldn't have done it.
Explain that to me.
The purpose of the meeting between Mrs. Tyler and Ms. Todd was romance.
There was no ill will between them.
As far as you know.
But lovers quarrel, tempers flare.
All of a sudden a rendezvous becomes the shootout at the O.K. Corral.
Mrs. Tyler was in a bookstore ten blocks away phoning the hotel
when Haas and Todd were shot.
As far as you know.
The cashier let her use the store phone.
She's not the shooter.
Is there an offer?
Murder two. I'll knock five years off the front end.
We'll get back to you.
(SIGHS)
Quantico called.
The Bureau would appreciate it if we could expedite this thing
with as little press as possible.
Just how appreciative are they prepared to be?
As appreciative as they have to be.
Talk to Tyler again.
Put the hogs back in the pen.
Dean Tyler's proposed defense, and it's a beaut.
"Defendant's realization of the nature of his wife's conduct"
"caused the onset of extreme psycho-sexual panic"
"that negated his ability to distinguish right from wrong."
Sexual panic? His wife was having an affair, Tyler couldn't live with it.
We've all seen it before.
It was a lesbian relationship, Judge.
The shock put him over the edge.
It was premeditated. There's no evidence of panic.
The whole idea is absurd.
Almost got by a judge in the Cowboy State, Counselor.
The bigots who killed the gay man in Wyoming?
They claimed the victim's sexual advance triggered their panic.
And anyway, the jury never heard about it,
because the judge saw it for what it is, bunk.
My client has the right to let the trier of fact decide.
After all, the Twinkie defense was absurd till it worked.
JUDGE: I'm going to allow testimony on this.
Gay panic is repackaged blame-the-victim defense.
Tyler orchestrated the attack, as Ms. Carmichael noted.
It's premeditation.
Enough.
It's not a gimme, Mr. Gillum.
I reserve my final decision until I hear defense case at trial.
We were a block or two from the restaurant, Mr. Haas and I.
I heard something loud. I guess it was gunshots.
Mr. Haas clutched his throat,
then I felt a sting here, like a pinch.
I don't remember anything else.
How long had you been seeing Carolyn Tyler?
Four months. We met through her husband.
What were your feelings for Ms. Tyler?
Carolyn and I were...
I'm not sure we were in love, I'm not sure we weren't.
We never meant to hurt anybody. I'm so sorry.
It just happened.
Miss Todd,
would you consider yourself bisexual or homosexual?
Objection. Relevance.
I'll allow it.
I don't categorize myself like that.
When was the last time you had a heterosexual relationship?
Oxford, 1977.
And, since then, there have been other love interests in your life?
Women before Carolyn Tyler?
Yes, a few.
And in pursuing those affairs,
were you always so discreet?
I'm a very private person, so yes.
Out of the way hotels? That sort of thing?
Yes.
Because you're a private person.
Because of the way you people react.
Which people are those, Ms. Todd?
Men.
You don't hide your feelings very well.
You see two women together, you're thinking one of two things.
Either "disgusting" or "can I watch?"
So Mr. Tyler's reaction to his wife's lesbian affair
doesn't come as any surprise to you?
Objection.
Withdrawn. Nothing further.
All my life, I knew something was wrong.
Don't misunderstand.
I loved Dean, very much.
But feelings I'd suppressed for so long,
they came out with P.K.
I fell in love with her.
JACK: Mrs. Tyler, your husband has a cousin, John,
who happens to be gay. Is that right?
Yes.
Mr. Tyler ever show any animosity toward this cousin?
No. Actually, John brought his partner to a Christmas dinner.
Dean seemed fine with it.
He ever say if he felt his sexuality threatened?
No. In fact, they talked about sports all night.
You never heard your husband express negative feelings towards gay people?
Not that he really meant.
Well, how would you know what he really meant?
Didn't you hear him make comments about gays at work
in the presence of other FBI agents?
He was expected to.
The FBI is macho central.
He said those things just to fit in.
He wasn't like that away from the office.
Well, maybe he was suppressing his feelings around you and his cousin
just the way you suppressed yours.
No.
Dean shot P.K. because he was afraid of losing me. That's all.
STAN: Is that so?
About five years ago, did you have an affair with another man?
Only a flirtation. I told Dean about it.
Well, after he found the letters from him. How did that affect him?
He was hurt, of course.
Did he become violent or threatening?
No. He just said...
He said he forgave me.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
When a person experiences a gay or sexual panic,
his blood pressure soars, the heart races.
Sounds like love, Doctor.
Anything but.
Love creates a sense of well-being.
In a full-blown gay panic, there is a collapse of the ego structure.
A loss of self, similar to a psychotic episode.
STAN: Why this profound effect?
Sexual identity is a major component of our self-image,
our picture of who we are.
We're taught from infancy,
boys don't cry, pink is for girls.
And Dean Tyler learned these early lessons, did he?
His job with the FBI his years in the Marine Corps,
these institutions raise macho to astounding levels.
When beliefs of this strength are suddenly challenged,
the psychological walls crumble almost instantly.
But Mr. Tyler's own sexual identity wasn't being attacked, was it?
Call it panic by proxy, if it helps.
Mr. Tyler's sudden realization that his wife was homosexual
caused a meltdown.
In effect, much of what made Tyler, Tyler,
was evaporating before his eyes.
Dean Tyler learns his wife is involved with a woman.
He perspires.
His heart beats faster.
But he has the presence of mind to take his wife's gun,
drive to the restaurant,
shoot Todd and Haas and escape.
Panic, Doctor?
The panic state can persist for some time.
A minute?
Five?
An hour?
When is it just plain old-fashioned murder?
That would depend on the individual.
Dean Tyler.
Former US Marine, twice wounded.
Sound like a man given to excessive panic?
I couldn't say without a full evaluation of his service record.
How about the FBI's periodic psychological examinations of Tyler?
You're aware of those?
I'm aware that the Bureau administers psych tests to its agents every 24 months.
Uh-huh.
People's 35.
Tyler's evaluation show any propensity
for failure of judgment under stress?
Mr. Tyler's FBI profile
indicates a high stress tolerance.
Indicates?
Dean Tyler is as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar, isn't he?
Objection.
Withdrawn. Nothing further.
Uh, Carolyn had become distant.
At first, I thought it was the job.
Mine, Carolyn's.
Lots of long nights apart.
Was it the job?
No.
I couldn't believe it.
I mean, I know that one out of every two marriages goes bad,
but I thought we were different.
And then one day, our daughter had a bad flu.
I called my wife at the office.
They told me she was in the field, but that was a lie.
STAN: At that point did you suspect she was having an affair?
She denied it.
I believed her for a while.
I was afraid that she'd found someone, another man.
I was afraid that I'd lose her.
What'd you do?
I tapped our home phones.
At the time it seemed to make sense somehow.
And what happened?
I overheard a phone call from Miss Todd.
At first, I didn't understand it.
I heard the words, but they didn't make any sense.
Carolyn was saying to her
that she loved this woman, that she wanted to be with her.
She said she didn't love me.
(STAMMERS) I couldn't breathe.
I felt like I was suffocating.
What did you do?
I went to the restaurant, Cafe Rouge.
I saw Haas and Todd on the street.
I didn't mean to hit him.
So,
how'd you get to the restaurant?
I drove a Bureau sedan.
So you went downstairs, you got in the car,
after taking your wife's gun from the safe?
Yes.
And you parked the car, got out, fired.
(CLEARS THROAT) Yes.
Then you got back in the car,
drove back to the apartment,
reloaded and returned your wife's gun to the safe and went to sleep?
That's right.
And when initially questioned by the police,
you made up a story about going jogging.
Where's the panic, Agent Tyler?
Where's the loss of self?
Objection.
Your Honor, may we approach?
Step LIP...
I renew the motion to bar the panic defense.
It's clear Tyler was anything but.
STAN: It's a question of fact for the jury.
Our expert has testified...
Dr. Bookman's testimony was a jumble of hypothesis and generalities.
Tyler's own testimony shows the man understood the nature of his action.
I agree.
I'm going to instruct the jury to disregard
any testimony regarding the panic defense.
Exception.
Noted.
I'll hear closing arguments tomorrow morning.
(GAVEL TAPPING)
Time was, marriage falls apart,
you cry in your bourbon at the neighborhood saloon.
One of Briscoe's flyers found it's mark.
A uniform in Chelsea saw Dean Tyler jogging
the night of the shooting, around 8:00.
Officer Van Winkle say why it took so long to make the connection?
He was out on a line-of-duty injury.
And he remembers what time he saw Tyler four months later?
The cop had seen him in the neighborhood before,
and he remembers that night.
He was just finishing a four-by-eight tour
when Tyler almost ran out in front of a semi.
The cop remembers thinking about the paperwork if Tyler had been hit.
Where was Tyler's daughter that night?
Two floors up babysitting, she said.
She said.
What is this, McCoy? Trial by ambush?
Sit down and listen for once, Mr. Gillum.
Dean, let's go.
Courtney, the night Miss Todd and Marty Haas were shot, where were you?
I was babysitting for Mrs. Baxter.
But you left the Baxter apartment that night, didn't you?
No, I... Mom, Dad?
What are you trying to do here, McCoy?
Mrs. Baxter told me you weren't in the apartment
when she came home from her meeting. Where did you go?
I just went downstairs to get a book.
She'd never leave the child alone,
not for more than a minute.
You came back in half an hour, wearing your coat.
JACK: You knew, didn't you, about your mother and Ms. Todd?
Did you pick up the phone when your mom was talking to her?
I didn't.
This interview is over, Mr. McCoy.
Don't say anything, Courtney. It's okay, everything's okay.
Courtney, your father's going to jail to protect you.
Are you going to let that happen?
STAN: Dean?
You got your mom's gun from the safe.
No, I didn't. Daddy...
You were the only one at the apartment.
You knew, and you were angry.
(SLAMS DESK)
Don't say anything, Courtney.
Listen to your father, sweetie.
Just shut up! Just shut up!
You were supposed to love him!
You were supposed to be with Daddy, not with that bitch!
Courtney! Not another word.
How could you do this? I hate you!
I'm glad it happened. I'm glad.
What's the maximum sentence if I plead guilty?
Don't try to bluff me, Mr. Tyler.
Murder in the second degree.
How much time do I do?
STAN: 25 years to life.
Call the judge. Do what you gotta do.
Mr. Tyler.
I did it. I'm guilty.
You're not going after my little girl.
Uh-uh. No.
(SOBS)
Mr. Tyler's probably pleading to shield his girl.
Give us a continuance, Judge.
A week to get to the bottom of this.
I move for an immediate mistrial, Judge.
Be quiet, Counselor.
He wants to plead to the indictment, he's within his rights.
The penal law is clear on that point.
You can't sanction the plea, Judge.
Can': I?
If you're convinced he didn't do it, Mr. McCoy, drop the charges.
In which case, jeopardy is attached.
My client cannot be retried.
Mr. Gillum, not another word.
People's call.
Until we're sure, one way or the other, we can't dismiss.
Then I have no choice but to accept Mr. Tyler's guilty plea.
So Dean Tyler is doing 20-to-life because his kid won't tell the truth.
He could've told the truth himself.
Nobody in that family seems able to tell the truth.
I guess we'll have to wait for P.K. Todd's next novel to get the story.