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.
(CHURCH BELL TOLLING)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
So this mugger doesn't find any money.
He says to the lady, "Where is it, in your girdle?"
Sister, you're not listening.
It's almost 8:00. The children will be here soon.
Look at this.
I wish these people would at least pick up after themselves.
Anyway, he feels all around her girdle.
Again he says, "Where's the money?" And the lady says, "Keep looking.
"I'll send you a check."
(LAUGHING)
Isn't that funny?
(GAS PS)
Oh, God.
The kids don't need to see this. This is a daycare center.
Every morning we clean up after these junkies.
We always gave them food. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea.
Was this girl a regular in your soup line?
I don't think so.
But there's so many of them.
Thank you.
(MAN CHATTERING ON RADIO)
Picked clean. No ID, no money.
Around here, we should be surprised?
Hey, Mike. Enrico Sariego. Says he was partying here last night.
Good morning, Mr. Sariego.
So, is this one of your party pals?
No. I never seen her before.
And anyway, I like a little meat on my girls, you know?
What time did the festivities end last night?
I don't know. I booked around 3:00.
I didn't wanna be around here with these nuns. They know karate.
Not for me. Stick around, all right?
Get him some breakfast.
She's dead about four to five hours. Track marks. Vomit on the shirt.
It's our sixth OD this week.
New high-octane heroin. It's 90% pure, 100% deadly.
Look at that.
Almost see right through.
I don't know about you, but I broke out the thermals last night.
She's a junkie, Mike. She probably thought it was July.
So she gets out of the heat and lies down here to get comfortable?
You ever pass out with your arms crossed?
No, I was always on my face.
Somebody dumped that girl.
What, a little bundle left for the nuns to find?
Yeah. Like a baby in a basket.
(WOMAN CHATTERING ON RADIO)
24 hours?
Minimum. We're backed up.
Two shootings uptown, a stabbing, couple of undetermined causes.
Next time I'll call ahead for a reservation.
Is there anything you can tell me?
Victim's 20 to 24 years old. No signs of trauma or assault.
Pupil dilation consistent with an overdose.
She was outside for at least four hours.
Exposure?
No outward signs of frostbite. Her airways are clear. She didn't choke.
Oh, this is nice.
She has porcelain caps all around, uppers and lowers.
Somebody laid out 20 grand for this smile.
And we sent the dental records to Missing Persons, but there's no match.
Personal effects? Just her clothes.
What have we got? Silk blouse from Versace. Skirt's by Jil Sander.
Not exactly winter gear from LL Bean.
Make some calls, maybe you can trace it.
Am I missing something? This is hardly the crime of the century.
The girl OD'd. She was a junkie.
A junkie with a $20,000 smile
and clothes I only get to look at in magazines.
So she was a rich junkie. Who cares?
I care why somebody dumped her body. Narcotics Division sent this list.
Dealers arrested in sweeps of the area where she was found. See if any of them knew her.
If I say I know her, you gonna ask, "Did I sell her?"
Then maybe I have to lie to you. Then you get all pissed off,
and I end up with steel on my wrists, my man.
Look at the picture, Pappi, or you're gonna end up with steel in your mouth.
Nah. She ain't one of mine, man.
Cross your heart and hope to die?
Yeah, man. Come on.
Take off.
Little Man here says he might know Jane Doe.
If you promise to talk to my probation officer, right?
Oh, sure. We'll tell him how we found you hanging here on Needle Row.
Maybe a couple more years upstate will help your memory.
You know, it's coming back. I bet.
Miss Jane Doe and the Viking were preferred customers.
The Viking?
This tall, blonde dude.
A guy named Erik. Fine looking couple.
When's the last time you saw them?
I haven't seen the girl in a while.
The Vike, a week maybe.
The dude works the door upstairs at Club Beecees.
Her name's Katie Blanchard. She OD'd for real?
Found her behind a dumpster. For real.
That's cold.
You talked to her last night?
Seen her maybe a couple of times since we busted up three months ago.
We were going pretty hot, then she went crazy with the junk.
I had to cut her loose.
Yeah, right, because you're high on life.
So I light up a bowl on the weekends, big deal.
She was fixing up maybe four or five times a day.
Well, in between getting stoned, did she ever mention her family?
No. Wasn't a big item with her.
The only one she ever talked about was her kid brother, Matt.
Did she ever say where her family lived?
She might've said something. I wasn't paying attention.
Sounds like you two were made for each other.
Hey, if I wasn't hooked up with somebody else,
maybe I'd have given Katie another chance.
I heard she was trying rehab. Some place near Thompson Park.
HERBERT: Katie shot a lot of heroin into that blue blood of hers.
You know, she was Ken Blanchard's daughter. He ran for the Senate.
Yeah, I remember him. Died in a car crash a few years back.
Yeah. He was DWI.
Listen, no offense or anything,
but shouldn't his daughter have been at some four-star rehab in Connecticut?
Katie was cut off from her family.
You know, this may not be the Queen Mary of rehab, but it's not the Titanic either.
We provide the basics. Methadone and therapy.
Well, it doesn't sound like it was enough.
HERBERT: Well, if you give it a chance.
Katie was with the program for about two months.
Then about a month ago, she walked away.
Any idea why?
Look, I got the feeling that rehab was something she did to con her family.
She'd stay clean for a week, then disappear for a few days.
Another week here and then the same thing.
So where does her family live?
I'll get the address.
She was found where?
In a playground on the Lower East Side.
She died outside?
I thought she was in rehab.
Oh, well, the people there told us she left a month ago.
Oh, I'm not surprised.
Every place I sent her, she'd stay long enough to pass a blood test,
then she'd ask me for money. It all went to drugs.
Finally, I had to say, "No more."
Did she come here?
She knew better.
My youngest, Carlie, is still in high school.
I refused to let her see her sister like that.
I know a mother shouldn't say this, but Katie was my favorite.
She was so beautiful. She could've...
She was also the most trouble.
We're trying to determine who she might've been with when she died.
Were there any other relatives she might've been in touch with?
We heard she had a brother.
Matthew. He was at Yale Law. Second year.
Maybe you should speak to Jerome Kamen.
A friend of your daughter's?
Our business adviser.
He was at college with my husband, Ken.
Ever since he died, Jerry's been like a father to my children.
Any arrangements that need to be made, you talk to me.
Actually, we're wondering if you talked to Katie recently?
On the phone, briefly, and she stopped by a few times.
You know where she was staying?
At a rehab center.
BRISCOE: Well, not for the last month. We talked to them.
She told me she was doing fine.
What did she come to see you about?
Money. Her mother had cut her off.
She told me not to give Katie a dime.
Tough love.
Yeah. To put it mildly. With Meryl, it's her way or no way.
But I've known the children since they were babies.
I thought about what their father would've wanted me to do.
So I gave Katie a few dollars.
All she had to live on were her social security checks.
Well, she didn't look 65.
The federal government considers addiction a disability.
They send her checks twice a month.
Even though the family's worth millions?
That money is held in trust.
She had to survive somehow.
Nice lady, this Mrs. Blanchard.
She was hosting cocktail parties
while her daughter was living on the dole.
Right, she should've let the kid shoot the family fortune into her arm.
Oh, you'd throw your daughter out on the street?
My daughter could go through my fortune in about a day and a half.
Yeah, but what if you had Blanchard's money?
Hey, maybe if somebody had kicked me out when I was drinking,
I wouldn't have wasted 20 years inside a bottle.
Hell of a gamble.
Anyway, Kamen said she got checks every two weeks, right?
Social security must've known where to send them.
Under the Social Security Act of 1972,
addicts are entitled to $750 a month.
What?
Somebody actually thinks this is a good idea?
You'd rather they mug you for their money?
Look, we don't simply hand money to the addict.
We send a check to a responsible payee, usually a parent.
The payee gives funds to the recipient as needed.
So who was Katie Blanchard's payee?
Herbert James Fowler.
He runs the rehabilitation center where Miss Blanchard was staying.
That's where we sent the checks.
When was the last check cashed?
Last week, by Mr. Fowler.
(ON SPEAKER) I told you, Katie left the center four weeks ago.
Well, according to Uncle Sam,
you were still cashing her checks.
Mr. Fowler had the authority to cash those checks.
If she's there he does.
Maybe she never left the rehab, huh, Herb?
Maybe she OD'd there.
Look, that didn't happen.
(SIGHS)
Look. She was a walking disaster. She was never gonna get cured.
Rehab was a revolving door for her.
I thought she'd come back sooner or later. I was holding her money.
Where? In a bank? Or under your mattress?
It's in the general operating fund.
Really? Okay.
I'm sure the Feds can help me track it down.
We don't really have to get them involved, do we?
Why not? If he's got nothing to hide.
I swear to God, she wasn't there.
What's the problem then?
She wasn't the only junkie you were ripping off, was she?
Okay. Look...
If he's ready to admit to fraud, you have to believe
he's telling the truth about not seeing her.
If nothing else, you uncovered his scam.
Great. I'll tell Mrs. Blanchard her daughter didn't die in vain.
(BANGING ON DOOR)
Lieutenant, I've got the autopsy report on Kathleen Blanchard.
Oh, thank you.
Inconclusive for hypothermia. She died of an overdose of high potency heroin.
She must've had some going-away party.
The party was catered in Chinatown.
According to this, her last supper was duck and hoisin sauce.
Peking duck. Thirty bucks a pop. Some taste, huh?
Life wasn't all fun and games.
The ME found some hemorrhaging on the walls of her uterus.
Meaning that she had an abortion or a miscarriage in the past two weeks.
Katie left four weeks ago.
You marked it in your calendar?
My second wedding anniversary.
My husband, Raoul, he's doing a bullet at Rikers.
Anyway, I haven't seen Katie since.
Well, maybe she paid a visit during your lunch break. You got a sign-in book?
This look like Betty Ford? People don't sign in.
Even if she did come back, it makes a difference?
We figure she got pregnant here and maybe one of your residents is the proud papa.
And she might've gotten in touch with him.
One of these losers?
She'd have to be pretty hard up. Besides, Katie had some guy on the outside.
She ever tell you his name?
Some short name.
Rick. Erik?
Could be. I figure that's where she went.
I mean, she took one of those home pregnancy tests. The stick turned blue.
She flipped out. The next day, she split.
Come on, man. How many times we gotta go through this?
Until you get it right.
See, the way we hear it, when Katie came back from rehab,
she had a little surprise for you. You were gonna get it in about nine months.
No way. Not me.
No way? She came crying to you.
What did she want? Money for an abortion?
I didn't knock her up.
I haven't been with her for three months.
Look, why don't you guys just go take a bribe or whatever it is you usually do?
You know, you look like you could use a few pounds.
Why don't we go in the kitchen,
see if there's any milk and cookies in there, huh?
Okay, Erik, this is how it works.
We're gonna check her ID. If she is one day shy of 17,
we toss this whole place, then maybe we find a controlled substance.
You want me to go on? Not if you don't have to.
UP '10 you.
Katie gave me the whole song and dance. She didn't even look pregnant.
She wants me to pay to get rid of it. I blew her off.
The kid probably wasn't even mine.
And since then?
All right, I wonder what's in this box?
All right. All right.
She called about a week ago. She was hurting real bad. She needed a score.
And you're the man, right?
I don't deal.
I just know where to shop. I brought it to her.
Where?
She was staying up on West 81st.
She didn't want me to come upstairs. She was with some guy.
So I met her on the corner on Broadway. And that's the last time I saw her.
(CAR HORN HONKING)
You believe this?
Used to be South Bronx, Alphabet City...
Now these junkies have trust funds.
Hey, 10 years ago they were tooting coke through $100 bills.
Maybe they've heard needles are chic this year.
Which side of the street you want?
Maybe there's a faster way.
She had Peking duck before she died.
Okay, chicken and cashew nut, sweet sour pork. It's $10.95.
About 30 minutes.
Come on, Mr. Woo, three days ago? She ordered Peking duck?
Same like everybody. It's the house special. A hundred phone order every day.
Main room always busy.
(PHONE RINGING)
I never see her here.
Maybe the duck went to her. You got delivery tickets from three days ago?
Hold on.
MAN ON PHONE: Yeah. I got an order for you.
Yes. Hey, lunch special, $4.95.
Here it is. I'm sure you have the wrong building.
I'm sure we don't. Who lives here?
The Cassinis did.
They cashed in city life for Tuscany. It's been on the market for two months.
Are you sure you have the right unit number?
K-T, 14-C. Peking duck.
As clean as a whistle, right down to the empty waste baskets.
Why? What were you expecting to find?
How about this girl?
Have you ever seen her here before?
Yes.
She's Mr. Cassini's niece. She's been staying here the last month.
Staying here alone?
Well, yes.
Why, what's... She's not the one who... Oh, dear God.
Who told you she was their niece?
Their business manager, Mr. Kamen.
Jerome Kamen?
She's been staying here with his permission.
Understand my situation. It was the Cassini's apartment.
If they found out... Well, you can imagine.
Right now my imagination's working overtime.
I'm sure it is.
Katie came to me. She said she was pregnant.
She didn't want to give birth to a drug-addicted baby.
I gave her some money and told her to go to a clinic.
And the keys to the Cassini place, you just throw those in to cheer her up?
She wouldn't go back to rehab. Her mother didn't want her in the house.
I wasn't gonna let her sleep on the street.
Well, that's all very commendable,
except for the lies and the clean-up job at the apartment.
All I did was pack up her things after I found out she was dead.
I have her suitcase right here.
As far as we're concerned, that apartment is the scene of the crime.
So, you don't mind if we conduct a little search there, do you?
I have nothing to hide. I was just doing what I thought was best for Katie.
Somebody forgot to tell this girl disability money's for food.
Gold necklace. Louis Vuitton wallet including six $100 bills.
None of which sticks around if she was partying with her junkie friends.
You know, CSU went through all of this stuff and the apartment.
Kamen's prints are on everything.
Well, he packed her suitcase and he was showing the apartment.
Which means he opens the door and says "Look around."
But his prints were in the bathroom, they were all over the furniture.
Look, he shacks her up in this place and then he lies about it.
I, for one, don't believe in his Father Flanagan act.
I, for one, am jealous.
Divorced, middle-aged guy, young single girl...
None of which ties him to her death. Yeah.
But say Kamen gets an itch. He pops over on Katie but Katie's OD'd.
If he was afraid of her being found there alive,
now he's got a real problem.
He owns a car.
Maybe he took her out through the garage.
Well, even if she left anything behind in the car,
we don't have enough for a warrant to search it.
Arrest him for hindering.
Still doesn't get us a search warrant.
Unless you arrest him in his car.
(SIGHS)
Are we the only ones who work in the morning or what?
Maybe he telecommutes.
Here we go.
(SIREN WAILING)
You mind stepping out of the car, Mr. Kamen?
No. You mind telling me what this is all about?
You're under arrest for hindering prosecution.
You're kidding. Yeah. It's all a big joke.
What about my car? Oh, don't worry.
Your car will be secured and inventoried for your protection.
I've told you. I was home all night. I had quarterly reports to finish.
It's been four hours.
You either arraign my client or release him now.
I'll pass your sentiments on up the food chain.
I'm running out of stalls. And I don't think he's up for a game of Scrabble.
Unless we hear something, we'll have to settle for hindering.
(PHONE RINGING)
Yes.
Thanks.
That was Logan. The labs came back. They found her vomit in his car,
trace amounts of blood matched her blood type.
Which means she was still alive when he took her out of the apartment.
And he let her die in a playground instead of taking her to an emergency room.
Sure. No doctors, no police, no embarrassing questions.
We don't know what his intent was.
He could've been taking her to the hospital when she died.
For now, we'll charge him with man one.
Funny, he smells like murder two to me.
If we get corroborating evidence on motive, we'll bump it up later.
Well, I trust you're here to apologize, Lieutenant?
I do my repenting on Sunday.
Right now I'm here to re-arrest your client.
Jerome Kamen, you're under arrest for the murder of Kathleen Blanchard.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say and do can and will be used against...
"Docket number 8-5-6-9-8-2."
"People v. Jerome Kamen, manslaughter in the first degree,"
"hindering prosecution in the first degree."
Give me a plea, Mr. Kamen.
Not guilty, Your Honor.
Your Honor, even if you accept the People's theory in this case,
nothing that Mr. Kamen allegedly did supports this charge.
Mr. Kamen transported the victim
and left her behind a dumpster in the middle of the night.
You can both save it for the trial judge. Can we move on to bail, please?
People request 500,000.
POLLARD: Oh, that's ridiculous.
My client has two children to support, not including an ex-wife and her attorney.
He has less than $60,000 in his savings account.
We should all be so fortunate. $150,000 cash or bond.
That's a complete lie. She didn't die in my car.
She was never even in my car. Settle down...
I can't listen to this... Jerry.
If she wasn't in your car, Mr. Kamen, you'd better explain
how her vomit got there without her.
Well, we will deal with that, McCoy. But first, I'm curious about motive
for all these terrible things you say my client did.
He was having an affair with a client's daughter.
He was afraid of being compromised. She overdosed. He panicked.
That's insane! I kept that girl out of the gutter...
Jerry!
And no doubt you have evidence of this affair.
We'll find the evidence.
He stepped in it up to his shorts, I'm sure he left footprints.
So this vomit, that's about the extent of your case, is that right?
Well, then I have bad news for you.
Omnibus motion to suppress the evidence from the car
and to dismiss the charges. Jerry, let's go.
The police knew that they had no grounds for a warrant to search his car.
So they decided to wait until they could ambush him in his car
and they could conduct what they called this "inventory-search."
It's laughable, Your Honor.
Not to the Court of Appeals.
People v. Galak. The need to conduct an inventory
of a prisoner's personal effects provides its own rationale
for searching those effects.
POLLARD: Well, they vacuumed the carpet, Your Honor.
What were they doing an inventory of? Dust mites?
And the officers had the arrest warrant for 16 hours
before they decided to pick up my client.
How about it, Mr. McCoy? Why the delay?
A defendant has no constitutional or statutory right to a speedy arrest.
I can cite People v. Bryant on that one.
A trial term opinion? Please.
Even Mr. Magoo could see right through this.
Motion to suppress is granted. Thank you, Your Honor.
And since the evidence taken from the car
is the sole foundation for the manslaughter charge...
Got it. The motion to dismiss is also granted.
Mr. McCoy, the next time your police officers try to sneak one past this court,
I'm gonna cite them for contempt.
There's no excuse, lieutenant. It was a lousy search.
And you tell your detectives that the Bill of Rights isn't a doormat.
It was my call.
Judge Rodriguez gets birthday cards from the ACLU.
Any other judge would've allowed the search.
Oh, really? In your opinion.
You arrest a man like Jerome Kamen,
you make damn sure that your ducks are standing beak to tail.
But if it's somebody uptown, we have your permission to cut corners?
I'll keep that in mind.
A man in Kamen's position,
why would he risk compromising himself with this girl? It doesn't make sense.
He put her up in a client's apartment.
ADAM: Yeah. An act of kindness.
Hardly grounds to indict.
I don't think his conscience was clear when he left her behind a dumpster.
He's hiding something.
Then bring me somebody.
Anybody who'll testify he was having an affair with this girl.
Apparently she was still close to her brother.
Okay.
Mr. Kamen used to bounce us on his knee. He's been like a father to us.
I can't imagine he would take advantage of Katie.
Well, we found evidence she was in his car.
Yeah. But the judge threw that out, right? So that doesn't prove anything.
You're second year law? You should know better than that.
I know Jerome Kamen.
(SIGHS)
After my dad died, my mother and he became very close.
I thought it was leading somewhere. But Jerry was too loyal to my father.
He backed off.
Did you talk to your sister in the weeks before she died?
Yes. She would call once a week to make sure I was okay.
She thought I was some sort of role model because I escaped the family curse.
How do you mean?
We come from a whole line of alcoholics who think they're social drinkers.
Dad. Mom.
Well, maybe if Katie'd stuck to alcohol, she might've remained part of the family.
Was there anyone else she might've confided in, any friends?
Friends? You mean like people she shared a needle with?
Well, her boyfriend told the police you might've met some of them.
The last time I saw her, she drove up to Yale
with an actress, Teena Varga.
She'd been an extra in some Spike Lee movie.
I just got back in town a couple days ago.
You sure you're talking about Katie Blanchard?
It's her. You didn't even know she overdosed?
I been on a set in the middle of the Nevada Desert for a week.
It's not like I got The Post delivered every morning.
Who was with her?
What makes you think anyone was?
She was a total klutz with needles.
She never got the hang of it. She always needed somebody to fix her up.
You have any idea who that might've been?
Well, it wasn't me.
All somebody had to do was take her to a hospital.
I'm sure she would've been okay.
After she left the rehab, she was staying on West 81st.
Yeah. A nice place. A real change of pace for her.
She never had money before.
But all of a sudden she did?
No. I mean she didn't steal it.
She told me she had a rich uncle.
Would that be Jerome Kamen?
Could be.
She used to call him Jerry.
She used to go by his office every couple of days for a refill.
Two or three grand each time.
What did you think was going on between them?
She didn't want to talk about it.
But it's not what you think. That she would've told me.
According to her friends, Katie bought enough heroin in four weeks
to tranquilize a herd of elephants.
Must have been a popular girl. Kamen was paying for it?
He gave her something like $40,000 during the last month.
Her friend doesn't think it was because they were having an affair.
Didn't he cry poverty at his arraignment?
He said he was in hock to his ex-wife.
If she has a good divorce attorney,
I'm sure Kamen has to account for every penny he makes.
Unless he has a source of income he doesn't want anyone to know about.
Talk to his secretary, see if he keeps a printing press in his basement.
Can we make this quick? If Mr. Kamen finds out I'm meeting with you...
I didn't twist your arm, Ms. Oster.
But if I don't talk to you, it looks like I'm hiding something.
Then you get to do a number on me like you're doing on Mr. Kamen.
You think we're being unfair to him?
The man knocks himself out for people like the Blanchards.
The way they treat him, "Fetch this, fetch that,"
"clean up this mess, clean up that one."
Katie Blanchard being one of those messes?
The three years I've been with him,
there hasn't been a month he hasn't had to pull her out of one hell hole or another.
Her family just throws money at the problem.
Or they let Mr. Kamen do it.
Ms. Oster, we know that she picked up an envelope from his office every few days.
She came in about a month ago. The little brat threw a fit.
What about?
What else? Her mommy wasn't paying for her drugs.
I could hear her in Mr. Kamen's office, both faucets running full tilt,
yelling about her trust fund. She practically accused him of stealing from her.
I guess that little act worked.
Mr. Kamen started giving her money?
Wouldn't you,
with some crazed junkie jumping up and down on your desk?
The trust was set up by the late Mr. Blanchard for his three children.
Discretionary authority rests with Mr. Kamen.
He's the only one authorized to make withdrawals?
Yes, for the children's health, education and welfare.
A month ago, Miss Blanchard came in
with a withdrawal slip signed by Mr. Kamen.
So you gave her her money?
No.
Mr. Kamen's signature had been duplicated.
You mean forged.
I'm sure no crime was intended.
Are you positive it was duplicated?
You checked the signature card?
I didn't have to.
I explained to Miss Blanchard, Mr. Kamen has been coming into the bank every week
for the past year to withdraw funds from the children's trust.
I know his signature.
Miss Blanchard became livid.
Because you caught her lying?
Not entirely.
She ranted that Mr. Kamen had been taking money from the trust
and none of it was going to her.
Well, I talked to her mother. She had no idea Kamen was taking money out.
He embezzled almost $350,000 from the trust account in the past year.
Assuming that he didn't use the money for the Blanchard kids.
We verified he bought Matthew a car and a trip to Vail.
Other than that, the money's unaccounted for.
It seems pretty clear cut.
He got reamed in his divorce. He was desperate for money.
The Blanchard trust fund was just too much temptation.
And the girl suspected what he was doing.
She was the only one who ever complained about his handling of the account.
She read him the riot act and then from one day to the next, she's rolling in money.
Blackmailing him.
It's a good reason to kill her.
No. Don't jump the canyon on your motorcycle.
Motive is not an element in proving a murder charge.
We could start by charging him with larceny.
That gives us license to tear his life apart. Maybe something shakes loose.
Just a minute.
Excuse me, I'm in a meeting.
Not anymore.
We have a warrant for your arrest.
This time, the signature's still wet.
Jerome Kamen, you're under arrest for larceny.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in...
I don't know, McCoy, you must be working off some
secret edition of the penal code.
The one I have says that larceny requires intent to deprive another of property.
Over 300 grand disappeared into his pocket.
What was he doing, buying condos for the Blanchard kids?
Have you even read the trust document, Mr. McCoy?
It gives me absolute discretion to use those funds as I see fit.
Except to line your own pocket.
We got your financial records from your ex-wife's attorney.
Seems to us you've been living beyond your means.
Every dollar I withdrew went to Katie.
You have no idea what I did for that girl.
You let her blow $300,000 on drugs.
What category does that fall under, her health, education, or welfare?
You can't prove that that money didn't go to Kathleen Blanchard.
Ergo, your case is crap.
Now you can rain down as many search warrants as you want on my client,
but it's not gonna jump start any murder charge.
We've searched his home, his office. Nothing.
We need a direct link between Kamen
and the girl's death, or we can forget the whole thing.
JACK: She was a junkie. He gave her money.
It's inevitable he knew what she was going to do with it.
We can argue that he kept her supplied with drugs and is liable for her overdose.
The appellate division doesn't see it that way. People v. Pinckney.
There's no criminal liability.
That was also true in New Jersey until last summer. State v. Maldanado.
They expanded their strict liability statute to include drug suppliers.
New Jersey. They had a statute to work from and we don't.
It's already manslaughter if you inject someone with drugs and they overdose.
It's not a stretch to step it back to include suppliers.
Pinckney's a 20-year-old decision. It doesn't scare me.
Scares me.
Did you say that this girl needed help injecting herself?
According to her friend.
And could that helping hand have come from Kamen?
If we find out who sold her drugs that night, it may take us back to Kamen.
We know of one of her drug connections. Her old boyfriend.
Have him picked up. And get a search warrant for his apartment.
You guys got cement in your ears?
I didn't see Katie that night for pleasure or business.
Even as we speak, the police are tearing your place apart.
They turn up so much as a molecule of heroin...
Misdemeanor possession. So he was a bad boy, so he pays a fine.
Your client already admitted to the police he sold heroin to Katie Blanchard
a week before she died.
The charge will read, "Possession with intent to sell."
That's a B felony. Wait a second.
I told you I gave it to her. I didn't sell it.
No. No, that's not the way I heard it.
One way or another, we'll prove you supplied her with the heroin that killed her.
That's getting close to manslaughter.
It's not manslaughter if my client indirectly supplied her.
Indirectly?
The night she OD'd, Katie's brother called me.
He said he needed some morph for him and Katie.
So I chased down a bag. I gave it to him outside her apartment.
He's lying. I don't even use drugs.
Then you wouldn't mind submitting to a urine test.
I wasn't there. I was at Yale.
I don't even know where my sister was living.
We can call the dean and check your attendance records.
Sol blew off Bankruptcy 101. Big deal.
You must have also missed Evidence 102.
We match your prints on this cup to any prints at Katie's apartment,
and you're cooked.
What happened, Mr. Blanchard?
What happened?
We got high together.
When she started convulsing, I panicked.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't want anyone to find...
I called Jerry.
He came over.
He told me to get the hell out of there.
He said he'd take care of Katie.
(SIGHS)
Kamen took responsibility to save her, and he didn't do it.
It was his opportunity to let her die.
Her brother gave her the drugs.
Now, don't you think that a jury might conclude
that he's to blame for her death?
There was an intervening act. He tried to save his sister by calling Kamen.
ADAM: No.
You try Kamen for murder, it's his word against the brother's.
There's still evidence she was in his car.
No. That was ruled inadmissible.
We can argue inevitable discovery.
No. No. No. No. It won't fly.
Kamen was acting as her surrogate father. He was responsible.
He could've called 911. He could've rushed her to an emergency room.
Instead he left her to die in the cold behind a trash bin.
Can you offer admissible evidence that he transported her?
(SIGHS)
We present his motive, that he was being blackmailed,
the jury will figure out for themselves how she got from A to B.
Fine. Take them through it.
MATTHEW: She filled up the syringe.
She asked me to inject her. A few minutes after, she started having a seizure.
I didn't know what to do.
I called Mr. Kamen.
And what happened as a result of your call?
He came right over.
But by then, her eyes were rolling back in her head.
I tried to revive her, but Mr. Kamen told me I should leave.
He said I would get kicked out of Yale if anyone found out I was there.
I never should've left.
Did you have any communication with Mr. Kamen after that?
Yes. He called me the next day. He told me Katie was dead.
He made it sound like it was my fault.
He said he'd keep his mouth shut to protect me.
And what was your sister's condition when you left her with Mr. Kamen?
She was alive.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Mr. Blanchard, why would you call my client?
Does he have some special expertise with overdoses?
Ever since we were little, whenever we got into trouble,
we knew we could count on him.
For example, when you were expelled from Choate?
Yes.
He let me stay with him until he could talk to my father.
And why were you kicked out of Choate?
Objection.
Goes to credibility, Your Honor.
Overruled. The witness will answer.
They found marijuana in my room.
So you're a drug addict?
I'm not an addict.
I only smoked heroin once or twice a month, on the weekends.
POLLARD: But if anybody found out your little secret, you would be in big trouble.
Isn't that right?
Yes.
And if anybody found out that you had injected
your sister with a lethal dose of heroin,
you would be in very big trouble, isn't that correct?
I already admitted what I did.
And if anybody has a reason to move your sister's body
to hide the circumstances of her death, it's you. Isn't it...
I didn't move her. Mr. Kamen said... Nothing further.
He would help her.
Jerome Kamen held full discretionary authority over the joint trust account.
But I gave him specific instructions not to give any money to my daughter.
Every dime she got her hands on went to drugs. He knew that.
Of the $346,000 withdrawn by Mr. Kamen,
were you able to ascertain how much of it went to the children?
To the best of my knowledge, only $33,000 were spent on my children.
I haven't been able to account for the rest.
Thank you.
Didn't you forbid Katie to live in the family home
or any of the other houses that you own?
You make it sound so easy.
The psychiatrist said that it was best for her and for my other children.
POLLARD: She was a destructive influence on them?
She only really hurt herself.
Didn't you also forbid her to contact any other member of the family
except through my client?
I had to protect them.
Katie could be very manipulative...
So it fell on my client
to shoulder the sole responsibility
for your self-destructive, drug-addicted daughter,
is that right? MRS. BLANCHARD: I was at my wit's end.
Cutting her off was the best thing I could do as her mother.
No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't work a miracle.
But what's his excuse? He stole from her, he bought her drugs.
Or he bought her food and gave her shelter.
Or would you prefer that he be as cold and heartless as you
and let your daughter die a miserable death on the streets?
Objection!
She doesn't have to answer that.
The money was there, I had discretionary authority. I gave it to her.
Simple as that. Nothing criminal about it.
But I can understand why Mrs. Blanchard blames me for Katie's death.
Can you explain it to us?
She disowned her daughter. Katie is dead as a consequence.
But it's easier to blame me. To cut me off, in a way.
That's how Meryl deals with everything she finds unpleasant.
POLLARD: The night that Katie died, did you receive a call from her brother?
I was home most of the night. I went out to get a bite to eat.
When I came home, my answering machine was flashing.
But no one left a message.
And did you see Miss Blanchard that night?
No.
And if I had, I certainly hope I could've saved her.
Thank you.
Why did you lie when the police first interviewed you about Miss Blanchard?
As I explained, I was concerned about my professional reputation.
And not because you were present when Miss Blanchard overdosed?
I wasn't there.
And not because you transported her in your car?
Maybe I didn't say it loud enough the first time.
I didn't see her that night.
Then how do you explain the fact that her vomit was in your car?
Objection. Your Honor.
I'll see counsel in chambers.
This is grounds for a mistrial. Not to mention sanctions.
Your Honor suppressed this evidence.
Settle down, Mr. Pollard.
Mr. McCoy, I'll bet you were the kind of child who touched the plate
even when your mom told you it was hot.
Mr. Kamen is on the stand lying about moving Miss Blanchard's body.
I have every right to challenge his credibility.
Oh, sure. Why let a little thing like the Fourth Amendment stand in the way,
especially when you can sneak the evidence in through the back door?
The Constitution says I can't convict your client with the evidence.
Where does it say that I can't use it to prove him a liar?
A jury isn't gonna make that fine a distinction, and you know it.
I'll make sure they do, Mr. Pollard. I'll charge the jury accordingly.
The evidence is admissible to challenge credibility
but will not be used for liability.
The question will stand, and the witness will answer.
We'll resume after lunch.
Jack, your office, 10 minutes?
You may get the evidence in now, but you know it never survives an appeal.
I'll worry about that after the jury convicts your client of murder.
This is nuts. Katie was a junkie. Junkies die.
Anyone who knew her could've predicted that.
Nothing is inevitable, Mr. Kamen, except your residency
at one of our correctional facilities. You're a liar.
And now the jury knows you're a liar.
I've made my case.
Man two, minimum sentence to cover all counts of the indictment.
Man one, 8113-to-25.
What kind of a deal is that? Do you expect him to serve the max?
Yes. And after that he does two years for larceny.
You have a minute to make up your mind.
I can't believe this.
I was driving her to the damn hospital.
And what hospital was that, Mr. Kamen?
I can't recall.
But I didn't do anything wrong. Meryl didn't care about her.
If it weren't for me, she would've been dead months ago.
Even if she survived this overdose, it was just a matter of time till the next one.
She was in pain, she was killing herself.
She wanted this. Somebody had to make a decision.
It wasn't your decision to make.
It was my decision.
Ken Blanchard was my friend for 35 years.
I was the only one he would entrust with his children.
That family can't survive without me.
I pay their bills, I invest their money,
I clean up the messes they make. I damn well run their lives.
And Meryl dares accuse me of stealing from them?
No, sir. I was entitled.
I'm not gonna waste a minute regretting anything I've done.
You'll be regretting it for the next 25 years
if you don't give me your answer right now.
We'll take the deal. Send me the paperwork.
He's convinced himself he did her a favor by letting her die.
He did himself a favor.
10 years in prison?
(SIGHS)
It may cure him of his bad habit.
Arrogance.
(EXHALING)