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.
(WOMAN MOANING)
The one in the yellow G-string?
Yeah.
I think she liked me.
You also believe she's a grad student at Columbia?
Comp Lit. They're all weird.
I didn't think that was anatomically possible.
I don't think the Surgeon General recommends the position.
He ought to put a warning label on her.
(WOMAN MOANING ON TV)
Hey, Dr. Jerry.
Are you and Sheila going by Doctor and Mrs.,
or Doctor and Doctor, or Doctor and Mrs. Doctor?
I have any more drinks, I don't think there'll be a wedding.
I'll drive you to church.
Hey, you know, I think I left my wallet in that stripper bar.
WALLY: And here's couple number two. Yeah!
At least this one's younger than my mother. GIRL ON TV: Stop it!
And this one can act.
Stop!
I think the handcuffs are motivating her. It's a method technique.
She looks really scared.
Hey, Frank, it's after 3:00. You want to share a cab?
I'm married already. I'm staying.
You know, what do you think he's going to do with that pillow?
Put it under her ass?
What about that?
Hey, what the...
(SHRIEKING)
(GUN FIRING ON TV)
(MEN EXCLAIMING)
(SHRIEKING)
Stop it! Stop!
(GUN FIRING ON TV)
It's supposed to be a collection of amateur porn.
You know, horny housewives.
BRISCOE: This was for a bachelor party? Yeah.
We didn't want to do hookers. You know, nowadays.
I heard about these things, but I always thought they were an urban legend.
Where'd you get this tape, Mr. Baker?
Riga Video on my corner.
My 10-year-old niece was over last week. I rented Dumbo there.
Well, you did the right thing, bringing it in.
I'm on my way to the wedding.
I wish the happy couple a lot of luck.
Snuff films. There were some fakes floating around in the '80s.
(GIRL SCREAMING ON TV)
You think she's acting?
(GUN FIRING ON TV)
Nope.
Those XXX tapes, I don't watch them. It is against my religion.
But renting them isn't?
This is America.
It's called Home-Cooked Pies. You got the box it came in?
KHAN: Let me see.
Here.
"The girls next door you always dreamed about"
"behind closed doors for the first time."
Or the last time.
Produced by I & B Entertainment, New York City.
What is all this about?
This tape has been rented many times. My customers have never complained.
And nobody called the cops.
This is America.
So it's mine. So what?
So there's a girl on it getting raped, and then getting killed.
Come on. You think I'd touch something like that?
"I & B Entertainment, Producer." That's you.
Nice word, producer.
My mother thinks I'm Mike Todd.
You're not.
Hey, come on. I run ads in swinger magazines.
I mean, every freak in the country's got a video camera in his bedroom, right?
They send me footage, I send them 500 bucks.
I compile it, I dupe it, I ship it out.
NICK: People love the stuff.
So you saw the one we're talking about?
Maybe the first couple of minutes.
I mean, all I need to know is that they're in focus and they're naked.
Where'd you get this footage?
(SIGHS)
What number is it on the tape?
BRISCOE: It's the second one.
Home-Cooked Pies.
There.
(CLEARS THROAT)
The kid in the tape walked in off the street. He wanted his money in cash.
And you never saw him before?
No.
People know where to find me.
But you got his name, right?
Right. Signed a release.
You'd think this bastard was selling videos on how to knit an afghan.
If this is what they send in, I'd hate to see what their private collection's like.
Hey, how'd you like to be in one of these movies?
Are you kidding? I don't even like to look at my own X-rays.
Guy says he finds these scumbags in swinger magazines.
Yeah, let's see if this Malcolm Zanacek has a current subscription.
Our readers don't pay $50 a year to get their names on a police report, Detective.
It's a matter of privacy.
And this is a matter of rape and murder.
And the guy we're looking for may be one of your readers.
I don't think so.
Rape isn't a part of the swinging lifestyle.
The pleasure comes from an open and willing sharing.
But whatever happened to romance?
Our readers are interested in exploring another side of their sexual selves.
Yeah. The side marked "this end up."
Hey, Miss Kerr, we're not asking for the formula for the secret aphrodisiac.
I'd like to help, but I'm sure you can...
Look, we can get a warrant
and knock on the door of every single subscriber of your magazine,
or you can help us with one name.
Malcolm Zanacek.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
Nope.
Maybe your guy likes to browse at the newsstand.
LOGAN: Okay. All right, thanks a lot.
What are you looking for, a date?
"Open-minded MBBF seeks mature man."
What's that? Male bisexual bondage freak?
I'm more in the mood for a BLT. What'd you get?
Big surprise. No record on Malcolm Zanacek.
It means he's smart enough not to put his real name on a snuff film.
Yeah, but he's dumb enough to star in the film.
Dumb but not shy. There was a witness there.
Somebody was adjusting focus. The camera moved.
Let's have the video freaks take a look at the tape.
It was recorded November 23rd, assuming the clock in the camera was set correctly.
He was celebrating Thanksgiving a day early.
Well, we didn't see any date stamp when we watched it.
No, it was coded on the tape.
You can raise it any time by pushing the right button.
LOGAN: So we got the when. What about the who?
This is the best I can do with him.
Great, if we knew who it was we'd know who it was.
Well, he's about 5'10", white, late teens to mid 20s.
BRISCOE: Yeah, that narrows it down to about a million guys.
SCHWARTZ: There aren't a million of these.
The window?
SCHWARTZ: Yeah, 6' wide and nearly floor-to-ceiling.
And check out the gate. How often do you see that around here?
How do we know it's from around here?
There was a radio on.
ANNOUNCER ON RADIO: This weekend only.
Selected models on sale at prices you won't believe, folks.
So come on in at the Appliance Circus at 555...
Appliance Circus on Broadway.
Can we take another look at the girl?
(SCREAMING)
Man, she's just a kid.
You want me to print you a copy? LOGAN: Yeah.
You'll want her thigh, too.
A tattoo of an eyeball with a knife through it?
Somebody would have made a note.
Well, if the skin was partly decomposed, would you maybe have missed it?
Yeah. Then we wouldn't have made a note.
It's about three months ago. White female. Looked like a teenager.
Who doesn't? Hookers, runaways, DOA.
And nobody knows their name.
Yeah, with tattoos?
MALONE: Okay.
We got Hell's Angel's wings,
a rose, a rose,
a rose,
unidentified flower, possibly a rose,
and one "Sandy loves Frank" on a left buttock.
But this, this is Sandy Wilner. We cleared this one already.
Was this girl reported missing?
If she was, nobody mentioned the decoration.
Well, there can't be that many tattoo parlors around.
Why'd you come to me?
Antonio over on Eighth Street said this looks like your work.
Antonio can't ink a straight line so he knew it couldn't be his.
Yeah, I remember this. The red took very nicely.
Gonna last this girl a lifetime.
It already did.
Dagger through the eye, is that a standard design of yours?
A little macabre, don't you think? No, the girl brought it in.
You know her name?
No, but I saved the artwork.
Always looking for new ideas.
Here it is. I wrote her name on it. Corey.
Nice copy work.
I added some blood.
What is that?
It looks like part of a flyer to a band.
And the eye is their emblem?
"Live at the Club" something-or-other, "Seeing-Eye Dogs."
Hey, are you the famous Seeing-Eye Dogs?
Yeah, we used to be. Now we're Protozoa. Who are you?
We're the police.
Too late, guys. Sting already used that one.
You know a girl named Corey?
Why?
Corey. With a
What happened to her? She got dead.
You know her?
Not me.
She used to hang around with this crappy drummer
we used when Boffer got sick.
You know, Kenny. What's his name?
What's his name, Kenny?
Mitchell Pauley.
You know where we can find him?
Yeah. I hear his career's really taken off.
Corey? What, is she in trouble or something?
Well, maybe. We heard you were seeing her pretty regularly.
No, not since last year. I haven't seen her for a couple months now.
Really, why's that?
She ran away.
Her parents got divorced. Mrs. Russell, her mom, she's a real bitch.
Corey's kind of messed up.
Hey, she didn't tell you where she was going?
I mean, weren't you her boyfriend?
Oh, no, it was casual, man.
I mean, you know how girls just like to hang out with musicians, right?
Oh, yeah, yeah, right. She never called you after she ran away?
No, I had a new girl already.
Do you have Mrs. Russell's address?
There it is.
"Oh, hello, Mrs. Russell."
"We just saw a video of your daughter getting raped and shot in the head."
You want me to do it?
No, I'll do it.
BRISCOE: Corey?
Yeah. Who are you?
Oh, she's run away three or four times.
I come home from work, she's not there.
I don't know if she'll be back in an hour or two days.
Like you really care.
And this is what I have to deal with.
Mrs. Russell, we thought your daughter was dead.
The gun wasn't real.
What kind of a game were you playing?
Do you realize how dangerous this is?
I wasn't playing a game.
This tape was in video stores?
Is that all you care about?
Look, somebody has to care about something sometimes!
Mrs. Russell, why don't we just take this a little slower...
Yet she thinks I'm evil if I don't let her get a ring through her nipple.
I never said that.
You're not home enough to say anything.
You're out making pornography.
You think I let them do this to me?
You don't understand anything.
Tell it to me, Corey. What happened?
They raped me.
Who are they?
I met these guys at a party, who took me to a bar where I met these other guys,
then they invited me back to their place.
And you went? Mrs. Russell...
I didn't know this was going to happen.
VAN BUREN: What were their names?
Aland Bill, I think.
Bill was the one running the camera.
You don't know their last names?
Where did they take you?
I don't know. I'd had a lot to drink.
It's not so easy to get that drunk, Corey.
If you wanna be, it is.
The family of the year it's not.
Hey, a messed-up kid like her is just asking for something like this.
She's lucky it wasn't a snuff film.
It looked real. I could've sworn that girl was killed.
You think the guy faked it for fun or for $500?
What about the guy who bought it? Doesn't that make him an accessory?
It might stand up.
It might make him remember the rapist's real name.
We got him for rape, Mike, even if we never find the guy who did it.
That is crap, and you know it.
Hey, you paid him for it. That makes you and him partners.
Your lawyer can explain it to you.
Hey, I'd tell you his name if I knew it.
Did you look in here, Nick? I mean, maybe you wrote it down.
Cut it out.
Okay, you look.
Come here. What...
Look at that. Hey!
I'm going to file a complaint against you bastards.
Yeah, and we're going to unroll every inch of tape in your warehouse
looking for evidence.
Look, look, you thought she was shot. That was an act.
Maybe the rape was an act, too, huh?
Yeah, we got a 16-year-old girl who says different. Arrest him, Mike.
I don't want to get my hands dirty.
I don't know his name. Oh, jeez!
Keep looking. Come on, look.
Wait, wait.
I bought some other tapes from him before, okay?
Thank you, Nick.
BRISCOE: That's not the same kid.
LOGAN: And that's not Corey.
BRISCOE: Not much older than Corey, though.
But this one's not complaining.
Next.
LOGAN: That's him.
With a different girl. Whatever happened to spin the bottle?
Whatever happened to their parents?
What was that?
Run it again.
BRISCOE: Did you see that?
Here's where the recording cut out.
Power failure?
Yeah, it lasted 0.03 seconds,
and during which it did not record over the previous image.
The guy taped over an old tape?
Don't you?
What's the old tape? Gangbang Granny?
Looks like a family birthday party. Yeah.
Check this out.
At Danny's Steak House.
Yes, sir. Right this way, please.
Detectives, we have a few birthday parties here.
For old ladies?
Old ladies, young ladies, men dressed as ladies.
Look, we pulled this off the video. Does it ring any bells?
Yeah. They had the $8 wine.
Maybe the waiter would remember. Is he around?
Not since November. He moved to Vegas.
Believe it or not, that helps. Now how long has the busboy been with you?
I don't know. Since August.
Okay, so between August and November, a party of 10, a birthday cake...
I'll check my reservation book.
It was my mother's birthday. We're a very close family.
Why are the police investigating?
Well, you did make a videotape of the party?
Yes.
I'm still waiting to hear what law got broken.
Rape, Mr. Sutter. And somebody decided to capture the moment for posterity.
On a tape of my mother's birthday party?
Well, I made some copies, I sent them around.
Maybe one of my cousins threw his out.
I don't know, anyone could have taken it out of the trash.
Do you recognize him, Mr. Sutter?
No.
I don't know what else I can tell you.
"Anyone could have taken it out of the trash"?
Oh, yeah. The kid can afford a $2,000 video camera, but he can't afford a $2 tape?
Listen, man, do you think there's any family resemblance
between the kid and Sutter?
Hard to tell, but I would like to see Sutter's apartment.
Nice light. I guess you don't get windows like these except in lofts, huh?
No, I suppose not. You said you talked to my husband?
Yeah, yeah, we did, but we had a couple things to ask you if you don't mind.
Is this your bedroom?
No, that's my son's.
Does this have something to do with Shane?
Does your son have access to a video camera?
Is Shane in some kind of trouble?
He might be.
We're gonna need to talk to him. Where is he now?
At school.
Look, I think I'd better call my husband.
My mom and dad both called here. They said I shouldn't talk to you.
Well, play it your way. We can all talk down at the precinct.
Talk about what?
Videotapes, Shane.
What about videotapes?
Oh, hot stuff.
Young girls, porno, rape.
They sound pretty good. Yeah.
And we got a pretty good look at you on the tape.
We got a good enough look that we know you got two big feet.
You do understand that I don't know what you're talking about?
How about a girl named Corey Russell, Shane?
I guess you don't know anything about her either, huh?
Corey? I know her from around.
"Around"? What, you hang out in the same bars?
I don't go to bars. I'm underage.
Corey goes to school here. You want her? I think she's in Geometry.
You told me you didn't know who did it, Corey.
Do you want me to introduce you to Shane Sutter? He's across the hall.
God, I can't believe you tracked him down.
That's what we do here, Corey. Why did you lie?
Can't we just forget the whole thing?
Did you lie about being raped, too?
I did Corey. So?
You handcuffed her to a bed, you tore her clothes off.
You forced yourself on her. Then you pretended to shoot her.
Pretended. It was a goof.
It's not a goof, Shane. It's a felony.
Detective, these kids today...
Are kids.
Would you like to see the video your kid made of this girl
and then sold for 500 bucks?
But it's not just the boys. These girls, they call Shane all the time.
You should hear some of the things they say.
This one said stop, Mrs. Sutter.
It was an act. If Corey's telling you different, she's lying.
I can't help you, Corey, unless you tell me what happened.
Did I ask for help?
On the tape you did. You were screaming for it.
I just wanna leave.
I don't have to tell you anything.
Look, you can play these games with your mother all you want,
but you play them with me, little girl, and I cause you real trouble.
Either that boy committed a crime, or you did by lying about it.
Somebody's gonna be arrested here,
and I'm getting so I don't give a damn who it is.
(EXHALES)
I have to see him and the other Rangers every day.
What Rangers?
The Mack Rangers.
Shane's friends. It's what they're called.
Did they threaten you?
I knew it would happen. I had nowhere to go.
One of these other boys made the video?
Kyle Winters.
I didn't know it was going to be like that.
Corey, did Shane Sutter have your consent to do what he did?
No. It was so awful.
Did he have your consent? That's all I need to know.
(SIGHS)
No.
Shane Sutter, you are under arrest for the rape of Corey Russell.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You understand? You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
BAILIFF: "Case number 775587."
"People v. Shane Sutter and Kyle Winters."
"Rape in the first degree."
Let's have a plea.
Not guilty. Not guilty.
People request $200,000 for each defendant.
GREER: They're minors, Your Honor.
We ask they be remanded to the custody of their parents.
Parental control means nothing to them, Your Honor.
They raped a 16-year-old girl while making a pornographic tape
at the home of one of the defendants.
They made a tape of it?
And they sold it, Your Honor.
Your Honor, the boys' parents are here today.
They'll agree to whatever supervision the court stipulates.
So, based on their track record, seems to me they could use a little incentive.
Bail is set at $100,000 for each defendant. Next.
I don't know what you people are going nuts over.
Corey wanted to hook up with us. She wanted to be in our video.
She screamed no, but she really meant yes?
It was an act. The bitch deserves the Sharon Stone award.
Kyle, please. Mr. McCoy,
if we're in for a lecture on the moral decay of society, skip it.
My client's already late for school.
Sit down and listen.
His behavior turns my stomach,
but your client's not the principal actor in this crime.
You're offering us a deal?
If he testifies against Shane Sutter.
Must mean that you're not entirely convinced by Miss Russell's performance.
You really want to bet on how convinced a jury will be?
What kind of deal we talking about?
This is a joke, man. I'm not saying anything against Shane.
LAURIN: Kyle. KYLE: No way, nohow.
Look, Corey spread them because she wanted it.
She wasn't there to play Mario Bros.
She's only saying it's rape because she's embarrassed.
The kid acts as if he was making an audition tape for the NYU Film School.
Maybe the girl was auditioning for Yale Drama.
She convinced three cops.
The boy's ready to go to prison to protect a rapist?
According to Corey, Kyle and Shane are part of a clique at school.
The Mack Rangers.
Must've taken an oath of stupidity.
Even the mob doesn't command that kind of loyalty anymore.
They made other tapes with other girls.
Maybe Corey isn't the only one who had to be handcuffed to a bed.
We'd all go to Shane's place after school, watch Beavis and Butthead. Mess around.
I thought making a tape'd be fun.
You went along with it?
Did they tell you they planned to sell the tape?
Yeah. I kind of got a little kick thinking some perv's watching me do it.
But that's not the point anyway.
What was the point?
Well, the guys I did it with, they needed it for the proof that we did it.
Proof for whom?
The other Mack Rangers at school.
They keep score. Like, one girl, one point.
You know, it's dumb, I guess it's just guy stuff.
And all the girls went along with this?
The ones I hang with.
I mean, look, the Rangers are cool.
You do it anyway, you might as well do it with them.
They're not gonna get all goofy on you, like they're your boyfriend or anything.
Corey Russell says that Shane raped her.
Like he'd have to.
Come on, Corey is no virgin.
Anyway, these guys, they're into scoring, not hurting.
They tell you stuff like,
"Oh, come on, baby. Everybody's doing it." They act real sweet.
After, they tell all the other Rangers,
and there you are on the shelf like some kind of trophy.
If you knew their reputation, why did you do it?
Same as everybody. I liked the attention.
See, these are the cool guys in school, you know. They kind of run the place.
The school knows this is going on?
What're they gonna do, hand out chastity belts?
And if you said no?
No problem, as long as you don't mind being a leper for the rest of the year.
See, this girl, Beth Ritchie, she didn't want any part of it.
So Shane and all the other guys, you know, they kind of whirlpooled her.
They got all around her in the swimming pool.
They touched her everywhere. They even took her top off.
Did she complain to the school?
They couldn't prove anything.
Next day, the buzz in class was she had AIDS.
The Rangers started a rumor?
Yeah, they ragged on her so bad.
They even said she did it with her brother. She had to transfer.
See, I don't have anywhere to transfer to.
(BELL RINGING)
You paint a picture of orgies in the hallways, Miss Kincaid.
Points for sex, Mr. Marx?
It's hard enough getting them to show up for class.
You try stopping them from having sex.
What about Beth Ritchie?
She didn't want to have sex. No one helped her.
We investigated her problem with the boys in the swimming pool.
Yeah, well, her problem sounds like an assault.
Well, what Beth said happened and what could be proven are two different things.
You spoke to the boys? To the witnesses?
I'm a vice-principal, Miss Kincaid, not a policeman.
We're talking about over-stimulated teenagers who can't turn on a TV
without getting an insider's view of Madonna's cleavage.
Now that's tough competition for lectures on Hannibal's Carthage.
So the school ignores the problem, hoping it'll go away?
We teach our girls to say no.
Well, what are you teaching the boys?
Points for what?
It's the Mack Rangers' idea of an intramural sport.
And they play dirty. Vicious rumors, assaults.
Well, none of it's admissible in this case.
They created an atmosphere of terror in that school.
A few girls were happy to play along.
For the rest, the peer pressure was intolerable.
Peer pressure isn't against the law.
Rape is.
And the defense is gonna say Corey Russell wanted to be with the in-crowd.
That's when I'll introduce evidence of peer pressure.
And that will make the girl look willing.
I'm not talking about pressure on her.
I mean pressure on Shane.
JACK: He had to score points to stay in the game.
Points, yeah.
It gave him motive to commit rape.
And that same pressure got Corey up into his apartment to give him opportunity.
All right, you got something legal here and inadmissible.
And you wanna sneak it in the back door twice. I like it.
BETH: They all came on to me. Shane, Kyle, Ethan, all of them.
I didn't want to have anything to do with them.
Then they started bumping me in the hallway, grabbing my breasts.
By "them," Miss Ritchie, you mean members of the so-called Mack Rangers?
I renew my objection.
The defendant's association with this club is prejudicial and irrelevant.
It goes to the heart of the crime, Your Honor. Motive and opportunity.
I'll let it in. You're overruled, Mr. Greer. Exception.
Noted. You may answer the question, Miss Ritchie.
Yes. They were the Mack Rangers.
And what, if anything, happened to you in the school swimming pool last November?
They surrounded me in the shallow end.
They started pinching me and touching me all over.
I tried to get out, they held my head under water.
I thought I was going to drown.
They pulled the top of my bathing suit down while I was trying to breathe.
JACK: And did they say anything to you?
Objection, Your Honor. Hearsay.
Statement against interest.
Overruled.
They called me names. "Bitch." "Dyke."
Shane said the Mack Rangers don't take no for an answer.
JACK: Thank you.
How long did you go to school with the defendants?
Year and a half.
Did either of them ever rape you?
No.
I guess they did take no for an answer.
I didn't really want to go to Shane's place.
But I felt I kind of had to.
Can you explain that?
I knew what happened to Beth, and I thought if I just did it with him,
I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
JACK: What happened at Shane's apartment?
Shane, Kyle and I, we had a beer.
And then Shane and I went into his room, and we started fooling around.
And he put these handcuffs on me.
It was getting really weird.
And then Kyle came in with the camera, and that's when I said no way.
And I told him to stop.
And what did Shane do?
He kept going.
He took my panties off, and Kyle was moving around with the camera,
and that's when Shane did it.
What did he do, Miss Russell?
He got inside me.
And then he pulled out this gun.
He covered my face with a pillow, and I heard this loud bang right in my ear.
JACK: And then?
I was crying.
Shane took off the handcuffs.
They were laughing.
I got dressed and I left.
They were still laughing.
At this time, I'd like to play People's One, Your Honor.
Proceed.
COREY ON TAPE.' Stop it!
JACK: Can you identify the people on the tape, Corey?
COREY ON TAPE.' Stop!
That's me. And that's Shane.
Get off me! Get off! Stop!
(COREY SCREAMING ON TAPE)
This really hurts. Stop it! Stop it! Stop!
Get off me!
No!
(COREY CRYING ON TAPE)
Please.
Stop!
(GUN FIRING ON TAPE)
Thank you.
Ms. Russell, after you left Shane's apartment,
did you report this alleged rape to the police?
No.
GREER: Did you see a doctor?
No.
Did you tell your mother?
I couldn't tell her that.
In other words,
it wasn't until after the police showed up at your front door with this tape
that you cried rape.
I was raped.
Certainly convenient to say so after that tape came to light, wasn't it?
JACK: Objection.
Withdrawn. No more questions.
Actually, the whole thing was sort of Corey's idea.
She wanted to do something different than the other girls.
She was, like, showing off.
So she went up to your apartment of her own free will?
She kept asking when she could come.
And in everything that we saw on that tape, Miss Russell was a willing participant?
She told Kyle where to stand. She wanted him to get the best angle.
GREER: No more questions.
So what we've seen is just your way of doing Corey a favor?
I wouldn't say favor. It was mutual.
She wanted to be raped, and you obliged her?
It wasn't rape.
You said that Corey wanted to do something different than the other girls.
By the other girls, you mean the other girls that you and the other Mack Rangers
had sex with?
Yeah.
SHANE: The other girls at school.
And you got one point for each girl, is that right?
Your Honor.
Sit down, Mr. Greer.
We've heard about this competition before, Mr. Sutter.
One girl, one point, right?
Right.
At the time that you made the tape, how were you doing?
Fine.
JACK: How many points did you have?
Your Honor?
Answer the question, Mr. Sutter.
Seventeen.
JACK: So were you in first place?
SHANE: No.
Were you in second place?
No.
You weren't doing too well, were you?
I was third and moving up.
DOREMUS: Has the jury reached a verdict?
FOREMAN: Yes, Your Honor.
Against the defendant, Kyle Winters, on the sole count of the indictment,
rape in the first degree, how do you find?
We find the defendant guilty.
Against the defendant, Shane Sutter,
on the sole count of the indictment, rape in the first degree, how do you find?
We find the defendant guilty.
Thank you, sir. Jury is excused. Bail continued pending sentencing.
(GAVEL BANGS)
The pre-sentence report recommended the minimum.
Two years. Wonderful.
Be out in time for graduation.
Greer filed his notice of appeal.
All evidence relating to the Mack Rangers should have been excluded.
Why? Because without it, Greer might have won?
First Amendment. The Constitution?
Yeah, that pesky thing.
MCNAMARA: Are you sure you're not elevating this matter excessively, Counselor?
The right of free association, Your Honors, is as fundamental to American liberties
as freedom of speech.
Even if the association in question is engaged in criminal behavior?
No such evidence was presented at trial.
The People dwelt at length
on my client's association with non-criminal activities of the Mack Rangers.
That would be the points-for-sex competition?
Which may be abhorrent but is not illegal.
The People claimed it went to motive.
That was the claim.
I submit they in fact accomplished their real goal,
which was to inflame the passion of the jury
by appealing to its members' sense of moral outrage.
Thank you, Your Honors.
This court has consistently held that evidence of motive may be introduced
to weaken the presumption of innocence and to establish guilt.
Can the State accomplish that
at the expense of constitutional rights, Mr. McCoy?
In Dawson, the Supreme Court rejected the evidence of a defendant's membership
in a racist gang.
In Dawson, the crime charged wasn't motivated by racism.
In this case, the crime is rape. The only issue is consent.
Rape typically is both the means and the end.
In this case, it was the means to an end, points.
SANDERSON: Do the People concede
the defendants didn't rape any of the other girls to obtain points?
Yes, Your Honor, but... If the competition
had led to other rapes, you could have established a pattern of conduct
under Molineux.
But that didn't apply, so you dressed the same evidence up as motive.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
Rule number one, never drink at work.
Rule number two, never discuss work while drinking.
They've overturned the verdicts and remanded for a new trial.
Evidence of the Mack Rangers is excluded.
Rule number three, if rule number two is broken,
never drink alone.
I just want you to understand a jury may not believe Corey's story
without understanding why Shane did it.
And that evidence is now gone.
We can't go through this again anyway.
CLAIRE: We? What about you, Corey?
I don't care.
If they're not convicted, Corey,
you're going to have to see these boys every day.
She's going to live with her father in Michigan. New school.
Yeah, I wonder how long before they hear about it there.
Would you rather they hear you're a victim who got justice?
Or that you're a slut and a liar?
What difference does it make?
What that girl needs is counseling. Not another trial you can't win.
I think I can convince her to testify. And I think I can win.
Well, that's great. All right, you get an A for self-esteem.
But without the Mack Rangers evidence,
your case makes exciting bedtime reading, and that's it.
Great. So the boys go back to school bragging about how they beat the law.
And the girls start lining up again to be humiliated.
You want to save them? Tell me how.
JACK: What if we aimed wrong before?
The Mack Rangers aren't evidence of a crime.
They are the crime.
Mack Rangers as a criminal conspiracy.
To commit rape.
Under the conspiracy law, we don't even have to prove they committed one.
You have to prove that they agreed to.
The only reason they exist is for sex.
And when they whirlpooled that girl, they said, "We don't take no for an answer."
Then you also have to prove that at least one of them committed an overt act
implementing the agreement.
Every threat, every act of intimidation. That's very cute.
But the appeals court just shot you down when you had a good argument.
You think you can win this one?
I don't think we'll have to.
I left my aerobics shoes at the Vertical Club.
So you exercise there. But you just don't like to exercise here? Is that it?
Well, they don't make you wear...
Excuse me. Can I help you?
Here's our hall pass.
All right, listen up, folks. Hold the action.
We're from the New York City Police Department.
We're gonna call out some names.
If you hear your name, I want you to step up to the foul line.
Mayfield, Winters,
Henderson, Quinn, Kort
and the sentimental favorite, Shane Sutter.
You are all under arrest for conspiracy to commit rape.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Yeah.
You're going to wait? It's only the first night, Jack.
I'll stay till the dinner table's cleared.
That's when it hit the fan in my house.
We know they're loyal.
Kyle already risked a rape conviction to protect Shane.
That leaves four.
Don't you think there's one boy in the group who'd rather go to college than prison?
Or one parent who's making a stronger appeal than you or I could?
You won't take it personally if I don't man the lighthouse with you?
Nah.
(PHONE RINGING)
You understand, Mr. McCoy, we're only interested in full immunity.
No jail, no probation, no charges.
Preferably, the arrest is expunged.
And what do we get from Mr. Quinn in exchange for our largesse?
Anything you want to know about the Mack Rangers.
Whatever you need to make your case.
This is wrong. I don't want... Shut up.
No, thanks. I can make the conspiracy case without him.
Then why are you doing this?
I want Shane Sutter for rape.
I told you there was no...
If I have to tell you to shut up again,
you're going to remember it.
Mr. Quinn, did Shane ever tell you what he did to Corey Russell?
Ethan, talk.
How many points do you think you'll be worth in prison, son?
Shane bragged about it.
He said Corey put up a hell of a fight.
He said he ought to get double points.
I've never heard of this other boy before. I think he's lying.
You can tell yourself whatever you want, Mr. Sutter.
I have what I need to go to a jury.
What are you offering, Jack?
Who cares? My son didn't rape anybody. These girls give it away.
Stop saying that. You act like he didn't do anything wrong.
Monica. Not here!
The sentencing recommendation was two years.
Fine. And he allocutes. Starting now.
Tell your father what you did to Corey Russell.
I told you. She wanted to be there. They all did.
It was no big deal. She got cold feet, that's all.
So she wasn't acting?
No. She was mad. Even after.
I didn't think she would be.
JACK: After what?
After you helped her get over her cold feet?
Yeah. Against her will?
You have to say it, Shane.
Yes. She was really fighting.
So you raped her?
Yeah, fine. I raped her.
We dealt Kyle Winters, too. Eighteen months.
Drop the conspiracy case. You've got what you wanted.
I think they should all be going to jail.
They still don't think they did anything wrong.
Maybe seeing their friends in Attica will convince them.
Teenage boys? Good luck.