- 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.
- Yo.
Yo.
Hey!
Yo, what you running for?
Hey!
- Early bird runner found him laying here.
- Approximate time of death?
- MLIs put it somewhere. - Between 2:00 and 4:00 AM.
- Witnesses? - None so far.
- Yeah, nobody sees nothing, huh?
- Eh.
Blunt force trauma?
- That'd be my guess.
- ID?
- Derek Stanton.
- Still got his cash.
Any indication that the body was moved here?
- The way the blood has pooled and the spatter
on the pavement, I think it all happened right here.
- My boy had quite the rap sheet.
Just got out of Fishkill nine months ago.
- What was he in for?
- Selling marijuana.
Served four years.
- Four years for selling weed?
- Crazy.
- Times have changed.
Surveillance footage from the park near the crime scene
shows a guy wailing on Stanton.
But it doesn't capture the whole thing.
- Damn.
Do we have any better video than this?
- It's the only video we got.
There weren't many cameras in the area.
- I can't even make out his face or even a skin color.
- But it's clear that the assailant and Stanton
are about the same size, so we're looking for a guy
who's about 6 feet tall.
- What else do we know?
- Well, the ME thinks that the perp
might have been wearing a ring with some kind of stone in it.
- So did we run the vic's body for DNA?
- Yeah, they took samples,
but the backlog's a few weeks out minimum.
- All right, well, just keep digging in.
You know, given this guy's history,
it could be related to drugs
or maybe even his time in Fishkill or both.
- Hey, I found something interesting
on the vic's phone.
Past week, Stanton made 28 calls
to a man named Jordan Spall, but he never answered.
- So the vic's calling Spall, Spall's not picking up.
There's got to be a good reason.
Did Spall ever serve time?
- Sure did.
Armed assault, sentenced to five years at Fishkill.
Got out a few months ago.
- He's probably still on parole.
- Jordan Spall hasn't missed an appointment,
hasn't failed a urine test, hasn't re-offended,
at least not yet.
- You know, since we're here,
would you mind seeing what you could find out
about our vic, Derek Stanton?
He's a Fishkill alum.
- According to Stanton's chart, he was a model parolee, too.
- Was he a model prisoner?
- Looks like Stanton was disciplined
a few times for fighting.
- 20 bucks says he was scrapping with Spall.
- As a matter of fact.
- Where's Spall living now?
- Is that him?
- Looks like it.
Jordan Spall, I'd like to have a word with you.
Jordan.
Hey!
- I've got this side. - 27 Squad to Central.
10-85.
Black male, 30s, blue jeans, green hoodie
under a black jacket.
In pursuit, Cherry Street flea market.
- NYPD.
Police, police. It's OK. It's OK.
Watch yourself. Watch yourself.
Spall!
- It's... it's the shoes. Sorry.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa! - Watch out!
- Oh, my God!
Watch out!
- Give me your hands. Stay down.
Stay down.
- Usain Bolt.
- I didn't have anything to do with killing Derek Stanton.
- So why'd you run when you saw us then?
- 'Cause I had weed on me.
- Bro, having weed on you this day and age?
You're not gonna get in trouble for that.
But beating Derek Stanton to death,
that'll get your ass locked back up in genpop.
- What?
I didn't even know Derek was dead.
- Oh, we'd like to believe you, Jordan.
We really would.
Unfortunately, we're homicide detectives,
so we don't believe anybody.
So help us out.
Where were you this morning between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM?
- In my bed at the halfway house, sleeping.
You could check with the tight-ass supervisor.
Dude watches like a hawk.
- Why was Stanton calling you so much?
- Don't know, don't care.
I didn't like the dude, so I ignored his calls.
- Jordan, come on.
Either we tell your PO how cooperative you were, or...
- Or we tell her something else.
- All right.
I heard Derek was reaching out to a bunch of ex-cons,
trying to put together a crew, make some money.
- Doing what?
- Word is, they was meeting at a pizza place
near the projects on Pitt Street.
That's all I know.
- Window was busted when I got here this morning.
- What time was that?
6:00 AM.
Derek was supposed to be here.
I thought maybe it was a robbery,
but nothing's missing.
- So you work here? - Assistant manager.
- Where were you late last night?
- In my room. - Can anyone verify that?
- I live in a group home. You can check.
There's lots of cameras.
- Why was Derek here so early?
- Gotten the lease to this pizzeria,
and he was working around the clock
to get it off the ground.
Grand opening's tomorrow.
Well, it was supposed to be anyway.
- How'd you know Derek?
- Fishkill.
- What were you in for?
- Heroin.
Picked the wrong time to be an addict, you know?
Nowadays, they bend over backwards to get you help.
Back then, we were hardened criminals, man.
- We heard Derek had been meeting
with a bunch of ex-cons. You know anything about that?
- Just trying to put together a team to open more pizzerias.
Wanted to help.
Was going to give us a piece of the action, too.
- That's it?
There was nothing else going on?
- He was just trying to help a bunch of ex-cons out.
- Sounds like a good dude.
- He was.
- You know anybody who didn't feel that way?
Anybody who might have wanted him dead?
Last few months, he's been all about making amends.
Kept his nose real clean.
Spent a lot of time with his daughter, too.
- Sonya, Lena,
I am terribly sorry that we have some very bad news.
Your father and your ex-husband
was found murdered.
I can't believe that he's gone.
I just got him back.
He spent all those years in prison over weed.
He finally gets out, and then this?
- If you don't mind my asking, why have you moved here?
Does it have anything to do with your father?
Was he violent to either one of you?
- No.
Never.
- No, Derek wasn't about any of that.
He had his issues, sure, but...
he never raised his voice or his hands to either one of us.
- So why are you here?
Who are you afraid of?
- My husband, William.
He's got a temper.
And when Derek got out of prison, things just got worse.
We just needed to get away for a little while
until things calmed down.
- Did your husband and Derek, they ever argue or fight?
- Yes.
The last time my father came to the house,
William chased him out.
He said he was going to kill him.
- I don't care what them girls said.
They're crazy, tripping over nothing.
I ain't lay a hand on either one of them.
- What about Derek Stanton? You ever lay a hand on him?
- No, sir.
Wanted to, but I never did.
Punk-ass drug dealer
thought he could just walk back into everybody's life.
- Lena's daughter said you threatened to kill him.
- I did.
Meant it, too.
But I didn't kill nobody.
- Where were you last night after midnight?
- Midnight? I couldn't sleep.
Got a lot on my mind.
So I went for a walk.
- You remember where?
- Around.
- How about we take a walk around to the precinct
and jog your memory?
- Lawyer.
- Do we have any evidence that puts William Barnes
and Derek Stanton together on the morning of the murder?
- I've dug through every surveillance video
from the neighborhood.
Tracked Barnes on his late night walk.
He heads north on Avenue C
in the general direction of the pizzeria.
He never crosses paths with Stanton.
- Do we have any video of him actually near the pizzeria?
- This is him two blocks east.
It's the closest he gets,
and then he crosses the street away from the pizzeria.
What's that?
Top right hand corner.
- Looks like a dude throwing something.
- What's he throwing, like rocks or something?
- There's another camera that should cover that corner.
- Dude's throwing rocks right next to where
Stanton got his window broken that night.
And now he's headed straight for the pizzeria.
- Can you pull up the video of the actual assault?
- Same body size, same type of hoodie, sneakers.
- And if I'm not mistaken, that's a ring on his finger.
Just like the M.E. said.
- I think we might have our killer.
- Yup.
Now we just got to find him.
- Looks like he made his way down the street,
and for some dumb-ass reason, just kept throwing rocks.
- Yeah, Stanton must have been in the pizzeria
when the rock came through the window,
chased the kid down, confronted him.
- Excuse me.
You work here nights? - Yeah.
- You think you might have seen this young man around here
a couple nights ago?
- Sorry, doesn't look familiar.
- Thanks.
- Yeah, I remember that kid.
Came in the other night just before we closed up.
- What time was that?
- Um, midnight. - You sure it's him?
- Yeah. Thought he was handsome.
- Did he buy anything?
- No, he didn't have a card,
but his friend did.
- You have a record of that transaction?
- Yeah, I could probably pull it up.
- You can drink it now?
- Kyle Brimmer.
- Let's start with who you were with at the dispensary.
- Just to be clear, Kyle has no knowledge of any crime.
He was home in bed in his parents' condo
an hour before the homicide.
- Yeah, we got that. We saw the surveillance video.
So right now, the only way Kyle can get into trouble
is by lying to us.
So who were you with?
- Jesse Erickson.
- And how do you know Jesse?
- We're in the same class at Martindale.
- Martindale? The prep school?
- Why don't you walk us through
what you and Jesse did that night?
- Well, I just got my weed card, so we wanted to...
- They're giving out medical marijuana cards
to prep school seniors now?
- My client has an exemption for an anxiety disorder.
- Of course he does.
So you and Jesse, you go downtown
to buy some cannabis, what, around, like, what, 11 o'clock?
- Yeah, Jesse wanted to get high.
And he kept bugging me to take him to a dispensary.
So we bought some dabs.
- Concentrated hash oil.
Then what?
- We went to some diner, had a couple of burgers,
and then I left.
I took an Uber at 1:08 AM.
I have the receipt.
- How about your boy, Jesse?
- Well, he didn't want to leave.
He said he wanted to walk around
and explore the East Village.
I told him to come with me, but he sort of ran off.
- Ran off?
- Yeah.
It was really weird.
- Jesse Erickson, 18 years old, lives on the Upper East Side
with his investment banker father
and his book editor mother.
- He's a senior at Martindale.
- Fancy. - He's a star varsity athlete
and in the top 10% of his class.
- Any discipline problems?
- No, he just won a citizenship award.
- Good kid, good family, never been in any trouble.
- And yet he brutally beats an ex-con to death?
I don't know. Why?
- That is the million dollar question.
OK, I'll call for a warrant.
- There's got to be some kind of mistake.
- Mr. Erickson, just tell us if Jesse is here or not.
- Jesse is a kind and lovely boy.
You can ask anyone.
- We need to speak with Jesse now.
- Well, you can't treat him like he's some common criminal.
- We're treating him like he's a suspect
in a murder investigation.
- Sounds like he's down here.
Young man, will you stand up please?
Stand up.
Put your hands behind your back.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait. - Jesse Erickson,
we're placing you under arrest for murder.
- Hold on, hold on. - Do what they say, son.
And don't say a word, no matter what they tell you
or promise you. - What happened to your hand?
- So me and my buddy... - Don't answer that.
- Dad, help me!
- I will.
Now, remember, don't say a word.
- Let's go.
- Calling docket ending in 9710,
People versus Jesse Erickson,
charged with murder in the second degree.
- I'll hear you on bail, Ms. Maroun?
- This was a brutal, unprovoked attack on a defenseless man.
The defendant threw a rock,
smashing Derek Stanton's pizza shop window.
When confronted about it, the defendant reacted
by beating Derek Stanton to death
with his bare hands.
He's facing life in prison, has tremendous resources,
and has every incentive to flee the jurisdiction.
The People submit that no amount of bail
will secure his appearance at trial.
We're seeking remand.
- Mr. Thorpe.
- Holding my client without bail
is completely uncalled for.
My client is a high school student
with no criminal history,
which is more than I can say for Mr. Stanton.
- Well, the People have a strong case.
The attack was captured on video.
- A portion of the attack was captured.
Mr. Erickson was in an unfamiliar neighborhood
when he came upon a criminal
who confronted and threatened him.
He panicked and he fought back.
And we expect a full exoneration at trial.
I'd also point out that Mr. Erickson is a valued member
of his community.
His parents are here, his classmates,
his teammates, his minister.
- OK, I'm setting a $2 million cash bail.
- His parents will post forthwith.
- Next case please.
- They're making my dad out to be a monster.
- Well, it's just a legal tactic, OK?
It doesn't mean anything. - It does to me.
My dad was the victim. They called him a criminal.
- It's what lawyers do.
- He was trying to turn his life around,
be a better person, a better dad.
- I know this must be hard.
Losing a family member is a pain like no other.
It just never goes away.
- His family can buy his way out of this.
Who's going to stand up for my family, for my dad?
- I will. I promise.
I'm... I'm going to do everything I can
to honor his memory.
- Nice. What's the occasion?
- Oh, it's the anniversary of my sister's death.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
It's OK.
Yeah, every... every year,
my parents send me yellow roses.
It was her favorite flower.
- That's nice.
- Yeah.
So it definitely looks like
Erickson is going to claim self-defense.
- It makes sense.
Derek Stanton was poor. He had a criminal record.
They'll push the narrative that he was obviously the aggressor.
- It had to be, right?
I mean, he's an ex-con, sold marijuana.
How evil.
And of course, he's Black, so...
- Right, I get it.
There are a lot of unanswered questions here, though.
High school kid, great grades, great reputation,
no history of violence, crosses paths with a felon.
- A felon? He's a victim.
- No, I understand, Sam. I'm just stating a fact.
- Question is, can we prove murder two?
Show that it was an intentional act,
or was it something else, a fistfight, mutual combatants?
- Not sure just yet.
We need to figure out motive first
or offer a plea to a reduced charge.
Man one? - Plead him out?
Just like that?
- Well, unless more evidence drops,
this is going to be a tough case to prove.
- Why? Because the defendant is a rich white kid?
- Excuse me?
- If a poor Black kid beat the hell out of Stanton, then...
- Then we'd still need to prove motive.
And that's not what happened. A rich white kid did it.
And right or wrong, fair or unfair,
that's the case we're trying.
- I understand, but Ms. Maroun has a point.
Even though the facts are confusing,
we need to be aware of the optics.
- Fine.
I'll press forward with murder two.
- Good. But get ready for the defense.
They're going to attack the victim's character,
blame him for his own murder,
so you'll need to counteract that.
Find some way to level the playing field.
- The people would like to call character witnesses
on behalf of Derek Stanton.
- The victim?
- Yes, to demonstrate that he was
a peaceful, hardworking member of his community,
far different from the way
the defense is trying to portray him.
- Your Honor, Rule 4.11 allows a defendant
to call character witnesses, not the victim.
- But there's nothing in the rules
that specifically precludes it.
- Nice try, Mr. Price, but I agree with Mr. Thorpe.
If you want to change the rules,
take it up with the state legislature.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
Defense's witness list is unbelievable.
There's a federal judge?
The CEO of a Fortune 500 company,
the head of a charitable foundation?
All nine of these character witnesses
are incredibly impressive.
- That's what the wealthy do
when their backs are up against the wall.
They band together, protect their own.
- Well, that may be true, but the question remains.
Why did Jesse Erickson, who, by all accounts,
was a good kid, rich or not,
suddenly decide to beat a stranger to death?
- I don't know.
And legally, it doesn't really matter.
- Uh, no, I'm not so sure about that, Sam.
If we don't know what precipitated the fight...
- It was an attack, not a fight.
- You saw the video.
- But we don't know what happened before,
and that's relevant.
The jury's going to want to know the full picture.
- I understand, and we'll keep looking,
but for now, since we can't explain why Erickson did it,
let's focus on the horror of what he actually did.
- Mr. Stanton had a shattered occipital bone.
That's the bone that's in the back of the head
that connects to the cervical spine.
It essentially protects the brain.
He also had several other broken bones...
His nose, his eye socket, his jaw.
- Did you make a ruling as to the cause of death?
- Cranial cerebral trauma so severe
that the brain hemorrhaged and flooded with blood.
- Were there wounds on Mr. Stanton's torso?
- He had three broken ribs.
- Did you form an opinion as to how he sustained those wounds?
- Mr. Stanton had been kicked four times.
- I have nothing further.
- We've all seen the video of the fight and the crime scene
photos, but you don't know why my client had an altercation
with Mr. Stanton, do you?
- No, I have no idea.
- So you don't know if my client was protecting himself.
- I don't.
- Thank you.
- Were there any scrapes or bruises
on Mr. Stanton's fists, on his palms, on his forearms?
- No.
- Any wounds which suggest he was the aggressor?
- Nothing like that.
- And there was no indication he had a weapon of any kind?
- Correct.
- And Mr. Stanton was 2 inches shorter
and 40 pounds lighter than the defendant?
- That's true.
- And no drugs in Mr. Stanton's system?
- Toxicology was negative for alcohol
and controlled substances.
- Nothing further.
The M.E. did a good job,
but I think we still need a few more witnesses
to help offset the self-defense claim.
- Like who? - Not sure.
Someone who can speak to his state of mind
prior to his death, someone who can say he was in a good mood,
he was focused on the opening of his pizzeria.
- Well, I'll look into it.
But if you ask me, I think the M.E. pretty much destroyed
their self-defense argument.
- We still have no idea why this kid killed Stanton.
Whole thing still doesn't make any sense.
- Defense just changed their plea.
- Their plea? To what?
- Not guilty by reason of mental defect.
- He's claiming insanity?
- They're alleging Jesse Erickson
had a mental impairment when he killed Derek Stanton.
- What's the impairment?
- Cannabis intoxication.
- They're using marijuana as the basis for a...
For an insanity defense?
- I understand you'd like to change your plea.
- We plan to present evidence that my client
was in the throes of a psychotic episode
the night of Mr. Stanton's death.
My client went to a dispensary earlier and bought cannabis.
- Yeah, something you've gone out of your way
to denigrate Mr. Stanton for doing.
- We denigrated him for selling it, for committing a felony.
- Regardless,
if the defendant voluntarily ingested an intoxicant,
he can't turn around now and claim insanity.
- My client didn't understand how potent
this dose of cannabis was.
No idea what it could do to him.
That means his consumption wasn't voluntary.
- I've never seen a claim of insanity
based on marijuana usage.
Do you have any science to back that up?
- Data from medical journals detailing the frequency
of cannabis-induced psychosis
and a board-certified psychiatrist
who will testify that my client was
in the midst of such a psychosis
when he came across Mr. Stanton.
- Well, if that's your case that you present,
I'm OK with it.
I'll grant the defendant's request.
And the People can call their own expert
to interview the defendant and challenge the findings.
- I've researched the potency of the THC
he claims to have ingested, and I met with the defendant
for approximately two hours, got a full medical history,
and it's scientifically possible that the cannabis
caused him to experience irrational thoughts
and paranoid delusions.
- Possible that pot can
make someone kill another human being?
- It sounds farfetched.
- But we're talking about pot.
- This sure as hell isn't the pot I grew up with.
Back in the '90s, the THC level in marijuana was below 2%.
Now?
Some dispensaries are selling dabs that are 80% or 90% THC.
Put that in a vape and smoke it?
It can absolutely trigger a psychotic episode.
If I'm being honest, he seemed like a good kid
who smoked some really strong marijuana
and lost his damn mind.
- So you want to concede that he had an altered mental state
and reduce the charges? - It makes sense to me.
- Not to me.
He literally beat Stanton to death.
Each punch required independent thought and movement.
High or not, his acts were still intentional.
- Intentional? Our own doctor believes the defendant
was in a psychotic state.
Not only that, he ingested the pot legally.
- The legal age is 21, not 18, and for good reason.
The teenage brain is more susceptible to THC.
- Well, you're making my point.
- No, Erickson knew he was underage.
That means he assumed the risk.
- Technically, yes, I suppose, but come on, Jack.
No one on the jury views marijuana
as an illicit drug anymore.
Man two is the appropriate charge.
- You saw those autopsy photos, Nolan.
He pummeled that man to death.
We can't just give this guy a slap on the wrist.
- We're not suggesting that we do.
I'll recommend a minimum of 10 years.
- We're not pleading him out to man two, not yet anyway.
- OK.
If that's what you want to do, I think Sam should take over.
I'll... I'll sit second chair.
I'll support her as best I can.
I don't see murder two here.
I just don't.
But you do.
- Are you good with that?
- Yes, absolutely.
- Tell the jurors what happened the night
of Mr. Stanton's death.
- My friend, Kyle, he has a cannabis card.
So it means he can legally buy marijuana.
So we went to a dispensary down on the Lower East Side.
- Did your friend buy marijuana?
- Yes.
- Did you partake?
- Yes.
- And did you ever smoke or eat pot before that night?
- Yes.
But it wasn't anything like this.
- Can you describe your experience?
- So I started seeing things
that, like, weren't actually there.
And I just felt like everybody was threatening me.
- Is that why you started throwing rocks?
- Yes.
- Do you remember meeting Mr. Stanton?
- Yes, I threw a rock at his store.
It's a pizza place.
And it shattered the glass.
- What did Mr. Stanton do?
- He came out, trying to talk to me.
But I walked away, and, uh, he ran after me.
- You felt threatened?
- Objection, leading.
- Sustained.
- Tell the jurors how you felt.
- OK.
I thought Mr. Stanton was... Was going to kill me.
And now I know that that's not true,
but at the time, like, in the moment,
it felt super real, like very real.
So I hit him.
- Thank you.
Nothing further.
- You didn't just hit him.
You beat him to death.
- I feel awful, all right?
I'm so sorry for everything I've done.
I'm so sorry for the pain that I've caused my family
and Mr. Stanton's family.
- And up until this very moment,
you've never expressed a shred of remorse
for what you've done.
- That's 'cause my lawyer and my dad told me not to.
- Oh, so you're blaming this on your father and...
- No. No. - Lawyer?
- See, that's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying I'm a... I'm not a bad person.
Not a bad person?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I wish I could take it back.
I'd do anything to have that night back.
- But you can't.
That's not how the world works.
You did what you did.
And now a good man, an innocent man is dead and buried,
and his family is grieving. - Objection.
- Sustained. Watch it, Ms. Maroun.
- And after you brutally murdered Mr. Stanton,
you went to great lengths to cover your tracks, didn't you?
- Look, I don't know what you mean.
- Yeah, you went to a hospital to get treatment.
You paid out of pocket so it wouldn't be reflected
in your insurance claim.
- See, that was my family's decision.
- Yes, I know. It's all their fault.
- Please.
I'm so sorry for what I did.
I'm so sorry.
- That's all I have for this witness.
Went too far, didn't I?
- No, not necessarily.
I think we still have a few jurors in our corner.
- You're doing great.
- Be honest.
- I am.
You are doing great.
But the facts are the facts.
No matter how well you present the case,
the jury is going to want to know why
the defendant had such a violent outburst
and killed another human being.
And, well, unless we can give them an understandable motive,
I don't see us getting a conviction on murder two.
- Last time I tell you to be honest.
Does that mean you agree?
- That we need to offer up additional information
or find some sort of reason for Erickson's violence?
Yes, absolutely.
And I've been looking for one, but...
- You know, it occurred to me when Erickson was on the stand
that neither he nor his lawyer have talked about college.
- What do you mean? - He's a high school senior.
He's a great student, talented athlete
from a wealthy, educated family.
For a kid like Jesse Erickson not to be on his way
to some sort of elite college, it doesn't make sense.
Has to be a reason.
- He was accepted early at Brown,
but decided to take a gap year.
- To do what?
- He's enlisted in a youth volunteer group
to build a school in Kenya.
Kenya?
- That's the plan... Or it was the plan.
- So he's never been in trouble?
Suspended, discipline?
- Not to my knowledge.
- Ever shown signs of violence?
- Not that I'm aware of.
- Has he ever expressed racist thoughts
and shown bias against people of color?
- No.
I'm telling you, he's a good kid.
I've been his advisor since freshman year.
- So he's perfect? That's what you're saying?
He just runs around, getting straight As,
playing football, winning citizenship awards,
and then one night, out of the blue, he beats a man to death?
- It was the cannabis.
That's the only thing that makes sense.
I don't understand all your anger.
Why are you hell bent on ruining Jesse's life?
- You should have heard this guy.
He... he made Erickson out to be a saint.
He turned it around, started pointing fingers at me
like I have some personal vendetta
against Erickson.
What? What are you...
- OK.
I have wondered the same thing.
From the second we charged this kid,
you've been convinced that he's a monster
in spite of the evidence.
- The evidence?
He bludgeoned a man to death with his fists.
I mean, those were the most
horrific crime scene photos I have ever seen.
- I agree, which is why we brought the murder two charge.
But...
the evidence no longer backs our original theory,
and we're losing the jury.
Manslaughter is still a serious charge.
Like I said before, we can recommend 10 years.
- That's not enough, not for what he did.
- I'm not a psychiatrist, but...
is there a chance this has something
to do with your sister?
- You know, OK, I'm... I'm sorry to even...
- You... you think I'm trying to blame Jesse Erickson
for what happened to my sister?
- No, not consciously, but there is a resemblance,
on paper anyway, between him and...
And the young man who...
OK, I'm wrong.
I'm sorry for even bringing it up.
I'm just trying to help, Sam.
- I know.
- Breakfast on a work day?
- Oh.
It's been a while.
Just thought I'd come by, say hello.
- I'm thrilled.
And thanks for bringing the fresh croissants.
- I thought it'd get easier.
- It doesn't.
It's an ache that will never go away.
But I tell myself that the pain is a good thing.
Lets me know that I'm still alive,
that I'm still capable of feeling.
- It doesn't help that
the police never arrested the son of a bitch.
Just knowing that smug bastard is still out there
walking around free as a bird...
If I think about it too much, I'm going to go crazy.
- So don't.
- Don't what?
Think about it.
Focus instead on Christina,
her smile, her laughter, her kindness.
Just forget about all this stuff...
The hatred, the frustration.
- I don't think it's possible.
- It is.
I promise.
I'm so glad you came by.
- It's been too long, hm?
- What's going on?
- I pled him out to man two.
- Really? Man two.
- You were right.
Without a credible motive,
the jury wasn't going to convict Erickson of murder,
but he's still going to do a lot of time.
If this law thing doesn't work out,
you should think about becoming a psychiatrist.