.
- 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.
[sirens wailing]
- [sobbing] Help! Help!
Help, someone, please. We're trapped.
[baby wailing]
Shh.
[wailing continues]
[pounding on door]
[flames roaring]
- Anyone here? [baby wailing]
- Please, you have to help me!
- Come on. - Through here.
- Shh, shh, shh.
[indistinct chatter]
- Ma'am, I need you to calm down.
We're gonna get you out. - Please, you have to help us!
- I need you to stand back.
Come on, come on. Let's go.
We don't have much time.
Go with them. We'll get you out.
- Ma'am, with me. Let's go. Come on.
One's coming out!
[knocking on door]
Anybody in there?
[unsettling music]
- Eyes down, Peralta!
Backdraft!
- [groans]
[groaning]
- It was a backdraft. You've been trained for this.
- Sorry, Cap.
- In this job, there's no second chances.
- Yes, sir.
[camera shutter clicking]
[police radio chatter]
- Vic is Clint Braddock, captain of this ladder company.
- I'm guessing this is the murder weapon.
- Halligan tool, fireman's best friend.
- Not today.
You were the first on the scene?
- Yeah.
Call came in a little after midnight.
One of the firefighters who was staying in the house
came down and found him dead, called 911.
Everyone else was upstairs asleep.
- You know how many people were in the house?
- Nine, not including the captain.
They're all still here.
I've got unis taking their statements.
- Any signs of forced entry?
- No, but the back door to the kitchen
was standing wide open when we arrived.
- Hey, Vince. This is our guy, Braddock.
He was at Ground Zero on 9/11.
Led a team into Tower 2.
- Man was a real-life hero.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- We responded to a 10-75.
That's a structural fire.
It was an apartment building.
Things got pretty intense.
- And you're the one who called 911?
- Mm-hmm.
- All right. Can you tell us what happened?
- When we got back, everyone was pretty tired.
And you never know when the next call is gonna come.
So we all went to bed, but Captain stayed up.
He said he had some work to do.
- What time was that?
- Around 10:30, maybe.
But I couldn't sleep.
My adrenaline was still pumping from the fire.
Anyways, around midnight,
I heard what sounded like shouting from downstairs,
so I got up to see what was going on.
- You see anything or anyone suspicious?
- No.
Cap wasn't in his office.
So I came downstairs and saw that the back door was open.
It was freezing.
That's when I knew something was wrong.
So I searched the house,
and I found him.
- Do you know of any problems he was having?
Anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?
- No.
The man wasn't just a legend.
He was the real deal.
He saved my life last night.
- I spoke to the other eight firefighters
who were at the station last night.
They all gave sworn statements that they were asleep
and didn't hear or see anything unusual.
- Unhelpful.
- Also, the same thing about Braddock too.
Dude was a hero. Everybody loved him.
- Okay, extra unhelpful, but still.
Any one of them could be the killer.
- Well, theoretically, but there's this.
Security footage from the back entrance
of the station shows Braddock
letting somebody in at around 11:26 p.m.
- No angle on the person's face?
- Uh-uh.
And because of the hood and the jacket,
you can't tell if it's a man or a woman, but check this out.
20 minutes later, they leave out the same door.
Now, that's 16 minutes before the 911 call.
- So looks like Braddock knew his killer?
I mean, what about the murder weapon?
Any prints? - Dozens.
But they all track back to members of Braddock's
ladder company, which tracks.
If you zoom in, mystery person's wearing gloves.
- So how does a guy beloved by everybody
end up with his head bashed in?
- I wouldn't say everyone.
I've been going through his text messages.
Looks like he was going through
a pretty nasty split from his wife.
- Sounds promising. - And it gets better.
Braddock had her served with divorce papers
yesterday afternoon.
[pensive music]
- Our understanding is that the two of you
were having some marital problems?
- You mean he was leaving me.
- We read his text messages.
You seemed pretty upset.
- Because I didn't want a divorce.
Because I loved him.
I would never.
♪ ♪
I had an affair.
It was a mistake.
I begged him to take me back, but he couldn't.
I hoped that maybe with time, but no.
- Where were you last night around midnight?
- I was a mess about the divorce papers.
So I had a few girlfriends over.
We drank some wine and watched a movie.
- Well, we'd like to get those friends' contacts,
if that's all right.
- Can you think of anyone who had issues with your husband?
- Well, yes, actually.
The day before yesterday, a man came by the house.
I don't know what it was about, but he and Clint
got into a fight on the front lawn.
- You know who the man was?
- No, he'd already taken off by the time I came out.
I asked Clint what was going on,
but he didn't wanna talk about it.
- I noticed the doorbell cam on the way in.
Does that work?
- Candace Newman's friends all back up her alibi.
Apparently, they watched "The Notebook."
- Oh, God.
So she's a glutton for punishment.
And what about this guy she claims
got into an altercation with Braddock?
- Yeah, I got the footage right here.
- Why are you here? Leave.
- Can we hear what they're arguing about?
- Too far away from the camera to make it out,
but wait for it.
- Our vic threw the first punch.
- The only punch. Leveled the guy with one swing.
- So maybe our mystery man
showed up at the station to even the score?
- Well, I used the truck's plates to pull the DMV records.
Belongs to a Steven Delvecchio, 52.
Lives in Yonkers.
- What's the connection with Braddock?
- Delvecchio was a 30-year FDNY veteran
assigned to Braddock's ladder company until two months ago
when he retired.
- Okay.
Well, let's find out why things got physical between these two.
[knocking on door]
[suspenseful music]
- Theo.
- Is that smoke? [pounding on window]
- NYPD! Is anyone in there?
- The engine's running. - It's not smoke.
That's exhaust.
[coughing] Find the door opener!
[coughing]
You got it? - I got it. Let's go.
- Set him down here.
Watch his head. - I got him.
- All right. Hey, Steven?
Steven.
- Hey, we need an ambulance, 1461 Elmhurst.
Caucasian male, unconscious,
suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
- [coughing] - Hey!
Hey, hey, hey. Hey, can you hear me?
Huh? - [coughs]
- Hey. - [coughs]
- Steven! Steven!
You all right?
- I'm sorry.
- Hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay.
- I'm so sorry. - It's all right.
All right, stay with me, all right?
We got you.
- I can't live with what I've done.
I can't take the guilt.
♪ ♪
.
- He's lucky you found him when you did.
- I'm not sure he'd agree with you.
- Right, so because this was a suicide attempt,
we're required to hold him for a 72-hour observation period.
- I get it, but we'd like to talk to him now.
Is he awake?
- He is, but I'd really rather you wait until after
the social worker has had a chance to assess him.
- Yeah, that's not gonna happen.
- He's been through a lot today already, and in his state--
- Listen, we're investigating a murder,
so if he's coherent, he's fair game.
- [sighs]
- I don't understand. Clint's dead?
- Don't waste our time here, Steve, man.
Come on. - I'm serious. I didn't know.
- Then why did we find you in your garage
trying to take off for good?
- I don't wanna talk about it.
- You already did, Steven. You don't remember?
You confessed.
You said you couldn't live with what you had done,
that you were sorry.
- I was talking about something else.
- Yeah, sure you were.
- We know you and Braddock were beefing
and that he knocked your ass out.
We saw the video. So what?
You show up the next day to get some payback?
- Maybe things went a little too far.
Maybe you swung a little too hard.
- You don't understand.
Clint was one of my best friends.
We worked together for over 25 years.
- I don't know about you,
but my best friend never punched me in the face.
- That's probably because you've never
done anything as bad as I did.
I was having some money troubles,
so a buddy of mine set me up with a doctor
who was helping guys like me,
guys who were at Ground Zero, get some extra cash.
- You worked 9/11? - Yeah, I was with Clint.
It was a nightmare.
It was everything you would imagine, but worse.
It's why the World Trade Center Health Fund
covers treatment for PTSD.
- But you didn't have PTSD,
did you?
[grim music]
- A few months ago, Clint figured out what was going on.
Out of respect for our friendship,
he didn't turn me in, but I had to agree
to stop taking the cash and retire.
Even worse, he said we were done as friends.
He didn't wanna speak to me ever again.
So I went over to his house to talk it out.
But, well, you saw how that went.
FDNY is the only family I ever had that really mattered.
Now I have nothing.
So that's why I...
- So where were you last night around midnight?
- Getting piss blind drunk in a bar.
Duff's in Greenpoint.
- Called the bar in Brooklyn. Delvecchio's alibi checks out.
He was there until last call,
drowning his sorrows in whiskey.
- Yeah, but we could charge him with fraud
for stealing from the health fund.
- The guy could actually benefit
from some mental health services,
which is sort of ironic if you think about it.
- True.
I had Yee go through Braddock's computer.
She found an email from a senior marshal
in the fire department.
He said he wanted to talk to Braddock about something
"serious" in private.
So Braddock told him to come by the station
later on that night.
It's the night of the murder.
- We know that's you sneaking out
the back door of the firehouse the night
Captain Braddock was killed.
- I mean, you're correct. That's me.
But I'm not sneaking out. I'm just leaving.
- Oh, well, after you just left,
Captain Braddock was found with his head cracked open.
- I'm aware.
- So it looks like you were the last person to see him alive.
- I can't have been the last person because
he was fine when I left.
I'm telling you the truth.
I went to the firehouse to discuss something
work-related with him.
- Well, if you're discussing something work-related,
then why all the cloak and dagger?
I mean, meeting at midnight?
- We were discussing a delicate matter, friend to friend.
- Why not come forward when you found out he got killed?
- There was no point.
I don't know anything.
So I just kept my mouth shut.
- So what did you come to see Captain Braddock about
that evening?
- Three weeks ago, there was an electrical fire
at a jewelry store in the diamond district.
Braddock's company put out the fire.
- Jenca was the marshal assigned to oversee the case.
Mostly just due diligence stuff, you know?
Determining cause, assessing damage, stuff like that.
But during the course of his investigation,
Jenca discovered that a $500,000 diamond necklace
that had been reported lost in the fire
had actually been stolen,
and that Braddock and his crew were the only ones
that had access to the scene.
- Okay, but why was Jenca at the fire station that night?
- To give Braddock a heads-up, you know,
friend to friend, that one of his guys might be a thief.
- He gave Braddock a file and then he took off.
According to Jenca, when he left,
Braddock was still very much alive.
- We have the security footage.
We know no one else entered the fire station that night.
So if Braddock was alive when he left...
- The murderer was already in the firehouse.
♪ ♪
These are the nine firefighters that
were staying at the station the night of the murder.
- We cross-checked them against the prints
we pulled from the murder weapon.
Narrowed the list down to these five.
- Any of them work the jewelry store fire?
- All five of them. We reviewed their statements.
Didn't find any inconsistencies or obvious omissions.
- That's interesting. - What?
- According to this personnel file,
one of these guys has a prior felony conviction.
There you go.
Served three years for burglary.
Seems like a good place to start.
Diego Peralta.
- He's the one who found the body and called 911.
- Told you everything I know.
I heard arguing, so I came downstairs.
- Right, yeah, you saw the back door open.
You found the body. We know all that.
We wanna talk to you about something else.
- You worked the fire at Powell Brothers Jewelers
a few weeks back, right?
- Why are you asking about that?
- You know anything about a necklace
that got burned up in the fire?
Pretty expensive one?
- Worth about 500 grand?
- See, the people that look into this kind of thing,
they think that maybe the necklace wasn't destroyed
in the fire, but that it was actually stolen
by one of the firefighters.
So we think maybe Braddock talked to you.
Maybe you got upset.
- I want a lawyer.
- Well, we got phones down at the station.
You can call one from there.
Come on.
- Clammed up the second we asked him
about the jewelry store fire.
As his captain, Braddock would have known
about his prior burglary conviction,
so once he got word the necklace was stolen--
- Braddock confronts him, Peralta panics,
grabs a Halligan, strikes Braddock
to keep him from reporting him.
- And then calls 911 and pretends he found him dead.
- Can we prove that Peralta stole the necklace?
- No.
We looked into his finances, but there's nothing suspicious.
- We need more to charge.
But given his criminal history,
we might have enough probable cause to get a search warrant.
- How can you just come into our home like this?
You have no right.
- I'm sorry for the intrusion, ma'am,
but as you can see from that document--
- I don't care what this says. You're wrong.
D would never. - Mommy?
- Oh. [speaks Spanish]
- Mommy?
[tense music]
What's happening?
- Nothing, baby.
These nice people are just helping Mommy
look for something.
- Where's Daddy?
- He's at work.
- Putting out fires? - That's right.
Come on, let's go outside and play.
♪ ♪
- Any sign of the necklace?
- [sighs] No, nothing yet.
- If I'm being honest, I'm hoping that
maybe we got this wrong.
- I found this in the dumpster in the building's basement.
♪ ♪
- So much for getting it wrong.
♪ ♪
.
- Guess what we just found at the bottom
of your trash chute, Diego?
The FDNY file about the fire at the jewelry store?
You know, the one that says that
that very expensive necklace didn't burn up in the fire?
- Braddock's buddy gave him that file
the night he was killed.
- Yeah, right before, actually,
which means the only way it ends up at your place
is if you took it.
- It's got blood on it, too, so we're having to test it.
But we both know it's gonna be Braddock's.
So now this, Diego,
this is your opportunity to come clean and confess,
and then maybe we can work something out with the DA,
get him to go easy on you.
- Don't say anything.
Look, my client has already told you everything he knows.
- Judges take these things into consideration
when it comes to sentencing.
I mean, you don't cooperate now--
- With your criminal record?
- He has nothing more to say.
[knocking on door]
- Lab confirmed it was Braddock's blood on the file.
[solemn music]
Book him. - Stand up, please.
Diego Peralta, you're under arrest for murder.
- How does the defendant plead?
- Not guilty, Your Honor.
- I'll hear you on bail, Ms. Maroun.
- Your Honor, the defendant brutally murdered
a national hero,
crushing Captain Clint Braddock's skull
with the same tool Braddock used
to save an untold number of lives.
Your Honor, we believe that the defendant killed Braddock
to cover up another crime he had committed,
a theft of a diamond necklace worth $500,000
from a scene of a fire.
- Is he being charged with that as well?
- Not at this time, but we believe
that he has access to the necklace
or the monies he received from selling the necklace,
which makes him a flight risk.
As such, the people request remand.
- My client has access to zero funds
because he didn't steal anything,
nor is he guilty of murder.
He's, in fact, the victim here.
- Excuse me?
- He's the victim.
- Meaning what?
- Meaning that Mr. Peralta did, in fact, kill Clint Braddock.
But he did so because he was in fear for his life.
This isn't murder, Your Honor.
It's self-defense.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- They're saying Peralta didn't steal the diamond necklace.
Braddock did.
And Peralta was gonna turn him in,
which prompted Braddock to attack him.
- So they're looking to shift blame to the victim
and take advantage of the fact that the dead guy
can't defend himself.
How's our case? - It's strong.
Peralta found the body and lied to detectives
about what happened on the night of the murder
on two separate occasions.
- And when police searched Peralta's home,
they found evidence that had gone missing
from the crime scene with the victim's blood on it.
- Is there any evidence to support
his self-defense theory?
Any reason to think Braddock might have stolen the necklace
or gotten violent with Peralta? - No.
Braddock's reputation was beyond reproach.
There's not so much as a blemish on his record.
The defendant, on the other hand,
served three years in Fishkill for burglary.
- Since when does the FDNY hire ex-cons?
- It started in 2016.
- Yeah, they relaxed admission standards to boost diversity,
give deserving felons a second chance.
But Peralta cheated the system.
- How so?
- The program is only open to people
with one felony conviction.
Peralta has two, but one of them
was sealed because he was 15 at the time.
- Let's get it unsealed.
- Oh, we already did.
- Third-degree assault.
- Third-degree?
This guy was beaten to a pulp.
- Prosecutor pushed for first-degree,
but the victim didn't wanna move forward,
so they gave him a deal.
- So the defendant has a history not only of stealing,
but of physical violence.
See if the judge will allow it.
- You're suggesting that Mr. Braddock's death somehow
resembles an assault my client committed against
a bodega owner in 2009?
- That bodega owner caught the defendant stealing
burner phones for his street gang.
The actual assault occurred when the bodega owner
attempted to alert law enforcement.
- Not quite following the logic.
- The People intend to prove that the defendant murdered
Clint Braddock for precisely the same reason--
attempting to report the defendant's
criminal behavior to the authorities.
And to do that, we need to establish
how the defendant reacts to this specific provocation.
- So the State intends to prove my client's animus
toward snitches.
- Ms. Matos may think this is a joke, but the People don't.
- Your Honor, this is propensity evidence
in disguise.
Mr. Price is trying to use the stigma of my client's
juvenile record to launder the facts of the case
to fit the People's narrative.
And they're not just doing it to the jury.
They did it with the search warrant.
- Excuse me?
- I move to exclude the evidence from the search
of Mr. Peralta's home.
- On what grounds?
- As I said, the search warrant
improperly relied on my client's criminal history
to establish probable cause.
So any evidence obtained pursuant to the warrant
should be suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree.
- Ms. Matos is conveniently ignoring that the affidavit
also points out that Peralta was present
on the night of the murder and lied to police
in his initial interview.
So in conjunction with that other evidence,
his priors are fair game to establish probable cause.
- Hmm.
I'm denying both motions.
Evidence related to the warrant search is admitted.
The defendant's prior convictions are not.
♪ ♪
.
- Detective Riley, you found this case file
while executing a search warrant
in the defendant's home, correct?
- Yes, we found that in a dumpster inside his building.
- Please explain for the court the contents of this file.
- It's an assessment by Fire Marshal Julian Jenca
that a diamond necklace had been stolen from the scene
of a fire at a jewelry store.
Captain Braddock had that on him at the time of the murder.
- Detective Riley, when did you first speak to the defendant?
- At the scene.
He's the one who found Braddock's body.
- What did he say?
- He said that he found Captain Braddock dead and called 911.
- Didn't say anything about killing Captain Braddock
in self-defense?
- No, he did not.
He did say that Captain Braddock
had saved his life earlier that night at the scene of a fire.
- Thank you. Nothing further.
- Detective, you testified that
you searched Mr. Peralta's home.
Did you find the stolen necklace in question?
- No.
- And I assume that you explored the possibility
that he had already sold it.
Did you find any irregular cash deposits
made to his bank account
or cash in his mattress or the ceiling?
- No.
- And yet, the prosecution is claiming that Mr. Peralta
committed this murder to cover up his theft,
even though there is absolutely no evidence
that he, in fact, stole the necklace.
- Just because we didn't find it
doesn't mean he didn't take it. - True.
But here's the thing that's so disturbing here.
You never bothered to investigate
my client's version of events.
You never searched Captain Braddock's home.
- To be clear, we didn't even hear
your client's version of events until after
he was charged with murder.
And we did look into it.
We found no evidence whatsoever pointing to Braddock.
- Well, you never searched his home.
- Didn't have a cause to.
- Nothing further.
- You visited Captain Braddock on the night
of the murder, correct?
- Yes, I was investigating a taxpayer fire
at Powell Brothers Jewelry near 47th and 5th.
Was knocked down by Braddock and the defendant's station.
I found some troubling evidence that I needed to discuss
with Captain Braddock.
- What evidence was that?
- Some missing merchandise, most notably
a very expensive necklace that was comprised
of gold and diamonds.
Basic structure fire can vaporize a diamond
and melt gold, but where they kept this particular necklace
was outside of the hotspot.
- So someone must have taken it.
- Not just someone.
Based on everything, only time it could have gone missing
was when Braddock's company had the place locked down.
- So that's why you met with Captain Braddock
on the night of the murder?
- Yeah, this kind of thing could stain the department.
Braddock was a friend.
Figured we could put our heads together and get ahead
of this thing, convince the thief to come forward,
minimize punishment, protect the department.
Everybody wins.
- When you spoke that night, what did Captain Braddock say?
- He said I was full of it.
Didn't believe any of his guys would dishonor
the department like that.
Only came around when I showed him the evidence.
- Then what happened?
- He said he'd look into it.
And I left.
- Thank you, Marshal Jenca. Nothing further.
- When Captain Braddock said that he would
look into the theft, he never mentioned my client
by name, did he? - No.
- And as far as you know, the thief
could have been any one of the firefighters
that tended to the fire that day,
including Captain Braddock.
- Yes, I suppose, but there's no way Braddock--
- You're an investigator, Marshal.
You follow evidence. I'll ask again.
Based on the evidence that you collected, is it possible
that Braddock could have stolen the necklace himself?
- Yes, it's possible.
- Thank you.
Nothing further.
- Redirect, Your Honor.
Marshal Jenca, can you tell us how long
Captain Braddock served in the FDNY?
- 27 years.
- And in all that time, was there ever
so much as a hint of impropriety?
- No.
- As part of your investigation,
did you review the personnel files of the men
in Captain Braddock's fire station?
- Yes, of course.
- How long had the defendant worked in the FDNY?
- Six months. - Six months.
And in these six months,
a $500,000 necklace just so happens to disappear--
- Objection, Your Honor.
- Withdrawn.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
[tense music]
Prosecution rests.
- Mr. Price? I'm sorry to bother you,
but there's something you need to know.
I'm pregnant.
- I--I can only imagine
that must make all of this even more difficult.
- No, you don't understand.
We have a son, Anthony.
Diego wasn't around when he was born.
He was in prison. It broke him.
So he turned himself around. He tried to do good.
He wanted to be a role model for Anthony and others.
That's why he became a fireman in the first place.
- I'm sorry, miss. We really shouldn't be talking.
- Diego knew I was pregnant.
He wouldn't have done anything to risk going back to prison
and missing the birth of his second child.
There's no way he did what you're accusing him of.
He did his time.
He paid his debt.
Why won't you believe him?
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
- My heart goes out to her.
Two months ago, she had this beautiful family,
beautiful life.
Now it's on fire.
Sorry, pun not intended.
- Look, I get it, but she took a flier on the wrong guy.
- Meaning what?
- You wanna build a nice, happy family,
don't marry a guy who likes to commit crimes.
- Clint and I were friends for over 25 years,
so I have no interest in helping you.
- Your Honor, permission to treat the witness as hostile.
- So granted.
- Mr. Delvecchio, on the afternoon of February 27th,
you had an altercation with Clint Braddock, didn't you?
- Objection, Your Honor. Relevance.
- It speaks to the reasonableness
of my client's self-defense claim.
We're establishing he wasn't the only person
Clint Braddock attacked.
- You wanna imply that the victim in this case
is the one with the propensity for violence.
- Tread carefully, Mr. Price.
- Your Honor, the incident in question
happened mere days before Mr. Braddock's death.
It speaks to his state of mind at the time of the incident.
- Objection overruled.
Answer the question, Mr. Delvecchio.
- We got into a fight, yeah. But he didn't attack me.
- No? What would you call this?
- Wasn't as bad as it looked.
- I understand why you'd wanna protect
your friend, Mr. Delvecchio,
but the fact is, he assaulted you, didn't he?
- Yes. - And two days later,
he did the same thing to my client,
someone he didn't have 25 years of friendship with
to hold him back.
Nothing further.
- Mr. Delvecchio, we saw in the video
that Captain Braddock punched you.
Did he hit you again after that?
- No, just the one time.
- Outside of this incident, did you ever know him
to be violent towards you or anybody else?
- No.
- What were you two arguing about that day?
- I, um, I stole money from the World Trade Center Health Fund,
and Clint knew about it.
[solemn music]
Truth is, I deserve worse.
♪ ♪
- Nothing further, Your Honor.
- The witness is excused.
Ms. Matos.
- The defense calls Diego Peralta.
♪ ♪
.
- I was sleeping.
Captain Braddock woke me up.
He brought me downstairs, asked about the jewelry store fire.
Wanted to know what I remembered about overhaul.
- What did you say?
- Braddock and me were the last two inside.
We swept the northeast corner of the building
and were on our way out
when he said he left his thermal imaging camera behind.
Told me to wait while he doubled back.
Was only gone a minute, and then we left.
- And how did Mr. Braddock react?
- Told me I was misremembering,
that he didn't leave the thermal camera,
and that we were together the whole time.
And he said that people were going to be asking questions,
and we needed to have our story straight.
That's when I realized what was really going on.
- Which was what?
- He wanted me to give him an alibi.
But I couldn't do that.
I liked the captain,
but I couldn't risk losing everything I have,
not for anyone.
- How did Braddock respond?
- He got mad.
Reminded me he saved my life, which is true, but--
- To be clear, did Braddock confess
to stealing the necklace?
- Not at first, but then
he told me he got MS from breathing in debris
at Ground Zero, but the Health Fund
wouldn't cover the cost of his treatment.
Said it wasn't fair and that insurance
had reimbursed the store anyway,
that it was a victimless crime.
I guess he felt like he was owed something.
- But you didn't budge?
- No.
Then he started waving this file in my face.
He said he could make it look like
it was me who took the necklace.
It would be his word against mine.
[crying] I didn't know what to do,
so I tried to leave and go upstairs.
But Braddock grabbed me,
and we started shoving.
And then he grabbed the Halligan, and--and I--
♪ ♪
I wrestled it away, and...
then he came at me again.
[sighs]
- That's when you hit him.
- Yes.
I wish I could take it back.
And I'm sorry.
[sighs]
But he gave me no choice.
I thought he was going to kill me.
- So why not just say that to the police?
- I panicked. I knew he was right.
No one would believe the truth coming from me.
So I grabbed the file and I stashed it with my stuff.
And then I opened the back door
to make it look like someone ran out,
and I called 911.
I know lying was wrong,
but I was scared.
And I thought I had no choice.
- Thank you.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
- Court will stand in recess until tomorrow.
We'll reconvene at 9:00 a.m.
- He was convincing, especially when he said
no one would believe the truth coming from him.
- Well, now we get to ask why.
- He opened the door, and now we get to walk through it.
- Thank you.
Peralta was right.
I just spoke with Braddock's neurologist.
A few months before the murder,
he was diagnosed with early-stage multiple sclerosis.
- Really? - Yeah.
In his estimation, it was environmental,
a result of Braddock's work at Ground Zero.
But since the science isn't there to prove it yet,
the health fund denied him benefits.
- And yet no one else in Braddock's life
knew about this-- his wife, his friends?
- He must have chosen to keep it a secret.
- [sighs] And so he kept it from
everyone in his life but Peralta?
Which means--
that means there's some merit to Peralta's version of events
the night of the murder.
- Yeah, I suppose.
But he could have found out before.
Or he could have overheard a conversation with a doctor,
might even seen a medical bill.
You good?
- Yeah, fine. I'll see you tomorrow.
- I didn't know you had a bottle stashed in here.
- [chuckles] It literally just came with the office.
- Something bothering you?
- [sighs]
The idea that Braddock stole the necklace
has never made any sense.
But now we know he was staring down a mountain of medical debt
as a result of his service.
- Doesn't mean he committed grand larceny.
- No.
But earlier today,
Peralta's wife asked me why I didn't believe his story.
And if I'm being honest,
it's because I knew about his prior convictions.
- He also lied to the police.
- Yeah, it's a thing a person might do,
knowing how we tend to treat ex-felons.
- That's true.
But we both know the best predictor
of future behavior is past behavior.
- And other than the two felonies years ago,
he's been a solid citizen, he was a model inmate, parolee.
He mentored at-risk kids.
He was making the most of his second chance.
That's past behavior.
That's recent past behavior,
which is more predictive than distant past behavior.
And I didn't take any of that into consideration.
- You think Peralta is telling the truth.
- Not sure. How can we know for sure?
- You can't. We weren't there.
All we can do is present the evidence
and let the jury decide. - Right.
We present the prior convictions.
We paint him out to be an inveterate criminal
and let the jury nail his ass to the cross.
- Look, this job would be easy if we knew
what really happened, but we don't.
We usually never do.
So we follow the law.
We play every card we have, just like the defense does.
And we let the 12 people who don't have a horse in the race
make the decision.
- Yeah, I get it. Trust me.
But...
if every sentence is a life sentence,
what's the point of rehabilitation?
[solemn music]
- Okay.
If you feel this strongly, dismiss the case.
- I can't do that. It's like I said.
I just--I don't know.
- Then you have to do what you have to do.
♪ ♪
- [sighs deeply]
♪ ♪
Mr. Peralta, you testified that you lied to the police
because you knew that no one would believe your story.
Why wouldn't they believe you?
- I don't know.
- Is it because you have a prior conviction
for aggravated assault? - Objection.
- I'm responding to direct testimony, Your Honor.
- Objection overruled.
- Or was it because of your prior conviction for burglary?
- Yes. I've served time in prison.
I've done things in my past that I'm not proud of.
And I take full responsibility for my actions.
I paid my debt to society.
But once you've done time,
there's no such thing as benefit of the doubt.
- Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
these are photographs of Mateo Ortiz.
These were taken shortly after the defendant assaulted him
for signaling a police officer
when he caught Mr. Peralta shoplifting.
- It was a long time ago.
I was 15, an angry kid in a bad neighborhood.
I got mixed up with the wrong people.
- You were 24 when you were convicted of burglary.
And you did it again, didn't you?
But your captain figured it out.
He confronted you. - No.
- Mr. Peralta, isn't it true that you lied to the police
because you are the one who stole the necklace?
Then you murdered Captain Braddock
to keep him from reporting you.
That the same man who did this to Mateo Ortiz
did this to Clint Braddock.
Nothing to say, Mr. Peralta?
- [softly] What's the point?
- Your Honor, please instruct Mr. Peralta
to address the court.
- I said, what's the point?
I've already told you the truth,
and you've already decided that you don't believe me.
[grim music]
♪ ♪
- Nothing further.
♪ ♪
- Madam Foreperson, has the jury reached a verdict?
- We have, Your Honor.
In the charge of murder in the second degree,
we find the defendant, Diego Peralta, guilty.
- [crying]
- I didn't do this, Ruby. - I know.
- I need you to know that. - I know, mi amor.
- I need you to know that.
And Anthony, you be strong, okay?
I love you.
I love you more than anything. You make sure he knows that.
You make sure he knows that I'm innocent.
- I promise. - Tell him, please.
- I promise. - Tell her.
And you tell our baby.
- I will. - You tell her.
- [sobs]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[wolf howls]