So you think I'll win?
Be surprised if you didn't. This is your first murder, right?
It's that obvious?
No, no, you're doing great. It's really well, yeah.
I really appreciate you taking the time here.
Oh, come on, come on. Actually I, uh... took some notes.
If you want.
Yeah. Great. Sure.
So, um...
- All right, your opening argument... - Okay.
You didn't look at him, the defendant.
- I didn't? - No.
And I'm not talking about a passing glance.
You gotta show the jury that you can look at a defendant
right in the eye and say, "Guilty."
If you show them that you have the courage to do that, so will they.
Okay. That's great.
- What else? - Uh...
I noticed you kinda stand far away from the jury box.
You always wanna be closing that space.
Makes the jurors feel like you're one of them.
Oh. You, uh... you said the name of the defendant four times.
I shouldn't do that?
As far as you're concerned, he doesn't have a name. He's the defendant.
His lawyer's gonna be doing everything he can to humanize him.
Don't make the job any easier.
Another round?
- No, that's okay. - Yes. Absolutely.
Come on. It's on me.
You really think I'm gonna win, huh?
Now, Jacob, I know I've told you this before...
Court, all rise.
Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.
All persons having anything to do before the Honorable Judge French,
a Justice of the Superior Court,
now sitting within and for the Commonwealth,
draw near, give your attendance, and you shall be heard.
God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and this most honorable court.
This court's now open. Please be seated.
Number 08-44-07, Commonwealth versus Jacob Owen Barber.
A single count of murder in the first degree.
For the defendant, Joanna Klein.
For the Commonwealth, Assistant District Attorney Neal Logiudice.
Any preliminary motions before we begin the voir dire?
A couple of things, yes, Your Honor.
First, the defendant's father, Andrew Barber,
would like to enter an appearance in the case on the defendant's behalf.
With the court's permission, he's going to second chair me at trial.
Is this a wise decision, Ms. Klein?
It is the family's wish, Your Honor.
All right, Mr. Barber, you can come forward. What else?
Your Honor, I have filed a motion in limine
to exclude any mention of the defendant's grandfather William Barber,
who is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.
We believe the Commonwealth may try to introduce this fact to prejudice the jury.
Your Honor, the Commonwealth contends
that the family's history of violence is of great relevance.
Your Honor, my client has never once met the...
I get it. I read the motion.
Defendant's objection is noted and tabled.
Should the Commonwealth decide
William Barber's criminal record is critical to his case,
he will first notify the defense, and then we'll have a hearing on the matter.
Otherwise, not a word about this to the jury.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Yes, Your Honor.
Lastly, the defense moves to expand its witness list by two:
Matthew McGrath and Leonard Patz.
- Commonwealth? - We're fine with it, Your Honor.
All right, let's bring in the jury venire.
All rise for the jury.
Retired bus driver, works with kids. That's good.
Yeah, I liked her. Thanks, Ellen.
They kept staring at me.
Oh, you'll get used to that.
Just keep your eye on the judge as much as possible... or on your dad and me.
Don't give 'em any reason to not like you. No faces. Okay?
You're doing great so far.
You all are.
You see, this wasn't just an average boy, the defendant.
No, something set him apart.
His father.
A father who was the first assistant district attorney.
Top man, right here in this building.
For years, the defendant watched his father
prosecute every major murder case in this county.
He listened to dinner conversations. Overheard phone calls, shop talk.
You might even say that murder was the family business.
But still, the question remains "Why?"
Why...
would an eighth-grade boy kill his classmate?
Well, we've all been to school.
We know kids can be mean.
You're gonna hear testimony that the victim in this case,
Ben Rifkin, teased the defendant.
Nothing shocking, but still, mean.
Ben foolishly mocked this young man,
unaware of his hidden capacity, even desire, to kill.
Objection.
Sustained.
The jury will disregard the last remark about the defendant's desire,
which is speculation.
And so, on April 12,
the defendant walked into the woods of Cold Spring Park
with a knife in his pocket and an idea in his mind.
Did he ambush the victim, or were there words exchanged first?
Maybe Ben called him a name.
Or even threatened him.
We don't know.
All we know
is that the defendant punched his knife three times into Ben Rifkin's chest,
killing him.
Three...
evenly spaced wounds.
One.
Two.
Three.
You see a tragedy as enormous as this, and it makes you furious.
You want someone to pay.
I do too. I do.
It's only human.
But Jacob Barber is innocent.
And I want to say that again so that there is no misunderstanding.
Jacob Barber is wholly and completely innocent.
When you understand what really happened that day,
you'll see this case for what it is... a rush to judgment.
The fingerprint, for example,
that the prosecution made such a big deal about,
you're going to hear how that print got there,
just as Jacob told the police officer who arrested him
the moment that he was asked.
He saw his classmate lying on the ground, and he tried to help.
And when he discovered that Ben was dead, saw all that blood, he panicked.
He feared that if he told someone about the body, he'd become a suspect.
After all, this was Ben Rifkin, the boy who bullied him.
Everyone knew that. How would it look?
Does Jacob wish that he had been braver from the start and told the truth?
Of course he does.
It was the worst mistake he's ever made. It was a horrible, terrifying mistake.
But he was a boy.
And I don't give a damn how the state chooses to try him.
He was a 14-year-old boy.
And boys make mistakes.
But we are adults...
with a grave responsibility before us.
A child is dead.
Don't destroy another child's life to make up for it.
That isn't justice.
That's just another tragedy.
Mr. Barber, over here!
Mr. Barber, do you have any comment?
Give us a little room here, please.
Give us a little room here.
Mr. Barber, do you feel he's guilty?
Hey, come over here, please.
It's definitely the same guy.
Yes, I'm sure. Blue Lincoln.
Right.
You still have that plate number I sent you?
Okay.
Thanks, Duff.
What was that about?
Long story. I'll tell you later.
Okay, well, make sure they get some rest.
- I'll call you tonight. - Okay.
Driver's license.
What I do?
Let me see your license.
I got a right to sit in my own car, don't I?
Sir, are you refusing to provide me with identification?
I'm not refusing anything.
I wanna know what you're bothering me for.
The family declined making any statement when leaving the courthouse today.
And by all indications,
plan to spend their night here at their home in Newton.
What happens tomorrow is anyone's guess.
However, opening statements suggest
we could be in for an emotionally charged trial.
This is Alix Wong, Channel 12 News.
Just got off the phone with Duffy.
It's not good. Just hear me out.
What?
His name is James O'Leary, the guy in the Lincoln.
They call him Father O'Leary.
They?
I guess he's an old gangster.
He's got a record. Duffy said he used to be some sort of muscle.
Now he hires himself out to do, you know, small things,
roughing people up, that sort of thing.
Are you kidding me? What does he want with us?
I don't know.
What are we supposed to do? Can't they arrest him? Question him?
Not unless he explicitly threatens us.
Oh, my God.
Duffy said she's gonna keep an eye on him. I know it doesn't sound good,
but odds are it's probably just someone trying to scare us.
Because we're not scared enough already.
My heart was kind of pounding then, because he wasn't answering me.
Uh, still, I couldn't see how he looked until I got close.
And did you call for help?
I remember crawling backwards up the slope, dialing 911.
Thank you, Mrs. Gianetto.
Ms. Klein.
No questions, Your Honor.
The dog park, yes.
What time was this?
Around 8:00 a.m.
Like I said, it sounded like a boy's voice I heard.
He said, "Stop. You're hurting me."
"Stop. You're hurting me."
Could you tell what direction the boy's voice came from?
West, I think.
Detective, is it standard procedure
for an assistant district attorney to direct a homicide investigation?
Yes.
And who was the assistant DA assigned to the case that day?
Objection. Relevance.
See counsel at sidebar.
Your Honor, I don't see how Mr. Barber's brief involvement in this case
has anything to do with his son's innocence or guilt.
Your Honor, the jury is entitled to hear that the defendant's own father
was in charge of the early stages of the investigation.
I'm going to allow it, but I warn you, counselor.
Mr. Barber is not on trial here. Remember that.
Yes, Your Honor. Understood.
Witness will answer the question.
Andrew Barber was in charge.
And did you find it strange that Mr. Barber was handling a case
that involved his own son's classmate?
Not really, no.
And once his son was charged with the murder?
Any concerns?
I wasn't happy about it.
Detective, have you ever heard of a prosecutor
being involved in the investigation into his own child?
- Objection. - Sustained.
You've made your point, counselor. Let's move it along.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Ms. Klein.
Detective Peterson, you were among the first at the crime scene.
- Was there a murder weapon found that day? - No, ma'am.
Besides a single fingerprint found on the victim's sweatshirt,
was there any evidence recovered that day?
No.
And of course, the fingerprint wasn't identified until later. Yes?
Yes. Correct.
So is it fair to say that at the beginning of the investigation,
neither you nor Mr. Barber had any obvious suspects?
We did not.
And was the defendant the first suspect to emerge?
- No. We initially just... - Objection. Relevance?
Overruled.
We initially pursued a suspect named Leonard Patz.
He had a record for indecent assault and battery on kids, things like that.
So a registered sex offender,
and that's what made him a person of interest?
That, and he lived near the park.
He didn't just live near the park.
He was known to walk in the park most mornings. Isn't that true?
Objection. Leading the witness.
Overruled.
Yes. In fact, he admitted to being in the park that same morning.
No more questions. Thank you.
Detective, whose idea was it to pursue the investigation into Leonard Patz?
Andy Barber brought it to my attention.
Andy Barber. I see.
And Mr. Patz was then cleared
when Mr. Barber's own son was charged with the crime.
Yes.
No further questions, Your Honor.
- Your Honor, we'd like to recross. - Go ahead.
Detective, when Mr. Logiudice asked if you had cleared Leonard Patz,
were you certain of his innocence?
Certain? No.
Did you agree with Mr. Barber's decision to investigate Leonard Patz?
Yes. Absolutely.
What about other decisions Andy Barber made?
Any concerns at all?
None I can think of.
He's the best they got.
The best they used to have, anyway.
Thank you, Detective. No further questions.
Commonwealth, you prepared to call your next witness?
Uh, yes, Your Honor.
The beam refracts through each slit
and makes a pattern of light and dark stripes on the other side.
Why? Because light isn't made of particles, but...
- Waves? - Exactly.
And it is the intersection of the waves that make the patterns.
So these physicists decide that they're gonna solve what's going on
by installing a device that allows them to see
exactly which slit each electron is passing through.
Only the moment that they try to observe it,
the electrons stop behaving like waves and behave like particles again.
What? That's impossible.
- Google it. - I'll be right back.
I tell my wife it's exactly like me and the Celtics.
The moment I turn on the game, they lose.
What the hell did I say about calling here?
I just want to know how it's going.
What?
What do you mean, "What"? The trial.
He's my grandson. I got a right to know.
Listen to me very carefully.
You don't have a right to shit. Okay?
Maybe I got a right to call one of these reporters that keeps trying me, huh?
Do whatever you want.
Come on. I just wanna know what are you thinking.
I mean, what's your strategy?
I'm watching it all day on the news here. I think the kid's got a chance.
But, you know, you gotta be smart about this.
Oh, yeah? I didn't know they gave out law degrees in prison.
That's funny. You think prison's a fucking joke?
Let me tell you something.
This is sure as hell no place for a kid like Jacob.
Now one of the, uh, witnesses today,
this cop who was on the stand,
he mentioned this guy Patz.
What about him?
Well, you think he did it?
- Do you? - Yeah.
Are you sure?
Look, I gotta go.
Guy's a child molester, right?
Sort of.
How... How the fuck are you "sort of" a child molester?
Same way you were a murderer before you actually murdered someone.
Why you gotta make it about me? Huh?
Why don't you fucking quit worrying about what I am
and start worrying about my grandson?
Don't call here again.
I mean it. You keep him out of this place!
You hear me?
I spent my whole fucking life in this shithole.
I'm not gonna stand by while my grandson's life...
You mother...
You fucked up, cocksucker.
- Did Joanna leave? - Yeah.
Who was that?
Oh, it was, uh... credit card company, just confirming some charges.
Joanna seemed... optimistic.
You know, I'm starting to think she should be.
So weird, 'cause there were just all these people there.
I don't even know why, because it was so cold outside.
- Hey. - Hold on one second.
I'm just hanging these on your door.
Okay. Thanks.
Who are you talking to?
Sarah.
Oh. Okay.
- Tell her I said hi. - Okay.
Sorry about that.
So anyway, um, this lady comes in with her kids, right?
And they're just so loud and obnoxious.
And I was like, "Oh, my gosh. Shut up already." But...
You've been with the state's crime lab how long?
Eleven years, almost 12.
Ms. Carlson, could you describe the blood evidence at the point of attack?
There were a few small spatters less than an inch in diameter.
Yesterday, we heard defense contend
that there should have been blood on the clothing of an attacker
in a stabbing like this.
- Do you have an opinion on that? - Yes.
That's not necessarily true, since no spatter seemed cast off with force.
It's also possible the assailant stood behind the victim when he stabbed him,
which would have meant he was out of the trajectory of any spray or spatter.
What can you tell us about the murder weapon?
We were looking for a knife with a four-to six-inch blade and a serrated edge.
I see.
So, a knife like this one?
Objection.
Commonwealth moves to enter into evidence...
Objection!
Your Honor, the jury will soon hear testimony
from the defendant's best friend
that the defendant owned a knife exactly like this one:
A Schnell Tactical.
Your Honor, this is a cheap stunt.
The Commonwealth has yet to link any such knife to the defendant,
and to wave it around in here now is irresponsible. It's inflammatory.
Agreed. Objection sustained. Put away the knife, Mr. Logiudice.
In that case, no more questions, Your Honor.
Cross.
Absolutely, Your Honor.
Ms. Carlson, we were just on the subject of blood.
Was there any blood evidence recovered from the defendant?
No.
Genetic evidence?
DNA? Hairs? Fibers?
No, just the fingerprint.
- May I propose a hypothetical? - Okay.
Let's suppose the defendant, Jacob, was walking on his way to school...
and came across the victim lying on the ground.
And suppose Jacob lifted the victim by the collar to see if he was okay.
Might that create a fingerprint consistent with the one you found?
Yes, that is possible.
Now the knife that the Commonwealth attempted to enter into evidence,
had you ever seen it before?
Objection. Relevance.
Overruled. You opened the door, counselor.
Yes. The DA's office asked me to determine
if that particular model of knife was consistent with the victim's wounds.
Ah. And I assume they gave you other models to compare as well?
No.
No?
Did they at least ask you to determine
how many other knives might have made those wounds?
No.
Well, how many would you think?
I... I don't know. That... That would be speculating.
A thousand?
Uh...
A large number.
Seven hundred? Five hundred?
Somewhere... Somewhere in that range.
In other words, the chances of it being the actual knife
are one in 500. Correct?
Objection. Calls for speculation.
Sustained.
No further questions, Your Honor.
This is all going to shit.
He's gonna walk. Can't you see that?
He's gonna get away with killing our son
because of that asshole and his goddamn theatrics.
Please, I can't take this.
Yeah, well, I can't take it either.
Dan. Dan.
How he didn't know that that stunt would backfire is beyond me.
Because he's reckless.
- You doing all right? - Yeah.
One of them smiled.
One of the jurors, the guy with the goatee.
He smiled? Really?
Yeah, when she admitted it was a one in 500 chance, he smiled.
Something wrong?
No. No, it's nothing.
We'll talk later.
You and Mr. Barber have worked together on many cases. Is that right?
We go back, yes.
Would you describe him as diligent when it came to his work?
More than that. He was relentless.
Was that relentlessness on display
when you were attempting to cut through the school's red tape?
He didn't feel the classmates were a priority.
We'd already interviewed Ben's close friends.
Once you did interview the students, finally,
was there anything useful that came out of that?
After the initial meetings, nothing much.
But with some follow-up, we came to learn that
there was an ongoing beef between the victim and the defendant.
Meaning Ben had been bullying the defendant.
For some time, yes.
Was this around the time that you started to view the defendant as a suspect?
It was.
Even as his father was still running the investigation?
Certain aspects of the investigation had to be carried out
without Mr. Barber's knowledge.
What did that reveal?
That the defendant supposedly had a knife consistent with the wounds,
that he had sufficient motive,
and he had opportunity, in that his movements the morning of the attack
placed him near or at the scene.
Did you arrest him at this time?
Not until the fingerprint came back.
We then obtained a warrant and searched the house,
trying to find the knife, which we did not.
Did you seize the defendant's computer?
We did, but we found nothing directly incriminating.
Detective, are you aware of a program called Disk Scraper?
I am. It's a program that wipes hard drives, deletes files, that kind of thing.
Was that program on the defendant's laptop?
It was.
Is it possible that there was incriminating evidence on the laptop,
and it was removed by the defendant?
Objection. Calls for speculation.
Sustained.
What about pornography?
- Objection. Relevance. - Sustained.
Let me be more specific.
Did you find any violent pornography on the defendant's laptop?
I think all pornography is violent.
Of course.
I mean, specifically, images glorifying abuse or torture.
Objection. Relevance.
Overruled. The witness will answer.
Some, yeah.
No further questions.
Detective, I assume you have executed countless search warrants
- in your career, yes? - Sure.
Seized a lot of laptops.
Yes.
Have you ever found one that didn't have some pornography on it?
I don't think so.
Detective, is it true that you were the first
to identify Leonard Patz as a person of interest,
and not Mr. Barber?
Yes. I brought Patz to Andy's attention,
and we agreed that he was someone we should be looking at.
One last question.
At any point in the investigation,
did Andy Barber behave in any way to suggest that he suspected his own son?
No, not in the slightest.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Mr. Logiudice, redirect?
Detective...
have you ever known Mr. Barber to be violent?
- No. - Are you sure?
Never seen him grab somebody by the jacket? Push them into a wall?
Objection. Relevance.
Overruled.
Once. You.
After your provoked him with that crack about his father doing time for...
Doing time for murder?
- Objection! Your Honor! - Sustained.
I'll see counsel at sidebar, right now.
I'm appalled at what I just saw. We went over this in pretrial.
Your Honor, it was the defense counsel who first raised the issue
of whether the defendant's father had reason to suspect his own son.
I am simply trying to make that argument.
You have got to be kidding me.
Your Honor, the defense moves for a mistrial.
- Oh, come on. - He was given specific instructions.
You are on extraordinarily thin ice, Mr. Logiudice, you understand me?
Now you wrap it up with this witness right now.
And if I hear even a whisper about the defendant's grandfather going forward,
Ms. Klein will get her mistrial. Am I clear?
Yes, Your Honor.
Ladies and gentlemen,
there's a saying in the law, "You cannot unring the bell"...
but I am going to insist that you do just that with regard to the last question.
That must have been torture for you...
sitting on the sidelines.
I had no choice.
So you trusted Ms. Klein?
I did.
On day four of the trial, the Commonwealth called its final witness:
Derek Yoo.
Did you feel that Ms. Klein adequately prepared for Derek Yoo's testimony?
Yeah, as best she could.
She intended to destroy his credibility?
He had a plausible motive. The jury had a right to know.
What about you and Laurie?
What about us?
Were you prepared?
We've got a problem.
Matt McGrath. I can't find him.
What?
Ellen's been trying to call his cell all week,
and she finally got in touch with his mother this morning.
And she said that she and Matt had a fight three days ago, and that he took off.
And his girlfriend just posted online from Florida,
and the mom thinks that he's down there with her.
What are we supposed to do? He's supposed to take the stand tomorrow.
Don't worry. We're gonna think of something. Okay.
Court, all rise!
I was like, "That's the same way you go to school. Did you see anything?"
And Jake said no.
Nothing about seeing Ben on the ground or trying to help him?
No. Uh, and then he made a joke.
Something like, "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy."
And this is within a few hours after learning about Ben's murder?
I guess, yeah. We were at Jake's house, playing video games.
When you said that Ben used to pick on Jacob,
what did you mean by that?
Ben always kinda had it in for Jake. He was always calling him "fag."
Like a nickname.
Like he'd ask Jake questions about different sex things gay people do,
but in front of everyone, to embarrass him.
Or he'd fake a punch at Jake if he passed him in the hall.
Stuff like that.
And all of this bullying, it upset Jacob.
- Yeah, of course. - Did it make him angry?
Not so much in front of Ben, but...
privately, he'd go off on how much he hated Ben's guts.
Which I got. I mean, Ben would be a jerk to me too sometimes.
At what point after Ben's murder
did you begin to consider your friend Jacob's role in it?
Objection. Leading the witness.
Overruled.
You can go ahead and answer, young man.
I guess it was three days later.
Was there anything other than his temper that began to make you suspicious?
Well, yeah. The knife.
Jake had this scary combat knife he'd bought in town.
- He used to bring it to school sometimes. - To show it off, or... or what?
Not really. I mean, he showed it to me and our friend Dylan...
but it was more like he liked having it on him,
walking around with it.
Like... it was this secret thing he had.
I see. So the bullying and the knife...
But you knew about these things,
and still, you didn't suspect Jacob immediately?
I don't know. Maybe part of me did, a little.
But it wasn't until I read what he wrote online.
Online?
This messed up site Jake was into called The Cut Up Room.
By "messed up," I'm assuming you mean pornographic.
Yeah, but, it's not really so much about sex.
More violence. Like, really graphic stuff.
Are there stories on this site?
Yeah, people post all kinds of stuff. Photos, videos, stories.
And do you know if Jacob posted any stories?
He did, yeah.
He called them Job stories.
Job stories?
Yeah, you know, like his initials. J-O-B?
That was his screen name on there.
What do you know about this?
Not enough. You got to shut it down.
And did Job post a story about the murder of Ben Rifkin?
Yes.
Commonwealth moves to enter into evidence...
Objection.
Your Honor, may we approach?
Settle down, please.
Respectfully, Your Honor, we ask to approach.
Your Honor, this is an ambush. None of this was disclosed in discovery.
Your Honor, this story was authored by the defendant.
If he chose to hide it from his attorney, that's hardly the Commonwealth's fault.
What's this about, Jacob?
Jacob?
Your Honor, I need to confer with my client.
All right, go ahead.
I'm gonna ask your patience
while I allow defense counselor a moment to confer with her client.
He's going to allow it unless our position is that Jacob didn't write the story.
- Then that's our plan... - They know that he wrote it, Andy.
They've got an IP address.
Jacob.
If we push back now, we're only going to shine a brighter light on it.
How bad is it?
"Jason stood there on the path as Brent kept walking toward him, grinning."
If Brent knew the real Jason, he would have been scared shitless.
'Don't fuck with me, ' Jason warned him. 'I mean it.'
But Brent just laughed and grabbed him by the arm,
twisting it back like he'd done so many times before.
'Stop. You're hurting me, ' Jason said. But it didn't hurt that much.
He just wanted Brent to think that, so he would let go.
Brent laughed again, the way he always did, a fake laugh.
Jason's hand slipped into his sweatshirt pocket.
There it was, his trusted friend.
He curled his fingers around the grip and felt a surge of power through his arm,
up into his shoulder.
He knew there was no turning back now.
The park seemed to know it too.
He could hear the breeze in the leaves and birds chirping.
Brent saw the knife coming for him, but it was too late to do anything but stare.
It slipped in so easily Jason thought he was stabbing air. That surprised him.
He did it twice more, telling his brain to remember the feeling for later.
Brent fell backward and rolled down the slope,
until he stopped down below.
Jason knew he should go, but he couldn't help himself.
He went down to Brent's body to make sure he was dead.
The smell of blood in the air made him feel dizzy.
He found a small stream nearby and washed the knife off, and his hand too.
He could see his reflection in the water, but his face looked different to him now.
'It'll be our secret, ' it seemed to say.
"The End."
This story was posted three days after Ben Rifkin's body was found?
Yeah.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Ms. Klein?
No.
No, we weren't prepared.
A surprising turn of events sent shock waves through the courtroom today
as testimony from one of Jacob Barber's classmates
provided the prosecution with some extremely damaging evidence.
The reaction from the jurors was palpable, to say the least.
It was just a story.
I didn't know it would be a big deal.
Did you do it?
Just tell me. Did you kill him?
No.
I could ask the judge to issue a bench warrant for Matt McGrath.
He won't. Not for some secondary witness holed up in Florida.
We don't have a choice. We gotta go straight at Patz.
Yeah, his subpoena was served this morning.
I'll call him as a hostile witness and see what we can get out of him.
We gotta run every play we have. Not just on the Patz front, Derek too.
You don't think we covered Derek on cross?
You did your best.
You were distracted.
Everyone was.
We need to backstop Patz. I say we go harder on Derek, subpoena Sarah.
Andy, we discussed this.
That was before. We need Sarah to hammer home Derek's obsession.
We need to have her repeat his words on the stand.
Yeah, you're right. That could be powerful.
Show the jury the selfie again.
No.
I don't wanna bring her into this. It's my trial. I'm saying no.
Sorry, but you don't get a say in this anymore.
Not after today.
I'll get into it first thing tomorrow.
You haven't said one word all night.
Did you know?
About the story?
No.
Just tell me the truth.
- I am. - The truth. I need to know.
Laurie, I swear I'm telling you the truth.
What about the website?
The Cut Up Room?
I only kept it from you 'cause I knew it would...
Don't. Don't.
Don't what?
Explain it away like you do everything. Excuse it away.
I knew it would set you off.
You were already half convinced that Jacob was guilty. I didn't want to add...
Not anymore.
What'd you just say?
I don't believe him.
Not after what I heard today.
So you're gonna let this one thing change...
It's always one thing.
Don't you see?
We're guilty too. If we protect him, we're as guilty as he is.
All right. Just keep your voice down. He's right upstairs.
I'm not even saying I know what to do about it. I don't.
But I know what I heard, and I know what it means.
Laurie, I'm begging you.
Don't talk yourself into something 'cause of some made-up story.
- It's not a story. - Yes, it is!
This is a kid that bullied him.
He probably fantasized about hurting him a thousand times.
So he let his imagination run wild, and he wrote it down.
Maybe...
Maybe he got some sick thrill imagining it.
And is that horrible? Yes.
It's terrible, and it was wrong, and it was stupid,
but it was a story.
Joanna vetted every single line from it.
There wasn't one detail that hadn't already been reported by the news.
- He was fantasizing. - He was confessing.
To call it anything else is just lawyer spin, and you know it.
What if you knew?
What if you knew in your heart that our son did this unforgivable thing?
Took the life of another child? Would it even matter?
I'd still love him, if that's what you're asking.
No, it's not. I'd still love him too.
I will always love him, no matter what.
You don't know how badly I wanted to hold him tonight
and tell him it's all going to be okay.
But I can't play this game anymore,
letting him pretend he didn't do it, pretending to each other.
He's not pretending. He didn't do this.
- I know he didn't do this. - No, you don't!
No one can sustain that level of deception.
Of course he could. You of all people should know that.
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
He learned it from me.
Maybe he learned it from both of us.
What do you want me to say, Laurie?
You're right.
Our marriage is a lie.
Our whole fucking family is based on a fairy tale, built on nothing.
And our son's a murderer.
Is that what you want to hear?
No.
But that doesn't mean it isn't true.
Hello.