Original subtitles

Brenda Wilbur, who I believe you know, she's dead.

What? The police are out there. I was there. I had made love to her earlier,

now they're here to ask me questions.

I need money, Alan. So much so I sometimes see it in my dreams. I

it at 10 .30 last night when I saw Paul Stewart coming out of Brenda's house.

How are we arranging to pay her off? I cannot bribe this witness.

I'm not letting my only child go to prison.

Wives don't statistically leave their husbands over infidelity.

You cannot walk out that door now.

Maybe I do think he's guilty of murder.

Did he do this?

People change.

If he only knew what I've become.

When you were 16, you slept with your best friend's mother.

How have you changed, Alan?

I miss her.

Somebody you love has died.

You're allowed to grieve.

I'd like you to stay away from him. I'm sorry? I fear he's becoming attached.

I think a little distance is in order for you, Ms. Wilson.

This girl ended up in some very unlikely places. You of all people know that.

Meaning? Was she ever with you? Are you out of your mind? Whatever you share

with me here, it stays confidential between two old friends.

Two old friends having a beer?

You have my word.

It happened once.

I've been subpoenaed by the prosecution.

Why? He came here the night of the murder.

Paul? He said that he needed to confess.

I needed to speak with my priest.

I didn't go to confess murder.

But this doesn't look good, Paul.

You're seen leaving the victim's house, then seen minutes later rushing to a

priest ostensibly to confess.

They have no witnesses to my leaving the house. You hope. I saw Paul Stewart

leave Brenda Wilbur's house around 10 .30 the night of the murder. Paul's

paid me $600 ,000 not to come forward. But I have no doubt he killed that

Firstly, I think it's a mistake to hire an insurer.

People in Dedham remember him and, well, I won't call him a liar, but let me put

it this way.

If he went out to feed the pigs, he'd have to get somebody else to call him.

That was very funny, Kevin. I demand you stop referring to this man as witless.

Come on.

We will present evidence of the affair.

You will hear from a witness who places the defendant at the scene.

You will hear from scientific experts who establish hair, body oil, semen, on

in the victim, all coming from the defendant.

Clothing taken from the defendant's home with blood spatterings from the victim.

Ladies and gentlemen, in short, the evidence, all of it, eyewitnesses,

forensics, motive, every bit of it points to one suspect and only one

Paul Stewart.

Isn't it exciting?

A murder right in our own town.

A delicious kind, too.

One of our own dead, one of our own charged, one of our own prosecuting, and

best of all, one of our own defending. Me.

My name is Alan Shore.

And I assure you, I'll be doing everything I can to make this proceeding

about me.

Prosecution will no doubt take delight in that.

Because, you see, I'm a terrible person.

Paul Stewart, on the other hand, is a good man.

A kind one.

Innocent, too. And they make for lousy defendants.

Justice. It works better when you get bad guys, not the innocent ones.

And we here in Dedham... Is it time for a break yet, Judge, or shall I keep

going?

Keep going.

We here in Dedham know all about travesty, don't we? Dedham, this very

courtroom, in fact, is ground zero for one of the worst miscarriages of justice

in American history.

Two innocent men, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were convicted,

stand, for crimes they didn't commit.

Why?

Because the police needed these murders solved.

Mr. Shore.

I'm going to instruct you to stick to this trial.

This trial, in a way, is about a second chance for Dedham.

In that other case, the one the judge doesn't want me to talk about, we had

Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Justice Felix Frankfurter, the Pope

the Pope, all writing letters to Dedham.

begging for justice, pleading that we set those two innocent men free. Dedham

didn't do that.

On August 23, 1927, Sacco and Vanzetti were put to death.

Dedham didn't get it right.

Today, we have yet again an innocent man on trial.

This time, we need Dedham to get it right.

Eyes were open and vacant when we got there, and her head was like all bashed

and mushed.

We found the defendant's semen in her vaginal area. We found strands of his

on her person, and we found his oil secretions on her person.

But you, in fact, suspected Paul Stewart even before the blood and hair

analysis. Yes, because the witness placed him at the scene.

In fact, the witness placed him at the scene on many occasions.

We suspected the affair, and when we first went to question, Mr. Stewart, his

lawyer, just so happened to be there. I believe Mr.

Stewart has a constitutional right to counsel, and I'd remind the court this

the United States of America.

Forgive me.

I'm sorry. I was thinking about the old America. Sorry. Mr. Shore, the court

does not intend to tolerate your distractions.

I have nothing further, Judge.

All right, Mr. Shore.

Now it's your turn.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Hello, Detective.

So how are we today?

Fine.

Tell me, would you regard yourself as a good detective?

Yes. You would.

So all the evidence that exists against my client, we should figure you to have

it.

Well, you say a witness placed Mr. Stewart at the scene. That witness would

Catherine Piper?

Yes. Would you stand, Catherine?

Is this witness the heart of your detectiving?

No, she merely supports my findings.

The heart would be the physical evidence linking the defendant to the cave.

Ah, the physical evidence. You mean like the murder weapon.

Where is the murder weapon, by the way?

We didn't find it.

You didn't find it?

He obviously ditched it.

Ditched it?

Where? You claim you've been able to plot out the exact route and timeline.

My client went from Brenda's house to church, to his mother's house, to his

house, where he stayed till morning, at which point he went to his office and

from there the police station. So where did he ditch it?

We don't know.

You don't know?

That's disturbing.

Let's turn to the victim then. Brenda Wilbur.

Where is she?

The body was inadvertently destroyed, but the autopsy had been completed.

Gee, no body, no murder weapon.

Well, lucky for us, we have a good detective.

Objection. So let me get this straight. By physical evidence, you mean... For

starters, his semen. I see.

And his semen would explain, A, making love to her, or B, killing her, or C,

loading zone for passengers only? It means that he was there.

But he could have been there hours earlier, couldn't he?

His hairs were on her and his oil secretions. Tell me, detective,

You actually found his hair samples and body oil secretions right on the victim?

Yes. As she lay there dead? Yes. You're sure? Yes. Well, then, I can see why you

suspected him.

Nothing further.

Oh, I'm curious. Did you find anybody else's hair or body oil secretions on

victim? Say, for example, mine.

Did you find my hair and oil secretions on the corpse, detective?

Yes, because you fainted on it. Well, why didn't you question me? I certainly

had motive. I'm the one person in town she didn't sleep with. Maybe I killed

her. Objection. You think you're funny? Any of your hair and fibers on her,

detective? Because I helped you up after you fainted. So there was evidence of

you on the victim.

Detective, you led this jury to believe there was evidence of Paul Stewart...

and only Paul Stewart on the body.

That wasn't honest.

I won't call you a liar, but who feeds your pigs?

Objection. Sustained.

So, let's see.

I could be a suspect.

How about Catherine Piper? She hated Brenda.

Stand up, Catherine.

Did you investigate her?

No. You can sit down, Catherine. Wendy, hi.

Would you stand up, please?

Scorned wife?

She certainly had a motive. No alibi, I'm told. Did you check her out?

I'm sure you didn't. You can sit down. Thank you, Wendy.

So many suspects.

Let's not forget you, Kev. Stand up, Judge.

Never mind.

But you get my point, don't you, Detective?

You really only looked at one person, didn't you?

Three years of fifth grade. We expected better. Shoddy work, Detective.

Objection. Sustained.

I'm very disappointed.

Then why do you want to be in the room so you can point to me as a possible

suspect? I wanted you in the room to help secure an acquittal for your

We do want that, don't we, Wendy?

Hello.

I want you to know I don't mind being a suspect at all.

It gives me edge.

Catherine, I'm having a private conversation here.

Well, don't dilly -dally, dear.

My testimony's up next.

You certainly don't want to miss that.

He would come to her house at least three times a week.

He'd park on the corner of Milton and Toby, and then he'd walk a block.

Three times a week?

Yes, to have lascivious sex with her.

Miss Piper, on the day Brenda Wilbur was murdered... He was there.

When? Well, he came in the afternoon, and then I saw him return that

night before ten.

Objection. On what grounds?

From my interview with the witness. I believe she's misspoken.

No, I haven't. Could I be allowed to finish?

Set, Mr.

Shore.

You saw him return at 10 p .m.? Yes. On the night Brenda Wilber was murdered?

Yes. And when did he leave?

Just after 10 .30.

And he was running like there was something terribly wrong.

Now, Miss Piper...

When the police first questioned you, you said nothing about the defendant

there that night.

Because Victoria Stewart, Paul's mother, paid me $600 ,000 not to.

We're dead.

The mother of the defendant paid you $600 ,000.

And I'm so ashamed to say I took it.

I think that's why Mr. Shore was expecting me to lie just now.

But my conscience simply got the better of me. That's why I came to you.

I'm not the noblest of people.

I'm obviously not above extortion or even lying.

But I just couldn't lie to help somebody get away with murder.

No, I can't do that.

Thank you, ma 'am.

Hello, Catherine.

Hello.

Tell me, Catherine, how do you feel about Victoria Stewart?

Well, I loathe her, of course, as does everyone else in this town. Yes, and in

fact, I bet it occurred to you you could get the extortion money and still bring

her down by going to the police.

Well, yes, that was exactly my thinking.

Just for fun, could you tell us your opinion of Brenda Wilbur?

She was a godless whore.

In fact, you complained to the police about all the men she entertained.

Tell me, did you ever recognize any of these men?

I don't associate with those kinds of people.

I see. So, in reviewing your testimony, you hated Brenda, you hate Victoria,

and in fact extorted her. You saw a lot of men enter and leave what eventually

turned out to be the murder scene.

But the only one you seem to remember...

Is my client.

I guess that's pretty much it, right?

You didn't see anybody commit any crime, did you?

No, but I'm sure he did it. I see.

By the way, when you and I said hello a few weeks ago, we shook hands.

You had something on your glove.

Do you remember what that was?

Dog crap.

Yes. Do you remember why you reached for my hand with dog stool on yours?

Because.

You put dog stool in a bag and left it on my doorstep. And you ruined my fleece

slippers. This happened when?

In 1971.

So you were getting even for a Halloween prank I pulled when I was nine.

Yes. You hate godless whores.

And you're a fan of vengeance.

I am a Christian, dear.

I'm not.

breaking any seal. I'm not asking you to.

But you could verify that Brenda Wilburn was a sexually aggressive woman who got

herself into situations.

How would I know that?

Tom, we're desperate. I may have to ask you. I'll lie.

No, you won't.

It's not in your character.

You gave me your word.

I realize that. If I had something to say that would help Paul. You do.

I don't.

The only thing that will come from my little admission is the destruction of

church, my parish, and me, and I won't do it.

I will lie, and I'll be believed, and your case will just look all the more

desperate. I may have to take that chance.

You'll regret it.

I promise you.

There's no reason to panic. No reason? The jury just heard that my mother tried

to bribe a witness.

Your mother did, you didn't. I am dead, Tara.

We still have a witness who thought that he saw a woman. We still have your

testimony. My testimony. Not to forget.

Don't handle me, Tara.

You know, I realize that your assignment here to handhold the client, but don't.

My assignment isn't to handhold the client.

Let me ask you something, Tara.

Do you think I'm innocent?

Yes.

Yes.

Paul?

Could I have a moment with Miss Wilson, please?

Why? I'd like a moment.

You and I had a certain discussion.

My son has a family, Miss Wilson.

Despite this temporary setback, Paul Stewart is a respected doctor and family

man in this community.

That is the reputation he once had and will have again, Miss Wilson.

I am confident you don't mean to interfere with that.

I was actually getting ready to go home when he came in.

This was around... Eleven or so.

Maybe a little bit earlier.

Father, can you describe the defendant as he entered your church that night?

He seemed agitated.

Agitated.

Did he say anything?

He asked if he could go into the confessional.

Did something seem wrong?

Yes. Did he go into the confessional?

No.

He saw a member of the cleaning crew.

He seemed to panic, and he ran out of the church.

And this was on or around 11 p .m. the night that Brenda Wilbur was murdered?

Yes.

Thank you, Father.

This agitation, in your opinion, could it be consistent with Paul seeing

Brenda's murdered body, a woman he loved?

Being emotionally traumatized by what he saw. Something that made him run to his

clergy. Yes, it could be consistent with all of that.

Father, Brenda Wilbur led a rather promiscuous life, didn't she?

She was involved with various men, any number of whom could have come to her

house that night.

I wouldn't know.

You wouldn't know.

You were her priest, were you not? I was.

Did she not indicate her propensity to seduce men?

I cannot break the confessional seal.

I'm bound by canon law.

Were you ever able to observe her outside the confession?

Something you could talk about?

No.

Father. May I ask, were you ever romantically intimate

with Brenda Wilbur?

Father, I asked you a question.

I'll need to insist on an answer.

Did you have sex with Brenda Wilbur?

Father, we need a response.

Yes, I did.

Was it she who seduced you?

Yes.

Did she ever threaten to expose this, to bring shame upon you and your parish?

No, she did not.

The other night I came up here to sit.

I was pretending we were ten years old again.

With everything ahead of us.

I've always believed life should come with one free do -over.

Are we gonna win?

Listen, our defense has shifted a little.

After I call Paul, I'm calling you.

Me? You need to explain why you bribed Catherine Piper.

You need to convince the jury Paul had nothing to do with that.

I thought the idea was to distance me from the defense.

Well, you've made that impossible.

We had made love that day.

Evening, really.

Around 6.

I left, returned around 10, after I couldn't get her on the phone.

And then I found her.

Dead?

Yes.

Then what did you do?

I was experiencing panic.

Panic? I'm... I was a married man, a family man.

I had a lot riding in this community that stemmed from leading a life of

integrity.

I think I felt my life imploding.

Why didn't you call the police?

Clearly, I should have.

There was nothing I could do to help Brenda.

As I said, I panicked and I ran to Tom.

Father Dugan.

Yes. I went to the church, I think, I guess, to seek counsel or support.

And then when I got to the church, I saw somebody from the cleaning crew and I

panicked once again.

I ran to my mother's.

What did you do there?

There's a treehouse in the woods out back that I built.

I was a child with you, actually.

It's a hideout from the world.

I think I went there to seek refuge, I guess.

Paul, how long had you been having an affair with Brenda?

It was two years.

Do you know if there were other men in her life?

I believe there were, yes.

But she would never tell me because... Because why?

Because she knew I loved her.

No.

I was there that night, but I didn't kill her, and I didn't see who did.

You find a loved one lying in a pool of blood.

You don't call an ambulance.

You don't call the police.

You just leave.

I knew she was dead.

And as for the police, my family name in this town... Oh, yes, the family name.

Tell me about this treehouse you built.

You're into carpentry, doctor?

It's a hobby.

Hobby.

Funny, we confiscated a toolbox in the trunk of your car.

Couldn't find the hammer.

The toolbox was missing more than just a hammer. It was also missing several

tools. But notably, the hammer.

I believe you see several hammers from my house. None that match that bet.

Look, you traced my moves that night. If I had tossed or ditched a weapon...

Where's the hammer, Dr. Stewart?

Your Honor, I must object to this. It's one thing not to have evidence. It's

quite another to try to prosecute with that which you do not have.

Well, I tell you, I have a hammer.

It's a hammer of justice.

It's a hammer of freedom.

It's a song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this

Except perhaps out of Massachusetts.

What?

I have good news and bad news.

Bad news first.

My focus group thinks Paul is guilty.

And the good?

They love you.

Splendid.

Alan, we might want to think about a plea.

Okay.

I think not.

This focus group is obviously trying to tell us something. Jamie, try to

understand this. If we plead out, I don't get to give my closing.

And I've practiced it, so... You need to take this seriously.

Everybody out now.

Except Alan.

I'm the client. I get to call the occasional shot. Everybody out.

Now.

Seems like the old days.

You and I getting in all kinds of trouble.

And you having the time of your life.

I'm facing prison.

I'm doing the very best I can.

Is there a good deal to be made here?

For a guilty man, I'm sure there's a terrific deal to be had.

For the innocent, it would be despicably unfair.

Which would you like, Paul?

Good or bad?

I didn't kill Brenda.

I know you didn't. So let's not quit.

I know it was a stupid thing to do. So why did you do it?

I suppose I was afraid that...

My son wouldn't get a fair trial.

I know how people think of me.

But, Victoria, if you knew your son was innocent, why bribe a witness?

Catherine Piper's so biased. I was concerned that she'd paint the worst

picture, and I... It was a bad idea.

One that... I was probably blinded a little by

my love for Paul.

Your love for Paul.

The perception is Paul is the most precious thing in your life.

Yes.

As Paul's oldest friend, I've known you a very long time, haven't I?

Yes, you have.

When I was 16 years old, you and I made love.

Several times, in fact.

Mr. Shore, as riveted as I am, and I am, I'm not sure this has anything to do

with this trial. I'm afraid it does, Your Honor.

Sleeping with me caused you a great deal of distress, didn't it, Victoria?

As I recall, you saw a therapist, and he opined you were perhaps, on some

unconscious level, not so much making love to me, but rather to Paul.

Victoria, are you in love with your son?

It's ridiculous.

Is it?

I once asked you why you never remarried after your husband died. And your

response was, you know full well why.

Was that an admission to me you were in love with your son?

I love my son.

The way a mother loves a child.

It was never romantic love.

Did you kill Brenda Wilbur?

Brenda Wilbur was not only compromising your son.

With a sordid affair, she was not only destroying his family, his reputation,

she was sleeping with the man you wanted to sleep with. That is sick.

If I'm going to be accused of such depravity, I should like to consult an

attorney.

That's all right, Victoria.

I won't accuse you of anything.

Well, that was wonderful.

I guess since paying off the witness didn't work out, why not a little

performance?

And that was just wonderful.

I guess we'll leave it at you really, really love your son.

Mr. Shore.

Defense rests, Your Honor.

Whenever a crime is committed, leading to a conclusion.

In the best case scenario, the truth.

But that presumes having unlimited resources, which clearly we don't.

So what often happens...

We pick the most likely guy and exhaust what we've got trying to nail him.

That happened 80 -plus years ago with Sacco and Vanzetti. It's happening here

with Paul Stewart.

Every year, 10 ,000 innocent people are convicted in this country.

That's according to one study. Others say that figure is low. That's

It's disgraceful.

10 ,000 wrongful convictions.

Every year.

Why?

Mainly because juries don't insist on finding guilt beyond all reasonable

doubt.

When a person is killed, we want somebody convicted.

It's human nature.

There's closure in saying a crime has been solved. There's also safety in it.

We like to go to bed at night thinking the bad guy's been captured, especially

in small towns where we're desperate to feel safe.

Please. Let Paul Stewart be the guy.

He must be the guy.

He's not the guy.

So who is?

Catherine Piper is a lunatic who not only derives glee in making the Stewart

family suffer, she hated the victim as well.

And she just so happened to live right across the street from her.

Wendy Stewart.

Had motive.

She was angry and hurt.

Betrayed wives have certainly been known to react with violence.

And she has no alibi.

Father Tom Dugan.

He had illicit sex with the victim.

She had a history of committing extortion. He had everything to lose.

And let's not forget Victoria.

Obsessed with her son's life. His reputation.

His legacy.

Or simply...

obsessed with her son.

The point is, people, there are many potential suspects in this case, and

would include all the strangers in Brenda Wilber's life. We know nothing of

nature and disposition of those relationships, of the possible

betrayals, precisely because they were never investigated.

Paul Stewart represented only a small fraction of this woman's life.

If this jury is going to insist on finding guilt beyond all reasonable

Paul Stewart must be acquitted.

Nobody witnessed this crime being committed.

The murder weapon was never found.

Despite the police tracing my client's every step, prosecution inadvertently

destroyed the victim's body before we could properly examine it. Of course

there's reasonable doubt.

Reasonable doubt.

I love Paul Stewart as I would a brother.

I grew up with him.

It's one of the reasons I know he's innocent.

He's not infallible.

He had an affair.

It may cost him his marriage, perhaps a respect of his children, but he did not,

Paul could not take the life of another human being.

He simply could not.

This may surprise you.

I loved Ed in Massachusetts.

I grew up here.

I'm offended by its legacy of convicting innocent people because I know that's

not who we are.

This time, let's set the innocent man free.

Rarely do we actually see somebody commit the crime.

Typically, criminal cases are circumstantial.

Now, the circumstances here are that the defendant had an affair with the

victim.

There was evidence that she tried to extort him.

He had incentive to protect his family name and his community status.

His hair, fibers, body oils were found all over the victim.

His semen was found in the victim.

Blood all over his clothes.

He was spotted leaving the scene.

That is overwhelming circumstantial evidence, ladies and gentlemen, and it

certainly allows you to find guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Now, I suspect the defense counsel already knows that, which is why he

finger -pointing elsewhere everywhere.

Oh, hey, maybe an eyewitness did it.

Oh, perhaps the priest.

Hey, how about the defendant's own mother?

And to compound this blatant attack on your intelligence, Mr. Shore buttons his

eloquent closing by appealing to your sense of justice.

This lawyer deliberately fell on the body to contaminate evidence.

The mother of the defendant tried to buy a witness.

They staged a performance by mom to make you think that she killed the victim

out of jealousy. Now, this would be funny if it weren't a murder trial, but

is.

That man picked up a hammer and bludgeoned a woman to death. He's asking

ignore that because it's Sacco and Vanzetti. The police didn't explore any

suspects, ladies and gentlemen, because there are no other suspects.

Paul Stewart is the man who killed Brenda Wilbur, which is why he dashed

his priest to confess.

At some point, will they send us home?

Nine o 'clock.

He was really compelling.

The DA.

How many times are you going to say that?

Well, I said you were good, too.

If the news is bad, do I go into custody right away?

The news isn't going to be bad.

We're winning.

Well, that's an acquittal. No.

Yes.

I'm going to call on the foreperson to read the verdict.

And I want decorum maintained by everyone, especially the media.

Metaphor person, do you have a verdict?

Yes, Your Honor.

Mr. Stewart.

You may stand up for the reading.

Would you please announce your verdict?

On the matter of the Commonwealth v. Paul Stewart, on the charge of murder in

the first degree, we the jury find the defendant, Paul Stewart,

not guilty.

The jury is dismissed.

We're adjourned.

Boo!

Boo!

You owe me a lot of beer.

Just have two questions for you.

Okay.

Who do you think killed her, really?

In God's name, I know.

Wasn't me.

Did you really love my mother?

I did.

That stuff about her being romantically in love with me, is any of that... Trial

strategy.

Thank you.

When's the last time you smoked pot?

Wow.

Depending on the integrity of the container. What are you doing?

Our secret panel to the tree trunk.

I put some good Colombian down there years ago.

It's nailed.

When did it get nailed?

I don't know. It looks like an old nail.

How the hell can he see in this light, brother?

Paul, if I were to shine a light down the tree trunk, what might I see?

I don't want to look down the tree trunk, do I, Paul?

No, you don't.

I really loved her, you know.

She didn't.