Original subtitles

[Crickets chirping]

[Intense music]

[Phone keypad beeping]

[Phone line ringing]

(Woman on phone) '911. What is your emergency?'

(male #1) 'We've been attacked... Stabbed.'

(woman on phone) 'Sir, stay calm. What is your address?'

w-we need an ambulance now!

(Woman on phone) 'Okay, take a deep breath and tell me your address.'

[groans] Um, 3756 wilcom road.

My wife... Sarah..

There's blood everywhere.

[Siren wailing]

My wife's not breathing.

She needs O2 and compressions. I'm a doctor.

I need you to let go of your wife

and let us take care of you both.

- How badly are you hurt? - Forget about me.

Treat her. Help her!

Sir, please, I need your help.

Treat her, please.

Treat her. No. No.

Oh, god.

'Sarah..'

[siren wailing]

[Instrumental music]

[Indistinct chatter]

[Music continues]

(Male #2) 'The prints match the victim's account.'

'we've got a suspect in custody. His name is Austin Jackson.'

just turned 19, he's already got a rap sheet

for a stolen car, drugs

and possession with intent to distribute.

That kid did everything but sign the crime scene

and have it notarized.

We found a knife with both the victims' blood on it

'and Austin's prints on it'

in the bushes outside the back door.

- Is that a steak knife? - Yeah.

It matches a set from the towers' kitchen.

Our theory is, Austin broke in the backdoor

got caught mid-burglary

attempted to kill all the witnesses.

Do the towers have kids?

Uh, two boys, uh, 15 and 16.

But luckily they were spending the night

at their grandmother's house.

Was this random, or did the suspect

know these people?

Austin was part of an at-risk teen program

at a community center that Sarah towers volunteered.

These photos are fairly gruesome.

He slit her throat open from ear to ear.

What about the doctor?

He ended up with multiple stab wounds

and a collapsed left lung.

And he still managed to call 911?

He's a trained surgeon. He knew not to panic.

The evidence against Mr. Jackson is overwhelming.

Almost too overwhelming.

Well, sometimes things are exactly what they look like.

Okay, let's arraign Austin Jackson

for one count of murder, one count of attempted murder

in the commission of a burglary.

(Male #3) 'Mr. Jackson, do you understand the charges against you?'

- I didn't kill anybody. - Austin, just answer yes or no.

Mr. Jackson, do you understand the charges?

Yeah, I understand

you want my ass off the street, but I didn't do it.

- Bailiff, remove the defendant. - I didn't kill anybody!

I didn't kill anybody! Come on.

I didn't kill anybody! Why y'all doing this to me?

The people request that Mr. Jackson be held

without bail.

So ordered.

Okay, people, let's get this party started.

Maureen, where do we stand on the towers case.

Dr. Towers is still hospitalized.

He's recovering well from his wounds.

Is the accused still on suicide watch?

Yeah, but it's probably just a defense stunt

to try and influence his competency hearing.

What do we know about Austin Jackson

aside from his rap sheet?

High school dropout, broken home

according to his latest probation officer.

How many probation officers has this young man had?

Two, one in junior high

after a car theft arrest, which sounds

more like a joy ride than anything.

And another his sophomore year of high school

for the drug charges.

But he hasn't been in trouble

for the last three years.

Probation officers

and all his high school counselors agree

Austin's problems began

when his family split up.

His mother is Mia.

His father threw him out of the house last summer.

Still, he was staying out of trouble

and making a lot of improvement in the youth program.

With mitigating circumstances, a jury might have a hard time

sentencing him to death.

Okay, check with Austin's pd.

Let's offer him life in exchange for a guilty plea.

Let's see if we can save the taxpayers

a million dollar trial.

I'm deposing Dr. Towers

and his family this morning.

Danny, I'm going to need you to man a camcorder

and take some depositions for me.

I'm up for that.

Dr. Towers?

[Groans] You must be the prosecutor.

This are my sons. Alex and Jacob.

- Hi. I'm annabeth chase. - I'm Danny robel.

- Hey. - We're so sorry for your loss.

We're gonna do our best to keep these interviews

as brief as possible.

But please remember, that you'll be under oath

so everything you say will become

part of the official court record.

I woke up around midnight.

And I knew someone was in the room.

- 'Austin Jackson?' - Yes.

And he was drunk, or on something.

And I told him to get out.

Then we argued, and he stabbed me.

And actually..

I felt the knife before I even saw it.

Where were you when he attacked you?

Well, I got up. Uh, I was fighting him off.

Standing up or sitting?

Yeah, I stood up. W-We were face-to-face.

[Grunts] Grappling, and he-he stabbed me

here... here... and here.

Where was your wife during all of this?

Um, Sarah takes sleeping pills.

And so, she was out of it, she was sound asleep.

Um..

[Exhales] See, and when he stabbed me, I fell down on my knees

and so, by the time I got to Sarah..

He had already..

[Sobbing]

He cut her throat.

It... it was horrific.

I'm so sorry.

I hate Austin.

Is there anything else you wanna say?

I wish he was dead.

You're absolutely certain that the man who attacked you

and killed your wife was Austin Jackson?

Yes. Without a doubt.

You know, Sarah..

She was never very good with boundaries

and she was always bringing her work home with her.

She... she'd invite Austin

over the house on the weekend because she thought

it was good for him to be in a stable family environment

and... until he started stealing things

showing up high.

And so, we finally had to tell him

that we didn't want him around.

- How did he react? - He was livid.

When was this?

The weekend before he broke into our house

and attacked us.

(Alex) 'They were all arguing in the kitchen'

so mom and dad just told Austin to get out and stay out.

And that's when Austin just went kind of haywire.

Like, he started crying and saying he didn't do it.

'It was freaky.'

but I never thought that Austin would come back with a knife.

I'm sorry about your mom.

He slit her throat.

Sarah was the only person who gave me

the benefit of the doubt.

She believed in me when no one else did.

Pushed for me to finish high school.

She did more for me than my own mother.

I'd kill myself before I'd kill her.

(Maureen) 'Then how did your fingerprints get on the knife?'

don't answer that.

I don't know.

Mr. Jackson, we are prepared to take the death penalty

off of the table in exchange for a confession.

How many years are we looking at?

It depends upon what he tells us.

- Okay, I'll confess. - 'Austin.'

I confess to being in my apartment

the night that Sarah was murdered.

I confess to being nowhere near their house when it happened.

I confess to never stealing anything from that family.

I confess to being a screwup when I was a kid

but I didn't kill Sarah, and I didn't stab the doctor!

(Lou) 'How long have you and Austin lived together?'

I just split the rent with him.

We're not gay or freaky or anything.

Would you answer my question, please?

Uh, since fall semester started.

I go to community college

I'm sort of on academic probation though.

Were you at home 12:30, the night of the sixth?

You mean the night of the stabbing?

Yeah, I was here and Austin was, too.

- All night long? - Yeah.

You sure about that?

I would've heard him if he went anywhere.

'I sleep on the couch.'

he would've had to walk by me.

He was here.

We were watching TV.

You willing to testify to that?

Sure. Why not?

You know what the penalty for perjury is?

Yeah. What?

Perjury.

It's lying under oath.

'It's a felony.'

now I'm gonna talk to your neighbors.

I'm gonna ask you one more time.

Austin was home all night.

[Intense music]

I was the trauma surgeon on duty

the night Lee towers came into the er.

I was shocked to see these terrible stab wounds.

Dr. Towers' assailant has been charged with felony murder

and I'll ask for the maximum sentence

but to get it, I need to convince a jury

that this was a vicious crime.

Lee had already lost three pints of blood.

Another few minutes, he would've suffered massive heart failure

or bled to death.

Would you be willing to testify to this?

Absolutely.

Lee towers is an outstanding member

of this medical staff.

I trust him with my life.

Thank you, doctor. We'll be in touch.

Excuse me. I couldn't help overhearing.

Do you mind if we talk somewhere private?

Well, none of his neighbors saw Austin

leave the apartment that night.

Dr. Towers called 911 at..

"12:21 in the morning"

and not too many people are awake at that hour.

Still..

If Austin has an alibi

that means Dr. Towers is lying.

I'm checking out the roommate's story.

And from what I can tell so far

I have no reason not to believe him.

Well, I think a jury would take the word

of a respected physician over the word

of a high school dropout's roommate any day.

I'm a trauma nurse in the er.

We see a lot of stab victims.

Um, maybe I shouldn't be telling you this

but it's been weighing on my mind all week.

I'm listening.

Knife wounds are messy

especially when the assailant attacks in rage.

They're not precise.

Dr. Towers' wounds were.

I don't understand.

He was stabbed twice in the abdomen.

But it was in the fleshiest part of the torso

and missed vital organs.

Uh... his lung was only partially collapsed.

It was barely punctured.

So what are you saying?

I think Dr. Towers' wounds might have been self-inflicted.

[Intense music]

Alright, lemme get this straight.

You're saying that Dr. Towers

slit his wife's throat

and, then, because he knew

the police would assume that he did it

he stabbed himself, not once

not twice, but three times..

And then devised this story about a troubled kid

attacking them both?

I know, it's kind of a stretch.

Kind of?

You got to admit it's a smart cover-up.

If a woman is murdered in her bed

and her husband's in the bedroom

he's a logical suspect.

Despite the fact that he's a pillar of the community.

But stabbing himself? I mean, that's gotta hurt.

- That's really gotta hurt. - He's a surgeon.

He's got the guts and the know-how to do it

without causing major damage.

I thought Austin Jackson's fingerprints

were on the knife, not the doctor's.

Well, we don't exactly have an answer for that yet.

I do. The answer is Austin did it.

Or... maybe the doctor was wearing surgical gloves.

What? He somehow got Austin's fingerprints on the knife

put on gloves, and then took said knife

and slit his wife's throat and stabbed himself three times

to create a plausible cover-up?

Maybe.

That is beyond premeditation

that is just evil-genius stuff.

I mean, that is sick.

Do you have any evidence whatsoever to support that?

We don't know yet.

[Sighs] What does the blood evidence say?

The blood evidence isn't talking.

The crime scene was trampled through by emts

and freaked out police officers

and most of all, by the doctor himself

who was allegedly trying to save his wife.

Look, if there is any chance the doctor did this

we have an obligation to look into it.

[Sighs] Alright.

If you can get an expert to confirm

that the doctor's wounds were self-inflicted

then proceed with caution.

If this guy is this sneaky, we got to be sneakier.

Right.

What about Austin?

Let's leave him in custody and proceed it

as if he's our man.

He's in an isolation cell

with a death-penalty charge

over his head, Steve.

As far as I'm concerned

this self-inflicted wound theory

is just that, a theory.

Mr. Jackson is a long way from being cleared.

[Exhales]

Okay, what am I looking for?

Actually, it might be better if you tell me what you see.

Ah, I love a mystery.

This guy a drinker?

I don't think so. I don't know, actually.

I'm just asking.

The liver looks a little enlarged

which makes him extra lucky, since this..

- Stab wound? - Yeah.

The stab wound just misses his liver.

This one just misses his spleen

and comes within an inch of the large intestine

which, believe me, is one place you don't wanna get stabbed.

Anything else?

Uh, the wounds appear to be very straight

almost plunges.

Any chance the victim was lying on his back?

He says he was standing, facing his attacker.

Well, if that's the case, then the wounds would typically have

an upward thrust, and-and lying on your back

there's more space between the internal organs

which would help explain the near misses.

Hypothetically, let's say you

as a doctor, were gonna self-inflict these wounds..

Ooh, the plot thickens.

That's not a question I've ever been asked.

Easy answer though, I would lie on my back

with a mirror in my left hand and the knife in my right

to make sure I got the precise position for each thrust.

And this would result in a straight wound?

If I'm any good.

How would I go about finding out why his liver's enlarged?

I could run a toxicology screen for you.

If the patient ended up in the er

then they drew blood on him.

And by the way, if I was planning on stabbing myself

I'd want to be plenty medicated.

Hmm.

Ms. Chase, do you mind telling me what this is really about?

I mean, you've already taken their statements.

We just wanna make sure your kids are prepared for the trial

in case they're deposed by the defense.

And I suppose you want to speak with them alone?

They'll be less inhibited that way.

'I know your mom and dad argued with Austin.'

'did they ever argue about anything else?'

well, all married people argue, right?

What sort of things did they argue about?

Just, you know, normal stuff like

what restaurants to go to, what movies to see.

Look, why don't you just ask us what you really wanna know?

[Sighs] Austin's attorney is gonna pry into your home life.

So, we need to know what kind of relationship your parents had.

My dad's a doctor, he's never home.

My mom did volunteer work.

What kind of relationship do you think they had?

Shut up.

Do you know if they talked about splitting up?

Wh-why are you asking us this?

Yeah. Only they didn't wanna talk about it.

Mom got herself a lawyer.

- Jacob. - Nah, dude, she did.

She also made my dad go see a therapist.

Well, she made us all go to that stupid therapist, not just dad.

Yeah, but you know why? Because dad wouldn't go by himself.

Sounds like they were trying to work out their problems.

Mom was.

You know, I..

Dad was, too, you know, I-I know they loved each other.

(Alex) 'Dad took us on vacation last year.'

we all had a really good time.

Florida. Miami.

(Maureen) 'I've got a friend who only does divorces.'

it was a one phone call.

And he knew right away who was handling

Mrs. Towers' divorce claim?

Well, he knew who would know.

So, I guess, technically, it was..

Two phone calls.

Huh.

Sarah towers was going to divorce her husband

but only if she could get sole custody of the kids.

Why did she want sole custody?

Well, a lot of parents fight for it

especially in an ugly divorce.

Actually, in my experience

most parents want joint custody

unless there's a compelling reason

to keep the kids away from their spouse.

So, what was Dr. Towers doing to make Sarah think

he was an unfit parent?

I was her attorney

and everything we discussed was privileged.

The privilege belongs to the client

and your client has been murdered.

Actually, privilege extends beyond death.

Sarah's only interest at this point

is in prosecuting her murderer.

That's your opinion, and I may actually agree with it

but it's not black letter law.

If she wanted to take her sons away from their father

she had to have a good reason.

Are those boys in danger?

[Intense music]

I can get a court order if necessary.

I will tell you this.

I advised Mrs. Towers to keep a contemporaneous record

a detailed log of all her reasons

for wanting sole custody.

And... to the best of my knowledge, she did.

When was the last time she came to see you?

About a month before she was murdered.

[Music continues]

I'm Sarah's mother. I would know if she wanted a divorce.

You saw the boys, you saw Sarah's home.

Did it look to you like she was unhappy?

Nobody's marriage is perfect.

I just want to give the jury an accurate picture

of the situation.

Well, when he was, uh..

Under a lot of pressure at work

Lee sometimes got a little short-tempered.

But they've been happy together for 20 years.

I have every reason to protect my grandsons

and if there was a serious problem... I'd know.

Jekyll and Hyde, Dr. Towers could have been one way

in public, and another in private

and Sarah could have hidden that fact

from everybody for years.

Hid it from her own mother?

Are you kidding me?

Especially from her mother.

So, what's the motive here?

Things had reached a breaking point.

'Sarah was gonna leave him'

and expose the dirty laundry of their marriage.

Dr. Towers murdered his wife to keep that from happening.

So we're supposed to believe the doctor orchestrated

this elaborate plan to kill his wife to avoid

the public humiliation of a troubled marriage?

[Chuckles] The divorce rate is reaching 60%, people.

Some men choose to brutally murder their wives

rather than go through a divorce.

'It makes the killer into the victim.'

everybody feels sorry for them

they get to be the grieving widower

instead of the self-centered jerk

who deserted his wife and kids.

Scott Peterson. And that-that hacking fellow.

What was his first name?

I'm just saying.

What do we know about the towers' marriage?

Well, we know that Sarah took sleeping pills.

We know Dr. Towers made beaucoup bucks.

We know he was never home, and rarely paid attention to her.

And, according to her divorce attorney

Sarah towers was willing to risk losing everything

'in order to keep her children away from their father.'

- why? - Jekyll and Hyde.

It had to be something extreme.

We need to get this contemporaneous diary

her attorney told her keep.

You need to talk to towers' kids again.

I've already questioned them twice

they've said everything they're willing to tell us.

Alright, Lou, draft a warrant, have your guys search

the towers' house once more.

So, we literally are looking for a diary?

It's 2006, Lou. Might wanna check her computer.

Sarah towers was keeping some sort of log

on her computer..

But it's been deleted.

Sometimes our tech guys

can recover deleted files.

Not this time.

Whoever did this reformatted

the hard drive partition

and used a military-grade file wipe.

Which means..

They wanted these files to be gone

and stay gone.

Totally unrecoverable.

When were these files deleted?

Two weeks before she was murdered.

Which means

either Sarah towers deleted these files herself, or...

Or her husband deleted them for her.

Okay. Let's confront Dr. Towers with the evidence.

See if he can find a clever way out.

Doctor, if you don't mind, I'd like you to walk us through

what happened the night of the attack just one more time.

Walk you through it?

You know, with all due respect

how much more do you people need?

Austin's prints are on the knife.

Yes, but according to the crime lab

they're in the wrong place on the knife.

Austin held the knife like this

as if he was cutting a piece of steak.

A frenzied stabbing would have left smeared prints

all over the knife not a neat little pattern.

And that's just one of the many inconsistencies

we found in your story.

[Scoffs] You think I killed my wife?

'You know, I've traveled halfway around the world'

to perform surgeries and provide medical attention

to people in disadvantaged nations.

Why would I dedicate my entire career..

To saving lives and then turn around and come home

and kill the woman that I've been married to for 20 years?

That's what you were banking on

given your status, your work

we'd never suspect you, especially not if we found

someone else's prints on the weapon.

Our theory is, your wife invited Austin to dinner.

You took the knife he held while having a meal

in your home and saved it.

Once you succeeded in turning your family against Austin

you started a round of antibiotics as if you knew

what was happening next... Which you did.

The antibiotics were to help ward off infection.

The hydrocodone, to help relieve the pain.

You're not only a lawyer, but you're a doctor, too.

Where'd you go to medical school, dear?

A trained toxicologist reached

these conclusions, Dr. Towers.

Tell your trained monkey that I had a bladder infection

and I treated myself with antibiotics.

According to our monkey

you also treated yourself with Lidocaine

to numb the area around your incisions, doctor.

I'm sure that these tactics might work with the lowlifes

that you usually deal with, but I know my rights.

Well, the only thing that I am guilty of

is allowing my wife

to give some hopeless dropout a chance.

I mean, she practically took the ged test for him

and Austin was still never gonna turn out to be anything.

Which doesn't change the fact that he has an alibi.

Look, if I wanted to kill my wife

there are a hundred different ways that I could have done it

and each of them would have been a hell of a lot easier

than what you're proposing took place that night, so..

'You know, if you want me to answer any more'

of your questions

then I'm gonna need to call my lawyer.

I suggest you do that.

And tell him that you're about to be

arrested for murder.

[Intense music]

Where's my lawyer?

You don't need a lawyer.

Austin, we're dropping the charges against you.

You're free to go.

We owe you an apology for putting you through this ordeal.

You know who killed Sarah?

We do.

We believe it was her husband.

I hope to god that he pays for it.

Dr. Lee towers had an enviable life.

He was a highly paid internist, a respected family man

but his wife wanted to leave him.

Dr. Towers was sickened by the thought

of losing his money, his family

his reputation and his image.

So instead of letting his wife leave him

he planned and executed a near perfect crime.

The evidence will show beyond a doubt that Dr. Towers

staged a break-in, that he slit his wife's throat.

That he then used his surgical skills

to make it appear as though he himself had been attacked

'and that he framed an innocent young man for the crime.'

the evidence will, in fact, show that Sarah towers

was killed by an assailant

who left fingerprints on a knife covered with her blood

and her husband's blood.

This assailant broke into their home, murdered Sarah in her bed

and then viciously stabbed Dr. Towers three times.

The police arrested Austin Jackson.

They started building a case against him.

Then they hit a roadblock and they started looking around

for a scapegoat.

This trial is about the arrogance of the da's office.

They refused to admit they were wrong, and they would rather see

an innocent man go to jail than let their high-profile case

go unsolved.

It was a clean slice that severed both carotid arteries.

The precise nature of the cut

and the lack of defensive wounds indicates that Sarah towers

was asleep when her throat was cut.

And how would you describe Dr. Towers' stab wounds?

Surgical. Thank you. Precise. Relatively shallow.

Based on the angles

and the fact that each would miss a major organ

it's my opinion that the defendant stabbed himself.

Thank you.

Can you prove that Dr. Towers' wounds were self-inflicted?

That is the most likely explanation.

Despite the fact

that his left lung collapsed?

Yes.

Despite the fact that he lost

three pints of blood

'went into severe shock'

and according to the trauma surgeon

at the emergency room

was moments away from death

you still believe

he stabbed himself with a steak knife?

That is my expert opinion.

- Can you prove it? - No.

(Patrick) 'You've testified there were large amounts of hydrocodone'

and Lidocaine in Dr. Towers' system.

- Yes. - In layman's terms..

If it were alcohol, what's the equivalent?

The way you'd feel after about 12 drinks, I guess.

And would you guess that Dr. Towers

took these powerful sedatives

before or after he allegedly stabbed himself?

Well, I'd assume he would have taken them beforehand

'in order to squelch the pain.'

so, he swallowed the equivalent of the 12 martinis

and then somehow managed to stage a break-in

slit his wife's throat

perform extremely precise surgery on himself

just missing vital organs by a few centimeters

and then plant the murder weapon outside in the bushes, call 911

and get to the hospital just in the Nick of time?

Where's the question, your honor?

My question is, how in god's name did he do it?

- Your honor... - My question is..

Can you determine the exact time he allegedly took these drugs?

I'd estimate the drugs were taken before midnight

and they weren't on his medical chart.

Have you ever known a chart

in an er to be wrong, ever?

It's possible.

The divorce attorney's up next.

Then we might have a chance to recover

from that last debacle.

If the jury likes her.

Watching lyman tear witnesses apart

wouldn't be half bad if we got a shot at towers.

Well, with the way things have been going they've got no reason

to risk putting towers on the stand.

Excuse me.

Mrs. Chamberlain, I'm sure this trial

must be very difficult for you to sit through.

What's difficult is listening to your lies and conjecture.

What's difficult is sitting beside my grandsons

while the two of you ruin their father's reputation.

Thank you.

Thank you for dragging our family through hell.

[Intense music]

You were subpoenaed and forced to appear

as a hostile witness today, is that correct?

Yes, Sarah towers was a legal client

and the substance of our conversations

remains confidential.

The witness will abide by attorney-client privilege

and strictly limit herself to the facts.

Is it a fact that Sarah towers was seeking a divorce?

Yes.

Is it a fact that she was seeking

sole custody of her children?

Yes.

Is it your opinion that a court would have granted

her custody requests had Mrs. Towers lived?

- Objection. Speculation - overruled.

- 'The witness may answer.' - 'Yes.'

I believe the court would have awarded

Mrs. Towers sole custody.

- 'Can you tell us why?' - Your honor..

I'm not at Liberty to say.

Are you at Liberty to say why the courts usually

historically, Grant sole custody to one parent over another?

Usually a court only awards sole custody

in cases of extreme spousal or child abuse.

And was that the case in the towers' house?

Your honor, this speculation..

Was Dr. Towers abusing his family?

And character assassination has gone on far enough.

(Maureen) 'Was Dr. Towers abusing his children?'

'was he abusing his wife?'

I am not at Liberty to say.

No more questions, your honor.

Lyman, lyman.

- You can't do this. - Yes, yes! I have a right.

- It's not a good idea. - No, you've gotta do it.

My children have a right to hear the truth.

Your honor, the defense will be calling Dr. Lee towers

as our first witness.

Yes, my wife had decided that she needed a break

from our marriage and we were talking about separating.

Can you tell us why your wife wanted to leave?

- Were you unfaithful? - Oh, god, no.

- Was it about money? - No.

It wasn't about cheating or money.

It was about protecting her.

I was trying to save her from herself.

We were separating because..

My wife was addicted to prescription drugs.

'When did your wife's problem'

'with prescription medications begin?'

it was four years ago.

Uh, she was suffering severe back pain

from a pinched nerve.

Did you try to get help?

I made her go to family counseling.

She didn't want anybody to know about her

especially the boys.

And, you know, I thought that we could work through it

because she'd thrown away all her pills, and she..

She swore that she'd kicked the habit, and then I, um..

Well, I got very busy with my work..

And before long, I realized that she had been..

Getting high behind my back the whole time.

I caught her forging my signature on prescriptions.

Oh, my god.

And then I found out that she was also getting drugs

from Austin Jackson.

The young man your wife mentored?

Yes. And I told him that I didn't want him around.

I-I wanted him to just stay away from my wife and our family.

- How did he take this? - He was angry, he was hurt.

And less than a week later..

My wife was dead.

'No further questions, your honor.'

we will reconvene at 9:00 A.M. tomorrow.

Towers is a rat.

First he kills her, then he blames her

for causing her own death.

You think we should call towers' son to the stand

and force them to testify

about their parents' troubled marriage?

If we do that, the jury will hate us

for tearing the family even more apart.

Alright, okay. Stop. Breathe.

We need to find out if there's any truth to what towers said

about his wife being a drug addict

the coroner must've run a tox screen

on Sarah's blood, right?

Wrong. Given the fact that her throat was cut

the cause of death was a little more than obvious.

Crap.

I'll talk to drummer about pulling

some of her blood from evidence.

If Sarah was half as strung out as he says she was

she would've had drugs in her system at the time of death.

Okay.

[Dramatic music]

We'll need to request a 24-hour continuance

from the judge to look into these accusations.

Excuse me, Ms. Chase. Ms. Scofield.

Jacob.

I'm so sorry you had to go through this.

Yeah, my, uh, my grandma was real upset.

But not with you guys... With, uh, my dad.

You know, I... I love my dad, but..

When he said those things about my mom, he's lying.

My dad is lying.

It's okay, Jacob. It's okay.

You know, my mom may have died because of drugs..

But she wasn't the one abusing them.

You know, I-I know he's lying

because my dad was the one using drugs, not my mom.

Is that the real reason your mother wanted a divorce?

It was the main thing they fought about.

You know? I mean, she begged him to quit, you know?

I-I-I thought he had because he would stop

or at least he would pretend to stop..

'...for weeks, even months at a time.'

but now I know he's using... Again.

How long has he been an addict?

I don't know. Forever.

This is one of those things that you-you-you start to believe

that it's normal, you know? I mean..

I mean, you guys have seen him, he's almost always using

but he never looks messed up until..

You know, until he's home alone at night.

I mean, you just assume that everybody's dad..

He comes home and he trashes the house

because he's discovered that mom's flushed his stash.

Jacob, a divorce attorney told us

that your mother was compiling some sort of diary of evidence

to use in the divorce proceedings.

It makes sense

I caught my mom taking pictures of the bathroom

a couple weeks back.

I thought that maybe she was just doing

a redecorating project, but..

I don't know, you know, my dad, he..

My dad, he hides his pills all over the house.

He hides them in-in-in drawers, in his desk, in the garage.

He signed himself prescriptions in all of our names

but none of them are actually for us.

I don't know how many pills he takes a day to just, to sleep

to get up, just to function, you know? I don't, I don't know.

It's-it's..

Like, seriously, it's like living

with two different people.

Anyway a few days after I caught my mom taking those pictures..

[Sniffles] My dad stormed into my room.

And he was waving the digital camera in my face

and he was asking if it belonged to me.

You think he discovered your mom

was compiling evidence against him?

Yeah.

- Yeah, I do now. - When was this, Jacob?

It was about two weeks or so before my mom was killed.

I don't, I don't think he killed her.

You know he's my dad, he wouldn't do that.

I just..

I just, I-I-I don't want him lying to everybody about my mom.

Would you be willing to tell the jury what you've just told us?

No. No.

I don't think you'll need me to.

See... after my-my dad went off about the camera

my mom, she gave me..

She gave me this memory stick from our computer.

So she backed up her files.

I haven't looked at it.

All I know is that she told me to hide it from my dad

and in this family... Hiding things is what we do best.

Why didn't you tell us about this before?

Because you're just gonna use it to put my dad in jail.

(Annabeth) 'Playing hide and seek with your family is one thing'

but how does a surgeon at one of the top hospitals

get away with using drugs all this time?

It happens more than you think.

They cover for each other, these doctors.

A lot of doctors get indoctrinated into these drugs

'during residency, when they have to stay up'

'for long hours and remain alert.'

in other words, the six or seven cups of coffee

that became part of my routine in law school

weren't gonna cut it.

Not when you have easy access

to high-grade pharmaceuticals.

Doctors are the worst at admitting they have a problem.

They're supposed to be in control.

Despite all the evidence we've shown to the jury

evidence your own son brought to our attention

you still maintain that your wife was

the prescription drug addict, not you.

- I covered for Sarah for years. - We tested Sarah's blood.

The only thing we found in her system were sleeping pills.

Well, then that was her current drug of choice.

Did you sedate her before you killed her?

- Objection. - Withdrawn.

Why did you write prescriptions for narcotics

in your children's names?

As I told you, Sarah forged those prescriptions.

Did Sarah forge prescriptions for narcotics

in your patients' names, too?

Well, she may have, yes.

Some of these patients are dead.

Some go to other doctors.

And yet, their pain medications are routinely shipped

to your office through mail-order pharmacies.

Your honor, the prosecutor is badgering the witness.

Either ask a question or move on, counselor.

- Did you kill your wife? - Absolutely not.

Look, I save lives, I am the head of internal medicine

at one of the finest hospitals in this country!

Did you frame Austin Jackson for her murder?

No, when I woke up around midnight

Austin Jackson was in our bedroom.

- He had a knife... - Dr. Towers..

No, okay, no, I-I mean..

I felt the knife before I saw it..

- Dr. Towers! - I loved my wife!

Would you voluntarily submit to blood and urine tests

to prove to the court you're not under the influence of narcotics

at this very moment?

I'm not under the influence of anything.

Would you take a test?

This is blatant disregard

for Dr. Towers' rights to privacy

'and protection against self-incrimination.'

this court cannot allow this line of questioning

and badgering to continue.

Would you take a test?

[Intense music]

Nothing further.

(Judge salter) 'Has the jury reached a verdict?'

we have, your honor.

The defendant will rise for the reading of the verdict.

"In the state of Indiana versus Lee towers

'"we the jury find the defendant..'

'...guilty of murder in the first degree."'

[instrumental music]

I know this has been awful, but thank you, Jacob.

And you, too, Alex. Your mom would be proud of you both.

I'm so sorry.

You have nothing to apologize for.

You were just looking out for your family.

Thank you.

[Music continues]

[Sighs]

Wasn't easy, but I got the hospital files you wanted.

Oh, did the hospital administrators

give you a hard time?

Oh, did they?

It was like I was trying to get them to give me over

some weapons of mass destruction

you're really gonna review every single surgery

that Dr. Towers performed?

I'm gonna start with the operations

where somebody died on the table.

The man was a drug addict with a scalpel in his hand.

If even one patient was negatively impacted

by his drug abuse, I want to know about it.

Okay. Well, you can start on this box, and I'll review these.

- Thanks, Lou. - Only on one condition..

You go home... Pour yourself a glass of wine

and you put your feet up on a pillow

and enjoy the fact that you won today.

All this splendor will still be here tomorrow, so go.

'Go. Go and see your family.'

that is a deal I can live with, detective.

Uh-uh. These stay.

You go.

Say goodnight, annabeth.

Goodnight, annabeth.

[Instrumental music]

[Theme music]