Law & Order 8x4

1. In the criminal justice system,

2. the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups,

3. the police who investigate crime

4. and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.

5. These are their stories.

6. Does your wife know you're single?

7. Come on, I wouldn't lie to you.

8. Mmm-hmm. What's this?

9. It's a friendship ring.

10. It's from a girl I don't even see anymore.

11. You know, you are so married, you talk like your wife.

12. Oh, come on.

13. Tell your partner that he's...

14. Help me, please!

15. Save her!

16. My wife. She's been shot. She needs help.

17. I've got to roll somebody. I need people out here stat.

18. Dr. Nassuk, report to the E.R.

19. Looks like a head shot!

20. What happened? Please.

21. Tell me what happened. Please, save her. Save her, please!

22. Please!

23. Seven shots so far. All from the outside.

24. What'd they do? Empty the whole clip?

25. I guess somebody really hated this car.

26. This one did the damage.

27. Downey, what do we know about her?

28. Nancy O'Neal, 29. Her husband Marty brought her in.

29. Had their little girl with them. She's okay.

30. How's the mom doing?

31. Touch-and-go last I checked.

32. Where did this happen?

33. Near the G.W. Bridge, near Cabrini and 180th.

34. We got reports of shots fired around 12:30.

35. What's this decal?

36. Permit for the North Shore Beach Club.

37. What, are they from Long Island?

38. Queens. He says he manages that swim club.

39. So, what were they doing out here?

40. They were driving home from her parents' house in New Jersey.

41. They got lost coming off the bridge.

42. Started driving around in circles.

43. Next thing you knows, somebody's throwing shots at his car.

44. What, just for the hell of it?

45. That's what he says. He was inside.

46. Thanks.

47. Well, I can see how this played out.

48. He's driving, he's lost,

49. she tells him to pull over, ask for directions, he keeps driving.

50. Or he did ask, and that's the answer he got.

51. That's why I always carry a street map.

52. She's still breathing.

53. I told her husband we got a patient who just

54. ran the marathon with a.22 in his head.

55. Dr. Sunshine.

56. Between you and me, she'll be lucky to wake up.

57. I was just trying to get back to the Cross Bronx Expressway.

58. When I got down to the end of the block,

59. I made a U-turn and I drove back the way we came.

60. And that's when all hell broke loose.

61. Now, the guys that shot at you, did they say anything to you?

62. No.You say anything to them?

63. No. Nothing. I swear to God.

64. There were three of them

65. and they just started shooting for no reason.

66. Thank God Bess was asleep in the back seat.

67. MRS. Marty?

68. Oh, my God. Bess. What happened?

69. Nancy got shot.

70. I came around this way, then I drove to about there.

71. It was dark. It looked different.

72. The guys were over there somewhere.

73. Lennie! Found a shell casing near the curb.

74. Get back up on the sidewalk.

75. He's got more of them.

76. You got more?

77. Come over here. Let me see.

78. Come on. Hand them over.

79. Where'd you pick these up?

80. All right.

81. So, is that where those guys were standing?

82. Yes. I took off. I turned left down there.

83. Can I get back to my wife?

84. Officer! Run Mr. O'Neal back to the hospital. Thank you.

85. What have you got?

86. Pint of Tally-Ho, cash receipt, $2.66.

87. Time stamped 11:16 last night,

88. liquor store two blocks from here.

89. We close at 11:00.

90. I can't remember everybody who buys booze.

91. This sale was after you closed.

92. Well, maybe the clock's busted.

93. And maybe you let somebody in after hours.

94. Tell you what, why don't we just wait around, ask your boss?

95. Don't do that.

96. Well, then quit jerking us around. Who bought the brandy?

97. He doesn't bother nobody.

98. Then, he won't mind talking to us.

99. His name is Tico. He comes in every night for his bottle.

100. Last night he was late. He tapped on the window.

101. Where can we find him?

102. When he drinks, he doesn't see anything.

103. Me, I saw two of everything.

104. Hey! Look, Tico.

105. You don't talk, you don't eat!

106. Oh, boy! This beef and barley soup.

107. This is good for you. Lots of vitamins and minerals.

108. No cholesterol either!

109. Very fast.

110. What kind of car?

111. Give me my soup.

112. What kind of car?

113. Oh!

114. White Ford.

115. The O'Neals were driving a blue Ford. You sure it wasn't blue?

116. I know blue. I know white.

117. It was a white Ford!

118. Did you see who was driving?

119. No.

120. Please, give me my soup.

121. It was in the front seat. A.380. Very good condition.

122. You find the gun, we'll match it.

123. You mean the gun that's in the river

124. under the George Washington Bridge.

125. What about these trajectories?

126. So far, they converge at a point

127. about 20 feet out in front of the car.

128. So, the car and the shooter weren't moving.

129. Everybody was standing still.

130. What about this one?

131. Looks like the shot came from this side.

132. The shooter probably fired just as the car was turning right to get away.

133. Except O'Neal could only turn left.

134. Unless

135. the door was open when the shooting started.

136. Marty left that part out.

137. Yeah. He didn't tell us the car was stopped either.

138. Maybe because he wasn't in the car.

139. He shot his wife while his kid's asleep in the back seat?

140. Hey, you get mad enough, you forget who's in the back seat.

141. I was sleeping with Pooh.

142. Then I heard noises, like firecrackers.

143. Did you see where your daddy was?

144. No. It was dark and I was scared.

145. And then Daddy drove real fast.

146. Sweetheart, before the firecrackers,

147. did you hear your mommy and daddy talking?

148. It's okay, honey. Tell the truth.

149. Mommy and Daddy were fighting, Grandma.

150. Daddy was yelling.

151. Mommy wanted to go home, but Daddy said no.

152. That's all right, Bess. You were a good girl.

153. She's answered enough questions.

154. Hello? It's Marty.

155. Yes, Dad's here with Bess.

156. What?

157. Oh, Marty.

158. I'm so sorry.

159. Marty.

160. No, you did the right thing.

161. Yes, we'll come right over.

162. God bless her.

163. David, our baby is gone.

164. The doctors took her off life support.

165. Marty signed the form.

166. They said there was no hope.

167. We're very sorry.

168. The doctors are taking her organs to donate.

169. It was going to be her 30th birthday tomorrow.

170. We like the husband.

171. His story's off, and his kid says they were fighting.

172. It's still a stretch, killing her with his daughter right there.

173. Maybe she kept telling him to stop for directions.

174. That could drive a guy nuts.

175. Hey, LT.

176. O'Neal's bank just faxed over his mortgage application.

177. Turns out his wife was insured for 50 grand.

178. 50 grand? Hardly buys a pot roast anymore.

179. Yeah? Well, check this out. Under O'Neal's work history,

180. he worked five summers as a lifeguard at Highbridge Pool,

181. in Washington Heights.

182. Isn't that just a few blocks from the shooting?

183. Right. He was lost.

184. I saw the signs to the hospital.

185. That's how I ended up at Woodward.

186. Never been in that neighborhood?

187. No. Never.

188. I just followed the signs.

189. Yeah. We followed the signs, too, Marty.

190. We wound up at the Highbridge Pool,

191. where you used to work.

192. That was a long time ago. I just forgot where I was.

193. Like you forgot your car was stopped.

194. And your door was open.

195. And you had a fight with your wife.

196. We know about that, too, Marty.

197. She wanted to go home, but you said no.

198. You had a surprise for her birthday.

199. Yeah, a nice, shiny bullet to the head.

200. No! It wasn't like that!

201. Well, then help us to understand then, Marty.

202. She must have done something to deserve it, right?

203. No! No, she didn't deserve it.

204. It's my fault.

205. I was going to buy a diamond ring for her

206. from this guy, Tony.

207. This Tony is a fence? We need to talk to him.

208. All I got is his pager.

209. I was meeting him on Cabrini, on account of we were coming from Jersey.

210. I wanted Nancy to pick out the diamond.

211. But Tony wasn't there.

212. He was supposed to be waiting in his car, this white Ford.

213. Nancy just wanted to forget it.

214. But I had to buy the diamond before the party.

215. I wanted her parents to see the ring on her finger.

216. Then, I saw these guys.

217. I thought Tony was with them.

218. So I got out,

219. and they just started shooting.

220. They killed Nancy.

221. Oh, my God.

222. It's my fault.

223. I should have listened to her.

224. We paged this guy Tony and left O'Neal's number.

225. No call back.

226. Better luck paging the Easter Bunny.

227. I think O'Neal's on the level.

228. He said Tony drives a white Ford. That's what the drunk saw.

229. And we believe this liar because a juice head says so?

230. I ran down that beeper number.

231. It's registered to a Loretta Mason.

232. She works at Ricky Reeds on 19th.

233. Loretta? She sounds like a lot of fun.

234. Ask her how well she knows Mr. O'Neal.

235. Marty O'Neal? Sorry, Irish men don't do anything for me.

236. Well, how about Italians named Tony?

237. Oh, I know a lot of Tonys.

238. The one who got you those rocks.

239. His name was Irving.

240. You mind if I use your phone?

241. Go ahead.

242. Anyway, I lost that pager three months ago.

243. This one's much better.

244. It vibrates.

245. My boyfriend's a real sweetie.

246. Sometimes he pages me for no reason at all.

247. What? You lose your pager and you don't bother to cancel the account?

248. I paid a year's service in advance.

249. They weren't going to give me a refund.

250. So what the heck, let the guy who stole it get my money's worth.

251. Ricky Reeds. Good afternoon.

252. Loretta? Yeah. She's here. Who should I say is calling?

253. Tony? Just a moment.

254. I paged him and gave him this number.

255. There's a coffee shop right down the street.

256. You tell him that you're going to meet him outside.

257. You got that, Loretta?

258. Baby, what's the problem?

259. Tony, I'm sorry. They made me do it.

260. You're a tough guy to get a hold of, Tony.

261. Whoa! Easy! Look, I wasn't on Cabrini Boulevard.

262. I don't know any Marty O'Neal.

263. That's personal property.

264. Yeah, right. From your family estate, huh?

265. One last time, Tony.

266. Friday night. Cabrini Boulevard.

267. I wasn't there.

268. Don't lie to the police.

269. Okay! Look, I was there, okay? But Marty never showed.

270. And what's it got to do with you guys?

271. You don't read the papers? His wife got shot on Cabrini.

272. I only saw the headlines. That was his old lady?

273. Oh, man.

274. I had a feeling about those guys.

275. What guys are those?

276. When I was waiting for O'Neal, these three guys come along,

277. and one was showing the other two a big silver gun.

278. I was holding nine diamond rings.

279. I wasn't going to stick around.

280. What did these guys look like?

281. Guy with the gun was big, and the other two were smaller.

282. And one had short, blond hair. Dominicans.

283. What? They were wearing the national costume?

284. They were drinking Barahona,

285. Dominican beer.

286. Nobody else drinks that crap.

287. I saw them come out of this little club.

288. What club?

289. This Dominican place, in a basement around the corner from 180th.

290. This is a private club. Yeah.

291. We're looking for three of your members.

292. They were here Friday, around midnight.

293. Big man with two other guys. One had blond hair.

294. I don't want any trouble.

295. Neither do we.

296. And we know your liquor license isn't posted

297. because it's out someplace being framed, right?

298. Look, these guys shot a woman four blocks from here, Friday.

299. They came this close to killing her little girl.

300. Put your hands on your head, now! Get down on your stomach.

301. Do it! It's dirty, man.

302. Get down on the floor!

303. I get all dirty here, man.

304. What are you complaining about?

305. We're the ones who have to smell you.

306. Come on. Get up.

307. The bartender said Leo was there Friday, with his brother, Victor.

308. She said they were drinking with a third guy.

309. Thinks his name was Eli.

310. Description fits what the fence told us.

311. Well, this bartender earned her club a little police protection.

312. Say hello to Victor Ramos, Leo's brother.

313. Victor here declines to cooperate with the authorities.

314. Put him in Room B.

315. We tossed their place. No gun, but I found their phone book.

316. Under the letter "E", Elias Camacho.

317. Prefix in the Bronx.

318. He's not here. Why do you want him?

319. We're arresting him, Mrs. Camacho.

320. What, again? You arrested him two days ago, on Saturday.

321. He's not here.I told you that.

322. He's in Rikers jail. He was caught selling drugs.

323. Don't you know that?

324. Routine buy and bust.

325. This lame ass, Camacho, could only sell me eight balloons.

326. I tell him I need 50.

327. Punk gets scared, lifts his shirt, shows me he's strapped.

328. What's it look like to you?

329. Nickel plate, .380 Brownie, I figure.

330. We're going to need that gun.

331. I'd love to have it to give to you.

332. He says he's going to get me the 50 balloons.

333. Backup unit lost him.

334. By the time we collared him, the gun was gone.

335. Are you sure it was a.380? Uh-huh.

336. If you want to know where it is, you're going to have to ask him.

337. This case will never make without the gun.

338. Yeah. But the fence ID'd Camacho from a photo array.

339. The bartender said he was drinking with the Ramos brothers.

340. Did O'Neal ID any of them?

341. No. For what it's worth,

342. Camacho probably doesn't even know he killed anybody.

343. Otherwise, he wouldn't have flashed that gun

344. to an undercover the next morning.

345. What, he doesn't watch the news?

346. He got locked up before the news hit the street.

347. Which A.D.A. caught the drug bust?

348. Charlie Harmon. I know him.

349. Are the Ramos brothers still in holding? Uh-huh.

350. Keep them there. Lose their paperwork.

351. If Camacho doesn't know about the murder, I don't want them telling him.

352. You never call, you never write, but when you want a favor...

353. You sound like my mother, Charlie. This is important.

354. Money never changed hands, Jamie.

355. The case is a loser.

356. What do you want with it?

357. Camacho's a murder suspect.

358. I need the gun he was carrying.

359. A murder case?

360. I could use some R&R from the war on drugs.

361. I would kill to be second chair in a murder trial.

362. I'm second chair.

363. Say, "I'll do my best."

364. On the next one.

365. Thanks.

366. You're welcome.

367. I'm sorry. Mr. Sutter, hi. I'm Jamie Ross.

368. I'm just playing catch-up, here.

369. Mr. Harmon was busy. He just dumped all this into my lap.

370. Oh!

371. Well, you'll see it's a very weak case.

372. Don't get your hopes up.

373. Why do you think Harmon laid it off on you?

374. I see your client had eight heroin balloons on him

375. when he was arrested.

376. It was for his own personal use.

377. I'm not that green, Mr. Sutter.

378. I'd like to work with you.

379. The police say you showed a gun to the undercover officer.

380. I don't have no gun.

381. Nickel-plated, semi-automatic.

382. I'd like to come out of this looking good.

383. The mayor has this "Guns Off The Street" program.

384. Maybe you heard of it?

385. You turn in your gun, we reduce the drug charge to simple possession.

386. Time served. A year's probation.

387. No weapons charge.

388. No weapons charge.

389. With reduced bail, he could be out by tonight.

390. It's a good deal, Mr. Camacho.

391. Okay. I'll tell you where the gun is.

392. The action's a little rough.

393. Mr. Camacho ought to clean his weapon more often.

394. I'll mention it to him.

395. You know, these people have no respect for their instruments.

396. I mean, that's a beautiful piece of American craftsmanship.

397. Feel the finish on the walnut stock.

398. It caresses the hand like a woman's thigh.

399. Yeah, a big selling point for Camacho.

400. This is the slug from your victim's head.

401. Now, I'm looking at two projectiles fired from the same gun.

402. No question. That's your murder weapon.

403. Then we better roll. Camacho just made bail on that reduced dope charge.

404. He's going to be leaving Rikers in an hour.

405. Thanks.

406. I'm going to miss my bus, man, what's up?

407. Elias Camacho? Yeah?

408. You're under arrest. Turn around.

409. Hey, what the hell, man?

410. That bitch promised me no charges, man!

411. This is for the murder of Nancy O'Neal.

412. You have the right to remain silent.

413. Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

414. You have the right to an attorney...

415. She submarined us, Your Honor.

416. She didn't tell us my client was a suspect in a murder investigation!

417. Mr. Camacho knew he'd used the gun in a shooting.

418. If he's dumb enough to hand it over...

419. It was bad faith.

420. We gave him a year's probation on the drug charge

421. and a walk on the weapons charge.

422. We're standing by the deal.

423. She lied to us, Your Honor.

424. Did you, Ms. Ross?

425. Not exactly, Your Honor.

426. Anyway, the courts have allowed the police to use deceit to obtain evidence.

427. The police. I expect more from an Assistant District Attorney.

428. Whatever the reason,

429. Mr. Camacho turned over the gun on the advice of counsel

430. and of his own free will.

431. His rights weren't violated. Your Honor.

432. Mr. Sutter,

433. the law is on Ms. Ross' side.

434. Your motion to suppress is denied.

435. And you, I'm not happy with.

436. I'm sending a note to the ethics committee,

437. and then I'm going to talk to Adam Schiff.

438. Camacho alone is responsible for this crime.

439. It was his gun. Only his prints were on it.

440. Which is why Mr. Ramos and his brother

441. are only charged with facilitation.

442. Leo has applied for legal immigration. He has a clean record.

443. He'd like to keep it that way.

444. He testifies against Camacho, we drop the charge.

445. Camacho was pointing the gun at everything.

446. We told him, "Don't be stupid."

447. And then this Ford comes by, and this white guy's checking us out.

448. And he stops and he gets out of the car.

449. Camacho says he wants to scare the white guy,

450. so he shoots at the car.

451. The white guy drives off. Camacho's laughing.

452. Me and my brother, we get scared. We run away.

453. We didn't know about nobody getting hurt.

454. The other brother confirmed the story.

455. Camacho just wanted to scare O'Neal away.

456. It doesn't matter. He shot into an occupied car.

457. It's depraved indifference. It's still murder.

458. I'll have the brothers sign their statements,

459. then I'll write up their dismissal note.

460. Good.

461. Jack.

462. Nancy O'Neal's hospital chart.

463. It says she was in the O.R. prepped for organ retrieval at 11:22.

464. So?

465. Here, check the time of death on her death certificate.

466. 11:55.

467. They were getting ready to take her organs out

468. half an hour before she was declared dead?

469. Clerical error.

470. She was dead when the bullet turned her brain to mush.

471. I'd hate for Camacho to be acquitted on a dumb clerical error.

472. Who signed the death certificate?

473. Maybe I signed it at 11:55,

474. but she was brain dead a good half hour before that.

475. We're going to need her exact time of death, Dr. Hsu.

476. I don't have the exact time.

477. We have to tell the jury something.

478. Look, she failed the apnea test,

479. then she was brought into the O.R.

480. The apnea test?

481. Once the patient's brain function ceases,

482. we take her off the ventilator.

483. If she can't breathe on her own for one minute,

484. then she's brain dead.

485. That's what happened to Nancy O'Neal?

486. Yes.

487. Who else would've noted her actual time of death?

488. Ask Dr. Cosgrove. He was in charge of the organ retrieval.

489. I'm just the neurosurgeon.

490. There were seven surgeons in O.R., Ms. Ross.

491. If you've never seen an organ retrieval,

492. it's like a sale at Loehmann's.

493. Please, use my car. Thanks.

494. Once it starts, there's no time for taking notes.

495. That's what nurses are for.

496. I'm talking about before the retrieval began.

497. Don't you have the time she failed her apnea test?

498. It's on her chart. Yes.

499. 11:20. That's the time of death.

500. Because that's when Dr. Hsu said she was brain dead?

501. Right. When a neurosurgeon says you're dead, you're dead.

502. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to go to.

503. It was nice talking to you.

504. She wasn't declared dead until they were about to cut her open?

505. That's terrific.

506. It's a technicality.

507. She was dead when she failed the breathing test.

508. And their expert will say otherwise.

509. You don't want the jury scratching their heads going into deliberations.

510. Camacho's lawyer's been calling.

511. He's looking to make a deal.

512. Good. Call him back.

513. Because of some sloppy record-keeping?

514. Half a loaf, Counselor. Better than nothing.

515. We'll take man one for 10 years.

516. 10-to-20.

517. 20-to-life, on murder two.

518. With the Ramos brothers saying he didn't mean to kill anybody?

519. The jury won't care.

520. We'd settle for 12-and-a-half-to-25.

521. You have a deal.

522. I can do 12, no sweat.

523. Quiet, Elias.

524. That was too easy. What's the catch?

525. You've got eyewitnesses, ballistics, the murder weapon.

526. Fingerprints. I mean, someone slip happy pills in your coffee?

527. The deal's on the table for another 30 seconds.

528. I got bent over a chair by Ms. Ross before.

529. Now I'm getting another tingling sensation in my butt. Why is that?

530. Wishful thinking?

531. Your time is up, Mr. Sutter.

532. Come on, man, make the deal.

533. That's what they'd like us to do.

534. I want to see everything you've got.

535. I want to see statements, police reports, everything.

536. Then we can talk about a deal, okay?

537. Come on.

538. This minor record-keeping glitch, as Mr. McCoy keeps calling it,

539. means my client didn't kill Nancy O'Neal.

540. That's nonsense, Your Honor.

541. What's pertinent here is when she failed the apnea test.

542. That's when she was brain dead.

543. According to whom, Your Honor?

544. Dr. Hsu, the neurosurgeon who signed her death certificate.

545. Did he tell Mr. McCoy or Ms. Ross

546. that he administered the apnea test?

547. He told me Mrs. O'Neal failed the apnea test.

548. Because someone told him she did.

549. In fact, he wasn't even there.

550. According to his affidavit, the test was administered by a Dr. Donald Cosgrove,

551. outside the presence of a neurosurgeon

552. and in violation of medical protocol.

553. Mrs. O'Neal was technically alive

554. when they began harvesting her organs.

555. That's what caused her death.

556. Not my client. Your Honor,

557. Mr. Sutter can wave the death certificate around all he wants.

558. The fact is his client fired a bullet into Mrs. O'Neal's brain.

559. That's why she failed the apnea test.

560. That's why she was declared dead.

561. And that's why I'm going to deny your motion to dismiss, Mr. Sutter.

562. Your Honor, the fact that my client didn't kill Mrs. O'Neal...

563. Is for a jury to decide.

564. You can present this evidence at trial.

565. We're done.

566. I didn't lie, Ms. Ross. You just never asked.

567. You lied by omission.

568. You let me assume you conducted that apnea test.

569. You assumed at your own risk.

570. You falsely signed an official document.

571. She was dead when I signed her death certificate.

572. I told you to talk to Cosgrove.

573. I took his word she failed the test.

574. I'm sorry.

575. I screwed up, Jack.

576. I heard what I wanted to hear.

577. I heard what I wanted to hear, too.

578. We're going to need Cosgrove's testimony.

579. Talk to him. Make sure we're in sync.

580. An RN, Judy Paxton, made the notation on the O'Neal chart,

581. but I don't see that she was present when Dr. Cosgrove did the test.

582. Then I should really talk to Dr. Cosgrove.

583. Yes. Do you have his number at Hudson Medical Center?

584. He doesn't work here anymore?

585. His last day was Friday.

586. He took everybody by surprise.

587. Was he facing disciplinary action here over the apnea test?

588. No. He was going to leave sooner or later.

589. Thanks to our insurance company,

590. Woodward will be out of the heart transplant business by the end of the year.

591. There are just too many risks.

592. Dr. Cosgrove must've been disappointed.

593. I doubt it. If you're a heart man, Hudson is the place to be.

594. I called Hudson Medical Center, Cosgrove wasn't available.

595. His assistant said he's too busy settling into his new job.

596. Hudson? Didn't they get some of Nancy O'Neal's organs?

597. They put her heart and lungs in a high school student.

598. According to his assistant, Cosgrove hand-carried the organs

599. and assisted in the transplant.

600. Sounds more like he was arranging a job transplant.

601. The senior administrator at Woodward Hospital said

602. he's been sending out his resume for the past six months.

603. No takers. He was pricing himself right out of the market.

604. Until Hudson came along.

605. They're among the top ten in the country.

606. They can afford him.

607. How fortunate for Dr. Cosgrove.

608. The notion that Hudson Medical had a quid pro quo

609. with Dr. Cosgrove is ridiculous.

610. We don't barter for organs.

611. So it's just a coincidence?

612. Yes. Cosgrove is a first-rate doctor. That's the reason he's here.

613. You're aware there was no neurologist at the donor's apnea test,

614. the one he says she failed?

615. No, I didn't know that.

616. I'm sure there's an explanation.

617. Dr. Cosgrove hasn't provided one.

618. Hmm.

619. This transplant was very important for your hospital.

620. Every transplant is, especially to the patient.

621. The girl had Eisenmenger's syndrome,

622. literally days away from death when Cosgrove came through.

623. I meant financially.

624. Oh.

625. I read that Hudson recently had its Center of Excellence rating

626. renewed by Medicare.

627. That's right.

628. Doesn't that mean that Medicare will help defray the costs

629. of organ retrievals and heart transplants?

630. Yes. You've done your research.

631. And that rating is predicated on the number

632. of successful transplants performed each year. Including this one.

633. I see where you're going. Good.

634. What did Dr. Cosgrove promise you with regards to

635. Nancy O'Neal's heart and lungs?

636. I think I better have a talk with our in-house counsel.

637. Fine. And after him, you can talk to the grand jury.

638. There was another matching donor in Virginia.

639. We were on the phone with them and with Cosgrove.

640. Waiting to see who would die first.

641. Yes.

642. Cosgrove guaranteed me he could deliver a heart-lung block.

643. I made the notation in her chart because Dr. Cosgrove told me to.

644. I wasn't there for the test.

645. Was anyone besides Cosgrove?

646. He said Dr. Hsu was.

647. Look, he was chief of the floor.

648. If he'd told me Elmer Fudd had witnessed the test,

649. that would be okay with me.

650. Ms. Paxton, do you believe she failed the test?

651. I don't know anymore.

652. I was there the first two times Cosgrove and Hsu tested her.

653. She passed.

654. An hour later, Cosgrove told me they tested her again, she failed.

655. He ordered five milligrams of Vec and told me to get her to the O.R.

656. Vec, what's that? Vecuronium.

657. They give it to organ donors before harvesting

658. to stop any postmortem muscle spasms.

659. It paralyzes them?

660. Head to toe.

661. Cosgrove declares her dead and then kills her with a blow dart.

662. So now he's your murderer, not Camacho?

663. Cosgrove had the motive, to advance his career,

664. plus he had the means and the opportunity.

665. And the man who put a bullet in Nancy O'Neal's brain goes home?

666. Public won't be happy.

667. They're both liable for her death.

668. In this room, not in court.

669. The doctor's intentional intervening act negates Camacho's liability.

670. Camacho acted with depraved indifference when he fired at the car.

671. He sent Nancy O'Neal to the hospital,

672. in a coma with a bullet in her brain.

673. That she might die there, for whatever reason,

674. including Cosgrove's intentional act,

675. was a foreseeable consequence of shooting her.

676. Foreseeable? If she'd died of a heart attack on an operating table,

677. that would be a foreseeable consequence.

678. And if it had been malpractice?

679. Isn't that also a foreseeable consequence?

680. What's your point?

681. Malpractice isn't that far from what Cosgrove did.

682. It doesn't let Camacho off the hook.

683. I see.

684. Are you gonna hold the jury's hand to make the leap?

685. I'll hold both their hands.

686. I'll tell you, if either conviction survives an appeal,

687. I'll buy a new hat.

688. Let them appeal.

689. Five years from now, they might get a new trial,

690. which I'll be glad to prosecute.

691. For now, this is the right thing to do.

692. "Docket number 558806, People v. Donald Cosgrove,

693. "Murder in the Second Degree."

694. Your Honor, my client's already been arraigned. What is he doing here?

695. Let me get a plea. Mr. Cosgrove?

696. Doctor. Not guilty.

697. Bail, Ms. Ross?

698. $500,000 on the doctor, Your Honor,

699. and status quo for Mr. Camacho.

700. I'm sorry. I still don't see why we're here.

701. People request the cases against Mr. Camacho and Dr. Cosgrove

702. be consolidated. On what grounds?

703. The people allege they both killed Nancy O'Neal.

704. What? Me and this gangster?

705. Your Honor, Dr. Cosgrove is a respected surgeon.

706. Enough.

707. Elias Camacho remains remanded.

708. Bail is set for Donald Cosgrove at $500,000.

709. Now go yell at somebody else.

710. They're not co-conspirators, they're not accomplices.

711. They acted independently of each other, Your Honor.

712. Now, if the doctor killed her,

713. there's no legal basis to charge Mr. Camacho with her murder.

714. In People v. Stewart,

715. a stabbing victim died on the operating table

716. because of a medical error unrelated to the wound.

717. The court ruled that the doctor's intervening act

718. did not nullify the assailant's responsibility.

719. And if I may observe, Your Honor,

720. that in Stewart the doctor was never even charged.

721. Because that doctor made an honest medical mistake.

722. There's nothing honest about what your client did to Nancy O'Neal.

723. Your Honor, I don't know what these lawyers think they know about medicine...

724. Donald, please.No, really.

725. I saved the life of a 16-year-old girl that night.

726. And to be lumped in with this street scum is beyond anything...

727. Doctor, that's enough.

728. Now you'd be advised to let your lawyer do the talking. Hmm?

729. I'm sorry, Your Honor.

730. Your Honor, the People's evidence

731. simply doesn't support the allegations.

732. Which makes this an issue of fact for a jury to decide.

733. Your Honor. Your Honor.

734. Gentlemen, please. Ms. Ross is right.

735. Since there's enough here to sustain charges against both defendants,

736. I'm going to let a jury sort it out.

737. After I brought Nancy in,

738. the emergency doctor told me she was critical,

739. but that she might pull through.

740. Did Dr. Cosgrove talk to you?

741. Yes.

742. He kept coming by.

743. I was sitting next to Nancy in the ICU.

744. He examined her,

745. then said I should expect her to die in a short while.

746. Mr. O'Neal, what did you expect the hospital to do for your wife?

747. It's a hospital.

748. These doctors were supposed to help her, to save her life.

749. Not kill her.

750. No more questions.

751. Mr. O'Neal, just to be clear,

752. when you brought your wife to Woodward, she was alive?

753. Yes. Absolutely.

754. Thank you.

755. After your wife was shot,

756. did she ever regain consciousness?

757. No.

758. She was in a coma.

759. But they told me she might get better.

760. Might?

761. Didn't you have a lengthy consultation that evening at 8:47 with Dr. Hsu

762. who told you that your wife was near brain dead?

763. That she would never be aware of her surroundings again?

764. Yes. He told me she was close to brain death.

765. But what does he know?

766. I mean, I could see she was breathing on her own.

767. Move to strike.

768. Mr. O'Neal is not qualified to assess the condition of a comatose patient.

769. It doesn't take an expert to know

770. when someone's breathing, Your Honor.

771. Sit down, Mr. McCoy.

772. The jury will disregard.

773. Why?

774. She was alive, Judge.

775. My wife was alive.

776. Mr. O'Neal, please.

777. You're to respond only to the questions.

778. Mr. Hilburne.

779. Nothing more, Your Honor.

780. I was on a phone consultation with a doctor in Queens,

781. when I got called to the O.R. by Dr. Cosgrove.

782. He told me Mrs. O'Neal had failed the apnea test.

783. He asked me to sign the death certificate. I did.

784. I shouldn't have, but by then it was too late.

785. You signed it even though you didn't witness the test?

786. Aren't you admitting that you violated medical protocol?

787. Yes.

788. Making you subject to professional sanctions?

789. Yes.

790. Thank you. No more questions.

791. No questions, Your Honor.

792. You had six other patients

793. with brain injuries in the ICU that day, is that correct?

794. Yes, that sounds right.

795. Well, do you remember that day a patient named Roberto Lopez?

796. 47-year-old Hispanic male, aortic aneurysm.

797. Yes, now I remember.

798. I signed a brain death notice for him that afternoon.

799. And do you recall how many apnea tests he underwent that day?

800. I'd have to check.

801. His chart says four.

802. But of those tests, how many did you witness?

803. I'm not sure. Another neurosurgeon,

804. Dr. Koblin, might've witnessed one of them.

805. The chart says you were present for two.

806. Then that's what it is.

807. How about Francine Waters, black,

808. pulmonary edema? She had three tests.

809. Were you present for all of them?

810. I don't recall.

811. Her chart says you were.

812. Just as Nancy O'Neal's chart says you were there for her last test.

813. Yes, but I wasn't.

814. How can you be sure?

815. I wasn't there. Why would I lie?

816. I don't know, Doctor.

817. Maybe it's professional jealousy?

818. Maybe my client has a better parking spot than you.

819. Objection. Withdrawn.

820. No more questions.

821. Last year, Cosgrove bought a house in Sands Point from a judge's widow.

822. $1.3 million. That's a big nut to carry.

823. Locks down his financial motive.

824. Might not make any difference. Dr. Hsu's a wash.

825. In the win column, we have the ballistics expert, the Ramos brothers.

826. Marty O'Neal's a toss-up.

827. So we've got a good chance of convicting Camacho,

828. and slim-to-none on Cosgrove?

829. Put yourself in the jury's shoes.

830. Camacho blew a woman's brains out.

831. That's an easy concept to grasp.

832. All the rest of it, brain death, apnea tests.

833. I get a headache just thinking about it.

834. Aspirin's in the top right drawer.

835. Jack, Nancy O'Neal was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

836. She was breathing. On her own.

837. That's life, as far as the State of New York is concerned.

838. But what kind of a life?

839. It doesn't matter.

840. This was not a mercy killing, it was murder for profit.

841. Jamie, can dead people feel pain?

842. Trick question? The word "dead" speaks for itself.

843. Look at this.

844. Mrs. O'Neal was near death.

845. Her husband had given a "do not resuscitate" order.

846. We were waiting for her to die.

847. What did you do?

848. We performed a third apnea test.

849. We took her off the ventilator.

850. She stopped breathing. She was brain dead.

851. When you say "we," who do you mean?

852. Myself and Dr. Hsu.

853. I can't understand why he doesn't remember.

854. But I do. He was there.

855. After Mrs. O'Neal failed the test, what did you do?

856. I put her back on the ventilator.

857. Then, I told Nurse Paxton to make a note in her chart and to prep her for the O.R.

858. And what happened there?

859. A team of surgeons harvested her organs.

860. Her heart and her lungs went to a high school student.

861. Her kidneys went to California and to Arkansas,

862. and her corneas went to Chicago.

863. Thanks to Mrs. O'Neal's gifts,

864. a half a dozen people now lead normal, healthier lives.

865. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor.

866. No questions.

867. Doctor, we heard testimony that you guaranteed Hudson Medical Center

868. you'd have a heart-lung block for them to transplant.

869. They misunderstood.

870. And now you're working at Hudson.

871. You'd been wanting to leave Woodward for some time, isn't that true?

872. Yes. Their insurance company is forcing them

873. to stop doing heart transplants.

874. You'd applied to other hospitals? Yes.

875. And you'd been turned down because of your salary demands, correct?

876. I really couldn't say.

877. Your monthly financial obligations are substantial.

878. Alimony, child support for two kids,

879. payments on a condo in the city,

880. a home in Sands Point, two luxury cars...

881. Yes, yes.

882. You need that big paycheck, don't you?

883. And Hudson Medical Center was the only hospital willing to meet your price.

884. Yes.

885. If you delivered a heart-lung block to them that night.

886. No, that is ridiculous. They hired me because of my qualifications.

887. Doctor, we've heard testimony from several neurologists

888. that Nancy O'Neal would have survived her injuries.

889. Well, they're wrong. The fact is, she did not survive.

890. She failed the apnea test. She was dead.

891. Brain dead? Yes.

892. You're absolutely sure?

893. According to the medical standards that we live by,

894. yes, there's no question that she was dead.

895. People's 79.

896. An itemized bill for Nancy O'Neal's stay at Woodward Hospital.

897. It includes all charges incurred during the organ harvest.

898. Doctor, there's an item highlighted. Please tell us what it says.

899. It's a morphine drip.

900. What's it used for?

901. It's a painkiller.

902. You were giving Nancy O'Neal a painkiller

903. while you were harvesting her organs?

904. No.

905. This is a mistake. It's not on her hospital chart.

906. You're right, it isn't.

907. But we checked with the hospital dispensary.

908. People's 80.

909. According to their records, you signed out a morphine drip

910. 10 minutes before Nancy O'Neal was wheeled into the O.R.

911. Isn't that what this says?

912. Yes.

913. Why would a person you were absolutely sure was brain dead

914. need a painkiller?

915. She wouldn't. She didn't.

916. Because if she were as dead as this piece of wood,

917. she wouldn't feel any pain, isn't that right?

918. She was dead.

919. She was alive.

920. For all your godlike pronouncements,

921. you knew that, didn't you?Objection!

922. That's why you had to pump her full of morphine!

923. So she wouldn't bolt upright,

924. screaming in the operating room while you cut her heart out.

925. Mr. McCoy.

926. I have nothing further.

927. Man one, 12-and-a-half-to-25?

928. Jack, you've got to take into consideration

929. the quality of the life that was taken.

930. I don't make those distinctions.

931. Murder two, 15-to-life. Or we go back to the jury.

932. Done. Send me the paperwork.

933. Mr. McCoy,

934. if you had seen her lying there,

935. there was no hope of recovery.

936. She was either going to die then or 10 days later.

937. It wasn't your decision to make, Doctor.

938. Donald.

939. Of course it was.

940. Cosgrove confused his own needs with his patient's.

941. He got arrogant.

942. An occupational hazard of people

943. with the power over life and death.

944. Like doctors.

945. Prosecutors. One guilty plea, one guilty verdict.

946. Good work. And good night.

947. Tomorrow, we start on Camacho's sentence recommendation.

948. There's gonna be some fallout from this.

949. People are gonna think twice before signing their donor cards.

950. Cosgrove was an aberration.

951. I'm not worried about a shortage of organs.

952. Better not be.

953. Especially livers.

954. Good night, Jack.