[UPBEAT HOUSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[CROWD CHATTERING AND CHEERING]
Who wants shots?
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
- Mr. Morelli? - Yeah.
Kaczmarek? Jeff Rodgers, hotel security.
Thank you for coming.
Mr. Greene asked me to call you, personally.
Housekeeping slacking?
Mr. Greene as in Johnny Greene who owns this hotel, Johnny Greene?
The only thing more important to my employer than this hotel is his family.
Unfortunately, both are at stake in this.
Come on, this doesn't have to do with some guy
having a heart attack here in the penthouse.
- What's going on? - No heart attack, Mr. Morelli.
Mr. Greene's son, Mike, uses this room to party with his friends.
I'll have him fill the details in with you.
I sent him to his father's suite to sober up.
All right, all right, come on, cut the crap. What did you call us for?
RODGERS: That.
Oh, jeez.
That ain't grandpa.
[NICK SIGHS]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
That's the police. Mr. Greene asks that you please handle this.
- Heads. - Tails.
All right, I'll meet you downtown.
Don't let anybody touch her except for the coroner.
You're the lawyer?
- Uh, Morelli, was it? - Yeah. Mike?
Hi, Mike. You wanna tell me what happened?
I don't know what happened.
Woke up. Saw her in the tub.
Must have passed out.
I called Rodgers and I suppose he called Dad.
He's gonna kill me.
Look, you're gonna have to make a statement to the police.
You probably wanna skip the booze.
- Tough guy. - I have no statement, I blacked out.
I don't remember anything after, uh...
[SIGHS]
Whatever. I don't remember.
Who's the girl?
Rye Seeger. She's a casino host.
- Florentine, here? - Hmm.
She your girlfriend or what?
No, not a girlfriend.
But she was cool, mostly.
Look, this is all my fault.
I'll tell the police anything you like.
Your fault? What do you mean your fault?
I was wrecked, man.
If I don't pass out, maybe I stop her from falling
and knocking her head or however she ended up dead.
I'm not exactly the best guy to be around.
Look, let me get you a little breakfast.
Some greasy food to soak up that alcohol.
With all due respect, Mr. Morelli, no thank you.
Why isn't he here, Kaczmarek?
Got something to hide? Drugs?
I just got here, you mook. Far as I know, the kid's a priest.
Oh, jeez.
Well, it's a preliminary hearing where the DA presents their evidence
and the judge decides whether it should go on to trial.
Now, if we go to trail, you'll still be out on bail.
Do you think that it will go to trial?
Well, with those bruises around her throat, I'd bet yes.
All right, look, she liked it. She wanted me to do it.
She'd put my hands on her neck herself if I wouldn't.
Come on, every guy who beats his wife says that she likes it.
She did.
Wait, are you saying that you remember having sex with her
the night she died and choked her?
I don't remember. I'm saying it wouldn't have been the first time if I did.
Here it comes.
- Mike? - Dad.
Michael?
- You kill the girl? - No.
Did you kill her?
I don't know.
Michael, did you kill her?
I don't remember, all right?
I don't know what I did.
In my hotel.
Uh, Mr. Greene, hi. Sorry to interrupt. I'm Pete.
I know who you are, Kaczmarek.
It's what I don't know maybe you can help me with.
[SIGHS]
Morelli,
you make this go away?
Well, Johnny, it depends.
Sources have told me that the girl had some skin under her fingernails.
That would figure
because she would fight back if she was really being strangled.
So what?
Well, if there is a killer, he'd have marks on his body.
Okay, kid.
Drop trou.
I would like to thank you for coming. I realize this is difficult.
It's not so much difficult, Wally, it's just kind of a waste of my time.
Bennie, not Wally. It's Bennie.
Mr. Hapwood, I understand you have a new offer.
Mr. Merman is willing to drop his demand for pain and suffering
in return for an apology, sincere and in writing.
Oh, uh, okay, fine. I'm so sorry. Write that down.
I've got two shows, so thanks a lot.
And, of course, there's the matter of Mr. Merman's expenses.
BOTH: Expenses? - $1,287.
Plane tickets, car, hotel.
I had a weekend planned for this girl that I had hopes for and you ruined it.
- You fit on a plane? BENNIE: Ms. Scott, please.
None of us wants this to go to trial.
Sally's a comedienne.
Mr. Merman assumed the risk of ridicule.
He willingly walked into the theater.
No, my client had no prior knowledge of her act.
Chuck entered in good faith.
Ms. Scott took unfair advantage.
My date laughed at me.
She won't even answer my calls.
Okay, I know what this is.
I'm looking at them and obviously, your moms are cousins.
So, um, we'll just see you in court, dumb-asses.
- Let's get lunch. - Yeah.
[PRESS CHATTERING]
COLE: Ms. Reefe, you knew the victim, Rye Seeger?
Yes, we were both casino hosts at the Florentine.
And can you explain your job, what a casino host is?
Officially, we're in the Marketing Department.
Uh, we liaison between the major players and the casino.
And did you witness on two occasions this defendant accost Ms. Seeger,
accusing her of sleeping with clients?
Once he grabbed her arm. Dragged her out of the poker room.
Another time he pushed her.
- She fell? She hurt her back? JANETTE: Had to go to the doctor.
Said she could barely walk.
Thank you, Ms. Reefe.
Ms. Reefe, when you saw Mike push Rye,
didn't she simply slip on a wet pool deck?
It was at the pool.
And did Rye admit to you that she saw half a dozen doctors
and had half a dozen prescriptions for hydrocodone?
- Objection. - Counselor, is there anything else?
Me? It's Mr. Cole's case, if he could call it that.
The witness may step down.
Mr. Cole?
Judge, the victim exhibited contusions on her neck
consistent with a manual strangulation.
The defendant's relationship with Ms. Seeger was violent.
And a witness will attest that when he left Greene's penthouse,
the defendant was alone with Ms. Seeger and she was alive.
There's more than enough probable cause to bind this over.
Your Honor, I heard a rumor that there was skin under Ms. Seeger's nails.
That she fought back against her killer. Is that true?
It could be.
Well, if it is, Your Honor, we have a little problem.
I have a doctor's report right here
that says Mike Greene doesn't have a mark on his body.
It's microscopic, Your Honor. Little cells.
She could literally get millions under her nails and not break his skin.
All right. I find sufficient evidence to bind this over.
Oh, come on, judge.
The defendant will answer to a single charge of murder
in the second degree.
[GAVEL BANGS]
Your Honor, may it please the court?
Wallace Stern, representing Open Trial TV.
We'd like to file papers to allow our cameras for the Greene matter.
I'll take them.
Judge, we object.
What? Why? Why are you objecting?
It's not fair to my client to have his case tried in public.
The state has no objection, Your Honor.
Cameras serve to educate the public, which we take seriously.
Kiss-ass.
Take it up with Judge Owens, Mr. Morelli. I just file the paper.
[CHEERING ON TV]
[TONY GRUNTS]
- What are you doing? - Hey, you called me.
No, this. Well, what is this?
Dude, seriously. You leave a box laying around, a guy's gonna play.
[ZOEY LAUGHS]
It's my son's, you nit. Kill it. Ow! Hey, ow! Jeez.
Get off me.
All right, Tony, this.
I got a dead girl and a room full of zombie kids.
Find out what you can on them.
And run due diligence on anyone who was on that penthouse floor that night:
- Hotel staff, the whole nine yards. - Got it.
And here, this is the victim, Rye Seeger.
We're gonna argue she had enough drugs in her system to drown herself.
But I gotta deal with those bruises.
So find me an ex who will confirm that she likes to play it rough.
Zoey, also, uh, I'm gonna need a couple of new ties.
But no stripes because they get all fuzzy on camera.
Ah!
- You're gonna be on television? - Open Trial TV, baby.
- Our case. ZOEY: Nice.
Hey, you want me to do your makeup?
Makeup?
Why would I want makeup? Do I need makeup?
Nick, these new cameras are hell on a face like yours.
Just fill this in right here.
The nose hairs...
Uh, leave me alone. No makeup.
Fellas, just got a call from a friend of mine.
Guy who plays poker online.
He says they've posted odds on your case.
Betting odds?
On Mike Greene's murder trial?
Yep, it's going off at 20-to-1 against.
Against.
Oh, Bob.
So sorry.
Listen, we got a problem with the Greene case, Bob.
We need to talk to you.
Morelli, I'm putting here.
- Just have a seat over here. - Just talk to you for one sec?
Uh, we really appreciate your time.
Thank you so much for seeing us, judge.
We are calendared in your court, judge, but we might need some relief.
Well, I can't talk to you about that without a DA.
It's ex parte.
[PETE WHISTLES]
PETE: Guys?
What is this? I got an arraignment in, like, 45.
NICK: Just sit down for a minute. NICHOLSON: Hey, judge.
WAITRESS: Gentlemen. - Hi, ma'am.
- We'll have two coffees. NICHOLSON: I'll take a sandwich.
WAITRESS: Thank you. NICK: Here's the thing.
There's an online casino offering a betting line on the Greene case.
- Wait, is this some kind of a joke? NICK: No.
A betting line on a murder case?
COLE: Shocking. Betting on a tragedy? - It's appalling.
- What are the odds? - Judge, we're gonna need a writ.
All right, you gotta order them to take this down.
An online casino based where, huh? Barbuda?
No, my law doesn't travel.
- You have to sequester the jury. - No way.
You're can't leave a jury free to bet on their own verdict.
- Hey. PETE: You guys know Tony?
- Hey. TONY: Guys, listen to this.
Girl was crazy. I got three exes who will say she loved it.
[MIMICS GAGGING]
Even better, my guy at the hospital told me she had water in her lungs.
There you go, Cole. Okay?
Water in the lungs.
- May as well drop the case, Cole. - Morelli?
So he strangled her. He strangled her while she was in the hot tub. Big deal.
- I'll give you a big deal. OWENS: All right, look, enough.
Look, guys, enough, huh? I got a tee time.
Judge, you have a member number for this?
Oh, judge, you gotta do something
about this TV coverage, judge. Come on.
- No. PRESS: Morelli. Morelli.
[PRESS CHATTERING]
- Can you give us a comment, please? OWENS: No, thank you. No.
REPORTER 1: One moment. - There gonna be a delay?
Mr. Greene admits to restraining Ms. Seeger.
That's it. It was consensual.
The state's rush to judgment got the wrong man.
REPORTER 1: Mr. Cole? - The arrest of Mike Greene was made
not one bit sooner than the evidence warranted.
Mike Greene admitted to strangling the girl. It's as clear as day.
REPORTER 1: You suspect someone else?
Well, I have a guy here with two felony arrests for battery.
He works room service at the Florentine.
And he hasn't punched in since the murder.
Why don't you ask Mr. Cole about that?
What can you tell us about the man?
By the way, I'm having dinner with your sister tonight. I'll tell her hi.
REPORTER 1: What can you tell? NICHOLSON: He's dating your sister?
He's dating your sister.
[LAUGHS]
I gotta tell you. It felt really good.
I picked that jury pool right out of their pocket.
Hey, Zoey, check online on the Greene trial.
See what the odds are. I bet it's even.
You sounded forceful. The lighting was good. You looked fine.
NICK: What do you mean? You think I look fine?
Whoa, okay, this can't be...
Mike's odds went up. We're 40-to-1.
What is going on, Nick?
We just gave them a brand-new suspect.
Who is betting against us?
Got me. But whoever it is, they know something we don't know.
It was an anonymous call. It was a tip to our office.
This was an accident.
Come on, kids went swimming in Lake Tahoe and a girl drowns?
Was drowned by Mike Greene.
They were 16 years old. The local police ruled it accidental.
In light of Rye Seeger, it looks different now.
We'll seek to have in introduced as a prior bad act.
Prior bad act, what are you, nuts?
Owens will never allow it.
A girl dies skinny-dipping.
It's not even remotely relevant.
And it's prejudicial, Cole. Come on.
Can demonstrate probative value, Nick. Really.
You should bet on it.
I hate those two.
I think they're a couple.
NICK: So you're Ricky Hall, huh?
- How old are you? RICKY: Twenty-eight.
And you were there that night?
RICKY: Yeah, I was there. - Thank you.
I told them Mike was kicked in the bedroom.
Due to his snorting sleeping pills
you couldn't wake him up with a gun.
You were doing what?
You saw Rye on the deck when you left? She was dancing?
If you could call it that.
Swaying.
Trying to keep from falling over.
- You told the police that too? - Yeah, they know it.
And you were in Lake Tahoe in '99 also, right?
- What about it? - You went to school together, right?
Tahoe Mountain Academy?
Yeah. So?
Mike, the prosecution is trying to admit the drowning in the lake.
- Admit? - Tell the jury about it at trial.
- Okay, wait, what? - How's it relevant? It was an accident.
It's not relevant, but the DA's not an idiot.
They got something going on.
Now, Ricky, you were there too at the lake, right,
when Catherine Davis drowned?
I was there. It sucked.
But how does the DA blame Mike? He tried to save her.
NICK: I know. I read the report.
Ricky, I'm gonna need you to testify. Will you do that?
Of course. It's crap.
We were just partying and she freaked.
It was nothing.
It was nothing?
Nothing?
Get out of my sight, you punk.
Get the hell out of here.
RICKY: See you later.
And you,
a girl died, Michael.
This one's on you.
Can I ask you a question, Mr. Morelli?
Sure, Mike.
You ever have a guy just forgot he killed somebody?
They all forget, to be honest with you.
I don't think I did anything to Rye. I don't know.
I don't.
But Kate out at the lake,
I really did try to save her.
And I will always remember that.
Kaczmarek, you don't have to sneak around.
No one cares that your friend here doesn't have papers.
[SALLY & TONY SPEAKING IN SPANISH]
- Uh, Sally, this is... - Yeah, save your breath.
You're gonna need it later to blow up your date.
Wait, wait, wait. Do me. Do me. Do me.
Oh, come on, you? It's too easy.
It'd be like shooting Bambi.
Okay, okay. Um, uh, you're fat.
Oh, okay.
Um, I'm fat because every time I spank your daddy, he gives me a biscuit.
[ALL LAUGH]
By the way, let's talk about your rack.
You wanna put some Hummels on there, figurines for...
Well, well, well, Nick Morelli.
Oh, I saw you on TV. Big man.
You looked like hell.
I tease, buddy.
You look great on camera, as long as it was pointed at Pete. Right? Seriously.
Sally, zip it. Let's go.
So a nun and a rabbi walk into a... Hold on.
LISA: Sally? SALLY: I'm on a roll.
Bye.
BENNIE: Believe me, Chuck, I sympathize, I do.
It can be tough to find the right girl.
But you believed that girl was Mona Kyper.
Oh, yeah. I thought she was the kind of girl I'd like to marry.
- But Mona no longer speaks to you? CHUCK: She doesn't.
She says I was a nice guy, but being a nice guy just wasn't enough.
An observation she made
the day after you attended Ms. Scott's show together?
- Yes. - Objection.
- Sustained? CHUCK: No, it's true.
She belittled me.
She said I was fat. I was a slob.
- Things I don't even wanna repeat. - Can you repeat that?
See? She just keeps going and going.
She asked me if my arm fat
was considered a carryon or excess baggage?
She said that I made Fat Albert look like an Olsen twin.
Everybody in the place was laughing.
Mona was laughing.
I could tell the moment we left the theater, Mona was gone.
She lost all respect.
She doesn't even answer my calls.
No more questions.
Mr. Merman, before Ms. Scott's show, you ever seen a comedian?
Oh, yeah, of course.
Sir, I understand the tickets to my client's performance
were comped by the hotel.
That you were completely unfamiliar with her act.
- Correct? - Yeah.
But surely you know it's kind of risky to sit in the front rows of a comedy club.
Look, I can take a couple of jokes.
But she just wouldn't stop.
I mean, I was her act.
She would be all the way over on the other side of the stage
in the middle of a joke and just stop.
She would see me
and she would come all the way back just to make a wisecrack.
Mr. Merman, tell me, why not leave?
Sorry?
You're claiming emotional and physical distress,
sleeplessness, gastrointestinal pain, headaches, elevated blood pressure...
He hasn't lost his appetite, right?
[ALL LAUGH]
But unlike this courtroom, you were free to leave.
And yet you chose to stay, to suffer Sally's abuse. Why?
There's 200 people in that theater.
Mona was there. I didn't wanna seem humorless.
You know what? I get that.
And for what it's worth, this Mona lady
or any girl that would leave you just for showing a sense of humor,
you're better off.
RODGERS: So unfortunately, there are no video cameras in the penthouse hall
so we don't get to see who moves in and out.
Just who uses the elevator.
There's Ricky getting in to go down at 1:58.
The rest of the kids were all out by 1.
So Ricky's story sticks. He was the last one to leave the room.
What about, uh, Tony's room service guy with the rap sheet?
Yeah, an Alvarez.
No, nothing that day.
Not in the service elevator or the mains.
Is there a private elevator to the penthouse floor?
No cameras? For VIP's?
Yes, but you need a key card for access.
Room service keys don't work.
Well, we don't need another suspect. I mean, Mike has no scratches.
Ricky Hall will verify that the girl was stumbling around in a daze.
After Mike passed out, it's an accident. It's reasonable.
Guys? Guys? Channel 65.
Zoey, what is it?
It's inexcusable. They throw the MacGuffin.
Some guy with, what, zero convictions?
Only two arrests, Lara. The arrest sounds bad. It affects the jury pool...
So we had no choice but to get Judge Gomez
to give us an emergency gag order against Mr.'s Morelli and Kaczmarek.
What?
COLE: Nothing is gonna sidetrack this trial.
The evidence will show Mike Greene is guilty of murder.
And you watch, I may even prove that twice.
NICHOLSON: That's right. - What?
Morelli, Kaczmarek?
NICK & PETE: What?
You've been served.
What?
COLE: It's clear, Your Honor.
Lake Tahoe is proof of plan and absence of mistake or accident.
Well, it looks like an accident to me, Mr. Cole.
Apparently, the girl drowned.
She did drown, judge.
Mr. Cole is doing this for the cameras to try and influence the jury.
Mr. Morelli is the only one here facing a gag order.
Yeah, judge speaking of which. What the...?
We're doing evidence.
- Mr. Cole? - Uh, page 16, judge.
The, uh, coroner's report on Lake Tahoe.
Lines six, seven and eight.
Contusions to the eye, throat, chest and shoulder.
Now, Mike Greene was swimming with a group of friends
when Catherine Davis started flailing and needed to be saved?
Contusions to the throat, Your Honor, just like Rye Seeger.
Both girls drowned?
It's coincidence, Your Honor.
She was flailing like you do when you drown.
Mike had to fight with her to bring her in.
Page 14, in a statement by the Coast Guard office of Tahoe City:
"Indications of struggle with the victim are altogether
consistent with rescue in deep water."
It may have seemed so then,
but in light of recent events, I see a pattern here.
Mr. Morelli, why shouldn't a jury decide relevance?
Because it's prejudicial, judge.
Taken out of context, it makes it seem like something it wasn't.
COLE: It is what it is.
A jury can separate accident and intent.
Well, ahem, thank you. Uh, I'm gonna allow the evidence.
Judge, you can't.
You know what this is gonna do.
What this is gonna do is make you make your case to a jury.
I was a lawyer once too, counsel.
You might wanna get a little sun this weekend, Nicky.
We're about to lose a murder trial on national TV.
REPORTER: Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole.
- Anything to comment? NICHOLSON: Diligently...
LISA: No, no. - It has to be somebody at the party.
No, it was an accident. Let's stick with that.
No, no. Once the Tahoe incident was admitted,
our argument for an accident just went out the window.
LISA: The facts haven't changed.
The girl was still alive when Mike passed out.
He has no defensive marks on his body.
Okay, our guy is innocent, all right?
But this Tahoe incident makes him look like a serial killer.
Ray Alvarez, room service felon, get on him. We need a new suspect.
I still vote for Ricky Hall. He's at the scene of both crimes.
- Neither one of these are crimes. - They are now.
Look, if our guy didn't do it, somebody did.
[SCOFFS]
We got to find ourselves a killer.
Do you enjoy making fun of people, Ms. Scott?
If it gets a laugh, yes.
It's all about the joke.
I do comedy as my job. If I don't get a laugh, I don't eat.
BENNIE: And do you believe Mr. Merman
was injured in any way by your comedy?
No, I believe he's fine.
- Sticks and stones. - Something like that.
But you'll admit you took advantage of the guy.
- I don't know what you're talking about. - Uh, it's a simple question.
Did you pick Mr. Merman out for ridicule
in order to advantage yourself?
Not particularly.
Who is Kirk Drew?
The stage manager at the club I work at.
And if I told you Mr. Drew will testify
that you have him target certain types of men:
Fat men, bald men, short men
and pull them out of line to tables right down front
so you can make them part of your act, that surprise you?
No.
Thank you, Sally.
Your witness.
Ms. Scott,
when you do your show tonight, will there be a fat man,
a bald man or a any other type of man you'll make fun of?
One of each kind if I'm lucky.
And will you make the same jokes you made on Mr. Merman?
Most the same.
Look, it's not personal. It's my act.
Everybody gets cut with the same knife.
Here's the deal. Charlie's fine. There's nothing special about him.
He's perfect to make fun of because of everything.
I mean, honestly, we can literally start from the top of his hair...
- Thank you. That's all we need. - What about the shirt? Can we talk...?
- Step down, please. - Okay.
Nick?
Nick? You got a minute?
I didn't know if I should say, but I knew Rye Seeger.
I didn't know her too well. She was at my school.
She wasn't a bad person.
It's just...
[SIGHS]
It's just sometimes girls around here,
they'll get mixed up with a bad crowd, you know.
It just... It happens a lot.
I just wanted to say thank you for this job.
Thank you.
You're a good kid, Zoey.
Get me a doughnut.
[CHUCKLES]
Okay.
[TONY SIGHS]
Nicholas, Ray Alvarez checks out.
Reason he left the Florentine day after Rye's murder and never went back,
dude's been in jail on a larceny the whole time.
PETE: But check this.
The day the DA's got their tip on Lake Tahoe,
the day the odds on our case went sky-high.
Guess who makes a $20,000 wire transfer to an online casino?
Ricky Hall.
You wanna blame Ricky for this?
Well, I gotta blame somebody.
The jury is not gonna believe that it was an accident.
If it's murder, the jury will need a reasonable suspect other than you.
And Ricky's a reasonable suspect?
He bet on you to lose, Mike.
NICK: He bet on you to lose on the same day
the DA received an anonymous tip about the drowning in Tahoe.
He called in the tip.
To make sure Mike took the fall, right?
That's what we'll argue, yes.
So, what do you think about that, son?
Your best friend sells you out and then bets on it.
Tells you something about yourself, huh?
I don't know, Dad, what do you think it says?
JOHNNY: What's it say?
It says that this is your life now, Michael.
And all you have left is your old man's booze.
So you better enjoy it.
Because prison or rehab, that's the last good Scotch you'll ever get from me.
The store is closed.
So I gave you the rope to hang yourself with.
Doesn't mean I can't cut you down.
[CELL PHONE CHIMING]
He's there, Morelli.
If you don't get what you need,
I will.
NICK: Hey, Ricky.
You bored, huh?
Hey, guys. I'm bored?
Yeah, I mean you gotta bet the price of a condo to get a thrill.
[SCOFFS]
Just the cards, Rick? Playing any, uh, football? Ponies?
Murder trials?
[CHUCKLES]
I know a good bet when I see one. What can I say?
You really think Mike is gonna lose?
I think the Tahoe thing don't help.
What do you think?
I don't know. I think you called the DA.
- Made it a murder out of an accident. - That's what a guilty man does.
- Throws suspicion somewhere else. - Wait. What?
You think I killed the girl?
Come on.
- Why else make the call? - I didn't make the call.
The DA called me. They were asking me about Tahoe.
So I used the info to make a bet. Big deal.
It's Vegas.
[SIGHS]
Well, if you didn't make the call big shot, who did?
[SIGHS]
JOHNNY: First it's Ricky Hall and now it's Rodgers?
Who's it gonna be next time, guys?
He was on the penthouse floor after Ricky left Mike's suite.
He works there.
Checking up on Mike is part of his job.
- Checking? - Making sure the boy's still alive.
The way he lives, it's even odds he makes it through the night.
He didn't tell us he was there.
JOHNNY: I assumed he found it immaterial.
Look, Jeff's worked for me for years.
That's just it, Mr. Greene.
If Ricky didn't call the DA about the drowning,
it was most likely someone else who knew the details.
NICK: And he was there, in Tahoe.
It was his job to keep the accident
- out of the press, right? - Yes.
Johnny, Jeff Rodgers might have called the DA.
But we won't know until we get him to talk.
And we need to do that now.
Do yourself a favor, Nick.
Don't make any more mistakes.
"Intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The wrongdoer's conduct must be intentional.
It must be outrageous and intolerable.
And an injured party's emotional pain must be severe."
Chuck Merman lost his health.
He lost a woman he cared for.
He was singled out for ridicule, ladies and gentlemen.
And one day this has all got to stop.
Making fun of kids at school,
of how people act in the privacy of their homes.
We have to learn to be civil to one another.
Chuck was targeted by Ms. Scott
and she hurt him intentionally.
Just to make people laugh.
Good luck. That was good.
He's good.
I used to be a showgirl.
That's how I put myself through law school.
And I can remember walking around campus
and just feeling so belittled and demeaned.
And, man, that hurt me, just like Mr. Merman.
And like him, I could have stayed and put up with all the abuse
or I could have walked away.
But I couldn't have sued.
No, see? Actions can be punished.
If someone strikes you, you can strike back.
But the only defense we have against speech is more speech.
That's what's hard about the First Amendment.
You kind of have to let the stupid be stupid
even if sometimes people really do get hurt.
But now, Sally Scott, she's not a dangerous person.
She's just a second-rate comic working a third-rate room.
What Mr. Merman should have done was heckle.
It would have been worth a whole lot more.
Are you still a showgirl?
- Are you wearing a bedazzled thong? - Shh.
JUROR: "In the matter of Merman v. Scott,
on the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress,
we find for the defendant.
- Is that us? - Yeah.
We won? Sweet. You're great. You're great.
LISA: Wow. Oh, oh, oh.
SALLY: Hey, Chuck, come on. I really do wanna say...
Sorry.
Wow, I'm sorry.
Did you say I was a second-rate comic?
- Oh, come on. - Because that...
Because you don't wanna know what I think about you.
You don't take a deposition in a criminal procedure, Nick.
Uh, Your Honor, unless the witness is unavailable for trial.
Mr. Rodgers leaves for Macau this week.
Well, get him to postpone his trip, Nick.
He's doing essential business for Mr. Greene
who insists on attending Mike's trial.
Tommy, you guys are the ones claiming
that Rodgers obstructed justice.
Do you want his testimony preserved or not?
Okay, yes. We have no objection to the depo, Your Honor.
- But I want a camera in this court. - Then I'll allow it.
Bring him in.
PETE: Thank you.
OWENS: Mr. Rodgers, this is only a deposition, but the oath applies.
Do you affirm that any answer given here will be the truth?
- I do. OWENS: Great. Good.
Uh, Pete. Mr. Greene, have a seat.
Go ahead. Anytime you're ready.
Oh, thank you, Your Honor.
Ahem, Mr. Rodgers, can you state your full name and, uh, occupation, please?
Jeffrey Rodgers, head of security at the Florentine Hotel.
And you've worked for the Greene family for, what, 15 years now?
I started with them at the South Tahoe Resort in '95.
So you were present for that tragic accident
where Catherine Davis died at the lake, right?
I was in Reno when the accident occurred.
But I came straight to Tahoe after that.
At Mike's father's request?
- Yes. NICK: Mm-hm.
Mr. Greene requested that I come to take over the public relations.
- Public relations? RODGERS: Yes.
Um, Mike and his friends were underage and had been drinking.
News media needs to be managed so reputations weren't damaged.
So you were concerned of the Greene company's reputation, not Mike, right?
That's right. Mike's reputation wasn't at stake. He had tried to help the girl.
I'm sorry. He didn't try to help the girl.
Contusions to the throat, Your Honor?
You'll have your chance.
NICK: Did the official Tahoe City Police investigation find
that Mike tried to save Ms. Davis?
Yes, they ruled it an accident.
All right, Jeff, the morning you found Ms. Seeger drowned in Mike's suite,
you sent him away from the room, right?
RODGERS: Mm-hm. - Why?
Mike had no recollection of the previous night's events.
He was in no condition to talk to anyone. That's my job.
- Public relations. - Right.
Not because you expected foul play.
Mike had witnessed her mixing narcotics and alcohol.
I figured she got in the hot tub, passed out and drowned.
- You still believe that? - Yes.
I've seen this type of thing before.
The blood vessels dilate. The alcohol causes the...
Your Honor, this man is a bodyguard, not a doctor.
- It's in his wheelhouse. - Hmm.
- Go ahead. - The body overheats
- because of the hot water. NICK: Mm-hm.
And then it's lights out.
It's common with kids and drugs.
- I'm sorry, is he a psychologist too? - Overruled.
All right, did you know Rye Seeger, Jeff?
Yes, she worked at the hotel.
You remember the last time you saw her?
[SIGHS]
I don't. No.
The morning she died, about 2.
I don't remember when I last saw Rye.
NICK: Well, you exited to the penthouse floor at 2:13.
But it's part of your job, checking on Mike, right?
- Is that what you were doing? - Yes.
Here's the thing. There's no record of your key card in the door lock.
So who let you into the room?
- Mike. - What are you talking about? I don't...
But you didn't see Rye?
I spoke to Mike in the foyer and then I left.
Okay.
Mr. Rodgers,
how long before you left?
I don't remember.
You left the penthouse floor by the private elevator.
No cameras, but you need a key card.
You keyed the elevator at 2:55.
So you talked with Mike for 42 minutes.
Must have.
Time flies.
Yeah, time flies, ha, ha.
Why did you take the private elevator?
Some reason you felt guilty going down that you didn't feel going up?
No reason.
And if I told you Ricky Hall says
he saw Mike passed out cold 15 minutes
before you claim that he let you in, what would you say to that?
I rang the bell and he woke up.
He woke up.
A young man who had prescription drugs in him and alcohol,
just woke up and answered the door and you chatted for 42 minutes?
I don't know, Mr. Rodgers, maybe you're confused.
Maybe it was Rye Seeger who opened the door.
You didn't spend 40 minutes with her maybe, huh?
No.
And if a number of Florentine employees told my investigator
that they've seen you and Rye together many times and sometimes arguing,
what would you say to that?
[SIGHS]
We were coworkers, Mr. Morelli.
She was in a relationship with my employer's son,
who, as I said, I tend to.
Tend to.
It must be a pain in the ass to tend to those little snot-nosed brats, huh?
I don't like the direction this is going in.
It's not for you to like, sir.
But you may invoke your rights.
Mr. Rodgers, there's something about this that always bugged me.
The girl had skin under her nails.
You don't get that from drowning.
But my guy didn't have a scratch on him.
I don't suppose you'd wanna undress for us, would you?
Your Honor, I invoke.
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd wanna take my shirt off on camera either.
[REPORTERS CHATTERING]
Yeah, Leo, the gentleman I spoke to you about.
Yeah, that's correct.
- Good job, Morelli. - Hey, it's what we do.
[CHUCKLES]
Pete.
REPORTER 1: Mr. Morelli? REPORTER 2: Mr. Morelli?
Michael.
I am sorry that I ever doubted you.
It's okay.
I don't think that you ever really did.
REPORTERS: Mr. Greene? Mr. Greene?
[REPORTERS CLAMORING]
What happened? Did they just arrest him?
No, but I heard they've sworn out a warrant.
Oh, I knew a girl in Homicide
who said they found out Rye was with him before Mike.
He introduced us. I didn't know they had a thing.
- He killed her in a jealous rage. TONY: Maybe it was an accident.
Leaves it for Mike to face, you know.
I just wanna thank you all so much.
LISA: Oh.
- You saved me. PETE: Yeah.
NICK: Cheers, Mike, congratulations. - Hey, Dad.
- Everybody, you all taken care of? LISA: Hmm.
- Morelli? - Yes, very well.
I thought you might be interested in to know
that the line on my son's case is off the board.
Not guilty covers at 11-to-1.
You gotta be kidding me. You've got to be kidding me.
Wait, what? You bet on our case?
Two thousand bucks. That's 20 thou after the vig. I'm rich.
You cannot, Pete. What...? You cannot bet on our case.
What do you think you're doing?
- Uh, what's the line on Rodgers' case? - Just posted. Even odds.
Even odds? All right, all right, give me money on that.
I'll put money on the Rodgers' case.
"I'm gonna bet now. I'm gonna do..."
Don't give me that dance. Don't do that dance.
Don't do that money dance for me.
[ALL LAUGHING]