911. What is your emergency?
We've been attacked... stabbed.
Sir, stay calm.What's the address?
We need an ambulance now!
Sir, take a deep breath and tell me your address.
Um, 3756 Wilcom Road.
My wife... Sarah...
There's blood everywhere
My wife's not breathing.She need 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...
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 at 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-- 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
is overwhelming.
-Almost too overwhelming -Well, sometimes things are exactly what they look like
ok, let's arraign Austin Jackson for one count of murder
one count of attempted murder in the commission of a burglary
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!
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 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?
You must be the prosecutor
This is my sons--Alex and Jacob
-Hi. I'm Annabeth Chase -I'm Danny Robel.
Hey
We're so sorry for your loss.
We're going to 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.I was fighting him off
Standing up or sitting?
Yeah, I stood up.We were face-to-face...
grappling, and he stabbed me here... here...and here
Where was your wife during all of this?
Sarah takes sleeping pills.
And so, she was out of it,she was sound asleep
Um...
See, and when he stabbed me,I fell down on my knees
And so, by the time I got to Sarah...
he had already...
He cut her throat
It... it was horrific
I'm so sorry
I hate Austin
Is there anything else you want to 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'd invite Austin
over the house on the weekend because she thought
it was good for him to be in a stable family environment
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
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
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!
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?
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.
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 E.R.
We see a lot of stab victims
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
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
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 got to hurt.
That's really got to 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
That is sick.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever to support that?
We don't know yet.
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
All right.
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
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. -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 want to get stabbed
Anything else?
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, the wounds would typically have an upward thrust
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 going to 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 E.R., 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 want to 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 want to know?
Austin's attorney is going to 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 want to talk about it. Mom got herself a lawyer
-Jacob -Nah, dude, she did
She also made my dad go see a therapist
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
Dad took us on vacation last year. We all had a really good time
Florida. Miami.
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? 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
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 going to 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?
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
All right. 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 want to 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 walks 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
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 going to 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
I'm going to need to call my lawyer
I suggest you do that. And tell him that you're about to be arrested for murder
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 missed 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
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 E.R. 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
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
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.
Was Dr. Towers abusing his children? Was he abusing his wife?
I am not at liberty to say
No more questions, Your Honor.
-You can't do this. -Yes, yes!I have a right
-It's not a good idea -No, you got to 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
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
All right, 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 was a little more than obvious
Crap.
I'll talk to Drummer about pulling some of her blood from evidence
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
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 grandma was real upset
But not with you guys...with, uh, my dad
I-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 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?She begged him to quit,you know?
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?
Forever.
This is one of those things
that you start to believe that it's normal, you know?
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
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...
My dad, he...
My dad, he hides his pills all over the house
He hides them 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 sleep, to get up,just to function, you know?
I don't know.
Like, seriously, it's like living with two different people
A few days after I caught my mom taking those pictures
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 think he killed her. He's my dad,he wouldn't do that
I just...
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 dad went off about the camera
my mom, 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
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.
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?
-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 pharmacy
-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?
When I woke up around midnight. Austin Jackson was in our bedroom
-He had a knife... -Dr. Towers...
No, okay, 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?!
Nothing further
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 vs. Lee Towers
"we the jury find the defendant... guilty of murder in the first degree."
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
Wasn't easy, but I got the hospital files you wanted
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,
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 good night, Annabeth
Good night, Annabeth