Presumed Innocent Page #9

Synopsis: Carolyn Polhemus, an up-and-comer in the Kindle County D.A.'s Office, is found viciously murdered in her home. Immediately her boss, D.A. Raymond Horgan and his chief deputy, Rusty Sabich start an investigation. Horgan, however, is in the middle of a campaign to keep his job, which he ultimately loses to former subordinate Nico Della Guardia. Della Guardia and his new deputy, Tommy Molto, decide to prosecute Sabich for Carolyn's murder when it is revealed that Sabich was a former lover of Polhemus. Horgan also turns against his former subordinate, and Rusty soon realizes he has few friends left - except for Sandy Stern, whom he has often faced on the other side of the courtroom, and who will become his new defense lawyer when he is put on trial for murder. Investigation by Stern and his team leads them to think that Rusty was framed for murder - by Molto, who wanted Sabich's job and was trying to punish him for backing Horgan. Is Rusty Sabich innocent...or is he a murderer?
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Director(s): Alan J. Pakula
Production: Warner Bros.
  1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
72
Rotten Tomatoes:
87%
R
Year:
1990
127 min
2,637 Views


...that five years ago you paid off a PA

to get off a rap on molesting an officer.

To wit:

Trying to get paid to suck his cock

in a public place.

Now, Leon....

How about five minutes of your time?

This blonde b*tch...

...my probation officer, set it up.

In the PA's office.

Man standing behind me.

And she be telling me, when I come in:

"Just don't turn around.

"Just do what the man say."

He said:

"Just leave the money in the top drawer."

Fifteen hundred dollars.

You never saw him?

But he knows who it was.

Judge Motherf***er.

That's what we all call him.

Larren Lyttle.

I bet Larren was porking her...

...and taking the money

to keep her in style.

Sometimes I hate being a cop.

Sorry, pal. You were counting

on it being Molto.

If you leak this stuff we got on him

to Larren, he might dismiss your case.

Okay, it was just a thought.

All rise!

This court is in session.

Judge Larren Lyttle presiding.

Where's Kemp?

We just received the medical examiner's

files on the reports from her doctors.

He's going over them right now.

We may have a surprise

in the medical testimony.

Mr. Molto, you have completed

your search?

Your Honor...

...the police have not been able

to locate the glass.

All right.

Mr. Stern, I have studied your arguments.

You are about to hear the testimony

of a fingerprint expert...

...concerning evidence that he claims

to have identified on a certain glass.

I am instructing you as a matter of law

that you are entitled to consider...

...the prosecution's failure to make

the glass available to the defense.

I am not telling you what to do.

But it is permissible

for that one fact alone...

...to raise a reasonable doubt

that would require Mr. Sabich's acquittal.

Mr. Stern's objection is overruled.

His exception is noted for the record.

Proceed.

I'm sorry.

He's right, under the law.

Based on the lateral slash

on the anterior portion of the fingerprint...

...the distinctive center whorl...

...and the exact match on the top swirl...

...l am certain the fingerprint on the glass

from Polhemus's apartment...

...is identical to that contained in

the employment file of Rozat K. Sabich.

Very good.

We are calling Dr. Kumagai,

the county coroner.

There are three depression fractures...

...like from a heavy, blunt instrument.

Maybe a hammer.

Here...here...and here.

This, and this over here, are...

...sharp, deep penetrations

of the skull and of the brain...

...like with a hatchet, or maybe

a meat cleaver.

I call to your attention the results

of the forensic chemist's analysis...

...State's exhibit 63.

I think we might just nail this sucker.

That report states the specimen of semen

taken from Ms. Polhemus's body...

...has been identified as being

of Mr. Sabich's blood type.

You are correct.

It also indicates the presence

of chemicals...

...consistent...

...with the use of a birth-control device.

A diaphragm.

It does.

Your opinion is that this was...

...a staged rape?

That is my opinion.

And the way it was done...

...suggests...

...the knowledge...

...of investigative techniques?

That's what I told Mr. Molto.

All of these deductions depend...

...on the presence of spermicidal jelly...

...in the specimen you sent

to the forensic chemist?

Yes, sir.

How many autopsies do you perform

in a week, Dr. Kumagai?

One, two...

...ten. It all depends.

Would it surprise you to know

you performed 1 8 autopsies...

...in the two weeks surrounding

Carolyn Polhemus's death?

No, sir.

Sounds about right.

Given that number,

isn't it fair to say that...

...the specifics of any one examination

may slip your mind?

I take notes while I do the autopsies.

Notes, yes.

These notes led you

to tell Detective Lipranzer...

...that the murderer was sterile?

Looking back, you must have thought

you were a fool...

...to have escaped something so obvious

as the use of a contraceptive spermicide.

All the sperm were dead.

I didn't have the forensic chemist's report

about the spermicidal jelly.

In the absence of any other explanation,

I thought the guy was sterile.

Do you recognize your notes

of your autopsy of Ms. Polhemus?

Yes, sir, my signature.

Unless there is any objection...

...would you please read the short passage

marked by the paper clips?

Page two, Counsel.

Read it out loud, please.

"The Fallopian tubes...

"...are ligated and separated.

"The fimbriated ends appear...."

That's not right.

Your own autopsy notes?

You dictate them

as you perform the procedure.

But not right.

I show you the records of Dr. Lubin,

a gynecologist...

...who performed this procedure

on Ms. Polhemus six and a half years ago.

Would you explain to the jury

what a "tubal ligation" is?

Would you explain, in layman's language...

...what a "tubal ligation" is?

She had her tubes tied.

Is it possible for a woman

with this procedure to conceive a child?

No way.

Can you think of any reason...

...for a woman who had her tubes tied...

...to use a spermicide?

No reason.

No medical reason.

I think of nothing.

Does it not follow, given these facts...

...that the specimen you sent

to the chemist...

...was not taken from the body

of Carolyn Polhemus?

I can't account for it.

So you don't know what happened.

Wherever you got

that specimen from, Doctor...

...you sent it to the chemist...

...while you were secretly communicating

with Mr. Molto...

...behind Mr. Sabich's back. Am I right?

Do you accuse me, Mr. Stern?

Sit down, Doctor.

I think we have had enough...

...unsupported accusations for one case...

...Dr. Kumagai.

You may step down, Doctor.

Do I take it, Mr. Delay Guardia,

that the State rests?

Judge, may we approach?

We would like Mr. Molto to testify.

No.

Judge, you said we would be entitled

to some leeway...

...if the defense proceeded

with this frame-up theory.

Yes, but I did not know then,

Mr. Della Guardia...

...that your evidence would disappear

after last being seen with Mr. Molto.

I didn't know that Mr. Molto...

...and the chief pathologist

would manufacture evidence...

...and testimony.

And I tell you, that is a fair interpretation

of the day's events.

I'm still considering the question

of what happens to Mr. Molto...

...but what isn't gonna happen...

...is him getting up on the witness stand

and making matters worse.

Withdraw, gentlemen.

On behalf of the people

of Kindle County, the State rests.

This court is adjourned.

You should savor today, Sandy.

No lawyer gets many crosses like that.

What a colossal blunder.

Tomorrow I will make the motion

for a dismissal.

If the dismissal is not granted,

we must proceed with the defense.

I need to know

if you still insist on testifying.

Of course, you know my strong objections.

Why is he so against your testifying?

He's afraid I'll tell the truth

about my relationship with Carolyn...

...thus giving the prosecution

the motive they've been lacking.

One could argue...

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Frank Pierson

Frank Romer Pierson (May 12, 1925 – July 22, 2012) was an American screenwriter and film director. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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