Reasonable Doubt Page #2

- He should be.

He's staring down 20 to life

for this one alone.

This one?

I ran some keywords

through the database.

It flagged a string

of unsolved homicides.

You think this guy's

a serial killer?

You don't even know

that he killed this guy.

Tell your boss we'll send him

everything we got.

- Mitch.

- I have a request, sir.

Thanks. Hey.

Mitch Brockden, D.A.'s office.

My associate Stuart Wilson.

Terry Roberts, public

defender's office.

There you go.

Mr. Davis, we're going

to ask you a few questions

about the night of the 4th.

If you can answer

as accurately as possible...

You're gonna be my prosecutor?

Uh, if this goes to trial,

then yes, I am.

I didn't do anything. I'm innocent.

Then you've got nothing

to worry about.

Okay, Mr. Davis,

let's start with you

telling us where you were

earlier that evening.

Left work, went to group,

went for a drive.

Group?

Yeah, I help out at

some support groups.

- And the drive?

- Just something I do.

It's not against the law, right?

I mean, don't you ever go out

and drive around at night?

Due respect, I think

that's beside the point.

I don't like to spend

too much time at home.

It brings back memories...

My wife and child.

Uh, yes.

I heard what happened

to your family.

I'm... I'm sorry.

Emanuel fryer.

Gunned down the next night

attacking someone else's family.

What do we know about the victim?

Cecil Ackerman...

registered sex offender;

two counts of child sex

abuse; Did two years inside;

was only out

on parole three months.

So a real loss to society.

So far there's no connection

between him and Davis.

- What about the murder weapon?

- Weapons.

The coroner couldn't be exact,

but he suggested these

wounds could be consistent

with the type of tools

and machine parts

found in the back of Davis's van.

- Could be?

- Well, they also found

significant amounts of oil

and grit in the wounds,

which corroborates Davis's

hit-and-run story.

True, but the Vic's

D.N.A. And blood were

all over Davis's clothes,

inside his van.

Which could've got there when he

lifted Ackerman into his van.

Yeah, or when he murdered him.

Davis has two counts

- of aggravated assault.

- At a time when his family

had just been murdered

in a home invasion.

He hasn't had so much

as a parking ticket since.

What's bothering you, Mitch?

I don't see motive.

Just got this audio file.

Here's the transcript.

It was a 911 call.

Somebody called in an accident

20 minutes

before Davis was picked up.

By the time the ambulance

arrived at the location,

there was no one there.

Okay, thank you.

Is there any way

we can find the caller?

- No, he used a payphone.

- How do you know that?

If he used his cell, it would

have his name, phone records.

Okay, 911 call's

potentially damaging,

but it's not conclusive.

And if we can't find the caller,

defense probably can't either.

Could be anyone in Chicago.

Mitch, where were you that evening?

- No, Mitch couldn't

string a sentence together

that night, right, Mitch?

- Yeah, thanks, Stu.

- If it was a hit-and-run,

all it takes is

for the guy who hit him

to come forward and confess,

and we're dead in the water.

What's the likelihood

of anybody doing that, huh?

Bottom line:
Do we have

enough for a conviction?

Davis was found with a

dead man in his van.

We have a ton of physical evidence.

No alibi, a documented

history of violence

and his public defender's

still in diapers.

Mitch will eat him for breakfast.

Charge him, murder one.

You examined the body, doctor.

In your professional... opinion,

what was the cause of death?

Blunt force trauma to the skull.

And what caused that trauma?

The back of the skull

was badly crushed,

so it's hard to narrow

it down to any one item,

but some of the marks

seemed consistent

with a hammer found

in the suspect's van.

And the interior was covered

in grease and motor oil,

so any type of violent

struggle in that environment

could've also caused those wounds

and left that trace evidence.

You said, "seemed consistent. "

That's correct.

Your report talks of abrasions

and impact wounds with grease

and motor oil in them.

Now the defense I'm sure

is gonna argue that...

those wounds indicate

that a car ran over Cecil Ackerman

as per the defendant's testimony

and that the rest is just...

a misinterpretation

of the evidence.

No more questions, your honor.

911, what's your emergency?

I need an ambulance.

- A guy's been hit by a car.

- What's the location, sir?

Uh, Keeler. Keeler and 26th.

What's your name, sir?

Please just hurry.

- Hurry, he's hurt real bad.

- Sir.

It's your witness, Mr. Brockden.

Doctor, the jury will be unfamiliar

with your field of expertise,

so I'll ask

quite a simple question.

Just how accurate

is forensic linguistics?

- Extremely.

- But it's not perfect?

Perfection doesn't happen

in science.

Okay. On a sliding scale

of one to 10 then...

you may want to object, counselor.

The witness's field

is not on trial here.

I'll withdraw

the question, your honor.

You stated earlier that you believe

the caller to be genuine?

By this I assume you mean

he was reporting a real accident.

Correct.

And you can tell this just by...

hearing his voice?

It's more complicated

than that, but yes.

What else can you tell

us about the caller?

Hard to be certain

from the quality of the tape.

Sounded like a white male...

possibly in his 30s...

from the South of Chicago,

but he's tried hard

to soften the accent,

not unlike yourself, counselor.

Now you're from where, Riverdale?

When you say it's hard

to tell for certain...

that the tape is unclear,

that it seems to be

a white male...

The underlying ethnicity

is hard to fully hide

from trained ears.

- Yes, it's a good recording.

- Uh-huh.

- Okay, thank you.

- Thank you too.

- Hey.

- Staff meeting starts in five.

Someone named Jimmy called,

wouldn't leave a last name.

Said to tell you he's out

and wants to see you.

Left a contact number. Do you want

me to get him on the phone for you?

No no no, thank you.

Smell that?

That's the smell of freedom.

Hey, so I called

your house the other day,

you know, looking for ya.

Your wife...

she doesn't know

who I am, does she?

You've been gone a

long time, Jimmy.

How do you not tell her about

your own f***ing brother?

Step-brother.

And let's face it,

legally not even that.

- You wanna play like that.

- Don't be f***ing cute with me, Jimmy.

I was working at that warehouse

to pay my way through law

school when you f***ing hit it!

I could've been done as

a f***ing accessory. Huh?

- Bye-bye, career.

- Yeah, I know. I was f***ing stupid.

F***, Mitch.

I mean, Jesus, I was doing

a lot of drugs back then.

I was selfish.

I've had a lot of f***ing time

to think about my life,

think about who I was.

Okay?

Now I let you down.

But I will not let you down again.

Look...

I met Rachel when I was graduating.

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