The Star Chamber Page #2

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I'd like to go over

some of your previous testimony if I may.

Of course.

Now, you stated

that you didn't search the garbage can...

in front of Mr. Andujar's home

because you didn't have a warrant.

Yes, sir.

Right. So you waited

for the contents of the garbage can...

to be deposited in the garbage truck?

- Yes, sir.

- Hmm.

- You then searched the contents in the garbage truck itself?

- Yes, sir.

Okay. Detective...

tell me exactly

what kind of garbage truck it was.

What?

What kind of garbage truck was it?

I don't know. It was a garbage truck...

the kind that comes up the street

and collects garbage.

Well, let's be a little bit

more specific than that, shall we?

Was it a big open truck?

Was it an enclosed truck?

Was it the kind of truck

that had a big scoop in the back?

- Was it a...

- Yes, that kind with a... with a scoop...

Huh. The kind with a scoop.

- That kind?

- Yeah.

Uh-huh. Now, did you search

the contents of the scoop...

or did you wait

until the contents of the scoop...

were dumped into the body of the truck?

Well, we, uh, searched the scoop

after the trash had been emptied from the can.

- I... I don't understand.

- Was the scoop empty...

before Mr. Andujar's trash was put into it?

Yes.

Uh-huh. Thank you, Detective Wiggan.

Oh, I don't understand.

That was a perfectly good search.

Thank you, Detective.

There's no further questions.

Your Honor, may counsel approach the bench?

Yes. Detective, you're excused.

I move that all the evidence

obtained by Detectives Mackay and Wiggan...

be ruled inadmissible in this case,

dismissed immediately.

On what grounds?

They were meticulous in their procedure.

They waited until the garbage can

was emptied. Andujar waived his rights.

- On what grounds?

- Your Honor, under the rule...

my client had a reasonable

expectation to privacy.

The police cannot search his garbage can

without a warrant.

They did that. They waited

until the garbage can had been emptied.

However, they searched the scoop

of the garbage truck.

They did not wait

until Mr. Andujar's garbage...

had been mixed

with the rest of the garbage in the truck...

thereby rendering it common garbage.

As long as Mr. Andujar's garbage

was there by itself in that scoop...

as long as that garbage hadn't been mixed

with other garbage in the body of the truck...

the police could not search without a warrant.

- I don't believe this.

- There is ample precedent on this point, Your Honor...

specifically People v. Krivda, uh...

I know the precedent, Mr. Karras. Thank you.

Since the gun

was the grounds for the warrant...

and the evidence

and the ensuing confession...

were the direct result of that warrant...

and that warrant was granted illegally because

of the invasion of my client's privacy...

Your Honor, I have to ask you to rule

all the evidence and the confession...

as tainted and inadmissible.

- This is not happening.

- Mr. Hyatt, uh, I'm afraid he's right.

The evidence is not admissible.

Your Honor, we have a man here...

who cold-bloodedly murdered

five elderly women...

after robbing them of their welfare checks.

We have the murder weapon

with his fingerprints on it.

We have thejewelry and the wallets

of the victims in the defendant's apartment.

We have his full confession,

freely given by him.

And now you're telling me

that we don't have a case...

because two cops at 6:00 in the morning...

searched the scoop of a garbage truck...

instead of waiting

for some guy to pull a lever.

Are you really going to tell me that?

I'm gonna tell you

that if I allowed this evidence...

it would all be thrown out

in the appellate court.

I don't like it any more than you do.

This man is gonna go free?

- You're gonna let him go?

- I don't have a choice, you understand that?

No, Your Honor, I don't.

In superior court, Hector Andujar...

the man accused of committing

the Southside Murders...

was released from custody this morning...

after the case against him

was dismissed on a technicality.

Despite confessing to all of the murders...

Andujar is now a free man.

Deputy District Attorney Martin Hyatt

said that the case will not be retried.

He spoke with reporters.

We cannot retry him, because

all of our evidence has been thrown out.

Than includes the confession,

the stolen articles...

the gun with his fingerprints on it.

All of it. We have no case against him.

- How do you feel about that?

- How do you think I feel? Nauseous.

I don't know what they expect us to do.

- We have a man who admits

to murdering five women.

Right now,

he's walking out of this building a free man.

This is all because a judge has ruled

that some ridiculous technicality...

What do you want?

- Hey, kiddo, what do you want?

- What?

Food. What we have here is a restaurant.

- They bring you food here. You'll love it.

- Sorry.

I'll, uh...

I'll have anything you're gonna have.

Can't read the menu. I forgot my glasses.

- Just testing.

- Deputy D.A. Hyatt, he looked at me.

He said I'm letting the man go.

I'm putting him back on the streets.

So? Nobody else was sitting on the bench,

so it must've been you.

I want soup.

I'm ready to put the guy away

for 150 years...

but it would have been thrown out

in the appellate court...

and that son of a b*tch, he knows it.

But he's sitting up there

trying to make me look bad...

while he's running for office

on the twelve o'clock news.

"Sizzling rice soup. "

I love the sound when they dump the rice in.

At my age, that's excitement.

Jesus Christ. I don't know what we're doing.

- Playing a game, kiddo.

- Yeah.

So that's why

my mother sent me to law school.

We've got, um, five women murdered...

and the killer's free

because a garbage man didn't pull a lever.

- Ben, that's not a game.

- Sure it is.

Who do you think we are?

Umpires, sweetheart.

Every day we get the lineup cards...

and then explain the ground rules

to the managers.

We tell 'em, uh, anything hitting the bull pen

is a ground-rule double.

And then in the eighth inning,

some clown hits one in the bull pen...

so the left fielder, he knows the ground rules,

he doesn't chase after it.

The runner, he figures "What the hell,"

so he keeps on going.

Then the manager comes

steaming out and he says...

"You send that runner

back to second base!"

And I say, "I'm sorry, they just changed

the ground rules. Today the bull pen's okay. "

So the run scores.

It's always been a game.

Only now the bad guys have a stronger team.

They had a better draft.

You know,

I took a lot of notes in your class...

and I can never remember

you saying anything quite like that.

You should have taken fewer notes

and listened more.

I love it.

The recent appointees, you're all alike.

You're not even old enough to shave.

Listen, you think my court

is any different? Huh?

You think I don't set guys free

every goddamn week...

who have raped entire school districts?

You wanna match ulcers?

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