In the city of Los Angeles,
the people are represented
by two separate yet equally important groups...
The police, who investigate crime,
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
- But I thought the house we're buying was in foreclosure.
- Look, the, um-the bank messed up the paperwork.
They're supposed to call me today.
- I'm sorry. I can't stay, Mr. Vela.
I have to get to my church picnic.
- Don't forget to buy my raffle ticket.
- What about the other house- the one with the red shutters?
We can swing the payment- - yeah, for the first year.
Yeah, but then you'll be in over your head before you know it.
Look...
Just be patient, okay?
You'll get the house you want,
and it won't keep you up at night.
That's her job.
[Chuckles] - Oh, sweetheart.
Mr. Vela is right.
We don't want those kinds of worries.
- I just want zuleima to have her first birthday
in her ownackyard, you know?
Lots of balloons, a big piñata.
You'd like that, hey, beautiful?
[Cell phone rings]
Hola.
Yeah, sure, hold on.
It's Mr. Vela. He wants to talk to both of us.
- Go ahead, Mr. Vela. - Good news-
I just called the bank officer at home.
The foreclosure got straightened out.
The house is yours, muchachos.
- Oh!
[Woman screams over phone]
[Gunshots and screaming]
- What's all that- [Gunshots]
Oh, no, no, no, no.
Dios mio, dios mio. [Gunshot]
Get in here, quick! Shut the d-
[gunshot]
What do you want?
No! [Gunshots]
- Mr. Vela.
Mr. Vela.
- The 911 call came in just after 4:00.
Six dead.
We got empty purses, wallets and watches missing.
- 9-millimeter casings by the front door-
suspect came in shooting.
It's not your typical m.O. For a stickup.
People were on the phone with the owner, Mr. Vela,
when they heard it go down.
Mr. Vela's been doing business here 14 years.
He's got a good rep in the neighborhood.
- Any indication how the suspect got in the building?
- My guys found the doors downstairs locked.
Building manager says they keep them locked on the weekends.
- Hey.
Somebody's bad habit's probably what let the suspect in.
Same brand as the victim's.
Shooter was watching the place,
figured somebody'd be coming out for a cigarette break.
- And they followed the smoker back in before the door closed.
It's not a great part of the neighborhood.
- No, but it looks like the people in Mr. Vela's office
were doing well.
- Maybe somebody up there
didn't like having their nose rubbed in it.
Big shots. Practically every day, I hear them leave
in their fancy cars,
racing their engines.
- Did you hear anything today around 4:00?
Yeah. Pop, pop, pop.
Then I heard a door slam.
I looked out and saw someone running
between the buildings.
- What did this person look like?
- Sorry. My eyes are going...
Because of the diabetes.
- Look, I'm telling you,
I didn't see nothing, all right?
I was out all afternoon. - Come on, miss.
I know you got something for me.
You were just down in the laundry room.
You heard people talking. - [Sighs]
All right, broke-ass Eddie ramos-
he never has two nickels to rub together.
He's flashing a big roll tonight.
He's asking out every other girl in the neighborhood.
- All right.
- Un doble cinco alli.
Otro mas.
- Hey, Eddie ramos.
You stay. The rest go.
- Come on, man. What's up with this?
Soon as I got a little ahead, you guys show up.
- Don't sweat it, Eddie.
Just wondering where you got the stake
to get in the game in the first place.
- I got a little business going-
washing cars around the corner.
- Too bad you forgot to wash the blood
off those bills.
- Hey, man.
It was like that when I found it, all right?
- Yeah, you better show us where.
Let's go.
- [Sighs]
- That bag right there.
Huh?
I found it here when I was taking a leak.
Yeah, that's it.
- I count five wallets and four watches.
- I didn't touch no wallets.
I just took the cash that was loose.
- And that nice watch on your wrist.
- Yeah.
T-that too.
- I'm not feeling it with Eddie.
His story holds, plus witnesses saw him
out on the corner most of the afternoon.
- So what are we thinking-
suspect dropped the swag by mistake?
Or the whole stickup angle is a misdirect?
- I go with the misdirect.
The suspect tried to throw us off the scent.
- Yeah, the mortgage office was a mess-
files everywhere, like somebody worked out their anger
with a 9-millimeter.
- Well, who can tell us what there was to be angry about?
- Maybe the three brokers who weren't working this afternoon.
- Mortgage brokers aren't the most popular people
these days.
But our office was different.
Mr. Vela helped a lot of people get into their first homes.
- Well, he had most of the staff working on a Saturday.
Was there a problem?
- No, we just had a lot
of time-sensitive applications to get out the door
because of the foreclosure mess.
- And you just happened to not be there?
- Hey...
Those people were my friends.
- All right, just answer the question, Mr. Peña.
- Well, I was on my way back fromeeing a client.
The traffic on the pomona freeway was backed up,
so I hopped off, grabbed some lunch,
and went home.
- I didn't have as many deals closing
as the other brokers did,
so I went home early.
Otherwise, I'd...
Be dead like the rest of them.
- Lot of people trying to hold on to their homes
in this market.
Some customers must get pretty emotional.
- Yeah.
We get the occasional hothead.
- You're thinking of one right now.
- Last Friday, when I was out at lunch,
everyone was talking about this Asian guy.
He went off on Mr. v.
- He was a Korean businessman.
He tried to borrow money to buy a strip mall.
You could hear him shouting even with the door shut.
- Did he make a specific threat?
- I didn't hear.
All I know is that after,
Mr. v. Told us to warn him if Danny choi showed up again.
- I trusted him.
I had a chance to buy a corner strip mall in el sereno.
I thought it'd be easy through Vela, but I was wrong.
The bank rejected my application.
When I asked Vela why, he wouldn't tell me.
And that's when I started to get mad.
I didn't shoot him.
[Scoffs] I was here all day. Everybody saw me.
- Yeah, we'll ask them. What'd you do after you got mad?
- I went to the bank to ask what happened.
They said they had trouble with applications
from Vela's office. - What kind of trouble?
- They said the mortgage applications
were filled with lies.
I proved to them that my application was okay.
They said it didn't matter.
They weren't doing business with Vela anymore.
- Whatever I told Mr. Choi is beside the point.
You'll have to go through corporate in Missouri.
We're not just gonna open up our approval process.
- Hmm, well, it'd be great publicity for their banks.
Slowing down a homicide investigation
with six victims.
- Why did you stop doing business with Vela?
- Five of their applications came up tilt-
inflated income, hidden debt.
It looked like someone was trying to defraud us
of over $2 million.
- Borrowers? - I don't think so.
I told Mr. choi that even though his application was fine,
we just couldn't take the chance.
- So who are you pointing the finger at-
Vela or someone in his office?
- All I know is that's not how we do business.
I stamped the applications rejected,
and I sent them back.
That's the last I heard from Mr. Vela.
- My old man used to say
when it's sunny out, banks will give you an umbrella.
But the second it starts raining,
they'll take it back.
- That's why I'm happy renting.
- I'm not finding the rejected applications
from the bank.
- They're not in here either.
Maybe it's what the shooter was after.
- Loan fraud.
Only the nine people in this office
could have worked on those applications.
- And six of them are dead.
A two millions dollars loan fraud?
- We don't know who prepared the bogus applications
or who the borrowers were.
- Well, if all the shooter wanted
were those applications, why didn't he just break in?
But shooting all those people-
this guy's got a big-time grudge.
- Yeah, that argues for the coworkers.
We've got al Hayes.
He was the rookie, worked there less than a year,
said he was home when the shootings happened.
Then we got Debbie Beltran-
said she went to a church picnic and then home.
- You don't hear about too many women
shooting up their workplace.
- Felipe Peña's alibi is that he was stuck in traffic
on the pomona freeway.
Then he went home to his wife and kids.
- The problem is that that freeway
was clear that afternoon.
But there was a sig alert on the 605 connector
between the 10 and the pomona freeway.
- Hmm, Debbie Beltran.
She lives in el monte,
right where the connector feeds into the 10.
- I'm not lying.
I went home after the picnic.
- Debbie, we have cell phone records
that prove that Felipe called his home
from your house just after 3:00.
- I don't see how that's any of your business.
- This is a murder investigation.
Everything is our business.
We know about the bad loan applications, Debbie.
- That was a mistake.
And it was only that one time.
- Keep talking.
- I was trying to refinance my own house.
And I-I couldn't get the numbers to work, so I fudged it.
Felipe caught it.
And, well...
He showed me how to work the numbers
so I could get the loan.
- Why would he do that?
- Because...
He's helping me pay my mortgage.
- She told you all that?
Man, that's why you can't put women in charge of the C.I.A.
They talk too much. - Well, let's talk about you.
You pay a mortgage on your house.
You're helping Debbie with hers.
That's a big nut every month. - I'm good at what I do.
I close a lot of deals.
- You know how to work the numbers.
A magician is what Debbie called you.
- I follow industry standards.
- Yeah, what about the loans
that got rejected by southland pacific bank?
- I never had any loans rejected,
because I made sure my loans never went to southland pacific.
Those guys make a federal case if you drop a comma.
- We're gonna check that.
So, again, for the record,
where were you between 3:00 and 4:15 last Saturday?
- In Debbie's bed.
You don't have to tell my wife, do you?
- A man with two wives loses his soul.
A man with two houses loses his mind.
- Tell me about it.
The timing here is pretty tight.
He made two calls on his cell from Debbie's house
at 3:05 and 4:25.
An hour and 20 minutes
from el monte to el sereno and back?
- It's doable. - Barely.
Before we take this to the D.A.,
nail down that Felipe was the one who prepared
the rejected loans, okay?
- We need to talk to the borrowers.
They could tell us.
- Well, the first thing they do
when you apply for a loan is check your credit report.
There's got to be a list of all the reports
the mortgage office pulled.
- You saw how bad my credit report is?
I was ready to say forget it.
But the mortgage broker wouldn't let me quit.
- Who was your broker? - Al Hayes.
- Did you ever deal with a Felipe peña?
- No, mm-mm, just Mr. Hayes.
I swear he needed that loan approval worse than I did.
- Why do you say that? - He kept saying it was hard
for folks like us to get loans past his boss.
- Folks like you? - Black people.
He said the deck was stacked.
So he had to add seasoning to my loan package
to make me look better.
- Yeah, how'd that work out for you?
- The bank turned me down.
When I spoke with Mr. Hayes,
he said if his boss, Mr. Vela, called,
I shouldn't talk to him. - He say why?
- He just said he'd handle everything.
He was always handling everything.
He even had me get mortgage insurance
from his girlfriend.
- A lot of people in Mr. Vela's office
referred business to me, not just al.
I lost a lot of friends that afternoon.
[Voice breaking] And I'm just thankful that al didn't...
- You saw him that day. - Yes, of course.
I was having lunch at my parents'
when I saw the news on the tv,
and I called him right away.
- He wasn't with you at your parents'?
- No, he stayed home.
They don't like that he's divorced with kids.
- Hmm. I know that feeling.
Did al ever complain about how the office was run?
- No. He got along with everyone.
But it was rough on him in the beginning,
him being the odd man out.
- Odd man- why, because he was new?
- [Scoffs]
- You mean because he's black?
- It's embarrassing to hear my own people act like racists.
- Something happened.
- At the office barbecue last summer,
I heard someone refer to him as a mayate.
- Did something happen to your shredder?
- It got jammed up a few days ago.
- Did al know people were calling him names
behind his back? - No, I didn't tell him.
He was already frustrated,
thinking that they were keeping the good leads from him.
But it had all gotten so much better lately.
- How's that?
- Well, he has a lot of closings coming up.
And just the other day, before all this happened,
he said he was about ready to start his own firm
and that then maybe we can finally get married.
- So, while Hayes' loans are being rejected by the bank,
he's telling his fiancée he's starting his own business.
- Flight into fantasy.
He was probably about to get canned.
Excuse me, sir.
If you're gonna throw that away, we'll take it.
- Knock yourself out. - All right.
Yellow and green- look familiar?
The shreds in the machine match the folders
in Vela's office-
same material, same color.
We think the shredded folders contained
the bogus loan applications that Hayes prepared.
- The working theory is that Hayes felt
he was being singled out for being the only black guy
in the office.
He thought maybe he was about to be fired
or even prosecuted for loan fraud.
So he got angry, killed his coworkers,
stole the applications,
and shredded them at his girlfriend's office.
- Love the theory.
Your evidence- not so much.
Can we prove definitively that the shredded files
came from al's office?
- No, not yet, but the lab found blood
on some of the folders- it might match the victims'.
- Hayes is clean- no record.
But he's in the database as a witness
to a robbery at a bank where he worked two years ago.
And the detective who worked the case noted
Hayes was very traumatized by the incident
and asked how he could get a gun for protection.
- An expressed desire to obtain a gun.
On top of everything else, I think we have probable cause
for a search.
- This is crazy.
Al didn't have anything to do with that massacre.
- Did you have your office keys with you Saturday?
- No, I left them in that bowl by the door.
Al, baby, call me back.
The police are still here.
- Hey, winters. - Yeah.
- 9-millimeter rounds in the closet.
Half the box is empty.
- Where's al now? - I don't know.
He was supposed to pick up his kids
and bring them here, but he hung up on me before,
and now he's not answering.
[Banging on door] - Al, come on, al.
- What's going on, ma'am? - Al, let me in, please!
- Ma'am?
- My ex-husband is inside with our kids.
[Banging on door] - Mr. Hayes!
- He might have taken them into the back, in the bedroom.
- Does he have a gun?
- All right, come on, get against the house-right there.
Here, dial his number.
- Okay.
- Go with him.
[Cell phone ringing] - Who is this?
- Mr. Hayes, this is detective winters.
We talked a couple of days ago. - I know who you are.
- Yeah, you can call me Rex.
Can I call you al or Albert?
- Albert.
- Okay, Albert, I'd like to come inside
and make sure your kids are all right.
- They're fine, all right? No one's getting in my house!
It's my house! I paid for it!
- I understand, Albert.
We need to talk
about how we're gonna resolve this situation.
You know, it doesn't have to end badly.
- Oh, so now you gonna tell me
that there's a better way out of this.
I know what you think I did.
- I won't lie to you, Albert.
I'm sure you had your reasons.
We can talk about that later.
- Why, huh?
I mean, if you got your mind made up,
there's no point in talking to you.
- No, there is. Trust me.
I want to hear what you have to say.
But it'd be a hell of a lot easier
if your kids weren't in the middle of this.
Albert?
Albert, did you hear me?
- Junior, get up.
- Albert?
Albert, did you hear me?
- You know I love you...
Right?
- Albert.
- Boys. Come on, boys, come here!
- That was the right call, Albert.
I got a couple of my own.
- Yeah, and I suppose that makes us brothers now.
Like you could understand what I've been through.
- You're right. I don't know.
But I'm here talking to you as a man.
That's all I've got.
- Well, let me ask you something.
As a man...
If you're gonna hang this thing on me,
why shouldn't I just end it on my terms?
- I don't have a good answer for you, Albert.
You've got two beautiful kids here.
If it was me,
I wouldn't want them carrying around
something like that for the rest of their lives.
All right, come on out.
Come on. Get down on your knees.
Come on, get out! Get down on your knees!
Hands on your head!
- All right, let's go.
- It's a 22.
Right guy, wrong gun.
- Damn it.
Six counts of muder in special circumstance,
- how do you plead? - Not guilty, your honor.
People on bail?
- The people ask that the defendant be held
witht bail, your honor.
He's facing the death penalty.
He has no job,
no meaningful ties to the community.
- Your honor, Mr. Hayes is deeply bonded
to his children.
- The very same children he held hostage
when the police came to question him.
- We dispute that characterization, your honor,
and I would add that my client was arrested
with a 22-caliber handgun,
while the murder victims were shot
with a 9-millimeter weapon.
- The police found 9-millimeter ammunition
in Mr. Hayes' home.
- Nice try, Mr. spicer.
Defendant will be held without bail.
- Thank you.
- You just have to look at the front page
of the poto see what's happening here.
The police had a Cannon aimed at their head
and no leads.
So they put the weight on the one black man
in an all-hispanic office.
Every step of the way, this investigation was corrupted
by institutional racism,
and we intend to prove it
by filing a pitchess motion later today
to demand the personnel records of all the officers involved.
- Mr. Dekker, any comment?
- Did race play a role?
- We have nothing to fear from Mr. spicer's motion.
This investigation was led by the evidence,
and the evidence here is colorblind.
The truth is Mr. Hayes is a mass murderer
who just happens to be black.
Thank you.
[Reporters chattering]
- Bold words.
- Yeah, let's make sure I don't have to eat 'em.
- So now all the big guns are getting wheeled out?
- When a judge grants a pitchess motion
allowing the defense to examine police personnel files,
this office takes it seriously.
- This is ridiculous.
How did we get to be the ones on trial?
- Never mind that.
We already have evidentiary issues,
not the least of which is the fact
that we don't have a murder weapon.
- Look, we're all grown-ups.
We all know the history of this department.
- And if either one of you has had a problem,
we need to know about it.
Winters, you were on a job
during the king riots, right?
- Yeah, six weeks out of the academy.
It's all in my file.
I can stand by anything I did back then.
- I got nothing to hide either.
- Anyone who's been on the street
shouldn't answer that too quickly.
- Go home and think about it.
Everybody's got something.
- So why isn't the defense pulling your file, counselor?
- That was some vote of confidence you gave them.
You know, maybe we're overreacting.
Spicer's playing the race card because he's desperate.
- Ms. Stanton, you may have been in junior high school
during the o.J. Trials,
but Joe and I were here.
Once that card is played, it infects everything-
this office included.
- Not to mention spicer just needs to swing one juror.
- So how do you suggest we stop him?
- Well, if spicer is using racism
as a shield for his client,
maybe we can use it as a sword.
We show racism is what drove Hayes to murder.
- He's facing the death penalty.
Psychological factors could make a difference
in sentencing.
- Something happened to al.
I mean, it all started at his old job,
right before he got robbed. - At the bank.
That must have been very traumatic for him.
- He couldn't sleep at night.
He actually had to quit the bank.
But it didn't help.
He had always been a little thin-skinned,
but then after that, I mean,
everything just started getting to him-
every little insult, every look.
- He saw racism everywhere.
- Well, it wasn't all paranoia.
I mean, he didn't just imagine that every Spanish person
got promoted ahead of him
or that Mr. Vela gave all the good leads
to everyone but him.
But I said to al,
"yes, it's real,
"but don't let that be who you are.
Just let it roll off your back."
- What did he say to that? - Nothing.
And then he got obsessed with protecting his family.
- Is that when he bought the gun?
The.22?
- Yes.
And I started getting afraid.
I wouldn't leave him alone with the kids anymore.
- You were afraid he was gonna hurt them?
- I...
Gave him the name of a therapist,
a friend to go to, but he would never go.
And after that,
I realized he wasn't the man I married anymore.
So I changed the locks and filed the papers.
- [Sighs]
I'm very sorry.
- [Crying] You know, it's so funny, because...
Right before the cops got here,
he was-he was like the old al again.
- What do you mean by that?
- He was talking about how he had been
to Griffith park the other day at the merry-go-round,
thinking about all the sweet times
we had together with the kids.
- Mm.
It sounds like Hayes might have started
with a legitimate beef.
- Yeah, but he ended it with a gun.
- Yo, you guys see this?
- So we stopped this car for driving
with a broken taillight.
And I told my partner, "this isn't racial profiling.
This is common sense."
So we pulled the car over.
And I made the driver get out.
He didn't match our description.
In fact, he turned out to be a teacher.
But once he started giving me lip, that didn't matter.
All I saw was a black face.
So we proned that guy out, and we cuffed him,
and we put him in the back of our cruiser.
And when I saw the scared look on his face,
I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
You know what I'm talking about.
[Door closes]
- Looks like al Hayes found his racist cop.
The video appears to be Randy Hawthorne.
It's hard to know what the lieutenant meant
- without knowing the context. - What context?
"I saw that scared look on his face,
and I liked it."
There's nothing ambiguous about that.
- That video's gonna be all over the local news in an hour.
The blogger who posted it on the net,
Randy Hawthorne,
he's had my department in his sites
for the last two years.
I've directed the press office to release this statement.
- You're suspending her.
- Putting her on administrative leave.
- I-it seems a little quick. Have you talked to her?
- She'll get a hearing in due time.
- However you decide to handle it, chief,
this office will support you.
- That's what I was hoping to hear.
- Thanks, Jerry. Mr. Dekker.
- I've worked with lieutenant Gonzales
on more than a dozen cases.
I've never once even picked up a hint-
- get over it, Joe.
Your case is in serious trouble.
You got a defendant crying racism,
and you've got a cop thumping her chest
about what a big, bad bigot she is.
[Knock at door]
- Spicer just hit us with a motion to traverse.
He's attacking our search warrant
based on racial bias.
- The video is a hack job.
I was talking about something I did 20 years ago
when I just got out of the academy-
something I regret.
- I've watched that video a number of times,
and I didn't see a whole lot of regret.
- It's in the rest of the speech they cut out.
I apologized to that motorist. I'll give you his name.
- That's all besides the point.
We need to see that whole speech.
Do you know who recorded it?
- No, I didn't even know I was being recorded.
- Who was there? Who organized it?
We'll track it down. - I'm not giving you that.
I don't have to defend myself.
This case is about the six people that Hayes killed.
How could you let them make it about me?
- Lieutenant, if I have to subpoena you-
- subpoena nothing.
She made that speech six months ago.
It has zero probative value to your case.
If you push this, I can assure you,
on behalf of the union, we're gonna push back hard.
- Look, lieutenant, I don't want to fight with you.
But Mr. Hayes' attorney is claiming
that you planted evidence.
- What evidence? - The shredded loans papers.
They're claiming that you tampered with them
while under your control at rhd.
- That is a fantasy. - Yeah, well, maybe so,
but Mr. Hayes' attorney
has filed for a motion to traverse,
and as your lawyer can explain to you-
- I know what a motion to traverse is.
I have a law degree.
Before Hayes' lawyer can do anything,
he has to prove that the warrant applications
contain statements that were deliberately false,
and he can't.
- He can.
His proof is that video and its implied racism.
Look, without the rest of that speech,
our case can be nowhere by tomorrow.
- No. I ran a clean investigation.
We papered that evidence six ways to Sunday,
and if you can't make it stick, I don't know where-
- arleen!
- Guess you didn't get too much out of her.
- She's hiding something.
I mean, you've worked with her. What do you think?
- Well, we come from the same community.
We were brought up with the same mentality, but...
You know, blacks and latinos have to fight it out
because there's only so much pie to go around.
We work to let it go.
Some of us do, some of us...
- We need to hear the rest of that speech.
- And when I saw the scared look on his face,
I realized that I liked it.
I felt good. I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
- As the chain of custody affidavit states,
the paper shredder evidence was stored
in lieutenant Gonzales' office for an hour
until the detectives could deliver it to the lab
for testing.
For one hour,
that evidence was in the sole control
of the police officer we just saw on that video.
And this just one day after that same officer
directed her detectives to stop investigating
two hispanic suspects to focus on my client,
the only African-American employee of Vela mortgage.
Your honor, the court must draw the line
and remind the police
that lieutenant Gonzales' toxic bigotry
has no place in law enforcement.
- Your honor, Mr. spicer is asking the court
to engage in wild speculation
based on a cut-and-paste hack job
created to portray lieutenant Gonzales
and the L.A.P.D. In the worst possible light.
- You're not denying lieutenant Gonzales
said those words, are you?
I'm greatly disturbed by what I heard.
And if I have to go the extra mile
to remove any taint of racism from this case, so be it.
I'm granting Mr. spicer's motion.
The paper shreds are out.
And since those shreds were largely the basis
for the search warrant,
any evidence found in Mr. Hayes' home
is out as well.
- The shreds and the blood evidence are out.
The 9-millimeter ammunition is out.
I guess we should be thankful judge Conway
didn't take away our pens and pencils.
- Just stop.
Be still, regroup, and focus.
Bitching about this judge isn't gonna get us anywhere.
Now, when Hayes was arrested, he had a.22-caliber pistol.
- Right.
But the police haven't recovered the murder weapon.
Why?
- Didn't Hayes' ex-wife tell you
that the day before he took his kids hostage,
he went to Griffith park? - Yeah...
To the merry-go-round.
- All right, check with the autry museum.
Maybe they have security cameras in their parking lot.
- Nothing I like better than starting from scratch.
Have you talked to the lieutenant?
I'd sure like to hear her explanation for that video.
- Well, you got a phone. Call her.
- You don't want to know?
Or are you telling me you're okay with what she said?
- I've worked with her for six years.
There's more to her than a 30-second video.
- Over here!
- What do you got?
- It's a mag from a 9-millimeter Glock.
Still has a couple rounds left in it.
- The gun was found in three pieces in Griffith park.
Hayes' fingerprints were on the bullets and the mag.
- That gun is only more fruit of the poisonous tree.
My client made his statements about Griffith park
under duress from lieutenant Gonzales'
racially motivated investigation.
- Independent source, your honor.
We would have interviewed the ex-wife
in connection to the hostage taking anyway.
- Mr. spicer, I'm giving this one to Mr. Dekker.
The gun stays in.
- Well, then I want the videotape
of lieutenant Gonzales admitted into evidence.
I want the jury to see what was driving this case.
- It's highly inflammatory, your honor.
It has no probative value.
- You're free to argue that to the jury, Mr. Dekker.
The video is in.
- Thank you, your honor.
- She's our boss.
Her signature's on every report we filed,
every request for o.T.
- And then I'll ask if, um, lieutenant Gonzales
has ever shown any racial bias
on this case or any other case.
- As if the word of a white cop is gonna mean anything.
- A white cop who's never had
a citizen's complaint filed against him.
- Come on, counselor,
end of the day, people want to send a message,
they're gonna send a message.
- I don't understand it, you know.
She won't talk to me.
She won't tell me what she said,
who was there, what the occasion was.
- She's no bigot.
She won't put up with any- any jokes, any looks.
She won't tolerate it.
- Then why in the hell is she stonewalling?
Have you talked to her?
- We're done.
- Detective.
The department is about to run her out on a rail.
They're gonna go after her pension, everything.
So, if you know something...
You know, normally, I don't care
about people's personal lives.
But your silence is killing my case.
I need to put you on the stand
and have you explain
why you said those things in that video
and who you said them to.
Six dead people, arleen, and justice for them-
that's all I care about.
And the truth is that's all you should care about.
- No, the person I should care about
is asleep in a room down the hall.
He's 11 years old.
And he has enough trouble at school.
He doesn't need to be bullied
because it's all over the papers
what his mother is.
- You know what I think?
I think your son would be proud of you
if you stood up for yourself.
- And when I saw the scared look on his face,
I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
[Remote clicks]
- Lieutenant Gonzales...
Could you explain the context of what we just heard?
- I was addressing a group of young police recruits,
about 15 of them
in a private room at a restaurant.
- And what we just heard- those were your words.
You weren't quoting someone else or telling a joke.
- No, those were my words that night-
some of my words.
- And what was the theme of your talk?
- It was kind of a pep talk
about what they could look forward to on the job.
And what I tried to tell them was that
before we could deal with other people's prejudices against us
as gay and lesbian police officers,
we had to first understand the prejudices in ourselves.
- Just to be clear,
this group were gay and lesbian police recruits.
- Yes.
- And you were addressing them
as a lesbian police officer, correct?
- Yes.
- What, specifically, did you tell them?
- Objection. We already heard what she said.
The video speaks for itself. - The video was edited.
And lieutenant Gonzales can testify
to the entirety of her speech.
We're also prepared to present three witnesses
who can corroborate her testimony.
- Overruled.
Answer his question, lieutenant.
- I told them about an incident that happened three months
after I got out of the academy.
I told them how I had racially profiled
a black motorist,
exactly as you heard on the video.
- Well, what else did you tell them?
- I told them a couple days later,
I read a story in the paper
about a hate crime in New York City.
A young woman had been attacked
after leaving a gay bar.
And they ran a picture of her in the paper.
The look on her face,
the scared look...
Was exactly like the look I saw on the black motorist.
And I didn't like it.
And I didn't like the face that stared back at me
in the mirror that morning.
- So what did you do?
- I apologized to that motorist.
I called him.
I wrote him a letter.
I reported the incident to my commanding officer.
I realized that I had been practicing
the same discrimination that I had been a victim of
when members of my family or my community
wouldn't accept me for who I was.
- The discrimination that you faced-
did you share that with the recruits?
- Yes, I told them that even though the department
actively recruits gays and lesbians
that I had been harassed and even spit on
by other officers.
- Well, since this incident long ago,
do you still practice discrimination yourself?
- I try not to.
- So did you direct your detectives
to target Mr. Hayes as a suspect
because he's African-American? - No.
But I did support their decision to focus on him,
because that is where the evidence was leading.
- One last question, lieutenant-
this video aired two months ago.
Why did you wait until today to explain its contents?
- Well, I was concerned with the privacy
of somof the recruits at the meeting.
Some are out, and some aren't.
But my main concern
is my 11-year-old son.
After today, my son's going to...
I have friends- uh, gay couples-
whose kids get bullied and beaten up at school.
My son's just a little boy.
I just want to protect him.
- So why did you change your mind about testifying?
- I realized whether I testified or not,
he was gonna hear people call me names.
And I'd rather him hear them call me a dyke
than a bigot.
- Thank you, lieutenant Gonzales.
No more questions, your honor.
- Has the jury reached a verdict?
- Yes, sir, we have, your honor.
- On the first count,
as to Armando Vela, first degree murder,
how do you find?
- We find the defendant guilty.
- On the second count,
as to Nancy jimenez, first degree murder,
how do you find?
- We find the defendant guilty.
- On the third count, how do you find?
- We find the defendant guilty.
- The full, unedited video surfaced on the net yesterday.
And it's everything she said it was.
- Her come-to-Jesus moment.
No argument there.
- So why hasn't she been reinstated?
- Jerry, explain the facts of life to them.
Personally, I don't have a problem with her.
But I'm getting pushback from some people
in my department.
They're saying she's damaged goods.
- Actually, chief...
I have a statement I'm gonna read
that, uh, "lieutenant Gonzales
"is as fine and dedicated a professional
"as anyone I've encountered in my career
"in law enforcement,
"and I'm looking forward to continuing
working with her in the future."
I was hoping that you'd be there with me when I read it.
Now that "don't ask, don't tell" has been repealed,
seems like the least we can do.
- [Chuckles]
Well, I guess I have to be, then.
Excuse me.
I need to call my press office and alert them.
- That was old-school Jerry hardin.
- Well, you have to show some backbone sometimes.
- I don't know how else to explain...
My actions.
You grind a man's face in the dirt long enough,
he won't recognize himself when he gets up.
- That was convicted murderer Albert Hayes
testifying at the sentencing phase of his trial.
Earlier today, judge Conway sentenced Hayes to death.
- Welcome back.
- Thanks.
Did I miss anything?
- They fixed the coffee machine.
- Oh. Life is good.
- It's good to have you back in the saddle, lieu.
- Winters.
It was you who told Dekker...
Wasn't it?
It's okay.
I'm good with it.