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.
- Whoo! [Chuckles] Yes.
- Superstar, you too good for the old neighborhood?
- Never. - You're ready for a rematch.
- Uh, I should go. I have early practice tomorrow.
- Ah, what'd I say? Miss big shot.
- Little sis. - Javy.
- Go on. Get out of here.
Te quiero. Te quiero.
Bye, guys.
♪ ♪
[Laughter]
Show them how it's done.
Put on some pressure, coco. Get in there.
Come on! Let's go, let's go.
Nice! Gomez, yes!
That's it for today, ladies. Good job.
- Hey, baby. - Baby. You okay?
Yeah.
[Girl shrieks]
There's a body down here!
Hey, kelsey, come on.
Clear out. Everybody- John, back them up.
- Drag marks all the way from the road.
Somebody drove the body here and dumped it.
It's a closed campus.
You need a parking permit to drive on.
- Looks like some major blunt-force therapy.
We have a name yet?
- Got no I.D., no wallet, keys to a Honda,
$23, breath mints, comb.
Throw in a condom, you got a frat-boy survival kit.
- Maybe not your usual fraternity.
Check out the ink under the blood here-"la raza."
- Latino homeboy. - Got a hit on the prints-
javier Gomez, one arrest-
a residential burglary when he was 17.
- Address in east L.A., no known gang affiliations.
He's a high-school dropout.
- Well, he finally got into college.
I saw him yesterday morning.
I made him eggs before I left.
I clean houses. I was gone all day.
- Did Javy work? - Day-labor jobs, like me.
But he, uh-he pay his way.
- Anything else- drugs, gangs?
- No, no, no. Javy have one arrest...
As a kid.
Javy was so loving.
As a little boy, he was always talking.
"Mama, listen to this,
mama..."
- Javy have a reason for being at UCLA?
- Our daughter Malia is a student there.
- She's on a, uh, soccer scholarship.
She's the team's star player.
- Hmm. She and Javy were close?
They adored each other.
Javy worked so Malia could practice.
The day she got into college, Javy cried.
- She doesn't know that Javy is dead.
- I don't know why he would have been on campus.
He never just showed up.
- When was the last time you talked to him?
Two days ago.
I went home. We played a pickup game.
[Knock at door]
Hey.
Oh, I got here as fast as I could.
I'm so sorry, Malia.
- Yeah. Eric, this is the police.
Eric's my boyfriend. - Hi.
- Did Javy know anybody else at UCLA?
No, just Eric and me.
You three were tight.
- Javy was awesome. We'd hang out.
Sometimes he'd come to our soccer games.
Sometimes we'd grab a beer in his neighborhood.
- East L.A.'s pretty far from here.
Where did you grow up, Eric?
- Brentwood, but it's not like that.
My dad makes coat hangers for a living.
- Eric's Spanish is better than mine.
- Maybe he came to UCLA to see you last night?
No. We were out with my dad.
We walked around westwood, got a pizza.
Somebody broke your window?
- Last week somebody threw a rock.
- It was probably some drunks. - Okay.
If you think of anything else-
and again, we're really sorry about your brother.
- I called campus security about the broken window right away.
I'm her r.A. I took it seriously.
And I told Malia to keep a record of these incidents.
- She had more than one? - Graffiti on her door.
- What kind of graffiti? - "Slut," "whore."
It's not her fault. She is being cyberbullied.
- By who? - I don't know.
There's a website- big sluts on campus.
Campus security is investigating.
- Javy's car turned up parked two blocks from campus.
Slim pickings- a food wrapper from el pecas,
a picture of Javy and Malia, and a parking receipt
the day he was killed from a garage
on Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica.
I hope you got something. - The autopsy report-
time of death between 8:00 and 11:00 P.M.
Coroner found splinters in the wounds-white ash.
- College boys are a real class act.
I found your website- big sluts on campus.
- So this is what I have to look forward to.
- Well, the images are definitely photoshopped.
Malia Gomez's headshot is from her frendspace page,
pasted on to what can only be a porn star's body.
A smear campaign?
- Maybe they have something else in common.
Put their names through a news search.
- Malia and three other girls signed a petition
to challenge the university's compliance with title ix.
They claimed that women's sports
aren't getting their fair share of the athletic budget.
- Yeah, that would take money away from men's sports.
Jocks wouldn't be too happy about that.
Great.
Sports, testosterone, and rage.
- Yeah, I know about the website.
People were pissed that Malia signed that petition.
She was getting anonymous threats.
- And anonymous rocks through her window.
- We didn't think it had anything to do with Javy.
- For future reference, Eric, leave the thinking to us.
Did Javy know about the threats or the website?
- Uh, maybe. He was always searching the web
for news about Malia's games, so...
- If the college wasn't in compliance with title ix,
which of the men's teams would be the first to go?
- Well, uh, rumor is it's baseball.
I should go.
There's a mass tonight for Javy.
- The splinters in Javy's wounds were white ash.
- The wood of choice for baseball bats.
- Look, that petition is bull.
We lost men's swimming and diving-
teams with 16 olympic gold medalists.
It's bad for the U.S.A., man. - Patriotism-
that explains the red, white, and blue thongs on your website?
- Free speech- it's not illegal.
- Cyberbullying is. And so is murder.
And where were you Friday night?
- I was at work. I tend bar in westwood.
You can check with my boss.
- Any of your buddies on the baseball team
ever talk about Javy Gomez? - No.
You don't help us, Gus,
title ix is gonna be the least of your problems.
- Look, I swear I don't know anything about that murder.
And the website was just a-a joke.
I told that to the other guy.
What other guy?
- This black guy, like, six foot.
He looked like a cop.
He came by the bar where I work a week ago
asking questions about Malia Gomez.
What kind of questions?
Like was she really a slut?
I don't know-I think he was trying to dig up dirt on her.
- Did you get a name or who he was working for?
- No, but the-the tv above the bar was on,
and the-the traffic report showed an accident on the 10.
He was bitching about getting back to Santa Monica.
Stay.
Sounds like a private investigator.
- Javy parked at a building on Colorado in Santa Monica
the day he was killed.
- Javy Gomez- name doesn't ring a bell.
And I've never seen him before.
You do know I'm not the only P.I. of color in town.
- Yeah, but you're the only one
with an office on Colorado, Mr. Davies.
And our witness I.D.'D your license photo.
- People think they recognize me all the time.
- What about the name Malia Gomez?
That ring any bells? - Can't say that it does, no.
- Normally a person would be curious
why we're asking about someone...
Unless they already know the answer.
- Okay, then. Why do you ask about her?
- Her brother Javy parked in your building two days ago.
That night he ended up dead.
In the profession,
that's called a distracting coincidence.
You got the wrong man. I do corporate work.
That's where the money is. - We can get a warrant.
We're giving you a chance to do this the easy way.
- You guys could get a warrant, you'd have one, right?
[Sighs]
What ever happened to professional courtesy?
I want to hit that guy with a bat.
Before you do that.
Excuse me?
Have you seen this man, uh, Friday night around 2:00 A.M.?
He would've come up from the garage.
- Yes, sir, he came up to the desk-
Gomez or something.
He wanted to go up to, uh, Davies investigations,
but they told me not to let him up.
He had a fit.
Thanks.
We got a p.I. Checking on Malia,
we got Javy checking on the p.I.
He was looking out for his sister.
- Brotherly love got him killed.
No. Javy never said anything about a private investigator.
Did any neighbors mention someone asking about Malia?
- Her high-school coach told me a man from UCLA came by
asking questions. - What about in particular?
- How she grew up, when she started to play soccer.
He said UCLA was giving her some kind of award or something.
Permiso.
- Eric and Malia tell me that maybe a baseball player
kill Javy?
- We're not sure about that, Mr. Gomez.
- I need to know who murdered my son.
- The whole school is so proud of Malia.
And that's what I told the man from UCLA.
- This man. - Mr. Davies.
Uh, he was nice at first,
and then he asked if Malia was ever in trouble.
- You didn't like that question.
- Malia ran with a girl gang her junior year,
but Javy got her back on track. - Well, how he do that?
- Got her a job tutoring English in Guadalajara
that summer- really boosted her self-esteem.
She bought her parents a car with the money she saved.
Mr. Davies was very interested in that story.
- How did he get her the job in Mexico?
- The Latino community center on 3rd street.
Well, I should get back to my girls.
Thank you.
Money for a car-
I had no idea tutoring in Mexico paid so well.
- And there's one employer in Guadalajara
that pays top dollar- drug cartels.
Well, sure it was a legit job.
Malia-she tutored English at a church school down there.
So it should be no problem
finding the people who wrote her paychecks.
- Well, we don't really keep records.
- Didn't you and Javy set up the job?
- Well, it wasn't anything illegal.
It's not what you're thinking. She played soccer.
- Soccer? For a Mexican league?
- Well, soccer's huge down there.
It's a private company.
They owned a couple stadiums, concessions.
It's big money.
- She got paid to play professionally?
- Yeah, Javy thought it'd be good for her.
- This guy from UCLA- did you tell him she played pro?
No.
Javy told me not to tell anybody.
He made a big deal of it. - Well, I can see why.
If she got paid to play, it'd violate ncaa rules.
She'd lose her scholarship.
- You tell Javy this guy was sniffing around?
Yeah, Javy freaked.
You know, I told him it was okay,
that this guy Davies was cool.
- Davies saw that the u.W.U. Was a supporter
of the community center.
He said he did some work for the union.
- Carl Davies- to know him is to hate him.
- Really? He told the folks at the community center
he did some work for you. - More like worked us over.
The last ten union grievances we negotiated-
Davies was hired by management to dig up dirt
on the shop stewards.
- He told people he's working for UCLA.
- [Chuckles] That'd be a big step up for him.
Davies is a hired gun for manufacturers.
- Like companies that make coat hangers?
- That's right. Kentner hangers and racks.
Why, you know Bob Kentner?
- He has a son, plays soccer for UCLA?
- That's Kentner- a real piece of work.
Last time we had a strike,
he pulled a baseball bat out of the car
and walked right through the picket line
carrying the bat- a tough guy.
- A private investigator? Uh, that makes no sense.
My dad wouldn't do that.
- Is he concerned about Malia's background
or her parents being immigrants?
- Who take care of their kids.
Her mom works, like, 80 hours a week cleaning houses.
- Eric's dad's always been nice to me.
Is that what they're talking about?
- Yeah. Mr. Kentner ever meet Javy?
- At soccer games. They got along fine.
- Your dad have a problem with Javy?
- He's overprotective of me, especially since mom died,
but he would never do anything to hurt Malia.
- Javy said it would be all right,
that what I did in Mexico wouldn't matter.
In fact, it does matter.
What if someone was gonna tell UCLA?
What do you think Javy would've done?
- It's like I told you, Malia and me were with my dad.
He stopped by my fraternity.
- You remember what time that was?
- You know, I don't really, so...
Look, we got to get to class, so...
- I'm sorry. Can I go now?
- They're holding out. - Big-time.
You guys are barking.
I never hired anyone to snoop on my son's girlfriend.
- So you don't know Carl Davies?
No, I didn't say that.
I've used him before, but it was business.
- We get a warrant for his records,
that story gonna hold up?
[Sighs]
Look, guys, I love my son.
I've worked my ass off so he could have everything.
I don't want him having to tell people
he makes hangers for a living.
- And you don't want him marrying a girl from the barrio.
I want him to be happy...
Like his mom and me-
married 30 years, in love till the day she died.
- You don't think Eric and Malia are in love?
- I think it's tough for kids to know what love is these days.
It's all about flash and thongs.
- What, you're talking about the website?
You know about that? - That was terrible.
There's no excuse for that kind of harassment.
Malia is a sweet girl.
- What about her brother, Javy? You ever meet him?
Not that I can recall.
- Malia said you did at soccer games.
- Well, maybe I did. I don't remember.
- Last Friday night- where were you?
- Are you asking me for an alibi?
Yep.
- I met my son at his fraternity.
Malia, him, and me went out for pizza in westwood, okay?
I got a business to run.
Dena...
- You have a class ring. You go to UCLA?
- Yeah. Not a crime as far as I know, right?
- Bob Kentner is not only a UCLA alum.
He was an athletic booster.
He was on campus Friday night for a meeting.
He didn't mention that.
Javy was dumped from a car,
if Kentner has an alumni parking pass,
we're in business.
[Engine turning]
[Tires squealing]
- Mr. Kentner swiped his parking pass in
at 7:45 P.M.,
swiped out at 10:08.
- What kind of access do alumni pass holders have?
- They can drive anywhere on campus.
Detectives.
Looks like a tooth.
Javy was missing a mouthful.
- I want to talk to my son. - After you're booked.
Listen, call Eric.
Tell him everything's gonna be okay.
And stop your crying.
Tough guy.
People V Bob Kentner, one count of murder.
- How do you plead? - Not guilty.
- People on bail? - Five million, judge.
Mr. Kentner has ample means to flee.
- My client's owned a business here for 30 years.
He has a solid alibi. - He's alibied by his own son.
And by the victim's sister.
There's no physical evidence tying my client to the crime.
- The victim's blood and teeth were found in proximity
to the defendant's parking space at UCLA.
- In a structure accessible to thousands of permit holders.
My client is not concerned about proving his innocence.
- He should be. Bail is set at 5 million.
- S.I.D. Came up empty on Kentner's car and residence-
no bat, no blood, no DNA connecting him to Javy.
And Eric and Malia
still insist he was with them the night of the murder.
- Does Eric know his father hired a p.I.
To check out his girlfriend? - No, Eric doesn't believe it,
if I'm the dad, I wouldn't tell him.
It's a sure way of losing your kid.
Time to open Eric's eyes.
- We subpoenaed the private investigator.
Your dad hired him to look for dirt on Malia.
- He was going to get her thrown out of school
and sent back to east L.A.
He wanted to break you two up.
- [Scoffs] It wouldn't matter.
I told him, me and Malia- we love each other.
- You were paid to play soccer professionally.
UCLA hears that, your scholarship gets revoked.
- No, Javy cleared that with the athletic department.
He filled out that part of my application.
- We checked with admissions. Javy didn't clear anything.
- That's why Javy confronted Eric's dad.
He couldn't risk your getting kicked out of school.
- Javy found out what your dad was up to.
Now, you know how he felt about his sister.
- He would have done anything for her.
- Right. So he confronted your dad in the garage.
Things got out of hand. - No, that's not true.
- Your dad beat Javy with the baseball bat from his car.
That's not what happened!
No, you got it all wrong.
- Javy was killed defending you, Malia.
Eric's dad killed him.
- No, he was with us in westwood.
- Maybe I should talk to my dad's lawyer.
- You don't need to talk to his lawyer.
You need to tell us the truth, Eric.
[Sighs]
Oh, God.
My dad said that he was getting into his car
when Javy showed up.
He thought that my dad had insulted Malia's parents
at a soccer game.
[Sighs] He said that Javy was all worked up,
and he reached into his pocket like he was gonna pull a gun,
and my dad hit him with the bat to protect himself.
He hit him, and he killed him.
What else did your dad say?
He said that he panicked
when he realized Javy didn't have a gun.
[Sighs] So he put the body in the trunk, and he dumped it.
[Scoffs]
He's my dad. I had to believe him.
I got to get out of here. - Hold on. Take it easy.
- I got to go talk to my dad. - Sit down.
We need you to wait until we get your statement.
- I'm not lying. He was with us, just like we told you.
- Eric just told us the truth, Malia.
His father lied to him.
You can stop protecting him now.
- No, I love Eric. I can't hurt his dad.
We know he killed Javy.
We know it wasn't self-defense.
[Sobbing]
I didn't know what to believe.
I knew Javy had a temper,
and if he thought someone had insulted our parents...
I love Eric so much.
And we thought if we stuck together,
everything would be okay.
- We're not interested in a plea.
Whatever reason Javy Gomez had for confronting my client
doesn't change the fact that he was in fear for his life.
His life?
The victim had a fractured jaw, broken neck, broken ribs.
The coroner counted ten separate blows.
- My client believed Mr. Gomez had a gun.
- While you believed you were in imminent danger of being shot,
you had the time to reach into your car
and retrieve your baseball bat?
- You don't need to answer that.
- What were you really afraid of, Mr. Kentner-
losing your son's love?
Did Javy threaten to tell Eric
what you'd done to his girlfriend?
- Look, Eric's all I have since my wife died.
He's my boy...
My only child.
- Your only child is about to testify
against you on the stand.
- If you get that testimony in.
- Yeah, I was pretty scared. I'd lied to the police.
- Did you understand you didn't have to talk
to the police or Mr. morales?
- Not really, no. I felt like I had to.
- Did you understand that you could leave the room
at any time? - No.
I wanted to talk to you. They wouldn't let me.
I wanted to talk to my father.
The detective said I had to stay where I was.
- When you asked to speak to your father,
you were in a pretty agitated state, yes?
Yeah.
- And detective winters used words like,
"hold on, take it easy," when he asked you to sit, didn't he?
- Yes, but he put his hand on me.
I just felt like I couldn't leave.
- All right, the witness may step down.
- Eric clearly believed he was in a custodial interrogation.
He invoked his right to counsel and was denied.
- "A," he asked to speak to his father's lawyer.
"B," he was there as an alibi witness.
And, "c," to make it perfectly clear, he is not a suspect.
We're prepared to offer him full immunity.
- It's a little too late, Mr. morales.
The police should have read him his rights.
Defense motion is granted,
and the boy's testimony is suppressed.
Malia?
I can't talk to you now.
- Let's go, Eric. We need to post your father's bond,
get him home.
His father is going home.
We still have a solid case.
- But no evidence. His son cannot testify.
- Mr. and Mrs. Gomez, I assure you,
we will get a conviction.
This isn't your fault.
- I was there in the room with the kid.
- Self-defense won't hold water.
The jury will see that.
Without Eric's statement,
we might not get past reasonable doubt.
[Telephone ringing]
Morales.
[Camera shutter clicking]
- Bob Kentner- two shots to the chest.
Paramedics called it at the scene.
His son.
- He was inside the house, heard yelling then the shots,
came outside, saw taillights driving away.
- S.I.D. Found a .22 in the hedges.
- Detectives, picked up a suspect running a red light
five blocks from here.
It was self-defense.
- Mr. Gomez. You drove to Mr. Kentner's home with a gun.
- At first, yes, I want revenge.
I drive up, see Kentner in his garage.
I get out of my car.
- Where was the gun? - In my hand.
I told Kentner he should pray to God
for what he do to my son.
He say since his wife die, he never pray.
I realize I-I'm no killer,
I put the gun in my pocket and walk away.
And then he pick up a shovel, and he hit me...
Right here.
See?
I run, but he keep coming.
I- I fall,
crawl back to my car.
He say, "I'm gonna kill you,"
so I shoot him.
Show us how.
I- I was next to my car...
Like this...
Then I shoot.
And then I hear him yell, "I kill you."
So I shoot him again.
I knew what he'd done to my boy.
I don't want to die.
I was upstairs,
and I heard my dad yelling.
I couldn't make out the words,
and then I heard Mr. Gomez shout, "no, no."
I ran down the stairs, but it was too late.
- At the scene, you didn't say
it was Mr. Gomez's voice that you heard.
- Well, I didn't recognize the voice at first.
- But you did once you saw him in custody?
- Don't you think that I wish it wasn't him,
that none of this had happened?
- There is evidence supporting Gomez's story.
The footprints heading back down the driveway,
dirt on his pants from kneeling down,
and the bruise- consistent with the shovel.
- Ballistics tells a different story.
The bullet entered straight through,
not at an upward angle
consistent with the shooter standing.
- Gomez told us he was kneeling.
He lied to make himself look less culpable.
- Kentner did hit Gomez with the shovel.
- Ah, it's mitigating circumstances.
It's not self-defense.
So we charge him.
- Gomez drove over there bent on revenge, and he got it.
We charge him.
- You really want to put this to a jury?
A murdered son gets a lot of sympathy.
Yeah, it does.
- 15 to life? You got to be kidding me.
This was clearly self-defense. - Well, there was a fight maybe,
but your client lied about the shooting.
Kentner killed my son.
He was trying to kill me.
- Lo siento por lo que Paso a Javy.
But that doesn't give you the right to do what you did.
This goes to trial, you could get 50 to life.
This is a good deal. - I don't need favors from you.
- You went to the house with a gun to demand respect.
So take it.
Don't hide behind self-defense.
That's what he did to your son.
No.
See you in court.
I had to try.
- How much do you owe this family?
You asked him to trust you
that you'd get justice for his son.
He didn't.
He didn't see any reason to.
There was only one person my father listened to
when he was in a mood...
My mother.
My husband is a fool.
He's only made things worse.
- We can offer him a deal, Mrs. Gomez.
It's better than going to trial. - But he was defending himself.
- We don't believe that's true. - He was so angry.
I never should have let him out of the house.
He said he was just going to take Malia home.
- He didn't say what he was going to do.
He just dropped me off.
- Mrs. Gomez, talk to your husband.
He'll listen to you. - He won't.
He wants everybody to hear
how he shot the man who murdered his son-
his chance to be a hero.
- He was trying to defend the family.
When you talk, people listen.
You don't know what it's like
in this neighborhood for a man to be nothing.
- I know. I grew up here-
five blocks away in Boyle Heights.
My parents had the same Madonna-
pride of place, center of the mantel.
I will pray to her...
For my son, my husband.
That is all I can do now.
Machismo-
for the guys who don't get out of the neighborhood,
that's all they have to hold on to.
- What about the women? - The flip side, marianismo-
women who are subservient, docile,
allowing the men to be macho.
- Hmm. Jorge didn't have that at home.
His wife's the breadwinner.
He's lucky to find work three days out of five.
[Man whistles]
Papi, viejo Verde?
You don't know what to do with that.
I can help you out.
- You need a lesson in respect?
Mamalo, guey.
- I was in my old room on the second floor,
and I heard an argument outside, kind of muffled.
And I went to the window.
I couldn't see anything, and then I heard my dad yelling
in that threatening voice he uses
when he gets really angry.
- Eric, limit your answers to what you did
and saw and heard that night, okay?
Now, what happened next?
- I heard a second voice shouting,
"no, no."
I ran to the stairs,
and I looked out the window on the landing,
and I saw my dad in the driveway with a shovel.
And he yelled, "I'll kill you, you spic."
And he wound up to swing, and he hit a tree branch pretty hard.
Hold-hold on a second.
You saw your father swing a shovel?
- That's right, but he hit a branch.
- You didn't mention this to the police, did you?
Or at the preliminary hearing?
I'm not making this up.
I- I just didn't think it was important,
so I forgot until a few days ago.
- You saw your father through the window
just before he got shot,
and this is something you forgot?
Yes.
- Is there anything else you forgot?
No.
I heard shots.
I ran outside. Dad was on the ground.
No more questions.
- When you saw your father from the window,
did you also see Mr. Gomez?
- No, I just saw my father. He was all angry.
- And you had seen him angry before
in other circumstances.
Yes, after my mom died,
he started getting angry all the time.
When the union striked against him, he really lost it.
And if those security guards hadn't pulled him away...
- And how did you feel when your father was accused
of beating Javy Gomez to death?
I felt inside like...
He could've done it.
He had that anger in him.
Thank you, Eric.
- Your honor, we request a recess.
Yes, I thought you might.
The witness is excused.
Court is adjourned.
Call the detectives.
- The view from the stair window is blocked by the balcony-
no way Eric could see his dad swing that shovel.
- But there is a gash in the tree,
and the lab found sap on the shovel blade.
- If Kentner was swinging his shovel like a madman,
it helps Jorge's claim of self-defense.
- But Eric didn't see it. - Jorge might have.
He's been in jail, but he could have gotten word
out to Eric through Malia. - That's a big detail.
If Jorge saw it, you think he would have told us.
- Can I see the crime scene photos?
The confrontation started in front of the garage.
Kentner comes at Jorge with his the shovel.
He's at the tree, ready to swing.
Jorge's on his knees.
He's crawling towards his car...
Here.
He's down on the ground with his back to Kentner.
- He couldn't see Kentner hit the tree.
- If Eric and Jorge didn't see it...
- Jorge tested positive for gunpowder residue, correct?
On his hands.
Just his hands.
- Bob Kentner come after me with a shovel.
He hit me on the shoulder. I- I fall down.
I tried crawling back to my car,
but he come up behind me,
yelling, swinging the shovel, and he hit a tree.
- And what did you do? - I was on the ground.
I take my gun out of my pocket.
I- I hold it like this.
Maybe I stand up a little, and Kentner has the shovel up.
So I...
Shoot...
Twice.
I thought he was going to beat me to death...
Same way he killed my son.
Thank you, Mr. Gomez.
- When Mr. Kentner came at you with a shovel,
you were frightened...
Trying to save your life, is that right?
- Yes, I thought he was going to kill me.
- So you crawled away as fast as you could back to your car,
where you'd be safe. - Yes, to my car.
- On your knees, away from Mr. Kentner.
Yes.
So, if he was behind you,
how did you see him hit the tree with his shovel?
Well, I, um...
I hear it hit the tree.
You heard it...
With Mr. Kentner yelling
and you screaming, "no, no, no"?
I'm sorry. I-
my-my English- sometimes I-I get confused.
- Yeah, my father used to do that-
pretend he didn't understand the language
when he didn't want to answer the question.
Withdrawn.
- I-I know it happened. He saw it.
You mean Eric Kentner.
He saw it from the window on the staircase landing.
Yes, like-like he say.
People's 31, your honor.
This is a photograph taken from the window
on the staircase landing.
Mr. Gomez, can you see the driveway or the tree?
No.
- So, if Eric couldn't see it, was there maybe
someone else at the scene who might have told him?
No, it was me and Kentner.
He tried to kill me. I shoot him.
- Yeah, over your shoulder, like this.
Yes.
- You hands were tested for gunshot residue,
were they not? - Yes.
They say when you shoot,
gunpowder go everywhere- on the hands.
- On the clothes. - Yes.
People's 32.
This is the photograph of the gunshot-residue tests.
Would it surprise you to learn
that there was no gunshot residue on your shirt?
- Yes, but they find it on my hands.
But not on your shirt.
See, there would have been residue on your shirt,
if you shot him over your shoulder...
Like this.
Did someone else shoot the gun, Mr. Gomez?
- No, I did. I shoot it.
- Someone else shot Mr. Kentner
the same person who saw him hit the tree.
- No, that is wrong. It was me, only me.
- No further questions, your honor.
At this time, the people would like to call
an additional witness.
No, no, stop, stop.
I- I-I take the deal. 15 years, I go to jail.
- Your honor, I need a moment with my client.
- I want the deal right now! I killed this man!
- Quiet, Mr. Gomez. Step down.
- Judge, please, please. Please, let me go to jail,
please, please.
- Against my advice, Mr. Gomez is willing to accept
your original offer of 15 years to life
in exchange for a guilty plea.
Are you sure, Mr. Gomez?
- I am sure. That's what I want.
I invited your family here,
so they'd understand it's your decision.
Yes, I decide.
- With this plea, there's no guarantee of parole.
He's a 53-year-old man.
He could die in prison.
- You don't have to do this, papa.
No more trial.
- You could be without a husband for the rest of your life.
Malia will go on with her own life,
but you'll be alone on anniversaries, birthdays-
every night, an empty house, no one to hold you.
- You should have used your head before you got a gun.
Did you think that would bring back our son...
That it would make you a man? - Leave him alone.
Malia, no.
- No, she can't talk to you that way.
- Because he's still your father, isn't that right, Malia?
No digas nada.
- He is the man of the house...
The man who took care of you, who made you feel safe,
the man who's protecting you now?
Malia.
What is he saying?
Mama, you're wrong.
He is a man.
Malia, silencio, por favor.
- I know you want to protect me, but I can't.
- No. - I can't let you, papa.
No.
- I can't let you go to prison for me.
I turned my back on my family once.
I won't do it again.
Malia, what are you doing?
Don't blame Eric.
I asked him to lie to help my father.
I was there. - No.
No.
- I saw Mr. Kentner hit the tree.
No.
Oh, my God, no.
Oh, please, no.
I'm so sorry, Eric.
[Crying]
My father was driving me home.
He was so angry.
I saw he had a gun.
He wouldn't tell me what he was going to do,
but I could guess.
I wouldn't leave the car.
I begged him to give me the gun, but he wouldn't listen.
We got to Mr. Kentner's house,
but...
My papa couldn't do it.
He's a gentle man.
He turned away and gave me the gun.
But then Mr. Kentner hit him with a shovel,
called him a spic.
He looked up at me.
He said I didn't deserve his son,
that Eric was too good for me.
He was just looking at us.
He wasn't afraid.
I wanted him to be afraid.
I wanted to make him feel like Javy must have felt.
I had the gun.
I shot him.
My papa took the gun from me.
He told me to run away...
That he'd protect me.
I knew that I was giving up everything-
soccer...
UCLA...
Eric...
My whole life.
But I couldn't let that man get away
with what he'd done to my family.
- Are the people satisfied? - We are, your honor.
- Pursuant to a plea agreement for the charge of manslaughter,
I sentence Malia Gomez
to a term of 11 years
to be served in a facility determined
by the department of corrections.
We are adjourned.
- Long day. You want to grab a drink?
- No, I thought I'd go and have some dinner
with my father.