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Will the defendant please rise?
In the matter of the state of Indiana vs. David Hopkins on the charge of murder,
the jury finds the defendant
not guilty.
Thank you.
Get help!
No, no. We're still trying to find out what the hell happened.
I'll let you know.
Doug Hellman is listed serious, kelly Joffe is critical.
Annabeth is on her way to the hospital now.
She and Joffe were classmates?
Law school, and you know how close Annabeth and Hellman are.
What about the shooter?
Bob Peters, already been arrested.
I was afraid of that.
He didn't like the verdict, so he got himself a gun.
What would you do if your son in law killed your daughter
and the jury let him walk?
I'd be tempted to shoot the son of a bitch and his lawyers.
This mess is our fault.
How so?
If we'd have convicted Hopkins, none of this would have happened.
Excuse me, Doug Hellman and Kelly Joffe?
Are you family?
The prosecuting attorney's office.
Mr. Hellman just got out of surgery.
He's in recovery, second floor.
How's he doing?
The surgery went well, he's stable.
Okay.
And Kelly Joffe?
They're still working on her.
Annabeth?
Mrs. Joffe.
How is she?
We got here as soon as we could.
They told us...
They told us it's touch and go.
How can this happen? Can somebody please explain this to me?
I am so sorry.
I'm going to find out everything I can. I promise.
We don't have any news on Mr. Hellman.
They said he's stable.
Oh, thank goodness for that.
Oh, god.
Oh, no.
Annabeth...
You heard about Kelly?
How's Hellman? Have you heard?
I'm just waiting to see him.
I feel responsible for Kelly's...
what happened to her.
John, you didn't shoot her.
Bob Peters did.
I lost the case.
If I hadn't...
Is he in custody yet, Peters?
Suicide watch at county.
Excuse me, Doug Hellman's awake.
One at a time, please.
You go.
Annabeth.
Would you excuse us, please?
Thank you.
You're gonna be okay?
Oh, yeah. I just
always wanted to know what it felt like to be shot.
Now I know.
Yeah.
It hurts.
I don't recommend it.
Well, I guess if you can joke about it...
How's Kelly?
I knew it.
I knew it. God!
If I could have just done something, you know?
I was standing on the steps, and next thing I know she's on the ground
in a puddle of blood.
Doug, there's nothing you could have done.
I don't know.
I just feel so helpless.
I don't know what to say to Kelly's parents.
It's okay if you don't have all the answers, Annabeth.
The jury has heard all the evidence and rendered their verdict,
so now my client just wants to get back to his life.
I wanna lead the prosecution of Bob Peters.
Death penalty case, high burden of proof, sympathetic defendant.
Peters wanted to kill Hopkins.
Intent follows the bullet.
The fact that he killed an innocent bystander,
and not the man he was aiming at,
makes our argument for the death penalty even stronger.
Agreed.
And what is so sympathetic about recklessly shooting two innocent people?
Peters deserves the death penalty.
You'll need to be up to speed on the Hopkins case.
Last summer David Hopkins pushed his wife off a cliff on a camping trip.
The marriage was troubled, financial difficulties, infidelity,
et cetera. We had a really strong case.
I don't know why the jury acquitted him, but they did.
Bob peters decided to go out and get the justice that was denied to his daughter.
He hasn't even been arraigned yet, and his lawyer's already playing him as the victim,
a grieving parent provoked by an unfair verdict.
Angling for a lesser charge, positioning themselves for a manslaughter plea.
We'll need to fire right back, vigilante justice will not be tolerated.
- I'm ready. - Good.
Maureen will be your second.
Who's representing Peters?
Hanna Turley.
Vocal opponent of the death penalty.
She's going to come right at us.
Let her.
We have as much of a soapbox to stand on as she does.
Okay.
You sure you're not too close to this?
We need to make an example of this guy.
What happened to Kelly and Doug could have happened to any of us.
And since when is it a bad thing for a prosecutor to care about a victim?
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Close To Home Season 2 Episode 10
Your Honor, we ask the defendant be released on bond.
- Miss Chase. - The people oppose bail.
We've filed notice to seek the death penalty, Your Honor.
This man isn't going anywhere, Ms. Turley.
Bail is denied.
I'm very sorry.
I'll be down to you in an hour, okay?
Annabeth.
Hanna.
I hope your office isn't playing to the cheap seats.
Bob Peters gunned down two attorneys on the steps of this very Courthouse.
The whole system, every attorney, judge and clerk
will want to see him receive the maximum punishment.
We'll have plenty of support for the death penalty.
Or a jury could decide that what my client did,
if not justified,
- was certainly understandable. - Understandable?
They'll put themselves in his shoes,
a grieving father, screwed by the system.
Stop bluffing. Your office is overreaching.
Now give me a plea offer I can take back to my client.
- Voluntary manslaughter. - No plea.
- Annabeth... - We are not posturing.
We intend to pursue the death penalty to the end.
Well, um,
maybe you'll change your mind when you read our expert psych evaluation
as to Mr. Peters' state of mind at the time of the shootings.
If you're mounting some sort of affirmative defense,
we're entitled to have our own expert evaluate him, too.
The sooner the better.
According to police, Peters' car was parked over there.
A reporter who followed him from the courtroom
told police Peters went to his car,
removed something from the glove compartment,
and put it in his pocket.
The murder weapon, as it turns out.
Did he come straight to the Courthouse?
The reporter said he stood by his car about ten minutes.
Plenty of time to think about the crime.
Hellman and Joffe started their press conference.
Peters came up and commenced firing.
How soon was that after the verdict?
Half hour, give or take.
Uh, the verdict was read at 9:17 A.M.
- Shooting occurred at 9:51. - That's good for us.
To get the death penalty in this case,
not only do we have to prove Peters intended on killing joffe,
but that he lay in wait to do so.
It's about as cold-blooded as it gets.
Any problem is he couldn't aim.
- Have you read the psych work-up? - I did.
Our expert's opinion, the stress of the moment,
his judgment was impaired.
This does not rise to the level of murder, Annabeth,
much less the death penalty.
Let's see what Dr. Peron has to say.
Her name was Barbara Sue Peters,
and yes,
David Hopkins killed her.
Of course he did, no doubt in my mind.
The jury saw it differently.
That's because these lawyers can say anything they want,
twist the facts around, until the son of a bitch seems like prince charming.
Tell me more about what happened after you heard the verdict.
How you felt.
I saw David Hopkins hug his two lawyers, and that was it.
I went to the car, and got the gun, and waited for him to come out.
How long did you wait?
Until I saw him.
I don't know how long it was.
What were you thinking as you waited?
About Barbara.
How much I loved and missed her,
and how Hopkins was just going to walk away from this whole thing.
Somebody had to make him pay.
How did you feel about Mr. Hellman and Ms. Joffe?
I hated them for getting Hopkins off.
For twisting my words,
and lying to the jury about Barbara.
Did you think about shooting them too?
No.
My hands were shaking, you know,
and I already told you I was aiming at Hopkins.
But, after the first shot, you fired two more times.
Why?
David Hopkins was still alive,
and I wanted him dead for what he did to my little girl.
What happened next?
That lady lawyer fell.
I couldn't believe it.
It was a terrible, terrible mistake, and I wish I could take it back.
I'm sorry.
And I wish to god I could take it back.
He is genuinely remorseful about what he did.
Genuinely sorry he didn't kill David Hopkins.
- It's still murder. - Manslaughter.
Sudden heat upon hearing the not guilty verdict.
Sudden heat?
He bought the gun three weeks before the shooting,
and brought it to the Courthouse for the express purpose of killing David Hopkins.
He's going to be very good on the stand.
And the reasons he picked up the gun
might strike a chord with some people.
Yeah, so might the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing.
He intended to kill David Hopkins.
I had no idea Bob was going to do that.
My husband is not a violent man.
Did he ever say what he would do if Hopkins was acquitted?
We didn't talk much about the trial.
We just tried to get through it.
We thought that, with all the evidence,
David was bound to be convicted,
and Mr. Marinelli kept telling us what a strong case he had.
And then, every day, we sat and watched while that
lawyer, Mr. Hellman,
punched holes in it.
How did your husband react to that?
Watching the case go south.
The night before the verdict,
he had a drink.
20 years sober, down the tubes.
You know, he blamed himself for this whole thing.
He worked with David,
he introduced him to Barbara at a company picnic.
She was our only child.
And that man took her from us.
Motion to access case files in state of Indiana vs. David Hopkins.
Motion to depose John Marinelli?
You want to depose the prosecutor in the Hopkins case and his work product?
Files, notes, everything relating to the case.
Mr. Marinelli's work product is not discoverable.
It is if a judge says it is.
The Hopkins case is at the heart of my defense.
The only thing that matters in the Hopkins case is the verdict.
That was your client's motive for murder.
The prosecutor's constant assurances to Bob and Maxine Peters
that Hopkins would be convicted
is certainly relevant.
It laid the foundation for what subsequently happened.
How this office tried the Hopkins case is not at issue here.
It is now!
The prosecutor gave Bob Peters unreasonable hope about the verdict.
And the acquittal traumatized Bob Peters
not because he's a violent man, but because John Marinelli misled him.
Misled him how exactly?
I need the work product to answer that.
Okay, let me get this straight. Even though Peters pulled the trigger,
Marinelli and our office are responsible
for Doug Hellman being shot and Kelly Joffe dying?
Know what? You can distort my argument any way you want.
Let's see what a judge says.
Turley wants to put this office on trial?
She's claiming Marinelli mishandled the case, and misled Mr. and Mrs. Peters.
- Misled? - Gave them false hope,
assured them Hopkins would be convicted and, when he wasn't...
Marinelli's conduct caused Bob Peters' sudden heat,
which is a mitigating factor and obviates the death penalty.
That's what caused Peters to fire his weapon into a crowd?
Not that his daughter's killer was acquitted?
I don't think a jury will find that very persuasive.
On the surface, it's a kind of provocation argument.
Gives Turley a way to ask for manslaughter instead of murder,
and back us off the death penalty.
Pretty thin.
Assuming Marinelli told me the truth,
I don't think we have anything to worry about.
I've known john a long time. He's always been straight with me.
Get his files on the Hopkins case. Make sure we have no surprises.
This office has nothing to hide.
Besides Marinelli's horrible handwriting,
I don't see anything out of the ordinary.
Looks like the evidence against Hopkins was strong.
Hopkins said Barbara fell while they were hiking.
Autopsy reports show there were bruises on her back and arms
that indicate she was thrown from the cliff.
And Hopkins' timeline doesn't make sense either.
Hikers say they heard
Barbara screaming for help hours after Hopkins said she died.
Hellman never met a motion he didn't like.
He was able to exclude or minimize a lot of testimony and evidence.
Here's one signed by Kelly.
I remember the day she told me she was gonna work for Hellman.
- I hope you warned her. - I did.
Kelly was a true believer.
We used to fight about it like cats and dogs.
She couldn't understand how I could be a prosecutor.
I couldn't understand how she could defend people she knew were guilty.
This is interesting.
What is it?
Marinelli's witness list.
Do you remember seeing the name Nick Baxter
- anywhere in the police files? - No.
It wasn't in the trial transcripts either.
Which means marinelli never called Baxter to testify,
- right? - Exactly.
Why would Marinelli rush to add Baxter to the witness list so late in the trial,
at the last minute? I mean,
why go to all that trouble, and then not call him?
I don't know. It's not that unusual.
Someone tips you on a hail mary witness,
you look into it, it doesn't check out, you drop it.
Still, look at this.
He adds Baxter to his witness list here on the 20th,
notifies Hellman he intends to call him at the very last minute,
and then doesn't for some reason.
Ask him.
Peters was angry about the verdict,
understandably. So was I.
I don't see how my trial strategy is relevant.
Well, just the same, I asked Maureen and Annabeth to review the case files.
You find anything useful?
Who was Nick Baxter?
He's on your amended witness list, but you never called him.
He didn't pan out.
Did you question him?
His deposition isn't in your files either.
I didn't depose him. My investigator interviewed him.
No record of that either.
Is there something behind this witness we should know about, John?
No. It's nothing.
Baxter was a bartender.
He served Hopkins some drinks one night,
and allegedly heard him rambling on about killing his wife.
So we did a little digging and determined he wasn't credible.
Why not?
His story didn't really add up, for one thing.
He perjured himself in a child custody case.
Hellman would have ripped him apart.
Did you mention Baxter to the Peters?
Not specifically, no.
Say what you're trying to say, Annabeth.
You assured them David Hopkins would be convicted, right?
I told them we had a very strong case,
and I had no reason to believe we wouldn't get a conviction.
You never mentioned Baxter to them
the last-minute witness that would seal the deal?
No, I did not.
Well, Turley's going to claim that you unrealistically built up the Peters' hopes
and made David Hopkins' acquittal even more devastating than it had to be.
There's a lot of things I wish I had done differently.
But for you to suggest that
I didn't do everything I could to win that case is just plain wrong.
- I'm not suggesting that, John. - I should have won it, but I didn't.
Why didn't you? What went wrong?
Nothing went wrong.
Doug Hellman did a better job telling his story to the jury than I did mine.
That's what it boils down to, doesn't it?
Who's got the better story?
If Bob Peters wants to put his killing Kelly on me because of that,
I can't believe we're having this conversation.
Anything else I can help you with,
you let me know.
John, this isn't personal.
Yes, Annabeth,
it is.
It couldn't be more personal.
I'd still like to know more about Baxter.
Let's have Ed and Ray talk to his investigator.
Something's not sitting right with this.
I didn't find Nick Baxter.
As far as I know, Marinelli found him.
- That's not what we were told. - Well, you were told wrong.
Yeah, Marinelli sent me to see him.
- How did he find Baxter? - No idea.
We had four investigators working on the case.
Baxter's name never came up until Marinelli gave it to us.
But you interviewed Baxter, right?
- Yeah. Should be in the case file. - It wasn't.
- You remember the gist of it? - Yeah. Baxter was
serving him pi coladas one night. Hopkins got drunk,
you know, confessed to how he killed his wife on a camping trip,
pushed her off a ledge, made it look like an accident.
- Baxter would have testified to this? - Yeah,
if Marinelli would have called him, but he never did.
Marinelli said that you determined Baxter was not credible.
Oh, that's a load.
No. Baxter's story was good, you know? Rang true.
He perjured himself in a custody trial, though.
Look,
my two cents,
Baxter would have been a powerful witness against Hopkins.
You know? But, hey, what do I know?
Marinelli is the one with the fancy suit, salary,
you know? His trial, his call.
You got any idea how Marinelli found Baxter in the first place?
No. That's a good question.
Baxter told me I wasn't the only guy coming around asking about David Hopkins.
Somebody else got there first?
Name escapes me, but he was a private investigator.
Working for?
Hopkins' lawyer.
Doug Hellman.
Vance didn't find Baxter. You did.
Tell me how.
Why do you care so much about Baxter?
He's a witness I never called in a case that's over,
against a defendant that can't be retried.
Just tell me how you found Baxter.
I loved her.
Kelly.
- We all did. - No, it's no what...
kelly and I were...
We were seeing each other.
- She never told me that. - Nobody knew.
We started dating during the trial.
Why didn't you recuse yourselves?
By the time we realized where things were going,
it would have led to a mistrial.
Neither of us wanted that.
We had a rule.
We'd never discuss the case
or even work, for that matter.
We figured we could keep it a secret from Hellman, but,
it turned out he knew.
Did Kelly tell you about Baxter?
Kelly would have never done that.
She was incredibly ethical.
We never discussed the Hopkins case.
- Ever. - Then how did you find out?
One night she was staying in my apartment.
She left her briefcase open with the file on Baxter right on top.
- Like she wanted me to see it. - Even so, John,
why did you look at it? Why would you jeopardize your case?
The Peters were calling me every day.
Coming in to the office, waiting for me after court,
desperate for good news.
And to be honest,
the trial had started to turn.
I could feel the jury having doubts about my case.
It was so stupid, but once I knew
that Hopkins had confessed to Baxter about killing his wife,
- I had to put him on the stand. - But you didn't.
No.
Hellman?
Saw Baxter on my witness list and confronted me.
He said he knew Kelly and I were involved
and accused me of betraying Kelly to discover Baxter.
Let me guess. Hellman came up with a solution.
What were we going to do?
Either I could drop it and pretend like I never found Baxter,
or Hellman would expose us to the judge.
Either way,
- Baxter would never testify. - John,
if Hellman wasn't willing to go to the judge, you should have.
Yeah.
I should have. I know that now.
But I didn't.
What, no flowers, no candy?
I've been talking to John Marinelli.
Oh, well, he's made a clean breast of it, then, has he?
You should have gone to the judge.
What, and ruined Kelly's career
just because she had the bad judgment
to fall in love with a prosecutor?
I mean, what was I going to do? They were in love.
I tried to protect her
- and Marinelli. - Marinelli dumped a crucial witness.
No judge would have ever allowed Baxter to testify,
and Hopkins still would have been acquitted.
Peters still would have gotten his gun and Kelly would still be dead.
Yeah, well, Conlon's is not gonna see it that way,
and neither is Turley when she gets ahold of it.
There's got to be a way to fix this.
Well, you have to do what's right for your case, which means
getting justice for Kelly's family.
The position Turley's put me in affects you too, Doug.
Kelly was a lot like you, you know.
Stubborn, passionate to a fault.
I don't think you understand what's going to happen if Turley finds out what you did.
I understand.
You could be disbarred.
Well, if I had it to do over again, I'd do the same.
You're telling me Doug Hellman forced Marinelli to bury a witness?
He says he was just trying to protect John and Kelly.
Yeah, and getting an acquittal for his client was incidental, right?
Well, Hellman's on the hook too. I mean,
if Turley exposes what he did...
Hellman is not my problem.
Turley is going to ram Marinelli's misconduct down our throat.
She's bound to find Baxter.
Our only hope is the counter motion we filed,
arguing the Hopkins trial is irrelevant to the Peters case,
- and therefore, not discoverable. - We should win that.
I can't see a judge allowing Turley to rifle through this office's work product and personal notes.
Let's hope you're right.
Your Honor, the Hopkins case couldn't be more relevant.
It is a factual basis
for the provocation that led to my client's actions.
Your Honor, the jury verdict provoked Bob Peters,
not prosecutor Marinelli's private work product about the case.
The material can substantiate my client's assertion
Mr. Marinelli misled him
about the prospect of convicting Hopkins for the murder of his daughter.
The defense has presented no evidence
that Mr. Marinelli ever made those assurances to Mr. Peters.
Your Honor, that is precisely why we want to depose Mr. Marinelli
and look at his papers in this case.
Miss Chase,
while I understand the need for discretion in the prosecutor's office,
I believe the attorney work product in this instance
is relevant to Mr. Peters' defense.
Therefore, I'm granting Miss Turley's discovery motion.
Your Honor, this goes against case law and precedent.
If you believe you have sensitive work product,
you can always file for in-chamber inspection.
Are you worried about what I'm going to find in the files?
Of course not.
Then why are you working so hard to keep me from seeing them?
Principle, Hanna. We can't have defense attorneys rummaging through our notes.
Annabeth, I'm just trying to do my job.
And as long as the state of Indiana insists on trying this as a death penalty case,
I will do everything in my power to fight it.
How did it go with the prosecuting attorney?
He doesn't like being held over a barrel any more than I do.
We both prefer to deal with this in an up-front manner,
not have it impact a high-profile case.
Marinelli is a problem we inherited,
and he's gonna have to answer for it.
And if need be, we'll make an example out of him.
Turley suggested she'd be open to a deal,
take the death penalty off the table. That's what she wants.
Manslaughter, 20 years, no opposition to parole.
The offer may be better coming from you;
let her know this isn't some game I'm running on her.
Done.
Maybe I can charm her.
Good luck with that.
Mr. Conlon, a rare sighting in these humble precincts.
To what do we owe the honor?
I'll get right to it, Miss Turley.
The prosecutor's office acknowledges
your client's dismay with the verdict in the Hopkins case,
but that ship has sailed. The jury acquitted him.
I don't think you're here to talk about double jeopardy.
We won the discovery motion, so offer us a deal
or give us the files on the Hopkins case.
Manslaughter, 20 years, no opposition to parole.
24 hours ago,you wanted to try this as a death penalty case.
I know what's in these files has a little something to do with that.
Offer is on the table.
Bob, I think you should take it.
20 years?
I may not be alive in 20 years.
You said we would take this to trial.
Yes, but they removed the death penalty. That's...
that's a good deal.
Not good enough.
I want people to hear my story.
Hear how I was led to believe that I would get justice,
and how that was taken from me!
And I want justice for Kelly Joffe and Doug Hellman.
Convince him. You and I both know this is in his best interest.
Well,of course I'm going to talk to him.
But as you can see, he's fairly dug in.
If he changes his mind, let me know.
And I'm still waiting on those case files.
Don't force me to go back to Judge Jenkins
and get a contempt of court citation.
Clock's ticking on her motion.
We have no choice but to comply. Hold it till tomorrow, though.
I need some time to get my ducks in a row.
One of those ducks Marinelli?
He'll resign today.
What about Hellman?
We're referring Hellman to the ethics review board of the Indiana bar.
Someone should let him know this is coming.
I will.
He'll be at the church paying his respects to Kelly's parents.
As long as you're there, talk to them too.
Let them know about their daughter's relationship with Marinelli,
before they read about it in the paper.
Annabeth.
Mr. Joffe, I'm so sorry.
Kelly was an amazing woman.
Thank you.
She always spoke so highly of you.
We offered Bob Peters a plea.
A plea?
Manslaughter.
A minimum sentence of 20 years.
20 years...
For killing my daughter?
He turned it down.
Now, if we go to trial,
his lawyer is going to exploit something Kelly did,
something she shouldn't have done.
Is this about John Marinelli?
I know all about it.
He called me yesterday.
He told me about his relationship with Kelly.
They loved each other.
If it's unethical, I can live with that.
It's more than that.
I think Kelly may have
inadvertently given Marinelli a crucial piece of evidence.
It's nice of you to say that it was inadvertent.
It wasn't.
Kelly told us that she was sure that Hopkins had killed his wife.
If John Marinelli found something, it's because kelly wanted him to.
I think I'll just leave it at that.
Thanks so much for coming.
Can I have a word with you?
Still upset with me?
I understand what you did and why you did it.
I'm sure your boss has a dimmer view.
He's referring you to the ethics review board.
You're going to have your license revoked.
Doug, Turley's going to use this against us if we go to trial.
The judge tossed our counter motion to suppress.
Well, ask yourself this:
what does Bob Peters really want?
He wants justice for his daughter.
Of course he does.
Now, we can't very well put Mr. Hopkins back on trial now, can we?
At least not for killing Barbara Peters.
What are you talking about?
We're in a very gray area here, Annabeth.
How gray?
Gray.
After I saw you at the hospital the last time, I made a few phone calls.
I got my investigator involved.
I had him put Mr. Hopkins under a microscope.
What did he find?
Nothing until yesterday.
Now, it's my job to defend my clients against whatever they're charged with now
and not pass judgment against something that may or
may not have happened 15 years ago.
15 years ago?
Jane Darby.
I just accepted John Marinelli's letter of resignation.
We need to hold off sending Marinelli's files to Hanna Turley.
The last thing this office needs right now is to be slapped for contempt.
We can still make a deal with Peters.
Funny, that wasn't the impression I got.
What if told you there was a way to nail David Hopkins?
What are you talking about?
I think he murdered his college girlfriend.
Are you making this up?
No, her name was Jane Darby.
It happened 15 years ago, boating accident, supposedly.
Why wasn't this brought up at the Hopkins trial?
Nobody knew.
Well, how is it that you know?
A little bird told me.
What little bird?
Doug Hellman?
No comment.
Judge Jenkins just put me on notice
he's going to cite us with contempt if we go one minute past the deadline
and Turley doesn't have our material.
I'm stalling as hard as I can.
I just got off the phone with Turley's office.
Told them we were still gathering information.
Tell me you got something we can use.
There was never a police report.
Just a coroner report.
Jane Darby's death was ruled death by misadventure.
Drowned in a boating accident.
Hopkins was never even mentioned as the guy who reported it.
Accidental drowning's a long way from murder.
This case is 15 years old.
Evidence, if there is any, is going to be hard to come by.
Were Jane Darby's parents aware Hopkins was trialed for killing his wife?
They moved out of the state after the accident.
What are the chances they'll authorize an exhumation?
Already have. All these years,
they have a lot of unanswered questions about their daughter's death.
If she drowned, it's 'cause somebody caved her skull in.
Why was it ruled a drowning?
Beats me.
She had water in her lungs so technically she did drown.
But there's no other way to explain the skull fracture.
- Would it have been evident? - Clear as day.
Head trauma; blow from a blunt object.
You should talk to the chief coroner who signed off on this back in the day,
if he's still alive.
How could he have signed off on this?
Chief coroners are elected in this state.
They're not necessarily doctors.
Some are good, some are bad, some are political hacks.
Guess which kind this one was?
Checked out the chief coroner who wrote the report.
He's retired now.
Turns out he's a close friend of the family.
David Hopkins' father contributed heavily to his campaign.
This is exactly why most states have done away with the coroner system.
So what was his name?
Harold Jensen. He wasn't even a doctor.
Before getting elected coroner, he sold medical supplies.
Proves my point.
So this Harold Jensen decided to look the other way,
rule it an accident because of the family.
The sheriff's office thought it was an accident, so did the newspaper.
There's no need to investigate.
The rails were greased for this guy to go along.
All right, we're going to need a statement from him for the record.
When you heard David Hopkins had been accused of killing his wife,
why didn't you go to the authorities?
Tell them what you knew about Jane Darby?
It wasn't that simple.
That boating accident
- was a terrible tragedy. - Accident?
A couple of college kids that were out there on the water,
drinking, carrying on.
And after the accident?
David Hopkins' dad came to see me.
He asked me to spare the victim's family.
And you did this by signing off without an investigation?
We did our own autopsy on Jane Darby.
If you had done your job and conducted a proper inquiry...
I'm not a doctor.
I never claimed to be.
But you knew.
I knew something wasn't right.
Even I could see that.
But the Hopkins were insistent that this was an accident,
best left alone.
They asked me to close the case
and I did.
You do see how this looks?
I'm old, not blind.
I know what you're saying.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about what I did.
I should have asked more questions, but...
but I didn't.
At the time, I remember thinking how,
how bright David's future was.
How he had so much to look forward to.
David Hopkins is a murderer.
He killed Jane Darby, and if you'd done your job
then Barbara Peters would still be alive today,
- and so would Kelly Joffe. - Stop.
That's a lot of ruined lives, Mr. Jensen.
Just stop.
Tell me...
how I can make this right.
You can start by giving a statement.
Tell the truth at last.
We tracked down the boat rental guy.
David Hopkins and Jane Darby were arguing that day.
We've got more leads too.
The college friends that'll testify the relationship was on the skids.
With the coroner's statement and the forensic evidence,
- we got enough. - Arrest Hopkins.
Make sure his picture gets in the paper.
Our pleasure.
David Hopkins...
You're under arrest for the murder of Jane Darby.
Jane Darby?
There must be some mistake.
There's no mistake. You killed her.
Game over, buddy.
Can I read him his rights?
You always read them their rights.
Knock yourself out.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say...
Say "cheese".
You still haven't complied with Judge Jenkins' ruling.
We've got something better to offer.
I thought manslaughter, 20 years was your rock bottom,
- take it or leave it. - It was. It still is.
Not interested.
I want to go to trial.
David Hopkins was just arrested for the murder of Jane Darby.
And who is Jane Darby?
His college girlfriend.
We got a tip and went back and took a hard look at Hopkins,
and this is what we found.
- He's done this before? - And this time he's going down.
How do I know this isn't some ploy to get me to settle?
We don't.
We're still prepared to take your case to trial,
but you wanted David Hopkins brought to justice,
and that's what we've done.
There's more than enough evidence to convict him.
I've heard that before.
I'm asking you to trust me.
The deal's still on the table; voluntary manslaughter, 20 years.
What do you want from me?
Stand before a judge
and accept responsibility for what you did to my friend Kelly Joffe.
Her parents are in agony because you decided to pick up a gun.
You need to take this offer
and spare them the pain and suffering of a trial.
I went to my car and got the gun.
I saw Hopkins standing on the courthouse steps
laughing, smiling,
a free man.
That's when I started firing.
I didn't even think about the other people.
I just wanted Hopkins to pay for what he did to my daughter.
I can still see that young woman's face...
Miss Joffe.
The look in her eyes
after I shot her.
Under the terms of your agreement,
do you plead guilty to the crime of voluntary manslaughter?
Yes.
Under the terms of this agreement, do you understand that you will spend
a minimum of 20 years in a state prison before being eligible for parole?
Yes, I do.
Mr. Peters,
is there anything else you'd like to say at this time?
Nothing I can say or do
can sufficiently express
my grief and my sorrow over killing your daughter.
I'm going to have to live with that
for the rest of my life.
I love you.
Nice work in there.
Found a way out of that mess.
Doug Hellman owes you too, big time.
Something tells me he won't exactly see it that way.
- I'll see you back at the office. - Okay.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for everything.
You're welcome.
I appreciate what you did for me, Annabeth.
Shoulder.
Sorry, sorry.
So, you got a good result there,
considering the circumstances.
Well done.
Just doing my job.
You're far too modest.
And I had a little help.
About this gray area...
What gray area?
I'll see you in court then.
We can continue our dance.
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