American Vandal

This is not my specialty.

Uh, I focus primarily on contract law, so...

Kyle, honey, can you hear me?

- This is your Aunt Denise. - He can hear you.

- Yeah, I got you. I can hear you. - Um, what are our rights?

I mean, this teacher has had it in for Dylan

since she met him, and she's making up evidence.

It's not true what she's saying, so... I mean, they can't just go around

expelling everybody they don't like, right?

Right. Well, it's not a criminal trial,

so, in these sort of situations, the...

The burden of proof isn't very high for something like this.

Kyle, Uncle Greg here.

- You're not his uncle. - What happens if they file charges?

Yeah. It would be a few months before this goes to a criminal trial,

but it would be a felony, so, I...

You know, I've never seen a vandalism cost so much before.

Well, I mean, that's just... Just totally ludicrous.

I mean, whoever heard of $100,000 for a paint job?

Right. Well, it was 27 cars, so...

What's our best course of action, then?

If and when Dylan gets charged,

I'd recommend you seek a lawyer who's suited for this.

And honestly, he's probably gonna recommend

that you settle out of court.

The case is just very strong against Dylan.

Yo, Kyle, that's bullshit, dude.

They don't have shit on me.

- Well, don't they have a witness? - No, fuck that.

He lied about a hand job, so...

What if we can prove that someone else did it?

- I'm sorry, who's speaking? - Uh, I'm Peter, the documentarian.

The...? Okay. The what?

I'm Peter. I'm making a documentary about Dylan's case.

Kind of like Serial.

That's a terrible idea.

The call with Dylan's attorney was a sobering reminder

that Dylan's expulsion is just the beginning.

He's facing felony vandalism and possible jail time.

And as far as the expulsion is concerned, the burden of proof wasn't very high.

To overturn his expulsion, Dylan needs to prove innocence,

not just reasonable doubt.

So, the reasonable doubt that we cast by proving Shapiro lied about her tire

isn't enough to turn this case around.

Personally, I think that Shapiro genuinely believes

that Dylan drew the dicks.

Dick town.

That she just exaggerated a few facts

to rid the school of a student she believes is guilty.

The administration is equally sure of Dylan's guilt.

They believe we're inventing drama that isn't really there.

The day after we confronted Shapiro in the parking lot,

she asked Sam to stay after class.

Hi, you wanted to see me?

Yes, I did.

I wanted to speak to you about being in the parking lot.

Loitering next to a teacher's car, you know you're not allowed to do that.

I know. It's just that Peter thinks that, because it was a nail in your tire,

- not an actual slash, that maybe... - Just because there was a nail in the tire

doesn't mean Dylan didn't put it there.

He could have used a hammer to slam it in there to flatten it.

- Okay. - As far as I'm concerned,

it is an absolutely suspendable offense, Sam,

for you to have been in the parking lot.

School policy says, no students are allowed.

I'm really sorry.

You know, it was all Peter's idea, and, you know...

Next time I'll put my foot down, and I'll say, "No, Peter."

Okay. Just don't let it happen again.

Good cop, bad cop, dude.

Did Ms. Shapiro really accuse Dylan of slashing her tire with a nail?

I mean, it's possible, right?

Are you telling me that Dylan, before spray-painting 27 dicks,

he got down on his hands and knees, and hammered a nail

into Ms. Shapiro's car? Does that make any sense?

Okay, okay, no, it doesn't, but do we go back to the school board?

And tell them what, that Ms. Shapiro is sticking to her story? Not gonna work.

We could show them ball hairs.

No, this is gonna take way more than just ball hairs.

Proving Dylan's innocence seemed nearly impossible.

So, I figured the best way to do it would be to prove someone else's guilt.

Let's find out who did it.

Anyone who could get a can of spray paint could've done it.

No. Yeah, but... And delete the security footage.

I think that's where we start.

Which leaves us with nine major suspects.

Each of the Morning Show Nine had access to the security footage.

That we've established.

But let's take a look at opportunity and motive.

Who could've drawn all the dicks and why would they have wanted to?

Three of the nine we can rule out almost immediately.

Emily Hershey was in Phoenix for her grandmother's funeral,

and Phil Huang and Randall Snyder were both hospitalized with mono.

- Both of them? - Yeah.

Okay. All right.

I mean, you can draw your own conclusions from that.

By the way, Randall's been helping us with our documentary.

He's a great cameraman.

Give yourself some credit. This guy has been filming.

Anyway, these two, Christa Carlyle and Madison Kaplan,

both have relatively strong alibis,

but they also have potentially strong motives.

Let's start with Christa Carlyle.

She's senior class president, and won by a landslide.

Not only is she part of the Morning Show, she belongs to eight other clubs.

Including Strategy Club. I don't even know what that is.

Christa does it all. Star athlete, star mathlete.

She thrives within the system,

but, ironically, isn't afraid to speak out against it.

Honestly, she's a little annoying.

She's always like, "Oh, my God, I got, like, 300 signatures for climate change."

And I'm like, "Okay, I got a hand job from Sara Pearson",

but you don't see me bragging about it."

Christa Carlyle is...

a pain in the ass, I'll say it.

She comes in, she has a poster board,

"Oh, there's a gas leak in, like, Southwestern Utah.

It's getting into the... Need to do something and send funds to..."

What are you...? Who kn...? What are you talking about?

Who knows any of that stuff?

Christa has planned and executed many elaborate demonstrations

throughout the years, often at the expense of the faculty.

Just last year, she single-handedly organized a walkout

in protest of the school not observing Rosh Hashanah.

This is proof that religious equality is more important than football.

Who says that Christmas is more important than Rosh Hashanah?

You know, I'm not even Jewish,

but I feel the need to make sure that everybody feels included.

It's religious racism.

Oh, yeah... Oh, Christa hooked it up, dude. A free day off?

Yo, Jew day is awesome.

But not everyone was excited about the day off.

She's a protester. Always coming up with something

to stand up for. Which is cool. That's cool.

I just wish Christa hadn't done it in the middle of my pep rally, but...

Hey, good for them. Happy New Year.

Coach, he was pissed.

I mean, Mendoza walked out.

Apparently, school policy is, once you're gone

for the second half of the day, you can't play, so...

Yeah, he's our RB1. I mean, without him, we had no run game.

But the football team got their payback earlier this year

when Christa took a stand for gender equality

by trying out for the team.

You'd think she might take this as a sign that she should be less outspoken,

less political, but not Christa.

She kept the protests coming... and coming.

Is it possible that the dicks could be

some abstract political statement from Christa Carlyle?

Might seem like a stretch.

But is it more of a stretch than pouring laundry detergent down the stairs...

to show that bullying's a slippery slope?

I see a lot of hate in the hallways,

a lot of bullying and teasing...

This protest was short-lived after she slipped on the soap

and fell down the stairs, breaking her foot.

But that broken foot looks good for Christa.

Spray-painting 27 dicks in eight minutes is hard enough without a cast.

No, man. Christa wouldn't draw a bunch of dicks.

Vaginas, maybe, but, no, not a bunch of dicks.

- Where were you on March 15th, 2016? - I was finishing my CPR training.

Okay. Uh, do you have any way of proving that?

Uh, sure. You can pretend you're choking and lie down on the floor for a second.

Camp Miniwaka staff does confirm, Christa was completing her CPR training

on March 15th.

Christa's interesting to me.

She is very political.

She's taken stands against the administration.

But drawing dicks doesn't seem something our senior class president would do.

Or, more importantly, could do, with a broken leg and a solid alibi.

So, it's interesting, but doesn't tip the scales for me.

Which brings us to Madison Kaplan.

Madison's my co-anchor on the Morning Show,

and aspires to be the next Barbara Walters.

To be honest, she's better at the job than I am.

Madison Kaplan, that's your co-host for the Morning Show?

She seems fine. She seems like a nice enough student.

Just, uh... Yeah, just super, super boring.

I'm here with everyone's favorite chef, Mrs. Rogers.

She transferred last year from a prestigious New York high school

with a top-notch media facility.

So, it's not hard to imagine her frustrations

with her assigned cameraman, Dylan Maxwell.

If you haven't gotten homecoming tickets yet,

they go on sale next Friday

and you can pick them up at the administrative office.

With real aspirations to attend a top journalism program,

it was no secret she was fed up with her cameraman.

- Dylan, come on. - What?

I thought you didn't want me to film your boobs.

Dylan.

So, is it possible she framed the vandalism on Dylan

after being pushed over the edge?

Dylan was seen committing the crime and he has a track record.

I think the evidence speaks for itself.

- Where were you on March 15th, 2016? - I was shopping with my mom.

- Do you have any way of proving that? - Yeah. I have receipts.

If Madison's motive was to frame Dylan,

she'd be taking a huge leap of faith

that someone would lie about seeing him in the parking lot.