The Whole Truth

When the court officer smiled at me on the morning of trial, I knew I was fucked.

They weren't taking bets on this one.

Mike had killed his father, Boone Lassiter,

left his handprint on the knife, confessed.

Half my cases had evidence this bad.

I just pled them out, got manslaughter and moved on,

but this was Mike, and I'd known him all his life.

He was going to college and probably law school,

and I doubted his mother could survive him going to the penitentiary.

But I knew Boone, I had that, and I knew enough about the Lassiter household

to know that Mike had a defense, if he would just talk to me.

- Jim. - Morning.

Flyin' solo on this one?

Section 34 of the judicial district court of the State of Louisiana

in and for the parish of St. Bernard is now in session.

The honorable Judge Robichaux is presiding.

Order and silence are commanded.

God save the State of Louisiana and this court.

All rise for the honorable Edouard Robichaux.

Bring 'em in.

Good morning, jury.

Please be seated.

The court will come to order

in the matter of the State of Louisiana versus Michael Lassiter,

on the charge of first-degree murder.

Jury, you should know the defendant is still a minor...

six weeks shy of his 17th birthday.

But due to the seriousness of the charges,

the case was transferred to this court, where he is being tried as an adult.

Counselors.

Gentlemen, you both have toiled in my courtroom before,

so you know how I appreciate a swift trial.

Yes, sir.

Good morning.

Thank you for your service.

The case before you today is a simple one,

a simple case of patricide.

Now, that's the killing of one's father.

The defendant is the young man that you see over there,

Mike Lassiter.

He's a senior at Newman.

He's a good student, co-captain of the debate team.

This past February, however,

on a Tuesday afternoon, Mike took a knife,

and he stabbed his father, Boone Lassiter, right here.

Not by accident,

not in self-defense.

He did it out of anger.

With premeditation and malicious intent,

he murdered his father.

We'll prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

Now, you may hear, from the other side,

that the victim, Mike's dad,

wasn't such a good guy, that he was tough on his son,

that he bullied him.

But Boone Lassiter isn't on trial here for father of the year.

He may not have been the best dad,

but the evidence will show he wasn't the worst.

You want me to put you down?

Plenty of people grow up without the best dads.

There!

It doesn't give anyone the right to murder.

Therefore, at the conclusion of this case,

I'll ask you to return a verdict of guilty

of murder in the first degree.

- Thank you. - If you don't talk to me,

I have to waive my opening.

Counselor?

Your honor, the defense reserves its right

to an opening statement until after the prosecution presents its case.

Well, we are speeding along.

Your first witness ready?

Can you see if Angela Morley's out there?

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

Your name, please.

Angela Morley.

- And your occupation? - Flight attendant for deluxe charter.

- And deluxe is? - A private airline.

People buy timeshares and we fly them all over the world.

- Affluent people? - Yes, very.

The victim, the deceased, Mr. Boone Lassiter, he was one of these people.

Yes.

And were you always on his flights?

Most of them. He'd request me.

And when did he last fly with you?

The last week of January,

to LA and back with his son Mike, and then round trip to Dallas.

And what was the purpose of these trips, if you remember?

The second, Dallas, was business.

The first was to take Mike, his son, to look at colleges...

UCLA and Stanford.

We were supposed to go up to Oregon to see, I think,

Reed, but they decided to come home instead.

Listen.

It's your call, but Stanford is one of the top schools in the country

and you got in early.

I mean, look, I'm happy to go to Reed, check it out, but...

It's weird.

Maybe we should just declare victory and head home early, huh?

Surprise your mom?

And how would you characterize the relationship between father and son,

between Boone and Mike?

The trip home got kind of tense.

Mike seemed like a typical teenager, sullen with a little attitude.

Listen, we're gonna skip Portland and head back.

- Tell the guys for me, will you? - Okay.

You think you're old enough to handle a piece of ass like that?

You don't know why Mike was sullen.

No.

Thank you.

Ms. Morley.

I've never been on a private plane.

Help me out here.

The customer can bring whoever he wants with him.

Yes.

Mr. Lassiter would do that sometimes.

Of course.

- Men and women. - Sure.

Other lawyers, mostly.

And on the trip to Los Angeles, he brought his son.

Yes.

Yours is a service industry, right?

Yes.

And it's competitive.

Very.

So you have to provide good service.

Naturally.

Did you like servicing Mr. Lassiter?

Pardon me?

I'm asking if he was a good client.

Yes.

He was professional, but fun, pleasant to be around.

Ms. Morley, when Mr. Lassiter brought a woman,

or women with him on the plane,

did you ever leave their names off the manifest?

Objection, Your honor.

Women on the manifest? How is this relevant?

Your honor.

Do you have a proffer of evidence on this, Mr. Ramsey?

- Your honor... - Do you or do you not

have evidence for this court?

Not at this time.

You're fishing. I'll allow it.

Now, step back.

You may answer the question.

It would be against the law to omit passengers from the manifest, so, no,

of course they never did that.

No further questions.

You picked up Mr. Lassiter and his son at the Lakefront airport.

That's correct, around 4:00.

And the next morning, 7:00 a.m., you drove Mr. Lassiter again.

That's correct, straight to the airport.

Was there anything unusual?

No, nothing at all.

When he returned, two days later,

on the evening of the murder, you again dropped him at his home.

That's correct.

Did you notice anything unusual?

No, nothing.

Anything or anyone out of the ordinary?

No one.

Thank you.

Nothing further, Your honor.

Did you ever pick up women for Mr. Lassiter...

Objection, Your honor.

Withdrawn.

Sit down, Mr. Ramsey.

You're excused.

This is what losing looks like,

but it's the best I can do until you start talking to me.

Boone fucked everything that walked.

It didn't relate to the case, but it made Boone look bad.

I figured Loretta knew and didn't care as long as it helped Mike.

- Mr. Ramsey, I'm Janelle Brady. - You're too late.

- No, I'm not. I wasn't... - Just as we feared. Juror number three.

Gave you the stink eye after you crossed? Yeah, I caught it.

Janelle Brady, Jack Legrand. Janelle is Walter Brady's daughter.

I asked him to sit second chair for me, but he couldn't.

He recommended Janelle.

Her dad is also famous for being late, but never to court.

Are you kidding me? Concerned women for America?

- Don't even ask. - I was sitting in the back the whole time.

- You missed jury selection. - I know, I'm sorry. I tried calling.

I'm on trial. I don't answer my phone when I'm on trial.

Well...

We still got two blacks, two single moms, and an unemployed white kid.

Shit. That ain't no guarantee.

- Call you this afternoon. - Keep on it.

You want a job or not?

Ramsey.

Five minutes.

Okay.

Legrand's your jury consultant?

Ran out of challenges, and got stuck with juror number three...

heiress to oil money with nothing to do but worry about people stealing from her.

She's the kind that thinks

the death penalty isn't severe enough.

So besides being Walter Brady's daughter, tell me who you are.