For Life

I'm concerned about you and your son.

What happened? This cop roughed me up,

and then they cuffed me and they brought me here.

I found a case.

Andy Josiah.

He shot him in the back.

In front of his son.

What you think about representin' me?

Take these muthas to task.

Family's been advised to discontinue medical assistance.

He fought like hell.

That's what we need to do.

My husband, Andy, was shot in front of our son.

I am asking Attorney General Burke

to do the right thing.

I got a solution.

You appoint a special prosecutor.

Aaron Wallace.

You're out of your mind.

You give him free rein,

and it goes up in flames, it falls on him.

And if against all odds, he succeeds,

a nice halo effect for you and your legacy.

Captions by VITAC...

Today is a new day.

A day when the shooting and killing

of unarmed people of color

will no longer be swept under the rug.

Andy Josiah's family deserves

a full, transparent investigation into his death,

which is why I have appointed Aaron Wallace

as special prosecutor in this case.

While I recognize it is an unprecedented decision,

I believe these are unprecedented times

and Mr. Wallace is the right man to take this on.

My man.

You asked for this.

Thank you, Attorney General Burke.

This is crazy.

Yeah, Facebook and Insta are blowing up, too.

I know the eyes of the city are on us.

I know people are hurting.

All I ask for is your patience and your trust.

In return, I promise you this...

We will do whatever it takes

in order to do what's right

for this case and this family.

Okay, the site just

tripled its previous traffic peak.

Careful what you promise, Jazz.

Whatever you say, you're speaking for him now, and

he just put himself in the hot seat.

You really think you can do this?

I don't know.

But I'm gonna die trying.

Please don't go that far, Aaron.

It's what Andy deserves.

Nothing less.

You know I don't want to get my hopes up.

I'm not saying you should.

'Cause they're gonna come at us with everything they got.

What I am saying, there's nothing I won't do.

- Hey. - Hey.

How are you? Come in.

Thanks.

Hope I'm not interrupting anything.

No. The kids are at Anya's this week,

so it's just me and my quarantine.

Can I get you anything?

No. No, no, I'm good.

I saw the press conference.

You did well.

Thanks.

That's why I'm here.

I want you to join me and Henry.

But I'm not a prosecutor.

It's okay. He was.

Yeah, for three years when he was in his 20s.

And he still knows all the tricks inside and out,

and so do you... just from the other side.

You brought me that case

because something was burning inside of you.

But you could have anybody you want for this.

I need people I can trust.

And that's you and Henry.

So I got the file from the Staten Island D.A.

Charlotte's got copies for you.

It's pretty thin. Big surprise here...

Can't say they did much due diligence.

Anyway, here's the gist.

According to the police report,

they pulled Andy over because he was driving with his cell.

Wait a minute. He told me it was for an illegal U-turn.

Then they changed their story after the fact.

Well, without Andy, it's hearsay.

The report was filled out by Phillip Matranga,

junior cop, six years on the job.

Officer Edgar Lindsley, the shooter,

never signed the report or filled out his own.

They're dragging their feet

to give him time to adjust his story.

Matranga's report, which was sparse,

says that Andy was belligerent and uncooperative.

They got him out of the car.

They said he was arguing and resisting.

It doesn't even say anything about

the part where they shot him.

It's only about Andy's so-called crimes.

There was no internal investigation

about the shooting.

No witnesses, no crime scene photos,

no cop interviews.

No one's even allowed to interview them

in the first 48 hours after a shooting.

Because it's so traumatic.

But really it's just so they have time

to get their stories straight.

How long's Lindsley been on the force?

22 years.

This can't be the first time he's had an incident.

Well, there's no prior

disciplinary reports in the file.

We can subpoena for them.

Yeah, but even if we can show

the shooter has a checkered history,

we've got nothing without witnesses or video.

I'm assuming there were no body cams?

No. And no witnesses with cellphones either.

Our only chance of video is surveillance

from the cams in the neighborhood.

Well, let's take a ride out to the bodega.

Okay, you and me do that.

You issue a subpoena for the disciplinary reports?

Charlotte's already writing it up,

and I got a time set up to see the judge in a couple hours.

Let's meet back here after that.

Compare notes.

Rock and roll.

Look.

Hello.

Welcome.

I'm Safiya Masry.

Masry? You're Syrian?

Egyptian, actually.

I was born in Tehran. Salaam-Alaikum.

Wa-Alaikum-Salaam.

We're here about what happened to Andy Josiah.

And I didn't see anything. I already told the police that.

But you must have heard the shots.

Of course. I came outside,

but the police told me to stay in here for my safety.

Get a pack of the usual.

So, you're going after those cops?

Guess you watch the news.

Yeah.

I'm kind of hoping to be on the jury.

The people here... they admire the police.

Yeah.

Look, I know you didn't see anything that night,

but were there any customers here

who might have seen something?

No, it was a very slow night.

Because of the virus, most nights are like that now.

And what about video surveillance?

I see you have a camera on the side of the building.

That... that camera has been broken for weeks.

I'll take two halva for the road.

It's on the house.

Well, thank you.

Convenient.

Cameras broke.

If the cops got to him, that means he already erased it.

Henry.

Judge just shot down our subpoena

for cops' disciplinary records.

What?!

Called it a fishing expedition.

Then he gave me a pretty hefty lecture

about due process and the dignity of law enforcement.

Everyone was right.

We don't stand a chance if we try the case here.

We certainly have a hand tied behind our backs.

And it doesn't get any better.

Put me on speaker and take a look at your texts.

There's a link. What is it?

"Living a party life with thug friends."

Guy in the picture, the one he's got his arm around,

he was convicted of home invasion burglary.

You know what this is.

Of course I do. But it's not a good look, Aaron.

You better go see Elaine.

And cross-examine her?

Make sure we got an answer for this.

Damn it!

What's going on?

They're calling Andy a thug.

Like we don't know what that's code for.

Ronnie. What?

What's wrong with you?

What do you mean? Nothing.