inJustice 1

Brother and Sisters
Season 1 Episode 1

Voiceover says every trial has a verdict but not every verdict results in the truth. Caption on the screen the jury believed at McDermott Residence, 364 Berkeley Hills, Berkeley, CA on March 3, 1995. A reenactment proceeds. A woman tries her key three times and the pulls a gun from her pullover and break the corner panel window of the back door. She cuts her hand ask she sticks it through to unlock the door. Once inside she wraps her hand in a towel and finds a flashlight. She goes up stairs from the basement into the living cabinet and takes some cash, leaving blood on the door. A man heard a disturbance comes downstairs to investigate. In the kitchen, he calls the police and while on the line the female intruder shoot the man twice, once in the chest and once in the head. Then she runs out the front door and a neighbor walking his dog, identifies her. A caption reads Jane McDermott, 1st degree Murder 20 yrs to life.

Present: Jane McDermott is in prison declaring that is not what happened. She claims she broken in two days earlier and that someone else broke back in and killed her father. Jon Lemonick (Daniel Cosgrove) ends the interview and gets up to leave. His colleague Sonya Quintano (Marisol Nichols) tells her that the interview went find and that her brother was wrongly incarcerated too. Sonya tells her that she needs an advocate to stay on them about her case. Jane tells her that they are her first visit in six years. Jane tells Sonya that her brother thinks she is guilty. Sonya asks her again about the gun she used to get in and Jane tells her she never had a gun she used a loose brick by the door. At Project Justice, David Swain (Kyle Mac Lachlan) hears people pitch their different cases. Jon does not pitch Jane’s case, so Sonya does. Charles Conti (Jason O’Mara) and Swain look over the transcript and finds bad facts. Swain and Conti decide to take the case. Conti, Sonya and Brianna (Constance Zimmer) go to the McDermott residence. Conti and Brianna walk through the transcript of the crime, while Sonya checks the back door for the loose brick. Conti concludes that the case does make sense.

Conti comes into the war room and writes the fact of this case on the board. All the fact go to her breaking in which she admits to doing except the eyewitness, Mr. Kim. His identification and testimony goes to murder. He erases all the facts to the break-in and asks for other facts for the murder; the only other facts are the 911-call placed at 11:30 and the ballistics report. Swain plays Tetris on his palm pilot during a lawsuit meeting. At the prison, Brianna and Sonya interview Jane about her alibi. Jane tells them that she bought smack at 10:10 and she and Carla Pearce did not shoot up until 111:30, and that she took Carla to St Vincent around midnight because she had a bad reaction to the drugs, but there is not record of a Carla Pearce at St Vincent. Before leaving, Jane asks Sonya to give her brother a letter. Over the phone, Conti tells Brianna to investigate St. Vincent and Sonya interview the Brother. Conti gets the ballistic report from Jane’s former defense attorney. Conti as his ex-wife to run the ballistic report through the system and she declines. Lemonick interviews Mr. Kim asks him about a discrepancy in the police report and testimony, He said he saw a Lion on the pullover in the report but a leopard in his testimony. He also gives Lemonick another angle to investigate, why the father and the brother argued. Sonja upsets the brother and he kicks her out, without reading the letter.

Swain listens to the 911-call and listening gives a different account than the transcript would have you believe. The scripts leads you to believe his pleading for his life but when Swain listened it sounds like McDermott is in control of the situation and is surprised when he’s shot. Conti meets his prosecutor wife at the priest office for annulment counsel. Conti explains that he committed adultery from the very beginning of the marriage. The priest says now that he is taken over the church are less tolerant in granting annulments and that they have to have eight months of counseling before grant the annulment. Conti’s ex explains that she is getting married in the spring and the priest says he will help her reschedule the wedding. After leaving the priest office, she runs the ballistic report for Conti, as he will be lying about being an adulterer for eight months. Brianna has waited two hours to see someone in record, but discovers that St. Vincent dumps patients with no insurance to the county hospital. Lemonick and Quintano argue about his treatment of women, when they are informed that Jane already has a visitor. They come in to find Andrew, her brother, arguing at Jane about them interviewing him. Jane tells them to see Eileen DeBreezi about what the argument was between her father and Andrew. Eileen thinks the argument was about Andrew taking from the till. Andrew goes to Project Justice to complain about Sonya when Conti walks into Swain office with proof that Jane is innocence. Conti tells Andrew that there was a Carla Pearce; everyone was looking in the wrong hospital. Andrew becomes more cooperative when he realizes Jane is innocence. Andrew claims that his father had a gambling problem and that they argued over the missing money to pay for them. Conti’s ex brings the ballistic report that shows the gun was used in another crime. The go to see Jose Saldano to find out where he got the gun. Looking at another 45 years in jail, Jose gives up Tony Russell. Swain takes the 911-can to a sound specialist; she isolates breathing and a flushing sound under the smoke alarm. Conti, Lemonick and Sonya look at McDermott financial records and conclude that Eileen DeBreezi was paid not some gambling company.

Swain and Conti visit Eileen again and ask her about the monthly 3000 and the final 30000 payments. She tells them that they had an affair but it was over 4 years before his death and that the payments were living expense. Swain comments that she looks a lot like Jane. Eileen replies that she was 40 when the murder happened, no one who confuse her for a fifteen year old. Swain is listening to the isolated sounds and realizes that it is an asthma inhaler. Andrew and Jane have a reconciliation, before being questioned by Lemonick and Sonya on the affair and Tony Russell. At Project Justice they break down the facts they have discover and realize the payments were child support not living expense.

They have collected all the yearbooks in a 15-mile radius of Eileen DeBreezi’s home. Lemonick tells them to look for a leopard on the cover. In the yearbook, they find a Lisa DeBreezi would looks as though see could be Jane’s twin. Conti tells them to look for a Tony Russell but finds that Lisa and Jose dated in high school. After talking to Lisa Conti’s ex will not prosecute until Lisa pulls out her inhaler. They bring in Jose who flips on Lisa. There is a flashback to what happen the night Mr. McDermott was killed. Lisa went to see him and demand more money. Mr. McDermott asks Lisa to calm down and then he calls the police. Lisa pulls a gun, shoots him twice, and runs out the front door where Mr. Kim mistakes her for Jane. Jane’s verdict is vacated with prejudice and she is free to go. Jane and Andrew embrace and thank Project Justice.