People vs. Rozat Sabich is the second episode of Presumed Innocent.
Synopsis[]
Tommy Molto continues to build his case as Raymond comes to Rusty's defense.
Summary[]
Tommy asks Rusty if he knows who the father of Carolyn's unborn child was, but he answers no. Hence, Tommy follows up by asking if Carolyn was involved in any other relationships and if he's willing to submit to a paternity test. As the meeting continues, Nico and Raymond attentively listen. Rusty, though, refused to answer if he'd submit to a paternity test and asked if he was a suspect. Tommy asks how long Rusty has had a sexual relationship with Carolyn, causing him to leave the room abruptly.
At Rusty's office, Raymond confronts Rusty about his relationship with Carolyn. The confrontation becomes heated as Raymond blames Rusty for causing him to lose the election over his career. However, Rusty is aware of his conflict of interest in the case. Rusty abruptly leaves his office when Raymond asks him if he knew Carolyn was pregnant with his child, but is stopped by Tommy asking for paternity. Rusty answers, suggesting that Tommy get a warrant.
While doing swimming laps, Rusty recalls having sex with Carolyn and spliced in between his relationship with Barbara.
Back at home, Rusty talks to Barbara, calling her B, and informs her that he's a suspect in Carolyn's death, who was revealed to have been pregnant. Although B notes that their relationship ended a year ago, Rusty admits that he briefly restarted it after the fact and apologizes to B, who blatantly stares at him.
At Raymond's home, Raymond informs his wife Lorraine about the situation surrounding Rusty. Lorraine plans to contact Barbara, noting that she wants to assure her they had no involvement or prior knowledge of Rusty's situation. Addressing Lorraine as Lo, Raymond argues how long Raymond may have known about Rusty's affair.
As B prepares some laundry, she watches as Kyle and Jaden play outside; Rusty is upstairs reviewing case files involving Bunny Davis. In his review, he finds evidence that alerts him. A flashback of Carolyn making copies of the case when she discovers that there was a second sperm sample found in Bunny Davis' body.
In the present, Rusty confronts Herbert about this, and he confirms it, noting that it was inconclusive. However, Herbert deflects the cause of reason and claims that Carolyn knew all of this before, although the evidence could be exculpatory for the defense. Still, Herbert dismisses all of Rusty's arguments and provokes him by asking if it was Rusty's sperm that was found to be inconclusive. After losing it to Herbert, Rusty later tries to contact Rigo, but is forced to leave a message on her phone.
Tommy informs Nico of Rusty's apprehension toward Herbert, and despite Tommy's ill temper, Nico is calm. Nico tells Tommy that their goal isn't to get Rusty; it's to follow the facts and get it right. Understanding where Nico is coming from, Tommy is told by Nico that he should follow the facts and not his feelings.
That night, Barbara enters Rusty's room, where she finds evidence of the Bunny Davis case. Meanwhile, Rusty drives his car and unsuccessfully tries to contact Rigo when he parks on the sideway.
Returning home, Rusty finds his family enjoying Chinese food at the dinner table. From there, Barbara forces Rusty to admit that he had an affair with Carolyn, and both of his children leave the table in shame. Before leaving herself, Barbara tells Rusty that she will not hold onto this burden alone this time. Barbara then enters one of the kids' rooms and consoles her children. When asked if she'll leave him, she answers that she is not sure yet but claims their father is a good person. Rusty could hear the conversation from the bottom of the stairway and recalled when Carolyn and him broke up again.
While watching a movie, Rusty is visited by Jaden, who asks him if he loves her mom, and he answers yes; his response draws the question if he does, then why did he do what he did? Rusty doesn't answer the question and breaks into tears. That night, he dreams of Carolyn swimming in a pool where he attacks her.
The next day, Rusty wakes up to Kyle throwing a tennis ball at the garage door. Rusty tries to calm Kyle down and offers to make him pancakes, but Kyle dismisses the idea, and at that moment, the police arrive. Detective Stevens talks to Rusty and tells him they have a warrant to search the house, and they take Jaden's computer amid the evidence collection. Soon, Detective Stevens approaches Rusty, asking for a paternity test to be done on him, and he consents to having it done there.
Afterward, Rusty visits the prosecutor's office, where Eugenia spots Rusty entering and confronts Tommy about serving the warrant on his house at dawn. Tommy argues that Rusty served his warrants and put him on administrative leave. By then, Nico appears and tries to mediate the situation, arguing Rusty's inappropriate attitude there was uncalled for, especially toward one of the medical staff. Rusty then takes the elevator out of his former workplace.
Rusty and Barbara attend a session with their therapist, Liz, who accuses Rusty of lying to her. In his defense, Rusty admits to lying about several things, like his continued affair with Carolyn. Liz notes that Barbara is there, which is positive, but she wonders about their goal and asks Barbara, who answers that she doesn't know and admits she feels trapped, citing the kids. Hence, Liz asks Rusty if he wants to save their marriage, and he answers yes, but when Liz asks about the off chance of him getting arrested, he answers that there is no doubt that he will get arrested. He goes on to state that he was stalking Carolyn, and if he were the prosecutor of the case, he wouldn't hesitate to arrest him over it. Further noting that Tommy, who handles the case, wouldn't either.
A press conference is held, and Nico addresses the press over Carolyn's case as Tommy stands beside him. Raymond and Lo watch the newscast, but Lo shuts off the TV midway in disgust. Just then, the doorbell rings, and Rusty is at the door; he asks Lo, who answered it if Raymond is there. After a pregnant pause, Lo claims he is, and Rusty talks to Raymond in his kitchen about what the police did to his house. What had occurred hadn't surprised Raymond, but what did was when Rusty asked him to become his defense attorney. However, despite Rusty's pleas, Raymond refused.
Having a meltdown in his car, Rusty tries to contact Rigo again, but she finally answers. He asks if he could hook him up by talking to Liam again, and she does.
At the prison, Rusty talks to Liam and asks him for information on the real killer so he can shave time off his sentence. However, Liam gives him no answers and mocks him for being desperate. Returning to the car where Rigo sat, she suspects Liam gave him no answers, and Rusty doesn't openly state that he eventually could. Deliberating over the possibility of an alternate killer, Rigo asks Rusty to stop lying.
Raymond sits alone at a bar, staring into the void. That night, he talks to Lo about his answer to Rusty about wanting him to be his attorney. According to his confession, Raymond feels dead or defeated because he was ousted by Nico and Tommy, who hold daily press conferences, and he wants to get back at them. Lo takes offense to Raymond's answer as he cares more for himself than her.
Elsewhere, Barbara smokes a cigarette in her backyard. Rusty returns home and learns about her location from Jaden. He then gets a phone call from Detective Stevens, who confirms the paternity test was positive. A flashback of Carolyn occurs, and then the police arrive at Rusty's house. Rusty asks Jaden to get her mother, but he also tells her he loves her. Without hesitation, Rusty surrenders himself to the police as Kyle walks downstairs.
Nico holds another press conference beside Tommy, who talks about Rusty's arrest as Rusty is booked.
Eventually, Rusty's arraignment was held, and Raymond acted as his defense attorney while his family was in the court chambers. Tommy addressed himself as Thomas Molto and his district attorney Nico to Judge Laryn Lyttle. Raymond then introduced himself to the Judge and entered a not guilty plea, which Judge Lyttle accepted and imposed a 1.5 million dollar bail bond. She then asks if there is a request for a pretrial conference, for which Nico opines that one should be set as early as possible, but Raymond argues that an immediate one be made. The proposal makes Judge Lyttle chuckle and notes that Raymond should be careful with his request, but Raymond stands by it. Therefore, Judge Lyttle waves the pretrial conference, revokes the bond, and the trial will occur immediately. She also advises Nico to be weary of his pompous speeches and aims the same at Raymond, who denies doing such things. As Rusty is led away, Raymond has a brief exchange between Nico and Tommy.
At home, Rusty talks to Jaden about getting a good judge, who he claims is an ex-defense attorney who is fair. He also thanks his family for being there for him, but he then receives a text message from an unknown person who states, they say them "there".
Characters[]
- Rusty Sabich
- Tommy Molto
- Nico Della Guardia
- Raymond Horgan
- Carolyn Polhemus (Flashback)
- Barbara Sabich
- Lorraine Horgan
- Kyle Sabich
- Jaden Sabich
- Herbert Kumagai
- Liam Reynolds
- Detective Stevens
- Eugenia
- Liz Rush
- Alana Rodriguez
- Liam Reynolds
- Judge Lyttle