Brass Ring
By
Hank74
Cast of characters:
Attorney for the trombonist: Tony Roberts as Paul Redfield from
"Divorce."
Trial Judge: Hal Linden from "Barney Miller."
Trombone Player and suspect: Mark Paul Gosselar from "Saved by the
Bell."
Tuba Player: Evan Richards.
Piano Player: James Waterston.
Agent for the band: The actor who played Gatsby in the A&E movie this
January.
Parolee: The man who shot the drug dealer in "Prince of Darkness."
Prowler at the college: The homless man who "respected" Roland Kirk
in "Volunteers."
"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two
separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime and the
district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.
Ching-ching."
Opening scene:
A young woman is walking into a music practice room at a local NYC music
college. It is evening, but there is security present. When she walks into the
room that she wants to go into, she finds a man who was playing the trumpet
beaten up badly. Also there is a tuba nearby as well. The tuba has some blood
on it.
When Lennie and Ed walk in to investigate, campus security says they found
nothing unusual. Then Lennie quips, "What do we have here, the true
meaning of heavy metal?" Go to opening credits.
Part I:
The coroner tells the detectives that the trumpet player was beaten to the head
with a blunt force instrument, but not the tuba. Lennie is almost choking after
dying laughing. He asks then what could it be. The ME says something more
thinner. "Great," says Lennie "I'll get a lineup of flutes
going." Ed adds, there was a piano nearby at the scene and perhaps he
bumped his head on it.
The deceased was part of a jazz band composed of mostly recent college
graduates who played in NYC in the hopes of landing a nice record deal. When
Lennie and Ed talk to the rest of the band, made up of a trombone player, a
tuba player, and a piano player, they were obviously shocked over the death.
Everyone said things were going well and did not experience any problems since
they all live together and worked together. Lennie asks, how did the trumpet
player get into the college. The tuba player says he along with everyone else
were graduates of the school and hence permitted to enter by using a special
card. Ed then asks the tuba player, why did he leave his instrument at the room
when the murder took place. Tuba player said he forgot some music and was going
to get it for him and the trumpeter to practice. That's when the murder took
place.
The lab technician took a sample of the blood and discovered it matched the
victim on it. At Ed's request, they also looked at the piano in the room. There
was no blood. The ME calls and tells them the victim head was beaten in with a
rod shaped figure. Ed then tells Lennie, "Better include piccolos for that
lineup."
Part II:
With nothing to work on, Lennie and Ed question the agent who was going to give
the band a nice record deal. The agent thinks things were going well and about
ready to get a contract going. It wouldn't be much, but at least a start. He
has no idea over what could cause this.
At the squadroom, Van Buren is joined by the head of security who tells her
about the recent crimes that took place at the campus. There was some small
vandalism, but nothing out of the ordinary except for a prowler who likes to
wander around the campus. Some students have filed complaints. Security has
investigated, but nothing has turned up. Van Buren asks for a stakeout in the
practice rooms.
At the stakeout, a suspicious man walks in and begins chatting with a student.
He then walks some more whereby a female student is walking in the opposite
direction. The cops race after the prowler and nab him. He is brought in for
questioning.
At the interrigation room, Van Buren, Ed, and Lennie grill him about the murder
and what took place. The prowler swears he had nothing to do with it. He was
only watching the students practice. He dreamed of being a musician himself.
The prowler did say there was a young man walking with his case into the
practice room that night. The case was long and black. But so were the
facilities. Ed then says, that would be a trombone case and the rod might be
the slide from the trombone. Van Buren asks how did he know this, "Simple,
I tried it out in the fourth grade."
The detectives get a search warrant of the apartment for the trombone case.
They find the case, but not the instrument. The trombone player says it was
being repaired. "Sure," Lennie adds. "Could it be due to head
trauma, and I don't mean blowing too hard." They take him to the precinct.
At the precinct, the trombone player maintains his innocence until the lab
calls and says there was some blood in the case which matched the victim and
some hairs as well. The trombone player is stunned and is arrested for murder
two.
Part III:
Paul Redfield asks Jack to drop the charges based on insufficient evidence.
Jack is almost laughing at this. Redfield then suggests a plea deal on man 2.
Jack is now brushing him off. But Redfield goes to judges chambers.
In the judge's chambers, played by Hal Linden, Redfield does his usual arguing
about probable cause and says the witness who made the ID was himself arrested
four years ago at a library for disorderly conduct. The search is bad. The
judge agrees and tells Jack to get more definite evidence before arresting
anyone.
Abby begins to question the tuba player and the piano player so as find the
whereabouts of the trombone player. Both say the trombonist worked very hard
from nothing to get to this point. They were very certain he couldn't kill
anyone in the group. Abby then asks if anybody was thinking of leaving. The
pianist said some of the members wanted to go solo, but the band came first.
This news doesn't please Jack. He wants the murder weapon, even if it happens
to be a trombone. Abby says the trombonist was in his apartment sleeping when
the murder took place. Both the tuba and piano players could atttest to it.
Nora comes in and asks how are things going. "Not so good" says Abby.
Nora then suggests since the band had an agent, they must also have an
accountant. "Get a subpeona on their financial records." says Nora.
"Great, records to see if they made records" quips Jack. "Yeah,
those small shiny ones called CDs" adds Abby.
With Abby, Lennie, and Ed looking over the financial records, they discover tax
deductions taken at a music store where nobody has heard of. Lennie and Ed then
grills a parolee who works there and Abby threatens him with violating parole
is he hinders prosecution and destroys evidence. He leads them to a garbage
dump where the damaged trombone is found. Some blood and hair is on it. Lennie
quips "If Glenn Miller was playing this, he would certainly be in a
depressed mood." Abby adds, "Make that murdering mood and give him
Miranda." The trombonist is arrested.
Part IV:
Redfield asks if Jack will go into the gutter to get his man. "Not to
worry, I had to in this case." says Jack. When they go to Judge Hal
Linden's chambers, the judge says there is enough physical evidence to go to
trial. But now comes the question of motive. Redfield is worried about bias
since the judge plays the clarinet in a band (Linden actually plays the
clarinet), but doesn't raise the issue since it wouldn't be grounds for
recusal.
The trial goes as normal with Jack bringing in Ed and the technicians to
testify. Redfield tries to raise doubt with each witness, but gets nowhere.
When Jack then brings up the prowler and the parolee to the stand, Redfield is
able to rip them about their past. The parolee was once in prison for man 1
himself.
Redfield then brings in the tuba and piano player to the stand. They praise the
trombonist for being a upstanding citizen. Jack tries to break them, but no
dice. The trial is at a draw.
Redfield then wants to call the agent to the stand, but Jack objects since he
was placed on too late. The judge grants a continuance. Redfield then calls for
a meeting in Jack's office.
At the meeting, the trombonist says he is willing to plea to hindering
prosecution and obstruction of justice. He says he was threatened by the agent,
through the parolee that he knew, that if he went to the cops about this, he
and the band would be harmed. It turns out the agent was wanting to get the
trumpeter to a solo record contract that would pay him a large salary. The
trumpeter wanted to do this, but couldn't find a way to tell the rest of the
band. The record company has some shady mob investors and the agent was being
pressured to get something done soon or else lose his own skin. The parolee was
muscle for the mob a long time ago. Jack agrees to the deal and offers
protection for the trombonist. Lennie and Ed arrest the agent for murder one.
With Nora, Jack, and Abby leaving the office, Jack says "I wonder if the
mob didn't like the way the trumpeter played the Godfather theme." Nora
adds, "The only tune which makes them swing, swing, swing." Abby
adds, "Yep, like a trombone." Go to closing credits.
Back to Exculpatory Evidence