American Crime Story (TV Series)

The Dream Team (2016)

John Travolta: Robert Shapiro

Quotes 

• O.J. Simpson : So they're saying that this racist cop framed me just because I'm black?

  Robert Kardashian : It could explain a lot, Juice. I mean, th-this Fuhrman cop and-and the glove. And why not do everything we can to get you out of here if-if you're not supposed to be here?

  O.J. Simpson : I just want to go home, be with my children, do everything that I can to help find the killer, you know?

  Robert Shapiro : O.J., these 911 tapes that have been circulating, they've been playing day and night on all the channels, it's an audio recording in which the world can hear you beating your wife.

  O.J. Simpson : Bob, we was just, you know, tussling. I-I can... I can fix this.

  Robert Shapiro : No, no, no, you can't! You can't clear that up! You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Now, there's hope, but you have to listen, and you have to listen very carefully. This race defense is the crux of our case. We need to bring in Johnnie Cochran, and we need to do it now!

  O.J. Simpson : No.

  Robert Shapiro : Yes, we do. His angle is the only angle that you will ever see daylight again, do you hear me? Do you hear me?

  Robert Kardashian : He's right, Juice.

• F. Lee Bailey : [reading an article in the New Yorker]  I hear a sound. The sound... of metal orbs clanging against one another.

  Robert Shapiro : Come on, Lee.

  F. Lee Bailey : Oh, my God. It's coming from your pants, Bob.

  [Robert laughs] 

  F. Lee Bailey : Balls. Big, brass balls. God love you. We are back in this thing!

  Robert Shapiro : Ah, thank you, thank you. But, uh, how do I get rid of those 911 tapes?

  F. Lee Bailey : I know. Those tapes are today. In a week, they're flotsam over the stern. If they had to come out, I'm glad they were followed with this. What you've laid out here, this is an entire case strategy. Spectacular. This is masterful. Bob, you had a car that flew off a cliff. It's missing two tires, leaking oil, and flung into a ravine, yet somehow, you drove us back up the hill. We're highway-ready again and back in the race.

• F. Lee Bailey : I never thought I'd say this, but I like the nerd science guy.

  Robert Shapiro : Mm, but he's esoteric, and we also have to think about the things in the physical world, things we can see with our own eyeballs. What do you got, Pat?

  Pat McKenna : So far, nothing I can sink my teeth into. All I've seen is the LAPD acting like they were O.J.'s butler. "Would you like a police escort home? Could we get you some juice, Juice?" I do know one of the detectives a little. Worked with him once doing security for Johnny Carson. Mark Fuhrman. Total prick. Really unpleasant. Johnny never asked him back.

  Robert Shapiro : Really? Johnny never asked him back? That's interesting. What, Foreman?

  Pat McKenna : Mark Fuhrman.

  Robert Shapiro : Fuhrman. Yeah. Yeah, dig deep. Let me know what happens.

• Larry King : Alan Dershowitz, in all your years, have you ever seen a sensational, tragic case like this?

  Alan Dershowitz : In a short word, Larry, no. The evidence against Simpson is overwhelming.

  Larry King : All right, Alan, what about a plea deal? Could that be in the cards?

  Alan Dershowitz : Larry, settling is Robert Shapiro's specialty, much more than actually trying cases in a courtroom. But with a vicious double murder, then Simpson attempting escape, no. O.J. Simpson is gonna stand trial for two counts of murder one, maybe special circumstances.

  Robert Shapiro : [watching on TV]  Aw, go to hell, Dershowitz! Do you see what I'm up against here? They've got me down as the schmuck that'll walk O.J. to the gas chamber, and then the most famous lawyer in the whole country is gonna dictate and narrate it on "Larry King Live."

  F. Lee Bailey : You think Alan's the most famous lawyer in the country? Thank God he's so photogenic.

  Robert Shapiro : How do I shut him up? How do you shut Dershowitz up?

  F. Lee Bailey : I like Alan, but he's a smug son of a bitch. Every fifteenth word is "Harvard."

• Barry Scheck : How much do you gentlemen know about DNA evidence?

  Robert Shapiro : Pretend not much.

  Barry Scheck : Oh, that's OKm 'cause not a lot of people do. But it is on the verge of revolutionizing criminal law. In a couple years, it will be at the crux of any case of violence without eyewitnesses.

  Robert Shapiro : OK, can you see DNA through a microscope?

  Barry Scheck : No, no. A-A DNA molecule's about two nanometers in width, whereas, like, a human hair's about 80,000 nanometers, so it presents representationally with electrons and scanning-tunneling, atomic force microscopes...

  Robert Shapiro : OK, OK, OK, cut to the... cut to the quick. Can you use DNA to show that it's someone else?

  Barry Scheck : Not at all. I mean, the chances of--of one individual's DNA profile matching another person's are extremely small. It's roughly one in a billion.

  Robert Shapiro : Great. We're screwed.

• [frustrated over headlines] 

  Robert Shapiro : [pounding his desk]  Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

• [Journalist Jeffrey Toobin meets with Robert Shapiro] 

  Jeffrey Toobin : Thanks for taking the time to see me.

  Robert Shapiro : Now, you're "New York" magazine or "New Yorker"?

  Jeffrey Toobin : "New Yorker."

  Robert Shapiro : "New Yorker."

  Jeffrey Toobin : Yeah. Alan Dershowitz told me to look you up.

  Robert Shapiro : Ah.

  Jeffrey Toobin : I'm doing a piece on cash-for-trash stories, witnesses selling their testimony. The O.J. Simpson trial seemed like a perfect...

  Robert Shapiro : No, no, it's inconsequential. It's window dressing. It's not the best use of your time.

  Jeffrey Toobin : It's the story I'm out here to cover.

  Robert Shapiro : I know it is, but wouldn't you rather ask me why a man like me would take a case like this? You might be surprised.

  Jeffrey Toobin : I might be surprised if I'm surprised. OK, tell me.

  Robert Shapiro : [conspiratorially]  Because of its far-reaching complications. I've never seen anything like it. And I couldn't stand by and let it happen.

  [holds open the door to his office] 

  Robert Shapiro : Please.

  [they enter] 

  Jeffrey Toobin : Let what happen, exactly?

  Robert Shapiro : The systematic railroading of O.J. Simpson by a racist LAPD because he is a black man.

  Jeffrey Toobin : Wait, what?

  Robert Shapiro : The LAPD history is a shameful history. And everybody knows it; it's no secret. And this cop, Mark Fuhrman, who discovered everything; he's an admitted racist. Any evidence he touches is questionable.

  Jeffrey Toobin : So I want to be clear. You're saying this policeman set up O.J. Simpson.

  Robert Shapiro : Maybe. Maybe Mark Fuhrman. Maybe others, in a conspiracy.

  Jeffrey Toobin : Wait. OK, wait. So all the blood evidence... somehow these cops, a cabal of racist police officers, planted it? From the murder scene to the Bronco to Rockingham?

  Robert Shapiro : Who else could have? Take a step back. I mean, doesn't it seem odd that this glove just happened to be at Rockingham at the same time Detective Fuhrman just happened to find it?

  Jeffrey Toobin : It isn't odd if Simpson dropped it after he climbed the wall to avoid being seen by the limo driver.

  Jeffrey Toobin : Jeff, you look like a smart kid; don't rush to judgment. We will show that it is impossible for a black man to get a fair shake with the LAPD. We will prove this.

  Jeffrey Toobin : So you're gonna say this case is all about race?

  Robert Shapiro : Yes, because it is. I'm just simply shedding a light on it.

• Pat McKenna : OK, I went down into the county courts records, found file after file on Detective Mark Fuhrman. Guy's worse than I remembered. Actually sued the city.

  Robert Shapiro : He was the plaintiff?

  Pat McKenna : Hang on, that's not the mind-blowing part. He sued the city basically claiming that his duties as a LAPD officer made him into a bigot.

  Robert Shapiro : What?

  Pat McKenna : Serving as a cop gave him violent fantasies.

  Robert Shapiro : Come on.

  Pat McKenna : He describes beating up and attacking black people.

  Robert Shapiro : Wait, OK, let me get this straight. You're saying... that the homicide detective that discovered all the evidence on O.J. Simpson... hates black people?

  [McKenna nods] 

  Robert Shapiro : [Shapiro exhales]  This... this is a gift. Imagine. I-Imagine... that O.J. Simpson was set up by the cops because he was a black man. And because the LAPD has a systemic racism problem.

• Pat McKenna : Okay, I went down into the county courts records, found file after file on Detective Mark Fuhrman. Guy's worse than I remembered. Actually sued the city.

  Robert Shapiro : He was the plaintiff?

  Pat McKenna : Hang on, that's not the mind-blowing part. He sued the city basically claiming that his duties as a LAPD officer made him into a bigot.

  Robert Shapiro : What?

  Pat McKenna : Serving as a cop gave him violent fantasies.

  Robert Shapiro : Come on.

  Pat McKenna : He describes beating up and attacking black people.

  Robert Shapiro : Wait, okay, let me get this straight. You're saying... that the homicide detective that discovered all the evidence on O.J. Simpson... hates black people?

  [McKenna nods] 

  Robert Shapiro : [Shapiro exhales]  This... this is a gift. Imagine. I-Imagine... that O.J. Simpson was set up by the cops because he was a black man. And because the LAPD has a systemic racism problem.