Homicide: Life on the Street (TV Series)

The Documentary (1997)

Andre Braugher: Detective Frank Pembleton

Photos 

Quotes 

• J.H. Brodie : [In the section of the documentary entitled 'Random Thoughts']  The rights of the suspect. Give me your thoughts.

  Det. Frank Pembleton : You are a citizen of a free nation. Having lived your life in a land of guaranteed civil liberties, you commit a crime of violence, whereupon you are jacked up, dragged down to Police Headquarters and deposited into a claustrophobic anteroom containing a table, two chairs and cold brick walls. Have a seat, please. And there you sit for a half hour or more before a homicide detective, a man who can in no way be mistaken for a friend, enters the room. He offers you a cigarette, not your brand, and begins an uninterrupted monologue which wanders back and forth, eventually coming to rest in a familiar place: you have the right to remain silent.

• Det. Frank Pembleton : You're history. And if the detective wasn't so busy typing up your statement, he'd probably tell you so. He'd say, 'Son, you are ignorance personified, and you just put yourself in for the murder of another human being'. He might even admit to you that after all his time working murders, he's still amazed that anyone utters a word in this room. Think about it, son. When you came through those doors, what did the sign say? Homicide Unit, that's right. And who lives in a Homicide Unit? And what do homicide detectives do for a living? You got it, bunk. And tonight you took someone's life. So when you opened your mouth, what in God's name were you thinkin'?

• Det. Tim Bayliss : You have got the absolute right to remain silent!

  Det. Frank Pembleton : Of course you do. You're a criminal. Criminals always have the right to remain silent.

  Det. Meldrick Lewis : We're talking about sacred freedoms here, notably your Fifth Amendment protection against self incrimination. Hey, if it was good enough for Ollie North and Mark Fuhrman, who in the hell are you to incriminate yourself at the first opportunity?

  Det. John Munch : Get it straight, a police detective being paid government money to put you in prison is explaining your right to shut up.

• Det. Sgt. Kay Howard : The detective wants you to know, and we've been doing this a lot longer than you, so you can take our word for it. Your rights to counsel... aren't all they're cracked up to be.

  Det. Frank Pembleton : Once you up and cal for that lawyer, son, there ain't a damn thing we can do for you! No sir, your good friends in the Homicide Unit are gonna have to lock you all alone in this room. And the next authority figure to scan your case will be a no-nonsense prosecutor from the Violent Crimes Unit, with the official title of Assistant States Attorney for the City of Baltimore.

  Det. John Munch : And God help you then, cause a ruthless blood-sucker like that'll have an O'Donnell Heights motorhead like yourself halfway to the gas chamber before you can get three words out.

  Det. Mike Kellerman : Your best bet is to speak up. Speak up now.

• Det. Tim Bayliss : Come on Frank, one neighbor murders another and you don't want to know what it means?

  Det. Frank Pembleton : I know exactly what it means: 10 hours of overtime, and if Mr. Jackson is willing to take it to trial, another 20 hours of court pay!

• Det. Tim Bayliss : I think this case is a slam dunk.

  Det. Frank Pembleton : A case being writ in black even as we speak.

  Det. Tim Bayliss : Well, I'd be wrong.

  Det. Frank Pembleton : No, you'd be right! We got the shooter, we got his gun, we got beaucoup eyewitnesses, and the man's giving it up.

  Det. Tim Bayliss : [Whispering to the camera in the back seat]  We need the "why".

  Det. Frank Pembleton : No, you need the "why",I don't need to know the man, or any more about his problems than this: He shot his neighbors and then waited on his swing for the police to arrive so that he might surrender his freedom. Mr. Jackson has been so helpful and so efficient that to ask for more would be ungracious.

• Det. Frank Pembleton : Hey Hey Hey!

  Det. Mike Kellerman : Whoa! You guys solve your case?

  Det. Frank Pembleton : Yep

  Det. Tim Bayliss : Nope

  Det. Mike Kellerman : Well, which is it?

  Det. Frank Pembleton : Tim's tormented again, by the "why"

  Det. John Munch : Tim's always tormented by the "why". I got a why questions for you, Bayliss. Why do you always need to know the "why"?

  Det. Frank Pembleton : Well, we got our "why". The husband's having an affair, he doesn't want the wife to know. The neighbors are snooping around, so he shoots them down. Bada Bing!

  Det. Tim Bayliss : There's more to it, Frank. I think that we should go talk to Mrs. Jackson.

  Det. Frank Pembleton : Mrs. Jackson is in a Glen Burney nursing home. You want to talk to her about her husband's extra-marital affairs? You got your confession, leave the woman alone.

  Det. Meldrick Lewis : You know what your problem is, Timmy?

  Det. Tim Bayliss : I don't got a problem.

  Det. Meldrick Lewis : You let things haunt you.

  Det. Tim Bayliss : No I don't! And I know what you're thinkin'.

  Det. John Munch : What are we thinking?

  Det. Tim Bayliss : Adena Watson?

  Det. John Munch : That's what I'm thinking

  [Turns to Lewis] 

  Det. John Munch : Is that what you're thinkin'?

  Det. Meldrick Lewis : That's exactly what I'm thinking!