SMALL SACRIFICES: PART 2 (TV)
Summary
The conclusion of this made-for-television production, based on a true story, which focuses on the case that develops against a woman who claims that a carjacker shot her three children. The program picks up in September of 1983 as Diane meets teacher Matt Jensen in the park and begins flirting with him, then preys on his sympathy for her “losses.” He agrees to go for drinks with Diane. Elsewhere, Doug berates Frank for not having arrested Diane. Frank insists that they have to wait to find the murder weapon. That night, Frank and Diane drink whiskey at his house and she seduces him. The next morning, Diane comes on too strong and Matt backs off, after which Diane threatens him. At Frank’s office, Rosalind almost gets Karen to act out how Diane shot her, Robbie and Shauna. The next day, Boyd Paul takes Karen and Robbie to the park, where Diane spies on them. Boyd Paul allows her to visit with the children, and she later takes Karen off in her car. Returning to Boyd Paul’s motel room hours later, Diane insists that Karen still loves her. Diane then calls Lew and brags about what she’s done. He reports to the police on Diane’s actions. When Frank subsequently goes to see Karen at her foster home, he finds her mute. In court, Diane admits defying the injunction that commanded her to stay away from Robbie and Karen. She blames Boyd Paul for her actions, then reveals that she’s pregnant. That night, Diane gets into a violent argument with her father, who throws her out of his house. Elsewhere, Frank reads Diane’s diary, which recounts how she went back to see Lew in Idaho after they’d broken up and he rejected her because he didn’t want “to be a daddy.” Frank tells Lola that Diane sacrificed her children to win Lew back. The next day, Diane is found sleeping in her car, where she’s arrested for murder. Frank and Rosalind take Karen to the courthouse and help prepare her for testifying. As the trial starts, evidence piles up against Diane and public sentiment turns against her. However, things change when Boyd Paul admits that he used to beat Diane in front of the kids. To Frank’s disappointment, Diane remains impassive when the children’s bloodied shirts are shown to the jury. When Lew testifies, he recalls being relieved when his affair with Diane ended. He also says that he saw a gun in her trunk before the children were shot. Though about to give birth, Diane testifies that the only individuals who ever loved her were her children. She also claims that her father molested her as a girl, accounting for her lack of emotion. As Frank cross-examines, Diane becomes angered at the suspicious nature of his questions. Finally, Karen takes the stand and tearfully recalls how her mother shot Shauna, then Robbie and herself. Karen also says that she still loves her mother. Frank later discounts Diane’s story of how she bandaged her own wounds with a blood-stained towel. He then definitively pokes holes in her entire account of the crime scene, using a model of the car to reenact the shooting for jurors. After lengthy deliberations, the jury finds Diane guilty of murder, attempted murder, and assault. Upon giving birth to a girl, Diane is evaluated by a psychiatrist who concludes that she is a sociopath who “doesn’t know or understand love.” The judge then sentences her to life in prison. En route to the penitentiary, Diane unsuccessfully flirts with Doug, then says she’s going to “make the best” of her incarceration while awaiting appeal. A voiceover tells how Diane subsequently escaped from prison but was captured and reassigned to a maximum security institution. The voiceover also details how Diane’s father denied molestation charges, after which Frank and Lola adopted Karen and Robbie. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: November 14, 1989 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:33:19
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:21443
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama;
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1989
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Suzanne de Passe … Executive Producer
- Louis Rudolph … Executive Producer
- Charles Fries … Executive Producer (uncredited)
- S. Bryan Hickox … Producer
- Brenda Antin … Associate Producer
- Marty Miller … Associate Producer
- David Greene … Director
- Joyce Eliason … Writer
- Ann Rule … Based on the book by
- Peter Manning Robinson … Music by
- Farrah Fawcett … Cast, Diane Downs
- Gordon Clapp … Cast, Doug Welch
- Ryan O'Neal … Cast, Lew Lewiston
- John Shea … Cast, Frank Joziak
- Emily Perkins … Cast, Karen Downs
- Gary Chalk … Cast, Boyd Paul Downs
- Ken James … Cast, Daryl Chapman
- Sean McCann … Cast, Russell Wells
- Garwin Sanford … Cast, Matt Jensen
- Tom Butler … Cast, Wally Beck
- Elan Ross Gibson … Cast, Rosalind Dyring
- Lynne Cormack … Cast, Lola Joziak
- Jayne Eastwood … Cast, Evelyn Slaven
- Christopher Carvalho … Cast, Robbie Downs
- Anne Bradley Jaeger … Cast, Herself
- Vicky Wauchope … Cast, Shauna Downs
- Maxine Miller … Cast, Verla Mae Wells
- Graham McPherson … Cast, Judge Foote
- Candice Elzinga … Cast, Judy Patterson
- Colin Fox … Cast, Jim Pex
- Karen Gartner … Cast, Chris Rosage
- Tom Banks … Cast, Pat Horton
- Steve Bobowsky … Cast, Jury Foreman
- Julie Bond … Cast, Reporter #2
- Juliet Brown … Nurse #2
- Robert Corness … Orthosurgeon
- Larry Farley … Cast, Hospital Deputy
- Kirk Grayson … Cast, Rosie Martin
- Walter Kaasa … Cast, Psychiatrist
- Judy Mahbey … Cast, Shelby Day
- Paul McGassey … Cast, Guard
- Peter McNab … Cast, Dr. Wilhite
- Patricia Phillips … Cast, Nora Lewiston
- Barbara Reese … Cast, Neighbor Woman #1
- George R. Robertson … Cast, Dr. Mackey
- Dennis Robinson … Cast, Joseph Inman
- Rob Roitblat … Cast, Reporter #1
- Lisa Rudolph … Cast, Nurse #1
- Timothy Sell … Cast, Stranger
- Alana Stewart … Cast, Neighbor Woman #2
- John Wright … Cast, Police Officer