Line #23 Recap/MurderSheWroteS2E13TrialByError


1	Jessica finds herself running her own version of ''Theatre/TwelveAngryMen'' when she ends up as jury chairman in a murder trial. When the jury retires to deliberate, most of them are ready to believe the story that the defendant killed to protect himself from an enraged husband. However, Jessica feels that some of the pieces don't fit, and she is determined to see that justice is served, even if she must drag her mostly-reluctant fellow jurors with her every step of the way.
2	!!This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
3	* ActorAllusion: Sally Conover asks Thornton Bentley if he's ever been on a murder trial. Bentley's actor, Creator/BrockPeters, is best remembered by many as the defendant Tom Robinson in Literature/ToKillAMockingbird. Bentley is also, [[PlayingAgainstType ironically]], the one most convinced of the Defendant's guilt.
4	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Basic EMT protocol is to never move a victim of trauma without first installing a cervical collar (neck brace). This is always done before placing victims on a backboard. However, Mrs Reynolds wasn't fitted with one.
5	* ConfessToALesserCrime: Mr. Reynolds claimed he had been sleeping with Mrs. Anderson when her husband burst in with intent to kill, meaning hitting him with the poker was self-defense. If everyone thought he had been with Mrs. Anderson at the time of his wife's death, no one would suspect him of killing her.
6	* CoolOldGuy: Fenton Harris, the amiable, observant witness played by Alan Hale Jr. of ''Series/GilligansIsland''.
7	* ADeadlyAffair: Mr. Reynolds faked a car accident to kill his wife so he could keep her money and still be with Mrs. Anderson, his lover. When Mr. Anderson found out his wife had taken another man home (or so he thought) he came storming in and threatened to kill her and Mr. Reynolds. She grabbed the poker and killed him.
8	* DisabilityAlibi: Inverted; Jessica finds it suspicious that a man injured and hurting from a collarbone injury could win a hand-to-hand struggle to keep an uninjured opponent from shooting him with a gun.
9	* FalseReassurance: The defendant, still pretending to be innocent, thanks Jessica for clearing him in the current case and says he'll never forget her. Jessica, who has already told the rest of the story to the district attorney and gotten Mrs. Anderson to act as a witness, says it contents her that justice was done and she's sure he won't.
10	* FieryRedhead: "Guilty" juror Jackie [=McKay=] who gets irritated by people bad-mouthing herself and/or Jessica easily and snaps back with retorts.
11	* TheFundamentalist: Mr. Bentley one of the initial jurors to vote guilty seems somewhat biased by Mr. Anderson's adultery, saying it's a sign that he's capable of further sin. Turns out, [[JerkassHasAPoint he was right]].
12	* IllKillYou: Mr. Anderson says he'll kill his wife on hearing that she has taken home another man.
13	* ImprovisedWeapon: Mrs. Anderson picks up a poker to whack her husband with after he threatens her.
14	* IsTheAnswerToThisQuestionYes: One of the lawyers asks a friend of Mr. Anderson's if Mr. Anderson had a HairTriggerTemper. He laughs and asks if week-old fish bait smells.
15	* {{Jerkass}}: Juror Mark Lord, who is pretty condescending, abrasive and impatient towards Jessica and anyone else voting not guilty for almost the entire trial. Largely subverted with Ally Collins and Lee Callahan, two other jurors who are initially of this frame of mind, but become more thoughtful and open as the debate continues.
16	* KillingInSelfDefense: The defense's story says that Mr. Reynolds killed Mr. Anderson when he burst into Mrs. Anderson's house and tried to kill him for getting romantic with his wife. In reality, that was the story Mr. Reynolds and Mrs. Anderson came up with after Mrs. Anderson killed him in defense of herself and her lover.
17	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Mr. Reynolds faked a car accident to get rid of his wife, ramming her side of the car into a pole and knowing that she never wore her seatbelt and would sustain worse injuries. It fails because the jury foreperson is Jessica Fletcher, who wonders how a former racecar driver could wipe out so badly.
18	* NoTellMotel: The Bide-a-Wee Motel's owner says in his business, it's not smart to remember clients' faces.
19	* RightForTheWrongReasons: All the jurors convinced that Mark Lee Reynolds is guilty of ''A'' crime (and those who believe he is NOT guilty of ''THIS'' crime) are correct. But turns out, it's for a [[ConfessToALesserCrime different crime]].
20	* RogueJuror: Jessica is forewoman in a murder trial. Her fellow jurors are generally sure that the defendant killed in self-defense, while Jessica asks them to take some time to review the facts. In a subversion of the usual plot, the jury acquits, because while the defendant did commit murder (disguised as an accident), he is not guilty of the murder he's on trial for, and convicting would've allowed the real killer to go free.
21	** Also subverted in that Jessica is undecided, and coming to the solution as they work through the evidence together, while two other jurors voted guilty from the start.
22	* SlutShaming: A.D.A. Tom Casselli questions Becky Anderson on the stand and insinuates that she has brought home many men. The Defense and the Judge call him out on it.
23	* UnwittingPawn: The prosecution contends that Johnny Detweiler, the man who called Cliff due to feeling he should know his wife was cheating on him, was meant to do that by Cliff and Becky (or that ''some'' friend of Cliff's in the bar was) to lure him to his death. Subverted though, as since there was no plan to kill Cliff, Detweiler was actually a SpannerInTheWorks.

Context Recap / MurderSheWroteS2E13TrialByError