Season 1, Episode 5
Directed by Peter Werner
Written by Cole Maliska, Elizabeth Peterson, & Thomas Wong
Just Tell the Truth
When the daughter of a wealthy family is seemingly killed by her less-well-off chef fiance, who confesses while in police custody, they want to pay Bull to make absolutely sure that the killer is punished. However, when Bull learns that the confession was coerced after hours of interrogation, he instead chooses to defend the chef.
- Elevator Failure: In order to convince some jurors how pressure can lead to a person saying anything, Bull fakes an elevator accident for them, and watches as one has a "false alarm" heart attack so that emergency services would come faster.
- False Confession: Bull's defense relies on proving that Richard's confession was coerced.
- Frame-Up: The confidential informant whose testimony convinced the police chief that Richard was the killer turns out to be the real killer.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: During a mock interrogation, Richard blurts out that Layla's body was dragged to the garbage. However, Richard's legal team never told him this detail and it was never mentioned in court. When Bull asks him how he knew this, Richard says that Detective Murphy told him this detail. This is how Bull realizes that Richard has been set up as that information was only in the medical examiner's report and wasn't known until two days after Richard confessed.
- Irony: The police chief that coerced the confession was absolutely sure that the chef was the killer, because of a confidential informant he trusted completely...who turns out to be the actual murderer.
- Loophole Abuse: Played with; the victim's family still pays Bull in the end, because he did make sure the killer was punished, even though it wasn't the person they originally suspected.
