Cedric Stuber (Robin Lord Taylor) is put on trial and found guilty of killing a gay man. However, the Hudson University Innocence Coalition files a motion to dismiss. The Coalition is headed by Emily Ryan, Cutter's old law professor. She plays hardball and threatens to destroy Cutter's career.
Tropes present in this episode
- Evil Is Petty:
- The moment the jury is finally pushed into a favorable judgment for our prosecution, Emily Ryan immediately turns around, uses private information only she would really know and outs Cutter as having lied to the Bar to become a prosecutor in a desperate attempt to force a mistrial in her favor. To emphasize how much of a low blow this is, when she is confronted on the matter she immediately targets him over what he had done to her clinic first.
- Stuber's Not Helping Your Case moment is emphasized by saying "spic" right as he's looking at Rubirosa, meaning he straight up thought he would have no consequences for committing such an act and tried to act on it. To say that backfired would be an understatement.
- Not Helping Your Case: Cutter first offers Stuber twenty years for manslaughter one. Stuber, who stands accused of a hate crime, laughs off at the offer and drops a racial slur right in front of Rubirosa:Stuber: You know what? I'm sick of this hate crime crap. It's not like he was a black guy or a spic.
Cutter: Our offer just went up to twenty-five. - Oh, Crap!: Once Cutter has his rant below, Stuber goes from Smug Snake to so shaken he can't even directly try to talk or mock the prosecutors anymore, and Stuber's own lawyers are shaken to realize Cutter's so serious that their own case has no choice but to accept a plea or get hell and a half.
- Overzealous Underling: Lisa Klein, Emily Ryan's assistant, crosses some lines to get a testimony in Stuber's favor.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Attempted, with the fact that the Bar and Judges know about Cutter's lack of a Bachelor's Degree at the time of his getting his law license, but they don't throw his entire series of trials into malcontent. Jack is massively disappointed when Cutter says he "dodged a bullet". But since Cutter is back to doing his job as usual as soon as the next episode, there seems to be no consequences besides Jack's declining trust in Cutter.
- Threat Backfire: Emily Ryan, who is defending Cedric Stuber for the murder of a gay man, tries to get Cutter to meet her demands by threatening to have his license taken (Cutter did not have a bachelor's degree when he entered law school and lied about it to the bar and when applying to his job)Cutter: You can have my license! It'll free me up to testify about the hate speech your client just spewed in here. And after he's convicted of murder in state court, I'll walk across to the U.S. Attorney's office and have your client prosecuted for violating the Matthew Shepard Act. Hate murder against gays is a federal offense now. Are you ready to do back to back life sentences, Mr. Stuber? You will die in jail.
- Writing Around Trademarks: The Innocence Coalition is a stand-in for the Innocence project
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