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What Child Is This?

The sister did it. And, it turns out that the stepfather did the sister too. Strange doings are going on at The Practice.

This most recent episode of The Practice is devoted to the trial of Raymond Littlefield, who is accused of murdering his sixteen-year old stepdaughter, Fiona. His semen is found "near" Fiona's vagina. Littlefield admits to sleeping with Fiona - but, murdering her? He claims he would never sink that low. Moreover, as Donnell points out at trial, Littlefield may be a statutory rapist, but he's not stupid enough to leave the bloody golf club he used to kill Fiona in his own golf bag. But, of course, I kept saying to myself, that is exactly what a really clever murderer would do. Remember Hinks? He killed a whole boatload of women, and the fact that he loudly and continuously confessed to the murders was somehow proof that he did not commit them.

If Littlefield did not kill his stepdaughter, then he must have been set up. Someone must have planted his semen on Fiona. Littlefield volunteers that his wife had access to his semen, and Donnell and crew prepare to cast suspicion on her as the murderer. Their plan is to call the wife as a friendly witness, and then turn on her and accuse her of murdering her daughter because she found out about the affair. Donnell spends a lot of time convincing the wife to testify voluntarily. At first, I did not understand why he was making such an effort to get her on the stand. Donnell could have just subpoenaed her to testify at trial. But at trial, it becomes clear that Donnell wants to portray her as having "turned" on Littlefield, when she testifies on cross-examination that she felt that her husband was capable of murder. The defense can then turn on her and accuse her of committing the murder. If Donnell had to subpoena the wife, he would have lost this effect, arguably.

Of course, the whole re-direct examination of the wife, in which she is accused of the murder, is staged (for that matter, I suppose, the whole show is staged). But Donnell tries to make it appear to the jury that a light bulb has just gone off above his head, and the idea that the wife framed Littlefield, and is the murderer, is an idea that just occurred to him. Lawyers often go to great lengths to make their evidence appear fresh to a jury. After all, at the time that most cases are tried, the lawyer has lived with the case for months, maybe even years. Witnesses are carefully prepared. Outlines of questions are prepared and revised. Lawyers are loath to ask any questions unless they know exactly what the witness will say. Under these conditions, it's hard to make the evidence seem fresh and not canned. But the really good lawyers are those who bond with the jury so that it seems that both are hearing, and evaluating, the evidence for the first time. Donnell's performance in that regard was a little over the top, perhaps, but effective. The nice touch was seeing Littlefield stand up during his wife's testimony to ask if she killed her daughter. This is exactly what an innocent man - or a really clever murderer - might do.

Judge Zoey Hiller (which, by the way is a play on the name of the real Massachusetts Superior Court Judge, Hiller Zobel) takes Donnell aside in an ex parte meeting to tell him that she no longer respects him, because he has lost his moral compass (and he should have been convicted of felony murder a few episodes ago). Hiller thinks that Donnell enjoyed himself a little too much as he was doing his "Plan B" questioning on the wife. Hiller advises Donnell to go home, hold little baby Bobbie, and try to see the bigger picture.

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It struck me that this same advice can be directed to the show as a whole which, with the exception of Hiller's speech, seems devoid of introspection lately. There was a time that I got tired of the various lawyers at Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt agonizing over the fact that they were helping murderers, rapists, and other assorted scumbags go free. While I do not think that criminal defense lawyers should be questioning their role in the judicial system, I personally would enjoy the show more if there was some attempt by any character to address some larger moral issues (I suppose that's what happens as you near your mid-life crisis).

After the trial, the stepdaughter, Jenny, confronts Littlefield and, in so many words, explains that she, too, was sleeping with him, and that she killed Fiona, took Littlefield's semen, and planted it on her sister. Look back at last week's review. With respect to Jenny, I said, "Jenny seems to be holding something back - if she did not kill her sister, maybe she knows who did. Or was she also sleeping with her father?" If only I was doing as well with my NCAA picks.

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