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The Practice Episode Guide
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AprilApril 30, 2000An enjoyable and understated 8 Flush episode of The Practice. We'll begin with the continuing Stuart Donovan case. Ellenor brings Jimmy, Eugene, and Lucy down to Pennsylvania to help her in the case. Unfortunately for the gang, Stuart's previous attorney had waived Stuart's habeus rights which means that Stuart has to do two things to get the blood test which will show whether or not his blood was found at the scene of the crime. First, he must demonstrate that his constitutional rights were infringed in his first case. Second, he must show that it is unreasonable to believe that a reasonable jury would have found him guilty with new evidence (you've got to love the irony that he has to prove his innocence to get a blood test which CAN prove his innocence). Ellenor and team get on the case. Jimmy interviews the victim's father, but he says that he will not rest until the person who killed his wife and daughter is dead. Eugene interviews a man named Bresler. Bresler says that he saw Stuart go into the victim's house at 11:30 pm when Johnny Carson started, and not 9 pm when Stuart claims. Eugene then speaks with Bresler's ex-wife. She tells Eugene that her husband might have been mistaken, because when the murder took place, her husband was a drunk. Eugene asks the wife why she did not tell this information to the police, but she claims that she did. Eugene then finds out that the night of the murder, Johnny Carson had a primetime special which would explain Carson at 9 pm. Ellenor then goes to a man named Earl Taylor. Earl claims that Stuart confessed the crime to him while they were both in jail. Ellenor tells Earl she thinks he is lying. He says he'll recant his testimony if she has him moved to another jail...a deal is struck. Ellenor now goes to court and says that Stuart's rights were violated because evidence was withheld from defense (the evidence is the statement from Bresler's wife) and that Stuart would have been found not guilty because of the recanted testimony. She then emphasizes that she is not asking for a new trial, a mistrial, or a stay of execution, only a blood test. The prosecutor then says that the evidence withheld is not necessarily a constitutional violation and that Ellenor bribed Earl Taylor into recanting his testimony. The court finds that Stuart's rights were violated and that the prosecution's case is weak, but a jury might have found Stuart guilty; therefore, the blood test will not be performed. To be continued...Also this week, Rebecca defends Arthur and Gertrude Turner. Gertrude's daughter, Claire, wants to have her marriage to Arthur annulled. Claire says that her mother has Alzheimer's disease and that she should not have had the right to get married. Arthur disagrees and says that he loves Gertrude, that he knew her before her first husband (Frank) died, and that instead of a nursing home, he should love and care for Gertrude. Gertrude is put on the stand to testify to her competence. During her testimony, she flashes back in time and remembers her first husband beating her and then Arthur hitting her husband, causing him to fall down a flight of stairs and dying. After this testimony, Arthur and Gertrude are forced to get an annulment. In addition, Helen hears about this confession and arrests Arthur. Gertrude is put on the stand at Arthur's preliminary trial. She says that she doesn't want to testify against her husband, but the two are no longer married so she refuses to testify on fifth amendment grounds. The court then grants Gertrude full immunity. At this point she recalls how her husband used to beat her all of the time, and one time she picked up a piece of wood to stop him. She hit him only to stop his beating, but he fell and died. Helen asks why Gertrude previously said that Arthur did the crime, and she says she said that because it makes it easier for her to live with herself. Arthur is now freed as is Gertrude (due to her immunity) and the two will live happily ever after. How quaint. NEXT WEEK: ? April 23, 2000Rerun.NEXT WEEK: The Practice returns with four new episodes that will resolve the fate of Stuart Donovan. April 16, 2000The annual airing of The Ten Commandments.April 9, 2000I think what bothered me most about this 7 Flush episode was that I had already seen it, and I am not inferring that David Kelley stole this story from another writer, but that he instead, rewrote a script from an earlier season. Bobby and Lindsay are defending Scott Simpson. Scott is being charged with murder one and murder two for killing his wife. The wife, Sally, had cancer and was on a drug plan that would have allowed her to die in a day or two. Scott was not allowed to increase her drug dosage so he shot her in the head. Helen is prosecuting. As we know from the previous episode I alluded to and also just from watching this episode, Helen is opposed to euthanasia as indicated by her experience with her grandmother while Bobby is for it as evidenced by his experience with his mother. Bobby argues that his client "did in minutes [killing] what you [a nurse] were trying to do in a day or two [with medication]." Helen argues that we cannot allow people to be killed no matter what. Bobby wants to plee his client to manslaughter but Helen says no. She says that if we say killing someone is OK to ease their suffering or to bring death closer then we could technically allow a death row inmate who is going to die tomorrow to be killed now if he so desires. She asks where do we draw the line, especially with regards to killing with guns? She says, "Excusable is too short a leap to acceptable" and means that killing someone under one set of "excusable" circumstances will allow the same killing under all circumstances. In and out of court, the two personally attack each other. During closing arguments, Helen says that the jury must convict Scott for his crime and let someone else decide the punishment. Bobby says that Helen misdirects the jury with this comment, because a verdict of murder has definite penalties. Helen says she did not mean to mislead the jury, and Bobby calls her a liar. The case takes on a further personal dimension when Bobby tells Lindsay that he turned off his mother's respirator when she was dying, and he was only fifteen years-old. Bobby feels like he is defending himself in defending Scott. Lindsay goes to speak with Bobby's dad and tells Dad that he needs to speak with Bobby about his mother's death, because Bobby feels like he murdered her. Dad responds that he is incapable of discussing his wife's death. Anyway, as the jury deliberates, the jury asks if they can find the man guilty of manslaughter, but the judge says no. The jury then returns with a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree. Bobby is horrified. As the show closes out, we see Bobby's dad sitting in the courtroom in a back aisle, and Dad feels Bobby's pain even though he does not approach his son. As I said at the top, this episode has been done. If you did not see the original, you may have been compelled, but I have already seen this episode (including the jury's desire to find for manslaughter followed by the defendant's guilt. as well as Helen and Bobby at each other's throats with a mediating Lindsay.) and did not appreciate the repetition.Also this week, Ellenor is hired (basically pro bono) to defend Stuart Donovan. Stuart was found guilty in 1988 of murdering his girlfriend and her mother. Stuart claims that he was with his father on a hunting trip during the crime. The case is in Pennsylvania so Stuart is on death row and will be executed in five weeks. Stuart's mom, Mary, hired Ellenor to maybe reopen the case. Ellenor discovers that there is blood evidence which was found inconclusive in 1992, but new DNA technology may prove that Stuart did not commit the crime. Ellenor goes through an extensive search to find the blood, but when she finally does, a judge decides that an official test of the blood is not allowed and that Stuart already had a fair trial. The DA on this case whose name is Platt says that Stuart committed the crime. Ellenor will stay in Pennsylvania and help Stuart. To be continued in future episodes.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: Where do we say death is so close it is OK to kill? --Helen, arguing against euthanasia
April 2, 2000An episode of The Practice that would have been better if there was no Dylan McDermott. I remember the first season of the show when they let him pass by for episodes without speaking while good actors like Steve Harris and Kelli Williams shone in the spotlight. Now Dylan just gets up there and yells at judges as evidenced by this 7 Flush episode. Two stories dominated this episode. The first involved an alleged black widow named Courtney Hanson played by Victoria Principal. Courtney is being prosecuted for first-degree murder for having slipped some Viagra into her late husband, Jerry's wine. Courtney is significantly younger than Jerry, and he had a heart condition. Jerry's doctor says that Jerry would not have taken any Viagra because it would have hurt Jerry's heart. Then Jerry's son (who is Courtney's stepson) testified that his father had told him that Courtney was crazy in the sack and even masochistic. Courtney is considered a black widow, because her last husband, who was also an older man, also died under suspicious circumstances. He had diabetes and experienced an insulin overdose. The authorities suspected Jenny in his death but could prove nothing. Anyway, Bobby asks Courtney why she keeps on marrying older men. She says that she physically developed very early as a girl and that her brother's friends used to grope her; the only man that was ever good to her was her father, and Courtney looks to older men to find the security that she found in her father. Anyway, Courtney now goes on the stand and testifies that she did not give her husband Viagra but that he had obtained it. The two of them then put the pill in wine and both drunk from the glass; Courtney had heard that Viagra could help women as well. The district attorney then cross examines Courtney and asks if her husband had gotten the pill. Courtney says yes. The DA then asks if Courtney had talked with her doctor about Viagra for females. Courtney says yes. The DA then calls Courtney's doctor to the stand. The doctor testifies that she gave Courtney some Viagra. Courtney now has to go on the stand and explain why she lied to the jury about her husband having procured the Viagra. Courtney says that she was scared that if she told the truth that she would appear guilty. The DA then cross examines Courtney and asks her why she was attracted to older men. Courtney gives the explanation that she had previously given to Bobby. The DA, however, knows that Courtney's dad died while he was in jail when Courtney was 9 years old after having been found guilty of raping Courtney. Bobby is upset that he did not know about this, but he still gives a closing argument in which he argues that there is no evidence that Courtney unknowingly gave the Viagra to her husband. After closing arguments, the DA offers Courtney a plee agreement for murder two, meaning that she will have the possibility of parole. Courtney does not want to take the plee, but when the jury returns with a verdict in 26 minutes and none of the jurors look at Courtney as they enter the courtroom, Bobby convinces Courtney to accept the plee. Moments before the jury's decision is read aloud, the DA and Bobby enter the plee. After the case is over, the judge gives Bobby the jury's written decision. Bobby looks at the decision and sees that the jury would have found Courtney not guilty. Bobby goes over to Courtney and tells her that he thinks they made the right decision. I cannot imagine the guilt he must be experiencing.The other case this week involves Jenny Holbrook, a 15 year old who confessed to stabbing herself not to commit suicide, but instead to abort her 7 month, unborn fetus. Helen is prosecuting and Ellenor is defending. The two agree that to a three year sentence for Jenny, but Ellenor soon learns that Helen tricked Jenny into confessing; Helen told Jenny that she had had an abortion at age 19, and that if Jenny confessed, she could go free. Ellenor argues that Helen skewed Jenny's Miranda warning, but Helen argues that Jenny was read Miranda, and she chose to ignore her rights. Helen emphasizes that there is no law against lying to criminals to get them to confess. Helen wins her argument. Not included in the episode is the fact that Jenny's rights were violated for another reason. She was a minor (being only 15) who was questioned by the authorities without a legal guardian present; this act is very unconstitutional.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: Trickery survives any constitutional challenge. -- Judge Zoey
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