WHOLE TRUTH, THE: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this legal drama about two lawyers, one a government prosecutor and the other a defense attorney, who often find themselves on opposite sides in the courtroom.
A New York high school teacher is placed under arrest for the murder of one of his students. Defense lawyer Jimmy Brogan is called upon to represent him, working against his colleague Kathryn Peale of the District Attorney’s office. They attend the arraignment hearing together, and trade banter with each other, treating the entire affair like some sort of competition. The arraignment concerns the teacher, Glen Sellards, who is accused of murdering 17-year old Maria Covas, a devoutly religious student. Sellards’ wife Corinne is currently undergoing chemotherapy due to her cancer, a fact that Jimmy goes out of his way to mention. Sellards has his bail posted and is swarmed by the media outside the courthouse, and Maria’s father attempts to assault Sellards personally, but is stopped by Jimmy. Mr. and Mrs. Covas later visit Kathryn in her office and inform her that a crucifix Maria wore around her neck was apparently stolen by her killer. She reassures them that she will do everything within her legal authority to convict Sellards for his crimes. Mr. Covas claims that he can prove that Sellards is racist against Latinos and that this was a motivation for his crime.
Kathryn meets with her staff and builds her case against Sellards; she says he was “obsessed” with Maria and communicated with her constantly before sexually assaulting and killing her in an alleyway near his office. She has circumstantial and eyewitness evidence to support the assertion that Sellards is responsible, and believes that she can present it as a racially-based hate crime. Her boss, Terrence “Edge” Edgecomb, returns from vacation and immediately joins in to the case. Kathryn’s case is stymied by the lack of semen found on Maria’s body, as well as testimony from the Sellards family placing him elsewhere at the time of the murder. Kathryn and Edge theorize that Sellards might be impotent, and although Maria corresponded with Sellards they do not believe that there was any romance involved, as Maria was supposedly a virgin. She also chews out her junior assistant district attorney Chad Griffin, who is busy picking up girls instead of responding to her calls. She also collaborates with Stan Klotz, a detective, who confirms her suspicions about Sellards’ closeness with Maria and takes her to the scene of the crime, where fellow students have created a makeshift shrine to Maria.
Despite the evidence seeming to be overwhelmingly in her favor, Kathryn is concerned about Jimmy’s involvement with the defense; she attended law school with him and she knows that he is extremely intelligent despite his boorish demeanor, and believes that he has some advantage in the case of which she is unaware. Chad manages to come through when he provides a witness which will testify that Sellards made a racist comment to his class, providing Kathryn with enough evidence to officially charge Sellards with a hate crime. Edge later discovers that Sellards’ profile ascribes a history of anger management issues to him, and that he was fired from a private school for having an affair with a teenage girl. Furthermore, he is no longer capable of producing sperm due to a recent prostate surgery. Edge advises Kathryn not to act so intensely about the case, as her staff is “terrified” of her, but she reveals that she identifies with Maria since she had a similar upbringing, and is thus highly motivated to convict her killer.
Jimmy calls Kathryn, claiming that he has obtained a video which could invalidate much of her evidence, much to her disappointment. While Kathryn was conferring with her staff, Jimmy was doing the same with his own, and they strategize on how to deal with the Sellards case. He notes that much of the evidence against Sellards is circumstantial, and doubts the veracity of the eyewitness evidence. He also notes that the forensic evidence suggesting rape is inconclusive and does not necessarily implicate Sellards. His strategy is to categorically debunk the evidence and come up with more suitable suspects for the murder. He speaks to Sellards, who claims that the many calls between him and Maria concerned her college application process. They ask him about his sex life, and he admits that he and Corinne have not had sex in over a year due to her illness. When asked about the DNA evidence found on Maria’s body, he says that they interacted at her debate club shortly before the murder took place, and that his saliva might have gotten on to several students due to their proximity. Jimmy also meets with Larry Combs, a detective, who informs him that Maria’s mother called child services the previous year after her husband threatened to kill Maria. At this point, he receives Kathryn’s call and finds out about her addition of the hate crime charge. Combs also tells Jimmy about Sellards’ affair at his previous school.
Jimmy believes the hate crime charge is “bogus,” as Sellards tutored Spanish-speaking students in English for years without incident, and finds out that the student Sellards supposedly had an affair with had emotional difficulties and likely presented a false accusation against Sellards. He finds out this information from his new associate, Lena Boudreaux, who pleads with him to allow her to serve as second seat for the case, believing that her presence might help to sway the jury over to their side. In another meeting, Jimmy’s plans begin to unravel due to the discovery of other evidence, such as contradictory accounts of Sellards’s actions and witnesses placing Mr. Covas elsewhere at the time of the murder. Lena and Jimmy’s associate Alejo Salazar argue about whether or not to introduce the call to child services as evidence, as it may present the defense in a poor light for involving the family’s personal issues in the case. Lena discovers that Maria had a secret “sex buddy,” a teenager named Todd Engler who is currently in juvenile detention for marijuana possession. Jimmy speaks to him and while he admits that he and Maria had sex, he denies any involvement in her murder. He shows them a video he took on his cell phone of himself and Maria having sex, which Jimmy believes he can use to his advantage in the case. It is at this point that he places the call to Kathryn about his discovery of the video.
Kathryn is upset over Jimmy’s discover until Chad points out that they may be able to cite Todd as another suspect in the murder case. Jimmy, however, plans to use Todd as a witness and is more focused on debunking the forensic evidence. Kathryn and Jimmy adopt diametrically opposed strategies before making their cases, each one hoping to gain an edge over the other. They meet with the judge, Jeremiah Studley, beforehand to discuss the motions they plan to introduce; he allows the hate crime charge and the rape charge, as well as Todd’s presence as a witness. However, he does not allow Todd’s video or Mrs. Covas’s call to child services to be introduced as evidence. Finally, he permits the DNA evidence to be introduced but only contingent upon the conclusion of the medical examiner’s report. Both Kathryn and Jimmy eagerly await the medical examiner’s report, as the nature of Maria’s injuries is more complex than originally thought. In private, Jimmy tells Lena that he has decided to approve her request to serve as second seat, although he is struggling with how to break the news to Alejo, his usual second chair.
While inspecting photographs of the injuries on Maria’s body, Kathryn notices an abrasion which resembles a Chinese character translating to “friend;” Sellards mentioned to Jimmy earlier that he once led his class in a Chinese character writing exercise, and it was this character that Maria chose to write. However, Kathryn is unaware of this, and believes that the scar represents some sort of hieroglyphic. Jimmy breaks the news about Lena serving as second seat to Alejo over a game of pool, and admits that his reasons for doing so is to give his side more female presence in order to sway the jury’s opinion. Alejo is angry at Jimmy for this decision and walks away. In the hall outside her office, Kathryn encounters Sellards’ daughter Brianna. She admits that she lied about her testimony as to Sellards’ whereabouts at the time of the murder, and that he came home at some point after the murder was committed. She reveals that she discovered a half-empty bottle of Viagra in her father’s room, and that Sellards asked her not to disclose this fact. Terrified and in tears, she asks to be able to testify against Sellards despite it being the night before the trial is to begin.
Jimmy is informed of the discovery of the Viagra bottle and confronts Sellards about it. Sellards claims that he purchased it in anticipation of his wife’s recovery, but Jimmy does not fully believe this explanation. He gets Sellards to admit that he was actually having sex with prostitutes, and a frustrated Jimmy asks Sellards for their names, and tells him to do whatever he needs to prepare himself to take the witness stand in his own defense. The trial begins and both sides discuss the access to and from the alley where the murder took place and the eyewitness accounts of the murder. Jimmy debunks the assertion that Sellards made a racist remark, revealing that the remark in question was a quote from a film he was showing during his ESL tutoring as an instructional aid. During a recess, Kathryn is furious at Chad for what appears to have been a bad tip with regards to the hate crime charge. Kathryn and Edge decide to go “two steps ahead” and introduce the forensic evidence. The medical examiner notes that the injuries on Maria’s body were made after her death and were extensive and complex in nature. Kathryn also calls Brianna up to the stand and she testifies about the discovery of the Viagra and her previous false testimony about her father’s whereabouts. Lena questions Corinne on the witness stand, and she reveals that she was aware of her husband’s visits with prostitutes, although she still believes he is not guilty of murder.
The trial continues as Todd is called up to the stand and testifies that he and Maria had a sexual relationship. Kathryn cross-examines him and gets him to reveal that Sellards knew about their relationship and followed them on several occasions. He also says that Sellards claimed to have found Maria’s crucifix somewhere. Jimmy introduces the Chinese character Maria drew as evidence, and Kathryn puts a student on the witness stand who testifies as to having seen Sellards interacting with Maria in an apparently inappropriate fashion on the day of her murder. After the first day of the trial, Jimmy attempts to collaborate with Lena and Alejo about their strategy while both of them prove to be increasingly argumentative and uncooperative with each other. However, Alejo hits upon an idea: he puts a forensic expert on the witness stand and makes the supposition that Sellards’ DNA was transferred to Maria via a scarf she borrowed from him. Jimmy also questions a prostitute that Sellards had sexual encounters with, although her remarks about Sellards being interested in her “younger girlfriends” proves to be damaging to his case.
That night, Jimmy, Lena, and Alejo arrive at the Sellards house to find that Corinne has suddenly died due to the strain that the trial was putting on her already-weak heart. Kathryn meets with Jimmy the next day to offer her condolences about Corinne’s death. She does not wish to inform the sequestered jury about the death in the interest of fairness, although Jimmy seems to have more empathy for the Sellards family and asks Kathryn to show some compassion. During her summation, Kathryn reveals her discovery about one of Maria’s wounds resembling the Chinese character she drew for Sellards, and suggests that the wounds were made by Maria’s missing crucifix. Jimmy’s summation dismisses Kathryn’s accusations as circumstantial, and that Kathryn’s evidence is too flimsy to provide a conviction, and argues that they must acquit Sellards on the grounds of reasonable doubt. Five days later, the jury reaches a verdict and finds Sellards guilty. Kathryn and Jimmy have drinks together, and she compliments him on his defense. She asks if he had some sort of edge during the case, and he merely replies that “everyone deserves a defense.” It is implied that Jimmy and Kathryn had some kind of romantic relationship during their time at law school. Jimmy discovers that Kathryn is dating someone, and they share a slight laugh over it. Brianna, while going through her father’s things, finds Maria’s bloody crucifix in her father’s address book. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 22, 2010 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:39
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 104331
- GENRE: Drama, legal
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, legal
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2010
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Apple mobile devices
- TV – Commercials – Aveeno skin lotion
- TV – Commercials – Bank of America credit cards
- TV – Commercials – Blackberry cell phones
- TV – Commercials – Cadillac automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Calvin Klein perfume
- TV – Commercials – Crestor cholesterol medication
- TV – Commercials – Enterprise car rental service
- TV – Commercials – Ethan Allen furniture
- TV – Commercials – Ford automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Jennie-O prepared meals
- TV – Commercials – K-Y personal lubricant
- TV – Commercials – Kohl’s department stores
- TV – Commercials – Macy’s department stores
- TV – Commercials – Mercedes-Benz automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Progresso soup
- TV – Commercials – Samsung cell phones
- TV – Commercials – “Hereafter” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue” Blu-Ray
- TV – Commercials – “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “Brothers and Sisters”
- TV – Promos – “Desperate Housewives”
- TV – Promos – “Detriot 1-8-7”
- TV – Promos – “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
- TV – Promos – “Grey’s Anatomy”
- TV – Promos – “My Generation”
- TV – Promos – “The Whole Truth”
CREDITS
- Jerry Bruckheimer … Executive Producer
- Jonathan Littman … Executive Producer
- Alex Graves … Executive Producer, Director
- Tom Donaghy … Co-Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Kristieanne Reed … Co-Executive Producer
- Matthew Carlisle … Producer
- Merri Howard … Producer
- Julie Antonelli … Associate Producer
- Jon Wallace … Associate Producer
- Sean Callery … Music by
- Rob Morrow … Cast, Jimmy Brogan
- Maura Tierney … Cast, Kathryn Peale
- Eamonn Walker … Cast, Terrence "Edge" Edgecomb
- Anthony Ruivivar … Cast, Alejo Salazar
- Sean Wing … Cast, Chad Griffin
- Christine Adams … Cast, Lena Boudreaux
- Jack McGee … Cast, Stan Klotz
- Rick Kelly … Cast, Glen Sellards
- Allison Smith … Cast, Corinne Sellards
- John Aylward … Cast, Judge Jeremiah Studley
- J. Kenneth Campbell … Cast, Larry Combs
- Skyler Day … Cast, Brianna Sellards
- Paul Greene … Cast, Kevin
- Christine Healy … Cast, Judge Anna Mae Harmon
- Kunal Sharma … Cast, Tarik Kohli
- Stephanie Lemelin … Cast, Rhonda
- Ellen Gerstein … Cast, Tina
- Shane Zwiner … Cast, John Sellards
- Marcos DeSilvas … Cast, Esteban Covas
- Lucia Brawley … Cast, Alameda Covas
- Josh Evans … Cast, Bartender
- Lauren Lovett … Cast, Nancy Kohlhass
- Grey Damon … Cast, Todd Engler
- Nick De Mauro … Cast, Carl Azarian
- Troy Vincent … Cast, Medical Examiner
- Elizabeth Tobias … Cast, Melinda Sagebrecht
- Mike Rose … Cast, Tranny
- Emily Kosloski … Cast, Willa Brooks
- Pamela Shaddock … Cast, Jury Forewoman
- Asia DeMarcos … Cast, Reporter
- Libe Barer … Cast, Fatima Vences
- Karl Herlinger … Cast, Detective
- Celesta Hodge … Cast, Model