Breaking Down the Surprise Conclusion to the Complex 'Perry Mason' Trial
The opening scene of Perry Mason's Season One finale shows a bit of Hollywood fantasy. Mason is grilling Detective Ennis—who we know is behind the death of Charlie Dodson—on the stand. Ennis cracks under the masterful interrogation of our hero lawyer and admits, on the stand, that he killed the child. But, just as it seems we have the perfect dramatic court scene ending, it's revealed that this is just an imaginary scenario cooked up by Mason as he's planning for the final day of the trial. In reality, no one ever confesses on the stand—a flashy scenario made famous by the original Perry Mason series from the 1960s.
The conclusion of the Charlie Dodson case in HBO's Perry Mason reboot is far more complicated than the black and white, good and evil cases we're used to seeing on TV and in movies. Emily Dodson is on trail for the murder of her son. We know she's innocent, but the DA has cooked up a narrative playing on the rampant sexism of the time, where she's innocent of a crime worse than murder—adultery. In reality, poor Charlie Dodson was murdered in part of a bigger plot that involved a church hemorrhaging money, a crooked police officer, and a prostitute who took heroin then breast fed the child. It's a lot. And adding to that confusion is a case that ends in neither a guilty nor a not-guilty verdict.
After five days of deliberation, the Dodson case ends in a mistrial. Three of the jurors don't think there is enough proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt that Emily Dodson murdered her son. As such, this ends with a hung jury and a mistrial. Here's what that means, according to Neil Shouse of the Shouse California Law Group:
In order for a jury to reach a verdict – whether guilty or not guilty – the decision must be unanimous. If even one member of the jury disagrees with the decision of all of the other jurors, the jury is hung.
When the jury comes back into the courtroom and announces that they have been unable to reach a verdict, the judge may direct them to go back and keep deliberating until they reach a unanimous verdict. At some point, however, it will become apparent that no amount of further discussion will sway all of the jurors to one side or the other.
There are a number of possible things that can happen after a “hung jury” in a Los Angeles criminal case.
Mason, as we see, is not quite happy with this result. And that's because he knows she's not guilty, but that hasn't been proven in the eyes of the court or the American legal system. The DA Maynard Barnes is furious because he didn't get the guilty verdict that he sought, and in the eyes of the public, since Emily isn't heading to the death penalty, this looks like his failure.
So what happens next? The final half of this finale sets the stage for a Season Two, hinting that the Emily Dodson case is not over yet. That's because there are a few options of what can come next:
1. Perry and the DA could agree to a plea bargain. As the same law firm explains: "The preparation for and conduct of a criminal trial can be time-consuming, expensive, and exhausting. To have to go through that whole process over again after a mistrial, and face the risk of an adverse verdict, can be an unappealing option. Instead, prosecutors and the defendant may agree to a plea bargain in which the defendant pleads guilty to a reduced charge that carries a lesser sentence."
2. Barnes could call for a retrial. "After a mistrial due to a hung jury, the prosecution has the option to retry the case. However, they are under no obligation to do so," Shouse writes. "If, for example, the jurors in the hung jury were stuck at 11 votes in favor of acquittal and only one juror would have found the defendant guilty, the prosecution may see that as the writing on the wall and decide not to try the case again."
Now, given Mason's tenacity for justice, it's unlikely he would even entertain a plea bargain. After such a high profile case, and the egos of these two lawyers, they probably aren't going to agree on any sort of plea bargain—even if that's what might be best for Emily.
What we'll more likely see is option two, that Barnes calls for a retrial. As we saw near the end of the finale, three of the jurors did not think Emily was guilty. However, we do learn that Perry's associate Pete Strickland quietly paid off one of the jurors to say Emily was not guilty. If Barnes somehow learns that, he'll know that he could possibly win in a mistrial.
You Might Also Like
