Harry's Law

Harry's Law

Episode 19: And the Band Played On

By: Carlos Uribe

Harry's Law is a show about a lawyer Harry and her shoe store/law firm.

Spoiler Alert!

This show has been using segments from fictionalized Nancy Grace shows to attempt to show how the media is reacting to Harry's cases, since apparently they are all so high-profile. The show manages to use these clips very effectively for numerous reasons. The first reason is that it continues to show that even in success, Harry is still facing the world. The first season had Harry start a law firm that was small and always seemed to win despite facing insurmountable odds. This second season, Harry's law firm is growing and while it doesn't always win, it seems to have gathered a good reputation. It's important for the show to constantly show that Harry is defending those who need it the most since it helps ensure she remains likeable. The second reason is that the show uses these segments to show not only how misinformed the public, and the media, can be about actual cases and that the media can dehumanize the accused for the sake of ratings. It's a great stance for the show to take and it simply adds a good flavor to the show. A flavor that got a little meta this week when Nancy Grace sarcastically suggested a reality show called “Harry's Law”.

Who did Nancy Grace attack this week? An entire marching band. When an annual hazing ritual ends up killing the victim, they all get sued for murder. That is 37 kids who are getting charged for killing one person, and a lot of them may not even have actually contributed to his death. It was an accidental death and it had turned the friendly initiation into a moment of sadness. Nancy Grace goes on to question the humanity of the members this marching band, while missing the point. This was a ritual that was tradition and they thought it was relatively harmless. There was no way the marching band could have known that the kid had a collary issue and that this would cause the kid to suffer a heart attack. She misses the entire point that it's an accident, simply because it wouldn't bring the ratings that she so desperately wants. One of the marching band members hires Phoebe, who brings Harry's law firm to aid her out. When Harry ends up making the argument in front of the judge, it makes me wonder why that kid kept Phoebe on retainer.

Harry decides that the best way to resolve this case is to get rid of the felony murder rule in this case. The felony murder rule is what enables the district attorney to charge every band member for the same crime due to their indirect actions. If a murder occurs due to an action, even if the death was accidental, then the rule applies. This is a rule that's meant to help place robbers who accidentally or purposefully killed their victims, but it's not meant for a hazing ritual gone wrong. If the rule doesn't qualify to the case, then that means that only the people that the district attorney can directly state they caused the heart attack be charged with murder. This means that not every band member is off, but it's heavily implied that Harry's client is. He had his eyes shut and he may not have even touched the victim so there would be no reason to charge him. It's interesting that the show takes the stance that this rule should be abolished, but I'm not entirely sure I completely understand why the rule needs to be completely repealed. I am interested enough to learn more about it, so the show has piqued my interest. That's good.

There's another case this week, and it's a civil one. A married man accuses a woman that he slept with of rape. He claims that while the passion leading to the sex was consensual, the actual intercourse was not. He also accuses the woman of having drugged him. He is traumatized by the event, but the actor didn't do that good of a job since I mostly didn't see it. He doesn't want any money and by suing, he is admitting to the public record that he had an unwilling affair so the show concludes that he must have been raped. The motive of accusing rape to excuse his cheating never came up. He was indeed drugged and he ends up getting an apology from the woman. That's all that he wanted as he doesn't seek to pursue charges.

Harry's Law had a good episode this week. It had an interesting main case, but I didn't really find myself getting into the other case. It's probably because I didn't really connect with the victim for some reason. It's also hard for me to buy that he was that traumatized due to some rather poor acting. The other elements of the show were good enough to keep the show entertaining. I do wonder if this fictionalized Nancy Grace is going to accidentally kill someone, which will lead her to try and hire Harry as a lawyer. That would be entertaining.