The Elliott trial moves forward with a few surprises in The Lincoln Lawyer episode 8.
The Lincoln Lawyer Case File for season 1 episode 8
‘The Magic Bullet Redux’
Written by Justin Peacock
Directed by Alonso Alvarez-Barreda
Mickey makes another attempt at finding Jerry’s “magic bullet” after a failed attempt to explain the gunshot residue. He enlists the help of Lorna and Cisco to bring in additional witnesses for testimony.
Meanwhile, Maggie tries her best to prove that Angelo Soto is behind the murder of her key witness David Laresca. Detective Lankford pulls a ruse to get evidence on a suspect. Izzy faces a tough choice when her ex comes to town.
Let us investigate further our case file for The Lincoln Lawyer S1E8 ‘The Magic Bullet Redux’.
Refresh your memory:
- Cherry is the prostitute that Mickey hired to find Glory Days who was supposed to be the key witness in the Jesus Menendez trial.
- Sonia Patel was a friend that used to work with Lara Elliott.
- Cisco used to belong to the Road Saints motorcycle club. Mickey has been representing the club for years and is currently working a case for them for free. Ted Vogul is the leader of the Road Saints.
- Angelo Soto has been indicted on human trafficking charges. He is accused of using Filipino immigrants as slave labor in his nursing care facilities. Maggie believes Soto is behind the murder of her key witness against Soto.
- Tanya Cruz is Angelo Soto’s girlfriend. She is pregnant with Soto’s daughter. Tanya is cooperating with the DA’s office to take down Soto. She told Maggie about the Namayan Flower Shop where Soto appears to arrange crimes.
- Alvin Aquino works at the Namayan Flower Shop and is believed to be the one who killed David Laresca for Soto.
- Jan Rilz was the other victim alongside Lara Elliott at her Malibu beach house. He was having an affair with Lara and other married women including Neema Shavar who is now divorced from Anton Shavar. Jan filed a restraining order against Anton over a threatening interaction. Cisco also secretly recorded a video of Anton Shavar threatening him.
- Eli Wyms was arrested the night before Trevor Elliott was arrested. Wyms fired an outrageous amount of ammo just a few miles from Elliott’s beach home.
Breakfast for Cherry
Mickey asks Cherry to meet him at the diner. She begrudgingly arrives not liking the early hour. She takes Mickey’s breakfast plate and proceeds to tell him that she has located Glory Days. When Cherry does not offer up the location, Mickey gives her cash for more information.
Cherry does not know how to reach Glory Days. She has, however, learned that she is working in Las Vegas and will make trips back to Los Angeles for some of her clients. She writes the name and location for one of Glory Days’ customers on a napkin in lipstick. Mickey will ask Cisco to track down this guy named Raj who works at Ecco on Beverly.
Cherry leaves to get some sleep and Mickey tells her to take care of herself.
Cisco visits Ecco
Cisco pays a visit to the Ecco furniture store. He makes a scene as he plops down on an expensive couch and props his feet on the table. Raj, presumably the owner or manager, walks over to Cisco admonishing him for not being more careful with the expensive Gervasoni couch.
Cisco mentions Glory Days and soon Raj realizes Cisco is there for something other than furniture. Raj denies any knowledge of Glory Days, so Cisco says he will just ask Raj’s wife about her. Cisco leaves the store, counts to three and Raj comes outside ready to cooperate. Raj thinks Cisco is looking for money, but Cisco asks him to invite Glory Days to town.
Sonia on the stand
Sonia Patel is on the stand for the prosecution in the Elliott trial. Golantz walks Sonia through her history with Lara Elliott. They began as close friends working together as coders at Chaos Games. Sonia talks about how Lara excelled at her job. Sonia became a “third wheel” when Trevor came along and began dating Lara. She reports that Trevor became more controlling and eventually excluded Sonia from Lara’s life. Lara went to work with Trevor to start Parallax, leaving her old friends behind.
Sonia shares that Lara enjoyed the profitability of Parallax, but that it seemed to be more Trevor’s endeavor more than Lara’s. Lara called Sonia days before her death to ask her to lunch. Lara had something she wanted to tell Sonia face to face. Sonia says she feels terrible that she delayed their lunch outing due to a project at work.
Mickey cross examines Sonia and tries to turn the tables on her. Mickey tries to convince the jury that Sonia’s real motive was to get a job at Parallax. He suggests that her testifying against Trevor is payback for never being offered a job. Mickey reports that Sonia had not advanced at Chaos Games for six years. Sonia denies the notion, but Mickey has planted seeds of doubt.
A setback
Later, the prosecution calls a lab technician named Loomis to the stand. Loomis analyzed the gunshot residue (gsr) found on Trevor Elliott the day of Lara’s murder. Loomis confirms that there was way too much gsr for the results to possibly be a false positive result.
On cross examination, Mickey uses the lab audit data he received from Tony Walsh to try to discredit the witness. Mickey refers to a case where Loomis gave an incorrect result after failing to consider transference of gsr in the scenario. Loomis admits the mistake and Mickey asks why they should trust his analysis for Trevor.
Loomis points out that his boss Dr. Tan has been reviewing all of his analysis for approval. He refers to Dr. Tan’s initials on the analysis results for Trevor. This throws Mickey for a loop because his copy of the report does not show the initials. Golantz points out that the top of the initials are visible and blames the incomplete margin on the copier.
Trevor is livid about the faux pas. He yells at Mickey in the elevator and says he wishes that Jerry was still alive because he had a plan.
Inquiries
On the ride back to the office, Mickey asks about Izzy missing the recovery meeting the night before. Izzy tells him that she went to dinner with her ex Rae. It was great in some ways and bad in others. Izzy is clearly conflicted about the situation.
Back at the office, Cisco asks Lorna about the Road Saints case on the books. He notices that there is no payment indicated. Lorna suggests that perhaps it is a cash payment that has not yet cleared. Cisco seems concerned.
Moral support
Lorna checks on Mickey before she and Cisco leave the office for the day. She tells him she has put some dinner in the refrigerator for him.
Mickey expresses his frustration about the setback at trial that day. Lorna mentions the Eli Wyms case. She reminds Mickey how impressive it is that Mickey was able to get the charges against Wyms so drastically reduced.
Mickey stays at the office hoping he can find that magic bullet after all. He stares at the video footage of Jerry picking up papers outside the casino. He goes to the kitchen for the salad but ends up tossing it in the trash.
Mickey takes the Lincoln convertible for a drive and gets a much less healthy meal. He drives to help him think, reminding us that the motion helps him.
Cashing in at the casino
Mickey finds himself outside the casino. He gets out of the car and looks around and sees a billboard advertising Trevor’s video game Nocturna. Then Mickey sees several police cars go by on trailers as if they need repair.
A short drive around the corner reveals the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Vehicle Maintenance Facility. Mickey is energized as he begins to put pieces of his puzzle together. He likens the feeling to that of a safecracker who has just cracked the final digit.
All hands on deck
Night turns into morning and Mickey tells Lorna and Cisco that he has found the magic bullet. He needs their help to make it work.
Mickey asks Cisco to find the worker from the Vehicle Maintenance Facility. Lorna needs to bring the gunshot residue expert Dr. Arslenian in for testimony. Mickey is not at all worried that Arslenian agrees with the reported findings of gsr on Trevor and his clothes. Mickey has something up his sleeve!
Two crime scenes, same videographer
Mickey calls a freelance videographer with the last name Muniz to the stand. The videographer recorded footage at both the Eli Wyms scene in Topanga Park and the murders at Trevor’s beach house, which occurred on the same day. Muniz explains that he learns of the crime scene locations via the police scanner.
Mickey asks Muniz if the same arresting officers were at both scenes. He says no and describes the time difference between the two scenes. Prosecutor Golantz exhibits frustration because he does not know why Mickey is revisiting the video.
Repair and go
Cisco tracks down auto mechanic Dennis Byrne and brings him to the courthouse to testify. Golantz questions why the witness was not on the list and Mickey tells Judge Stanton that he, too, just learned the man’s name.
Dennis talks about how he cleans and repairs sheriff’s vehicles between deputies’ shifts. If a repair is needed, they may not always have time to clean the car as well. This was the case with the car on scene at the Eli Wyms’ arrest. A spotlight was broken on scene. When the car arrived to the maintenance facility, Byrne only had time to repair the light before the next deputy picks it up for their shift.
A key observation
Next up on the stand is Dr. Arslenian. She agrees with the large volume of gsr found on Trevor Elliott. Arslenian also points out that there would not be that much residue from only firing a gun a couple of times. She believes the large amount would have to involve some transference. Transference is when someone comes in to contact with gsr left behind from someone or something else.
Mickey asks Dr. Arslenian to identify the number on the car that Wyms’ is placed into upon his arrest. The number is 112. Mickey fast forwards the video footage captured by Muniz. Now, we see Trevor Elliott handcuffed behind his back being placed into a car. Dr. Arslenian identifies the number on this car as well. The number is 112. It is the same car!
Things come full circle as we recall that car 112 is the one that Dennis Byrne did not have time to clean. Wyms shot of over 90 rounds of ammunition before being placed in this car. Having not been cleaned before the next shift, Trevor Elliott would be exposed to a high volume of gunshot residue in the back seat.
Maggie has a tight deadline
Maggie’s boss Janelle gives her until the end of the week to confirm that Angelo Soto was behind witness David Laresca’s murder. She believes that Alvin Aquino is the gunman, and she wants to prove that with GPS information from his cell phone. But how will she be able to access that data in a week?
Lankford tells her he can get the phone data quickly and without a warrant. Two patrol officers stop Aquino in his van. They explain that because he is on parole, they are free to search his vehicle. Aquino steps out of the van to be handcuffed before the search. His cell phone is on the front seat. The female officer grabs the phone and takes it to Lankford who is waiting nearby.
Lankford has about 10 minutes to download the cell phone data. The data puts Aquino in proximity of Laresca at the time the witness was shot. Lankford shares the data with Maggie. Maggie asks for the reason for the traffic stop of Aquino. Lankford claims it was a broken taillight. Maggie is suspicious of the legitimacy of the stop. She knows of cops unlawfully stopping suspects before. Lankford asks why she is curious about the stop. She tells him the case needs to be “airtight”. But the viewers sense that Maggie is suspicious of Lankford’s tactics.
Pointing the finger
Having provided a plausible explanation for the gsr on Trevor the day of the murders, Mickey now plans to point the finger elsewhere. He calls Anton Shavar to the stand.
Mickey interviews Shavar who claims he is not violent and threatening. Shavar also reminds Mickey that he was out of town the day of the murders. Detective Kinder shared the alibi information earlier in the day when Mickey questioned why he did not investigate Shavar. Mickey asks Shavar if his employees carry guns. Shavar confirms that they do.
Mickey introduces the video recorded by Cisco as impeachment evidence. Mickey shares the video of Shavar threatening Cisco.
Shavar berates Mickey in the elevator after the proceedings for his tactics. He tells Mickey that he hurt good employees with his allegations.
Grateful client
Trevor invites Mickey over to his house for drinks to celebrate the gains in the case that day. Mickey declines the drink but appreciates the gratitude. He is stunned, however, when Trevor claims that he still wants to take the stand and defend himself. Mickey says thinks that is ridiculous and way too risky when they have basically won the case already.
Trevor insists that reasonable doubt is not enough. He claims that he needs the public to believe him. A phone call interrupts their disagreement and Mickey needs to leave.
Rescuing Izzy
Izzy reached out to Mickey when her ex-girlfriend Rae tries to convince Izzy to take drugs again after a performance. Mickey needs to find a way to get backstage at the arena where Rae was performing that night. Former client Terrell Coleman gives the security guard a Kobe Bryant jersey to grease the wheels. The guard lets Mickey through.
Mickey searches for Izzy and finds her alone on a backstage couch. She informs him that she came so very close to getting high but ultimately refused. Mickey takes Izzy to his house so she will not be alone. Izzy sleeps in the back of the Lincoln while Mickey drives.
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