The Practice

- Season 4

(1999)

With Lindsay and Bobby's help, Jimmy defends his personal friend, dentist Henry Olson, when he is tried for murdering a woman who was found dead in his chair. Hostile ADA Richard Bay tries to prove the two were having an affair, when in fact their relationship was a lot more complicated than he could possibly imagine. Meanwhile, decapitator George Vogelman returns, asking for Ellenor's help when his co-op serves him with a eviction notice.

When a woman's body is found in her husband's trunk, Hellen immediately arrests him and he confesses. When the search of his car is ruled invalid and he walks free, Bobby makes a shocking discovery about the man's relationship with the arresting officer - but the real shock is in what he does with that information. Meanwhile, Jimmy tries to deal with his discoveries over the Olson trial, but his actions have catastrophic results.

Lindsay is in complete terror when the man who stabbed her begins leaving presents at the office, as she starts to unravel. Rebecca once again clashes with Judge Swackheim over a complicated case of a man who confesses to running over a woman, while Rebecca believes he is being paid to do so by the real driver. After moving in with Hellen, a horrified Ellenor's life is in danger when George finally shows his true colors.

A betrayed Ellenor tries to deal with the truth about George Vogleman, as well as her guilt over the role she played in freeing him. Eugene is forced to help the world's worst attorney, Harland Bassett, in a trial that involves more than just a hung jury. Bobby's old friend and mentor, legendary attorney Raymond Oz, returns asking for his help, when his wife tries to declare him incompetent - a trial that ends with tragic results.

On trial for murdering his wife, an increasingly erratic Raymond Oz insists on representing himself, and Hellen is forced to go to extreme measures in order to try and convict this legendary attorney.

Rebecca and Eugene defend a woman charged with killing her mother, trying to convince the jury she did so during a flashback of a horrifying childhood memory. Meanwhile, Lindsay finds the perfect wedding dress, and is mortified to learn that Bobby insists that she wears his dead mother's hideous dress.

Jimmy defends a woman who shot her rapist to death, a job she makes very hard on him by not cooperating with his attempts to save her, refusing to show regret and helplessness on the stand. Meanwhile, Lucy is horrified to discover her dentist, who also happens to be Bobby's cousin, bit her breast while she was unconscious on his chair. She feels even further betrayed when Bobby agrees to represent him, and tries to convince her to settle for money.

Lindsay is assigned to represent a psychotic serial killer, now on medication, in a parole hearing, and is forced to deal with her pain and fear over her attack by psychotic client George Vogelman. Eugene is horrified when the body of a man is found in his ex-wife's apartment, and his son is the prime suspect.

Richard and Ellenor go head to head in a trial of a woman who tried to kill her husband, but their anger and antagonism towards each other gets them into a lot of trouble. Jimmy agrees to represent an old girlfriend who sold her eggs on the Internet and is suing a man who now refuses to pay. His old feelings for her are awaken, which forces him to reexamine his his relationship with Judge Kittleson.

In a chaotic and bizarre trial, Bobby represents an old drug dealing client, who is charged with murder after stabbing a man to death seven times. With wacky Judge Swackheim presiding, the trial quickly spins out of control, landing Helen in the hospital, and later, along with Bobby, in a jail cell.

In a personally and racially charged trial, Rebecca defends an old boyfriend, a police officer, who is accused of murder after shooting a man to death in a store, convinced he was about to rob the place. Lindsay sues a cigar company for breaking up a marriage, and reveals her fears about her own relationship with Bobby.

Lindsay arrives at Los Angeles, where a man she once met at an art class begs for her help when he is charged with murdering a woman he was having a virtual affair with over the Internet. Believing he is innocent when nobody else does, Lindsay calls on her friends to come and help her save him.

With the evidence, the police, the judge and the odds stacked against them, Lindsay leads Bobby, Ellenor and Jimmy in the defense of Dennis Mills' hopeless murder trial. As the trial continues to go south for the defense, Lindsay uncovers a shocking truth that changes everything.

Helen is called in to question the son of a well-known police detective. Because she uses the father to get the son to confess to a murder, Bobby and Eugene try to have the confession thrown out. Meanwhile, Ellenor represents a slightly intellectually disabled young man accused of murder, and suspects a surprise witness who suddenly comes to his defense might be lying.

Eugene and Rebecca represent a woman whose husband died during a routine liposuction, and are shocked to see that the defense attorney's strategy is to attack them personally. Meanwhile, Jimmy decides to reopen the Henry Olson case, after he is attacked at prison and requests to be put in solitary for the rest of his life sentence. He turns to a desperate Richard, reeling from a recent chain of defeats, and offers him a questionable deal that goes against everything they ever believed in.

Bobby is kidnapped and held at gunpoint by Patrick Rooney, a former client who blames him for convincing him to take a deal for a crime he didn't commit. Rooney tries to prove to Bobby he really was innocent, and that it was his inadequate counsel that caused him to lose 12 years of his life.

Bobby and Eugene defend Courtney Hansen, nicknamed by the media "The Black Widow", a woman accused of killing her weak-hearted husband by having sex with him to death. Having lost 2 previous husbands under mysterious circumstances, the ADA tries to prove it is her M.O. to marry sick old men for their money, and then kill them. Meanwhile, Helen tricks a confession out of a traumatized 15 year old girl, accused of killing her unborn baby, and Ellenor argues she is too young to withstand such trickery.

Bobby and Helen once again go head to head in an assisted suicide case, each with their own past experiences involving the matter. Noticing Bobby's unresolved feelings about his part in his mother's death, Lindsay turns to his father for help. Ellenor goes to Pennsylvania to help a man on death-row get a DNA test that might exonerate him, which proves to be a lot harder than it sounds.

Rebecca represents an elderly woman with Alzheimer's, recently remarried, whose daughter is trying to have the marriage annulled. But the woman's testimony in the hearing opens up a big can of worms concerning the truth about the death of her first husband. Meanwhile, Ellenor goes to a higher court in another attempt to get a DNA test in the case of Stuart Donovan, whose execution is only two weeks away.

With their petition for a DNA test denied once again, Ellenor and the others must come up with a new idea to exonerate Stuart Donovan and keep him from being executed for a crime he didn't commit. But even after a test reveals the sample from the crime scene doesn't match Donovan, Ellenor is shocked to discover the DA still refuses to cancel his execution. In a last ditch effort, the team goes before Judge Wood, desperate to make him see beyond the technicality of the law, and save Stuart Donovan's life.

Eugene is assigned a horrifying case of a man accused of killing a woman and then raping her lifeless corpse. Getting more and more angry, Eugene must come to terms with the reality of his job and the effect it has on his personal life. Meanwhile, Jimmy defends an old friend of his, being sued by a former employee for violating his privacy and announcing to the entire company that he has AIDS. However, as the trial progresses, Jimmy realizes he had hidden reasons for doing so.

In a difficult and emotional trial, Jimmy and Ellenor represent a deaf woman, charged with killing the man who raped and murdered her 7 year old daughter. Meanwhile, Lindsay and Bobby continue to quarrel over wedding plans, and Lindsay decides to surprise him with an elopement.