- Matlock defends a golfer accused of killing a blackmailing caddy.
- Ben's rich and unpleasant client Ellis Blake strongly disapproves of his daughter's fiancee, who also happens to be his caddie and a very successful blackmailer. Then, the boy is found shot with Blake's own gun, and 10,000 dollars - the exact sum Blake promised him if the engagement were to ever be broken - is found scattered around his apartment. The case seems fairly open and shut, which delights the new deputy D.A. Lauren Richmond, as this is not only her first case but also a chance to score big against a famous defense lawyer. She is able to bring enough witnesses and evidence to ensure a guilty verdict and leave Matlock helpless, unable to even file an appeal. However, this case turns out to be much deeper and darker than at first glance.—Eebuchanan
- Ellis Blake, a wealthy and irascible golfer with many business interests, forbids his daughter to see her fiancee again. Her fiancee also happens to be the caddie at the course where Blake and his friends go to play. The next day, Blake confronts the boy and tells him he'll pay him 10,000 dollars if he never sees his daughter again. The offer is rejected. Later that night, the boy is in his flat playing music loudly and annoying his neighbors, when a man - whose face we don't see - enters, slaps a bag of money on the table, and then shoots the caddie dead. The neighbors, coming over to complain about the music, find the corpse and money strewn everywhere. The police count it and it amounts to precisely 10,000 dollars.
Blake has an alibi of driving back from a golf tournament in Columbus, but as the only suspect, he is arrested and charged with the crime anyway. Ben Matlock is called in the middle of the night to come down to the police station, being Blake's usual attorney, and as he does so meets the new deputy D.A., Lauren Richmond. She professes herself delighted to meet him and in awe of some of his previous victories. Blake proclaims his innocence and demands Matlock get him off. Ben begins by checking the bank records of the other three members of Blake's foursome game of the day before, and finds that the caddie was blackmailing every single one of them. However, all have airtight alibis.
Ben tries to be optimistic about the case. However, at the bond hearing, Blake's temper gets the better of him and he protests everything Richmond and the Judge say. Despite Matlock's efforts to keep him in check, he winds up not only with a huge bail of 2 million dollars but also a 24-hour contempt of court prison sentence. He empties his pockets and sulks into his jail cell, not amused by the friendly attempts his cellmate uses to make conversation. The next day, Ben sends Conrad out to the crime scene, which is still being processed for clues, and the police pull up a golf ball marker - a souvenir one, from the tournament Blake was at. In fact, Blake had several others in his pocket at the time of his arrest. Ben confronts his client with this but Ellis still protests his innocence.
At the trial, Blake's already shaky alibi is broken by an eyewitness, and Blake is forced to admit he was at the caddie's townhouse but never went inside, losing nerve at the last moment. New evidence is introduced of his fingerprints being found on the bills, his gun being used in the crime, and finally his cellmate from the contempt of court charge testifies Blake confessed . Blake claims he's been framed, and demands Matlock put him on the stand, despite Matlock's insistence they should stop here and go for a plea deal. However, Blake insists that as an innocent man he has a right to speak in his own defense. Matlock gives in, and Ellis testifies his car is never locked and everyone knows he has a gun. However, Deputy D.A. Richmond doesn't even cross examine him so much as just gloat over him that he has no leg to stand on despite his denials. He is duly convicted. Matlock is unable to finds any ground for appeal and it seems all hope is lost. However, even now, Blake steadfastly refuses to admit, despite the evidence against him, that he killed the boy.
The D.A.'s office throws a surprise party for deputy D.A. Lauren Richmond, for winning her first case. A young man arrives at the office shortly before Lauren does, saying he had a drink with Lauren some weeks ago in a different town, and that she'd told him to look her up should he ever find himself in Atlanta. The D.A. writes down his name and information so she can give it to Lauren when she arrives. However, after the man leaves, the D.A. realizes that the man said that he met Lauren in Columbus, the day after Drake was arrested for contempt of court. Horrified at the implication this gives, she immediately calls Matlock.
Matlock does some investigating and appeals the conviction on grounds of prosecutor misconduct. He is able to bring evidence before the court that not only was Lauren in Columbus, where the big golf tournament Blake got his souvenir ball markers was from - she went to the pro shop and bought a single ball marker identical to the three in Blake's pocket. Furthermore he is able to prove that when the police searched the bills for Blake's fingerprints, they found fingerprints on all the bills but only three had Blake's. The rest of the fingerprints actually belong to one of the other golfer's financial consultant, and Matlock can prove he went to see her that day and asked for 10,000, shortly before the caddie was murdered. Evidence of who had access to the evidence room and when strongly suggests that, when it looked like Matlock might be able to get a jury to believe there was reasonable doubt and Blake was framed, that the deputy D.A. took it upon herself to plant a ball marker, and take three fifties from Blake's money clip in the evidence room while he was incarcerated, replace them with three of her own, and then switch three fifties from the 10,000 dollars with the three that belonged to Blake. What's more, the other Golfer's airtight alibi turns out to be false because an AA meeting was held the night he claimed he was with his girlfriend, and she was at it. Finally, other evidence suggests the deputy DA went to see Blake's cell mate and talked him into inventing the confession.
The DA, who is in the courtroom, allows the judge to reprimand the deputy DA before standing and announcing her intention to take over the case. She moves that charges against Blake be dropped and the other golfer be taken into custody. The Judge does so, offers Blake his sincere apologies for how justice was perverted, and instigates criminal proceedings against both the other golfer and Deputy DA Lauren Richmond. She argues that Blake is a bad man and she didn't want a bad man to go free, and that it had all seemed open and shut enough anyway, but the judge gives no mercy. She asks Matlock to defend her, trying to pretend she was just dazzled by going up against him and temporarily freaked out - however, neither Matlock nor the DA believe her since her actions were so carefully planned there's no question of temporary insanity. Furious, with her career over, she storms out. After a much-reformed and calmer Blake thanks Matlock and leaves with his also-penitent daughter, the DA apologizes to Matlock for the behavior of her colleague. Matlock tells her that he holds no grudge since up until the end he too had been fooled by the young lady. They agree to go out to dinner and forget the whole thing, and the episode ends with them walking out of the courthouse arm in arm.
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