- "Finally, they tested my blood and realized I had been poisoned with antifreeze. At this point, it's not a matter of if, but when it takes my life."
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Duvall was a case that never made it to trial in season 3. Edith Duvall fell ill and it was discovered she had been poisoned with antifreeze. She accused her three children Jared, Nelson and Karen of poisoning her which results in them being charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The siblings were scheduled to have depositions prior to their trial with the prosecution's reasoning being the Edith could die at any time. Annalise's strategy was to find another suspect to force the prosecution to cancel the depositions entirely.
Case[]
In class, Annalise explained that the prosecution were forcing the depositions because Edith could die at any time. She said their best chance was to get the case dismissed before it went to trial, but it wouldn't be easy considering the evidence. She continued that Edith would be present during the depositions because the prosecution wanted the defendants to slip up and say something stupid on camera. She said the siblings had to present a united front.
Annalise had the students meet the defendants in a courtroom, where she played the news interview of Edith explaining how she discovered she had been poisoned. The siblings called the interview an 'Oscar performance', saying she wasn't a nice person. Annalise said she didn't care and they needed to show the only things they felt towards their mother was love and devotion. The students took turns interviewing the siblings. Michaela and Asher asked about the text messages they exchanged about killing Edith. Nelson called them jokes. Simon and Connor asked Jared about the family dinners once a week, and he said if they didn't show up even once they would be removed from Edith's will. He warned that she was a genius manipulator. Laurel and Wes asked Karen if there was a chance one of the other two poisoned Edith, to which she said no. Each one of the siblings mentioned a rude nickname Edith had for them.
Following that, Annalise decided the best course of action was to find a new suspect so the prosecution cancelled the depositions entirely. Whoever found a good suspect would get an automatic A on her midterm exam. Asher, with the help of Oliver, found incriminating emails between a worker at the family's store and an anonymous person. Annalise presented this to the Duvall siblings as another suspect, causing Karen to reveal she was the anonymous person and she had a secret email address to prevent her mother from finding out about it.
The next day the depositions start and Edith taunts Jared into verbally abusing her and saying he looks forward to the day she dies. That night, it was revealed on the news that Charles Mahoney had an alibi in relation to the death of his father. The Keating 5, Annalise and Bonnie met to discuss this and Annalise admitted she didn't know what to do. She continued that she lied about Eve being on the case to keep them from worrying, and they all started shouting at her. She then pulled up a chair and said they could tell her all the ways she ruined their lives because she would rather that then end up poisoned, like Edith.
Later in the episode, Annalise put it together that Edith poisoned herself to teach her children a lesson. Bonnie was going over possible strategies with her when she zoned out listening to Edith on the news. Annalise gave the information to Laurel, who the next day confronted Edith, causing her to confess. The charges against the siblings were dropped as a result.
See also[]
Appearances[]
| Season 3 | |||||||||||
| "We're Good People Now" | "There Are Worse Things Than Murder" | "Always Bet Black" | "Don't Tell Annalise" | ||||||||
| "It's About Frank" | "Is Someone Really Dead?" | "Call It Mother's Intuition" | "No More Blood" | ||||||||
| "Who's Dead?" | "We're Bad People" | "Not Everything's About Annalise" | "Go Cry Somewhere Else" | ||||||||
| "It's War" | "He Made a Terrible Mistake" | "Wes" |