Ben Carter is a minor character on How to Get Away with Murder. He was wrongfully convicted of murder but thanks to his former lawyer (Virginia Cross) handing his case over to Annalise Keating, his charges were dropped.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
When Ben was 16, he tattooed his entire body as a rite of passage into a gang. Two years later, he met his future fiancé, Kym who begged him to leave the gang to be with her. After leaving the gang, the two later had a baby called Maddison. Around 8 months after the birth, the two began to have their problems and she later killed herself by jumping out of her window from their 10th story apartment. Ben was later charged and convicted of murder for "pushing" her out of the window, however, he was only convicted because of jury bias. ("It's for the Greater Good")
Season 4[]
Ben, talking with his daughter after being released. ("It's for the Greater Good") |
Around 12 years after being jailed for something he didn't do, he requested a retrial. His former lawyer, Virginia Cross, handed his case over to Annalise Keating as the public defender's office was overworked. When Annalise visited him in prison, he told her his fiancé jumped to her death after a fight over their daughter, who wasn’t actually his. Annalise kept the paternity secret but argued in court that she was suffering from postpartum depression. After recess, Nate was called to testify, revealing a newly-recovered voicemail in which Ben's fiancée begged him to come back to her. A.D.A Modrow was then given evidence of Annalise's deleted voice message where Ben admitted that his daughter wasn't his own. This was then spun by the ADA to make Ben sound like he killed his fiancée because his daughter wasn't his own. However, once receiving evidence of the security footage which showed Ben's fiancée killing herself, Annalise called the chief public defender, Virginia Cross, to the stand as she was the person who secretly gave the tape to Annalise. Annalise requested to the judge that she be able to treat Virginia as hostile. She questioned why this evidence was withheld during Ben’s first trial and played the footage. She claimed she only learned of it during the appeal and was too overworked during the prior trial to sift through all the evidence. This was enough for the judge to dismiss the case and release him. After, he, and his daughter left the courthouse. ("It's for the Greater Good")
Appearances[]
Season 4 | |||||||||||
"I'm Going Away" | "I'm Not Her" | "It's for the Greater Good" | "Was She Ever Good at Her Job?" | ||||||||
"I Love Her" | "Stay Strong, Mama" | "Nobody Roots for Goliath" | "Live. Live. Live." | ||||||||
"He's Dead" | "Everything We Did Was For Nothing" | "He's a Bad Father" | "Ask Him About Stella" |
"Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" | "The Day Before He Died" | "Nobody Else Is Dying" |