- "I don't have an excuse. It was a mistake. I'm human. I made a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. I am so sorry."
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Carter is the second case Annalise takes on after being wrongfully imprisoned in the second half of season 3. The case was assigned to her by Virginia Cross, a public defender. Annalise decided to take on the case due to her light workload, but Virginia had suspicions that Annalise was only helping out to salvage her failing career and that she would lose the case.
Case[]
Ben Carter joined a gang at the age of 16. A few years later he met his future fiancé, Kymberly, who begged him to leave the gang to be with her. After leaving the gang, the two later had a baby called Madison. Around 8 months after the birth, Kymberly confesses to Ben that their daughter wasn't his. He began verbally abusing her. The verbal abuse mixed with her postpartum depression led to Kymberly jumping from the window of their apartment to her death. Ben was arrested, charged and convicted for pushing Kymberly from the window. His public defender, Virginia Cross didn't have the time to properly look over and prepare for the case. That fact combined with his appearance contributed to the guilty verdict.
When Annalise took on the case, she met with Ben and recorded their conversation. She asked if Ben actually pushed Kym, and he said he did not. Ben said they got into a fight about Madison because Kym told him she wasn't his. Annalise deleted the recording of their conversation, but later Nate and Bonnie pressured Oliver to hack Annalise's phone to recover the audio file. This audio is then given to the prosecution and after Annalise's cross of Ben, where she was trying to create the narrative that Kym's postpartum depression was the sole reason for her death, A.D.A Modrow accused Ben of killing Kym because he found out Madison wasn't his. This caused Ben to attempt to comfort Madison from the witness stand, revealing to the court that it was true, Ben did find out that Madison was not his right before Kym's death.
Later, Virginia Cross delivered security footage to Annalise's hotel. The footage clearly showed Kym jumping from the window and Ben appearing shortly after, proving that he did not push her. Annalise put Virginia on the stand and asked why the evidence was never brought forth during Ben's original trial. She claimed she only learned of it during the appeal and was too overworked during the first trial to sift through all the evidence. This was enough for the judge to dismiss the case and release Ben.
Trivia[]
- The judge on this case, Wenona Sansbury was also the judge during the shooting at the Hapstall Mansion case.
See also[]
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" |