- "For that reason you should find Jolene Samuels guilty."
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Samuels is a case Bonnie Winterbottom took on due to Annalise Keating being unwilling as a result of Nate Lahey being arrested for the murder of Sam Keating. Chad Manning accused Jolene Samuels of sexual assault whilst he was unconscious in hospital. David Tucker, an attorney for Middleton Hospital, pressures Bonnie to settle and have Chad decide on a compensation fee that the hospital would pick up. Bonnie was adamant that she would not settle and trusted in Jolene's innocence, even after being reprimanded by the judge and misspeaking during her opening statement.
Case[]
After her opening statement, David Tucker confronted Bonnie about why Annalise wasn't the lead lawyer on the case. He told her that if she lost the case the hospital would be opened up to a very large civil suit, putting Bonnie under pressure. Back in court, prosecutor Amanda Winthrop crossed Dr. Annabelle Grimes. She examined Chad after he reported the sexual abuse and she noted bruising on his left testicle. When Bonnie crossed Annabelle, she was able to get her to testify that Chad was on a blood thinning medication that could have caused the bruising she noted.
Next, James Smalley took the stand and Bonnie asked him if he had a T.I.A, which is a small stroke, which could explain why he claimed to see something he actually didn't. Following that Mr. Fowler testified that Jolene often visited filthylittlesecret.com where she wrote about the sex she had with Chad while he was her patient. Bonnie confronted Jolene and she said that the encounter was consensual and Bonnie believed her.
Back at the house, she tasked the Keating 5 with finding something to prove that the encounter was consensual. Everybody was arguing so Bonnie screamed at them to do their job. Connor had Oliver do some hacking and he found out that Chad had an account on Humpr. Bonnie presented his profile pictures to the court and said she was trying to understand why Chad hadn't told anybody he was gay. The attorneys were called to the judge's bench and he said that Bonnie's line of questioning was prejudicial and discriminatory and told the jury to disregard it. David Tucker pressured Bonnie some more but she stood her ground.
The next day, Asher told Bonnie he visited the hospital to get Chad's pre and post-operation visits and found out he was frequently visiting the legal floor. Bonnie put together what was really happening and during the hearing for a plea agreement, she had David Tucker go on record for the hospital agreeing to pay the restitution costs. When the judge was about to end the hearing, Bonnie cut in to alert the court that David had gone on record to paying himself half of the restitution. She continued that she recently found out that David and Chad were lovers through emails she had Oliver hack to find. As the hospital's attorney, David had inside knowledge into what cases would force the hospital to pay out big, so he conspired with Chad to accuse Jolene of rape so they could split the settlement together. Bonnie then presented further evidence that the pair had opened a joint bank account together. Following this, Amanda formally dismissed the charges against Jolene.
Appearances[]
| Season 1 | |||||||||||
| "Pilot" | "It's All Her Fault" | "Smile, or Go to Jail" | "Let's Get to Scooping" | ||||||||
| "We're Not Friends" | "Freakin' Whack-a-Mole" | "He Deserved to Die" | "He Has a Wife" | ||||||||
| "Kill Me, Kill Me, Kill Me" | "Hello Raskolnikov" | "Best Christmas Ever" | "She's a Murderer" | ||||||||
| "Mama's Here Now" | "The Night Lila Died" | "It's All My Fault" |