- "It's quite evident to me that he's proof that this case has been nothing more than a conspiracy to commit fraud. From start to finish, the game was rigged, corners were cut and my client's fourth amendment rights were discarded. Mr. Hortua's testimony proves that this case was built on illegal grounds, including entrapment. Which is no surprise considering it's been Mr. Hobbs mission to destroy the Lombardo family for more than 15 years. So the criminal in this courtroom is not my client, but the federal government for bringing these bogus charges against my client."
United States v. Lombardo was a drug possession with the intent to distribute case brought against Paul Lombardo after his shipping container failed a random weight inspection and it was discovered to be full of 300 kilos of heroin. Annalise Keating came on as their attorney before Sam was murdered, as following his death the Lombardo's secretary wanted to reschedule a meeting that was planned in relation to the case. Annalise was able to convince them to keep her on as their attorney and she ended up winning the case.
Case[]
Bonnie and Annalise bried the Keating 5 on the case and instructed two of them to look into the cargo container's chain of custody. Frank and Asher took up this task, looking at the surveillance footage of the containers. They find that the customs agents were arriving at the scene before the container was weighed, meaning they were tipped off to the contents of it before it was opened. Connor and Michaela met with Agent Fain and Michaela asked why only one container, Paul's, was weighed when normally dozens are every night. The agent's response was that Paul just got unlucky. Laurel and Wes looked into Pedro Hortua, the man who weighed the container although he wasn't listed as an employee at the yard.
Annalise told Paul and Leo that somebody informed the authorities and it allowed her to argue entrapment. She accused AUSA Hobbs of having a C.I but he denied it. She said he was leaving her with no choice but to produce the C.I in open court and destroy his years of investigation into the Lombardo family. Hobbs ended the conversation by threatening to find evidence tying Annalise to the murder of her husband. This led to her telling the Keating 5 the C.I angle was off the table.
The police later conduct a search warrant in the Keating House for evidence tying Annalise to the murder of Sam. It turned up nothing. Following this Laurel had a lead on Pedro Hortua, the man who weighed the Lombardo shipping container. She said that he quit his job 2 days after the FBI took over the investigation from the customs agents to look after sick family but was actually vacationing, implying something else motivated him to quit. Annalise told them to find him.
In court, she crossed Agent Fain, asking him the name of the agent who first decided to weigh the Lombardo container. He couldn't recall so she said it was Pedro Hortua and that he was there in court to testify. Once he was on the stand she asked if he chose the Lombardo container at random and he didn't answer, so Annalise pushed asking how he came to pick that container. He said he was told to by someone he couldn't remember. Annalise asked what they promised him and he said a green card for him and his wife if he chose Paul's container. Annalise asked who made him this promise, if it was prosecutor Hobbs and he said yes. Hobbs objected. Annalise went on a tirade but the charges against Paul were dropped nonetheless.
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" |