- "What's funny is that your whole case against me relies on the word of a sociopathic liar. Excuse me? Caleb Hapstall is a serial killer."
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Hapstall, more commonly known as the Hapstall Case was the first case that Annalise Keating picked up in season 2. Grant and Ursula Hapstall were found tortured and murdered in their bedroom in the Hapstall mansion by Helena Hapstall, Grant's sister. Annalise was hired by Caleb and Catherine Hapstall, Grant and Ursula's adoptive children, as their attorney shortly after they fired Victor Leshner. The siblings were also briefly charged with the murder of Helena but Annalise got these charges dismissed. The case became the climactic incident of the season, with the flash-forward scenes directly associated with it.
Case[]
The Murder[]
On the morning of November 5th, 2014, Helena discovered the bodies of Grant and Ursula in their bedroom, brutally tortured and murdered. After calling the police, an investigation began which implicated Caleb and Catherine. It was mentioned on the news that Helena saw the siblings leaving the scene of the crime.
Sabotaging Victor Lesher[]
They hired Victor Leshner and his law firm as their defense and the case began having hearings before a court in early 2015. Annalise found out about the case on the news and wanted to take it, so she visited the siblings in the courthouse to tell them to hire her, but Victor and his team showed up. Later Annalise tasked the Keating 5 with coming up with ways to force the Hapstall siblings to fire Victor and hire her. Laurel stopped one of Victor's associates in the restroom and handed her a memory stick with footage of the aunt leaving the Gladness spa on the same night she claimed to see Caleb and Catherine murdering their parents. In court, Helena took the stand and testified to what she saw the night of the murders during Jeremy Eastham's cross. Victor was able to discredit her by showing the security camera footage to the court.
The next day, Jeremy had Helena back on the stand and had her clarify that she was at the Gladness spa in November 2013, but in 2014 she was home witnessing the murder. He then presented to the court the original security footage, and the edited version that the defense presented to the court. Victor put together that Annalise and her team were behind it. Later the siblings fired him for this mistake and hired Annalise like she had intended. She visited them at the Hapstall mansion and they told her they believed they were being framed. Caleb questioned Annalise's focus because of the Sam Keating murder case but she told them she wasn't the one on trial. Later that night, Helena's throat was cut inside her car. ("It's Time to Move On")
Death of Helena[]
Catherine and Caleb were arrested and Bonnie attempted to get in the interrogation room but failed. Eventually Annalise showed up and told them Helena was murdered and they were arrested for it. The siblings both attested to being together all night. Later at the Keating house, the entire team was there and Annalise told them they had 3 days to get the Helena Hapstall murder charge dropped by establishing an alibi. She tasked Frank with obtaining the sealed warrant for their arrest and tasked Bonnie with going to the mansion to see if the housekeeper could vouch for them. She said no and that Caleb sent all the staff home. Meanwhile Laurel and Frank met with a lady to get the arrest warrant. Bonnie took this to Annalise, who was crying in the restroom after taking the stand in the preliminary hearing for Sam's murder case. She said that Caleb's DNA was found inside Helena's car.
In a room within the courthouse, Laurel and Michaela were going over the ways they could get the evidence thrown out, like investigating the lab that ran the DNA test or look into the chain of custody of the DNA sample. Annalise cut them off and said that Catherine was their best option to find out what really happened because she lied about being with Caleb. Bonnie volunteered to go and meet with her but Annalise said no, causing Wes to step up as 'the puppy'. He was able to get Catherine to come clean that Caleb went for a run, so Bonnie and Wes went to Caleb with this and he came clean. Bonnie tested him by lying about having CCTV footage placing him near Helena's car, but he stood his ground and said it proved he and his sister were being framed. Later, Connor had Oliver hack into the police department and found that they ran two DNA tests.
In court during the arraignment, Annalise presented evidence that the police ran two DNA tests the night Helena was found. The first test had no DNA match for Caleb, but the second one did. They then deleted the original report. As a result, the charges for Helena's murder were dropped. That night Emily Sinclair told Asher that she was the new prosecutor on the Hapstall case, after Jeremy was presumably taken off the case after what happened in court. ("She's Dying")
Emily Sinclair using Asher[]
One night, Annalise was talking about the Hapstall case into her recorder. She was trying to understand what the motive for Catherine and Caleb killing their parents would be. She said the prosecution would argue it was the inheritance and later went upstairs to bed before waking to the sound of someone sneaking around. She ended up finding a rat in the basement and calling Wes to take care of it, but the real cause of the noise was Asher stealing the recorder because he was being blackmailed by Emily.
Later, the team begin their defense of Tanya Randolph in the Utopia Circle murder case. At the house Bonnie showed Annalise an incest article published about the Hapstall siblings, so they all traveled to the mansion to confront them. Annalise said that would be the prosecution's theory, that Caleb and Catherine killed their parents because they found out about their affair and threatened to cut them out of the will. Caleb told Annalise to trust them or she was fired. Later, Emily met with Asher to return the voice recorder he stole for her and it was revealed she was behind the incest article. She instructed him to text her when he knew what Annalise's plan was about the article but he refused to he her mole anymore, despite her threatening to make public what happened at Trotter Lake. ("It's Called the Octopus")
A few days later Annalise began her defense of Zoe Mitchell in the murder of Rachel Glasser. She instructed Connor, Laurel and Wes to find mistakes that Dr. Healy made with past patients so she could discredit him. She gave Michaela a separate assignment, to pretend to prepare Caleb and Catherine for the stand to find out if they were sleeping together or not. Annalise said infamously said "you've got boobs and a brother not sleeping with his sister should respond to them". Meanwhile, met with his dad and Emily to receive immunity in exchange for him acting as an informant for Annalise in relation to the death of her husband, so clearly Emily didn't listen to him when he said he didn't want to be her mole anymore.
The next day Michaela was with Catherine, and she admitted to being a virgin which was good for the case because it could be proven. Later, she had the test and gave a copy to Annalise. Meanwhile, Asher had signed the immunity deal and Emily was in the process of getting a wiretap warrant signed by a judge. Bonnie found him in the parking lot and asked him why he was going to testify against Annalise. He explained that Emily knew Annalise got Nate to kill Sam and that Bonnie and Frank were helping cover it up. This caused Bonnie to break down and tell him that she killed Sam because he was about to rape her. ("Skanks Get Shanked") ("Meet Bonnie")
The next day Annalise met with Emily and judge Renee Garrett to discuss Emily's motion to include Helena Hapstall's testimony in the trial. The judge decided both sides had to attend a hearing to decide one way or the other later that day, so Annalise tasked Laurel, Connor, Wes and Michaela with coming up with a way to get her testimony thrown out by leaving them in the basement. Later Caleb dropped off his aunt's medication and said that a drug addiction could help. At the same time the group discovered that Helena was racist and it was caught on a police car dashcam. They showed this to Annalise and were tasked with using Oliver to hack to find the rest of the footage after it cut off.
Later in court Annalise played the cut part of the footage, which showed Helena saying she didn't see or hear anything the night of the murder. Emily pointed out it wasn't apart of discovery and Annalise tried to defend herself but the judge didn't believe her and said that Helena's testimony could be used in the trial because in the midst of trauma people tended to forget things, explaining why she said she didn't see or hear anything. ("Meet Bonnie")
Philip Jessup[]
A few days later Annalise is briefing the Keating 5 on the next part of the case. She said she wants them to look into who could have framed Caleb and Catherine. She went off to handle the murder of Steven Hartford case and the Keating 5 traveled to the Hapstall mansion and took them through some different people who could have set them up for murder. Later they get caught calling the siblings guilty because Catherine had a recording going on her tablet. Annalise lectured them for this. That night Wes wanted to look into the siblings' birth parents and Michaela was adamantly against it which led to her revealing that she was adopted.
The next day they had Oliver hack into an adoption agency and he found out that Helena had a son and put together that he could have been the real killer to be the sole inheritor of the Hapstall fortune. That night, Oliver kept looking for the identity of the son even though he was told not to, and he found out it was Philip Jessup. ("Two Birds, One Millstone")
Next the Keating 5 began investigating Philip. Laurel found he was a loner and Annalise said that allowed for a anti-social personality disorder argument. Connor found out that he made minimum wage which explained why he'd want the Hapstall money and Annalise said she needed an emotional motive for the jury, so Michaela said he could be jealous because two adopted children were living the wealthy life that his blood entitled him to. Wes said they hadn't been able to prove Philip was in town the night of the murders and Annalise got annoyed because she wanted to surprise Emily with it before the trial. Later Annalise starts work on the suicide of Marco Tidwell case. Frank calls Oliver behind Connor's back and has him find out that Philip was in town the night of the murders.
After Annalise won her case, back at the house Oliver was on DudeForDude and used a picture of Connor to match with Philip to invite him on a date and get his DNA. Connor was against the idea but ended up going along. Later the date was cut short before Philip showed up because Laurel told Annalise. Oliver was at his apartment when Philip showed up there and startled him. He had questions about the Hapstall case so the two went to a restaurant to talk about it before deciding to go to the Keating house. Annalise apologised to him and he said he was going to have to sue her, so she tried to bribe him but he didn't take it and left. Then Oliver revealed he kept a straw that Philip used so they could test for his DNA. ("I Want You to Die", "Hi, I'm Philip")
The next day a bunch of boxes arrived, more discovery on the Hapstall case from Emily. Frank left with Philip's DNA to get it tested. Annalise decided to tell Caleb and Catherine about Philip and then Laurel gets a call saying that Emily wants to offer them a plea deal. She said the offer would expire a few hours later and Annalise said she was happy because being offered a plea deal meant the prosecution had no case. Caleb said he wanted to take the deal, however, so Annalise sent Michaela and her boobs to talk him out of it. At the same time Catherine called and asked to see Wes. He later told her to take the deal and Michaela told Caleb not to. Frank and Asher went back to get an update on Philip's DNA and Judy told them she just received a bunch of samples from Emily, causing Asher to put it together that there was a bug in the house.
They start looking for the bug and Catherine calls to say that Caleb took the deal and that he wouldn't be changing his mind. Later Asher finds the bug and Annalise says they need to use it to trick Catherine, so they lie about finding the murder weapon, causing Emily to issue a search warrant that pushed the time so the plea deal offer expired. Later Nate calls Annalise and tells her that Philip has gone to the police but he says he can fix it, forging a criminal record for Philip. Back at the house Laurel gets a call saying that Catherine took a deal, so everybody goes to the courthouse. The hearing was in an hour so Annalise needed them to come up with a way to force the judge to reject the deal. Meanwhile Frank got a rush on the DNA report and was able to get it to court at the last moment. That night Annalise gave the report to Emily, that Philip's DNA was a 99.4% match to DNA found at the crime scene and he was a product of incest. Later Wes realised that Catherine knew Philip because he had one of her paintings and at the same time Caleb showed Michaela where the murder weapon was. ("Hi, I'm Philip")
Night at the Hapstall mansion[]
During the day[]
Michaela called Connor over to the mansion to discuss what to do about the murder weapon. During this, Catherine came in, saw the commotion and fled. Meanwhile Emily and Matthew Joseph confronted Nate about forging Philip's criminal record. Annalise went to the Hapstall mansion and told Caleb she could no longer present him and his sister because she clearly knew about Philip and the gun while he did not. She went to a separate room and rang Frank, who told her that Philip was being arrested and that William Millstone's corruption had become public knowledge. Annalise tasked him with finding Catherine. Following that she rang Nate and he told her he was about to get fired because of Philip's record and that he blew up at her in front of the whole station. When Nate got called back into the sergeant's office, he said Emily filed a harassment lawsuit, so Nate countered with a racial discrimination lawsuit against Emily to stop himself from getting fired. The two then met in her car and agreed to drop both suits and on his way back upstairs he was seen by another A.D.A.
Annalise is shot[]
At the end of the work day, Emily was leaving the office and heading for her car when Asher started tailing her. He blamed her for his dad being dead and she defended herself, calling him a bad man and that the city was better without him. This caused Asher to go into a blind rage and run Emily over. He called Bonnie to help and while he was waiting a lady saw him. Bonnie called Annalise and she told them to come to the Hapstall mansion. Annalise called Frank and told him to get the pills from Annalise's office and take them with him when he went for Catherine. Annalise then went back to everyone and told them Emily was coming over and Caleb had to leave. Asher and Bonnie arrived and with the help of Annalise bring Emily's dead body into the mansion. The rest of the students initially didn't want to help but Annalise told Asher about Sam to force them into helping.
They clean the car, take Emily to the roof, and prepare other things while Annalise makes a phone call to Emily. Michaela and Connor get cold feet half way through the job and start to leave, so Wes and Laurel go after them. Emily is dropped from the roof by Asher and Bonnie and then the two of them leave. Meanwhile Frank drugs Catherine. Connor, Laurel, Wes and Michaela end up back inside, despite wanting to leave, and Annalise tells one of them to shoot her. Wes ends up doing so but Laurel took the blame. ("What Did We Do?")
After the shooting at the Hapstall Mansion[]
2 weeks later, the Hapstall siblings case was on hold because the lead prosecutor died and the defense attorney was shot and Catherine was charged with being the shooter. The case never formally started again but some weeks later, Annalise tried to talk to Wes in his apartment but was instead attacked by Philip, who gave her proof that Caleb killed Helena. Later Laurel told Annalise that Frank killed Lila, so she left for her mother's house. During her time there, the students found out that Caleb started informing against Annalise and a warrant was issued for her arrest, so she came home. She met with Todd Denver and gave him the proof that Philip gave her, and told him that Catherine would testify that she couldn't vouch for Caleb the night of their parent's murders because they would usually sleep together but that night he wasn't there. She convinced Denver not to prosecute her by telling him how good it would look for him to be the one to catch Caleb. Following that, the Hapstall case was closed and an arrest warrant was issued for Caleb, who had committed suicide after seeing the news that he was caught. ("What Happened to You, Annalise?", "It's a Trap", "Something Bad Happened", "There's My Baby") ("Anna Mae")
See also[]
- Night at the Hapstall Mansion
- Shooting at the Hapstall Mansion case
- Trotter Lake
- Murder of Samuel Keating case
- Utopia Circle Murder Case
- Murder of Rachel Glasser
- Murder of Steven Hartford
- Suicide of Marco Tidwell
- Wiretap warrant on the Keating house
- Caleb's fitness tracker
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
Season 2 | |||||||||||
"It's Time to Move On" | "She's Dying" | "It's Called the Octopus" | "Skanks Get Shanked" | ||||||||
"Meet Bonnie" | "Two Birds, One Millstone" | "I Want You to Die" | "Hi, I'm Philip" | ||||||||
"What Did We Do?" | "What Happened to You, Annalise?" | "She Hates Us" | "It's a Trap" |
"Something Bad Happened" | "There's My Baby" | "Anna Mae" |