- "Judge, were you or were you not under the influence at the time you signed the warrant? Clearly, the answer is no."
- —Michael Bordal's question to the judge during the second hearing to vacate the FBI's warrant for Oliver Hampton's laptop[src]
A.U.S.A Bordal is a minor character on How to Get Away with Murder. He is the attorney during the Paula Murphy aka Elena Aguilar case in season 1. He also appears twice in season 5 during the Gabriel Maddox Domestic Terrorism case and the Judicial Impropriety case.
Biography[]
Annalise Keating represents Paula Murphy, a friend of a friend, who was caught having sex in a park. Annalise gets the charges dropped and her record sealed, but as soon as they leave the police station, the FBI pull up and arrest Paula, but they call her Elena Aguilar, a fugitive tied to a deadly bombing in 1994. Paula was young and manipulated. She turned her life around and had a family. Annalise thinks they can win the case even though Paula's fingerprints were found on part of the pipe bomb. They plan to pin everything on The Red Letter Brigade's ringleader, Gabriel Shaw.
In court, Michael Bordal is the lead prosecutor. He calls Gabriel Shaw to the stand and questions him about 1994 in relation to Paula. Gabriel testifies that it was her idea to plant the bomb, causing Annalise to accuse him of lying because he had previously said he would testify to orchestrating the bombing on his own and Paula knew nothing about it. Annalise argues that it wasn't until Gabriel spoke with the prosecution that he decided to change his testimony. Michael objects, so Annalise rephrases her question and gets Gabriel to admit the prosecution offered him early release if he testified against Paula. The case ends up on permanent hold after Paula fled with Gabriel.
Annalise Keating represents Gabriel Maddox who is being charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI wanted him to turn on Annalise and begin informing against her, and was using the terrorism charge as a threat and means to convince him to stop being loyal to her. Once Judge Horning read the charges, Annalise questioned the grounds of which the government was using to present these charges against Gabriel. Michael stated the prosecution would prove the extent of Gabriel's criminal actions at trial but Annalise wanted evidence, so Michael presented a photo of Gabriel wearing a mask and throwing tear gas at law enforcement during the Ferguson protests in 2014. This prompted the Judge Horning to set bail at 1 million dollars.
The Keating 4 were tasked by Annalise to go through Gabriel's accounts to find more evidence of the terrorism charge. Laurel had the idea to look at the footage of Gabriel being arrested from the spy camera Frank planted in his apartment. She found that an FBI agent planted the mask inside Gabriel's apartment to fabricate evidence. When this was presented to court, Michael had no choice but to drop the charges against Gabriel.
Oliver Hampton and Connor Walsh represented themselves after filing a motion to vacate the warrant served for Oliver's laptop. During the first hearing, Connor mentioned his property rights and the fact that Telesco, who served the warrant for the laptop, was exposed planting evidence in the Gabriel Maddox Domestic Terrorism case. Michael explained to Judge Singh how Ronald Miller was last seen at the couple's wedding and the FBI believed their wedding photos could disclose key evidence. Asher whispered to Connor to say the photos could have been downloaded without having to take the laptop, and then whispered a second time but was silenced by the judge. In the end, Judge Singh ruled against the motion.
Later Oliver read about judicial impropriety after seeing it in one of Connor's textbooks. This prompted him to use Connor's laptop to hack the judge's credit card and find that she ate at a wine and cheese bar at the time the warrant was signed. Back in court, Oliver was at the table by himself. He brought up the wine and cheese bar under the guise of having a neighbour who saw Singh there. His argument was that even the appearance of judicial impropriety can be just as problematic as actual impropriety, and signing the warrant at a place that serves alcohol poses the question of whether she had consumed any. Michael asked Singh if she was under the influence at the time the warrant was signed and she said no, but that they only had her word. She agreed with Oliver and ruled to immediately vacate the warrant.
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" |
| Season 5 | |||||||||||
| "Your Funeral" | "Whose Blood Is That?" | "The Baby Was Never Dead" | "It's Her Kid" | ||||||||
| "It Was the Worst Day of My Life" | "We Can Find Him" | "I Got Played" | "I Want to Love You Until the Day I Die" | ||||||||
| "He Betrayed Us Both" | "Don't Go Dark on Me" | "Be the Martyr" | "We Know Everything" | ||||||||
| "Where Are Your Parents?" | "Make Me the Enemy" | "Please Say No One Else Is Dead" |