- "He came at me with a bottle yelling. I didn't know what to do, so I grabbed it out of his hand and oh, my God, Annalise. I killed Steven."
The case surrounding the murder of Steven Hartford never entered a courtroom because Annalise was able to get the charges dropped. Jill Hartford killed her husband Steven after years of abuse so Annalise, her long time friend, helped her keep the case from going any further than a police investigation.
Case[]
Annalise was briefing the Keating 5 on the next steps of the Hapstall case when she got interrupted by a panicked Jill on the phone. Jill told her that she killed Steven after he tried to attack her, so Annalise dropped what she was doing and traveled to the crime scene, the Hartford residence. Along the way she had Jill explain on the phone exactly what happened. Steven was out all night and came home drunk and angry with her. She tried to leave but he grabbed her and the situation escalated, resulting in his death. Annalise asked more questions including whether he was abusive, which Jill was reluctant to answer. She continued, asking if there were any signs of a struggle and Jill said there was a knocked over chair and she had some scratches on her arm. Following that Annalise told her to hang up and call the police, but not say anything to them in person until she arrived.
Once she got there, she pointed out to detective Clay Irvin that there was an officer examining the crime scene without gloves, and that would be used during the trial, but only if the police were 'dumb' enough to charge Jill. She then instructed they test Steven's blood to see how drunk he was when he attacked Jill. Later Annalise called Bonnie and had her look into where Steven was all night before he came home. She realised that Jill staged the crime scene and sat down to confront her before detective Irvin came back over and their conversation was cut short. He showed her ID before she transitioned and got transphobic, causing Jill to lash out.
Later in the police station Annalise asked if anybody could vouch that Steven knew Jill was transgender. She said yes, but that no one knew about the abuse. Annalise asked why she staged the crime scene and Jill said she exaggerated it so that she was believed and not sent to prison. That night, Melissa Greenwell, Jill's T.A, told Bonnie that she witnessed Steven beating Jill and didn't remember the specific details because she was afraid and ran away. Melissa said she never told anybody and Annalise concluded it was because it was a made up story, but decided to use it. She went to Clay Irvin and A.D.A Hollis Feldman with the this information. She told them to drop the charges but Feldman brought up that Jill called Annalise for 1 minute 42 seconds before calling the police and speculated that Annalise coached her on how to fake the crime scene. He threatened to charge her with accessory after the fact. Back at the house, she told Bonnie what happened and said that her reputation and phone logs were enough for her to actually be charged.
Asher told Annalise that a reporter called him with questions about Tiffany Howard and he started going on about how he needed Annalise to fix the situation so that he could talk to his dad. He continued that his dad hated Annalise and could find a way to take her down. She zoned out and hatched a plan, calling Bonnie and Frank into the kitchen to instruct them to gather everything they could on William Millstone.
The next day Annalise met with Hollis Feldman and told him he would be dropping the charge against Jill on the grounds of self-defense. She also said he needed to ensure Emily Sinclair ended her 'witch-hunt' into her and her staff. She called it 'two birds, one Millstone'. She said he could use the file she gave him to charge William Millstone with multiple counts of corruption. Feldman took the deal and dropped the charges against Jill.
Trivia[]
- Annalise turned on Asher's father because she was being threatened with criminal charges and needed a way out, and a way to free her client.
See also[]
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" |