re: The Night Of - New HBO Limited Series

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My thinking is she took the case for free for the notoriety and if he would have taken the deal it would have worked. But she was never going to actually go to trial for free.

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I agree, trial was always going to be a junior attorney and a bill.

I guess the best way I can explain my problem with this show is things that are happening are just baseless. I mean, they're trying to push this Muslim angle, as if the people would really react this way. I've seen murder cases on Dateline and other shows involving Muslim people and there was no outcry like this. There was no racism involved. This is a case where the defendant has overwhelming evidence against him that he raped and murdered someone. If the evidence was shaky, I would understand. But it's like the lawyer is in there acting like "What's happening here? Is this because he's Muslim?" As if there's not overwhelming evidence against him? It's just baseless. Not a lot in this show makes sense to me. I'm sorry. The cinematography is great. The acting is good. John T's character is great. But the law stuff in the show is horrendous and the reasoning for some of the people's behavior is just baseless and poorly conceived IMO.

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But someone with knowledge - do plea deals actually work like that where you have to testify as to what you are pleading to? I thought if you just took the deal that was that and it was over.

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The facts of the case which constitute the elements of a crime have to be put into the record. Most jurisdictions require the prosecution to recite the facts but some require the judge to make the statement while advising the defendant of his rights and the consequences of his/her guilty plea.

Here's where the show dropped the ball. The DA approved the plea bargain because he didn't want the political fallout it was creating. If that was the reason, the DA's office could have allowed Naz to take an "Alford Plea". An Alford Plea allows a defendant to take a plea deal without admitting guilt. Happens all the time in felony cases.

As a backdrop, I was a felony prosecutor for 6 years.

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this show is garbage. HBO needs to do better


It's not garbage but it sure is moving at a snail's pace. I guess that's what happens when you have 8 hours to tell a 50 minute story.

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Do we not trust HBO to put together a great show by now? This is slow and deliberate. It is meant to be slow and deliberate. If you don't like it don't watch (you both said you still would). They are showing a kid who was pampered all his life start to see the way things work

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if he or she was aiming at a manslaughter conviction instead of 1st or 2nd degree, would argue that Naz killed her in the "heat of the moment" because of something she did or didn't do.

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OK. You're the prosecutor. But I've seen cases "In the heat of the moment" that were 2nd degree.

Also, the strongest possible motive against Naz is that she turned him down in bed. I think rape is easy to pursue here.

I'll say this, I've seen countless true high profile murder cases and I can't say that I've ever seen one this strong get manslaughter. Stabbing her that many times is intent to kill. It's not like he hit her or something. We're talking about a situation where the victim was stabbed repeatedly. The only way I can see the DA accepting manslaughter is if the evidence was shaky. Sure the defense will try, but the DA accepting is another thing entirely.

ETA: And if you have seen a case like this, I would ask you to point one out, because I want to know about these injustices.

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Last, if she is a so called SJW lawyer, you think she wants to attack the dead victim in court, call her a drug addict, sex addict, with enemies in open court to defend Nas? I don't see her going there with her reputation. Also unless I missed it the show never says that she is a great trial lawyer; other than the big media clients, social causes, and her big firm, her and Stone aren't really that much different lawyers, try to find clients, make a good deal, and get paid.

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Her play would have been that nas was a good, American boy and not the Muslim monster that some people make him out to be. The initial implication is that she is looking at this from a civil rights/racial POV. That's why our first introduction to her was the p.i. turned age/sex discrimination case.

Had she been getting paid by the khan family from the start, I'd have no problem with the plea bargain, because yeah, nas was getting offered a great deal, and a loser like stone couldn't negotiate that. It just doesn't make sense that some bigshot lawyer is coming to save the day pro bono by pleading out.

My gripe is how they presented her and her firm. She was introduced while fighting against an age/sex discrimination case, and they made it seem as though she was interested in nas because he was Muslim. Someone like that isn't really looking to make a name for themselves by negotiating a plea. If she was some hotshot, up and coming criminal defense attorney I'd buy that story line.

I just think that whole storyline was a waste and the last 2 episodes could have been written with Stone as his attorney.

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Oh, it definitely would have worked. People would have lined up to hire her to get 15 years and manslaughter for rape a

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Exactly. That's the only reason we know of so far that would have gave her incentive to take the case pro bono and then wanting to get a plea done

I see what you're saying, but with that deal, can you blame her? It's possible she did want to go to trial and that deal was just too good to pass up.

But it's like this, if she TRULY believed that he was innocent and blabbing to the media about him being racially profiled, how could she POSSIBLY save face with the media? She would have to go out there and say "Well, we did believe he was innocent, but now we don't". It didn't make sense, I agree. I was under the impression that she was all in on a trial or full dismissal (which was not a possibility).

As far as time goes, we're only a few days after the night of right?

Have they gotten all the lab/blood results back yet?

I remember in episode 1 or 2 the DA and Box talking about waiting for the blood but I don't remember anything else happening.