S04 E08 Perry Mason The Case of the Provocative Protege

[@michaelcanty4940]

The cast and producers were very loyal to Bill Talman and may have chosen these less than likeable replacements. Another and more logical alternative would have been to replace the DA and just adjust to no more having Hamilton Burger to kick around.

[@MelBee128]

Another awful Burger replacement grandstanding and chewing up the scenery in hopes of being hired on full-time. His snarky comments to Perry did not endear him to the audience. When Perry asks to see a piece of evidence, he makes a rude comment about how looking at it won't arrest evidence. Why didn't the judge tap his pen and tell him to cut the sh!t? But the main problem with the DA was that his entire case against Donna was circumstantial. That's obviously a writing issue, but the way in which the DA presented his case was all in the hands of the actor. "We found your fingerprints in the decedent's car. A-ha!" "We found a tissue with your lipstick. A-HA! "He literally held up the bracelet given to Donna and waved it back and forth in front of the jury as though it was a video of her committing the murder. The prosecutor acted shocked when he learned that the dead guy purchased a car and paid Donna's rent. The wife testified that David had taken care of Donna since her parents died. What did the prosecutor think that meant? Everything David bought her was in her name so none of it was a motive for murder! Why didn't the judge or Perry tell this guy that finding evidence of the defendant having been seen with the dead guy was not evidence of murder? She was his protege. They spent a lot of time together. Even the story about her having been in love with him wasn't proven. The DA's poor treatment of David's wife should have at least garnered a pen tap by the judge. She was described as a hostile witness, but she was also a woman who had just lost her husband. If the state is working on behalf of the people, don't they have a responsibility to treat her with kid gloves or at least with some respect? Incidentally, why do they insist on putting hostile witnesses on the stand? Is your case so thin that you can't find anyone else willing to testify? Either way, the whole case was beyond flimsy. When Perry tells the wife that the police don't arrest a person unless they have solid evidence I nearly spit out my drink. They certainly do! At least in this show.