S01.E09: Jack’s Story

[DanaK]

Quote

A high school teacher puts his reputation in jeopardy when he helps a student in need in the all-new "Jack's Story" episode of Accused airing Tuesday, March 21 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
 

 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Accused | 1x09 Promo "Jack’s Story"

 

[AnimeMania]

Jason Ritter as Jack Fletcher
Wrenn Schmidt as Britney Thoms
Emma Nelson as Clara Palmer
Daniel Beirne as ADA Roger Doty
Brad Austin as Frank
Joanne Boland as Jessica
Ryan Taerk as Richie
Ron Lea as Judge Bodman
Directed by Michael Chiklis

[Spartan Girl]

So he didn’t molest anyone, but his stupid girlfriend still broke up with him because he helped a teenage rape victim get an abortion? Girl, BYE.

[Madding crowd]

These stories raise my blood pressure too much. They are all designed to get people upset rather than discussing these issues in a rational way. The lesson I get from this is that teachers should never help a student because they will end up paying a price. I used to be a teacher and I would have handled things differently but I’m sure it’s different if you walk on a student attempting to harm herself.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Madding crowd

[Snazzy Daisy]

It’s hard for me to relate and sympathize with all of them (Jack, Britney & Clara) because if I were them, I will handle things differently, most probably.

[circumvent]

8 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

The lesson I get from this is that teachers should never help a student because they will end up paying a price.

Unfortunately this is what our society came to be. Americans, and all those who are addicted to American TV culture are uptight about a lot of things and tend to see everything through a lens of sex. This, plus the fact that, at the same time, sexualizing kids is considering pretty mainstream. On top of it all, the excessive reliance on "family services" which is largely inadequate. People who want to help have to put the help part aside to weigh in the possible consequences. Any help can, and do, become a reason for the suspicion of nefarious motives. It only takes one person who is convincing enough to destroy lives. 

[dancingdreamer]

Jason Ritter looks like his father, he has the same warmth in his demeanor. That's what apparently  gets him into his trouble. I didn't  like his girlfriend before  anything  happened. It's a shame Jack lost his teaching  position,  over something so infuriating. I was angry watching.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

It’s hard for me to relate and sympathize with all of them (Jack, Britney & Clara) because if I were them, I will handle things differently, most probably.

Of course. We all think that way.

But it still seems so stupid and unfair that Jack still had his life ruined because he “transported a minor over state lines without her parents’ permission.” Like the fact that her stepfather was abusing her doesn’t count as mitigating circumstances?! Ugh. Maybe Jack was too personally involved with his students’ lives, but he wasn’t a creep.

I get that Clara was scared and traumatized and didn’t want to break up her family, but pinning the blame on Jack when all he tried to do was help her? Nice. He was far more forgiving than other people might have been. Also, it’s hard enough for other victims to come forward when nobody else believes them. Even just one fabricated allegation makes it easier for assholes to go “See? They’re all liars.”

No good deed goes unpunished.

[LakeGal]

I can see Jack's girlfriend breaking up with him.  It was about the lies.  He lied to her.  I did not understand why he could not have told her the truth.  He handled everything wrong.  

[Snazzy Daisy]

37 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Maybe Jack was too personally involved with his students’ lives, but he wasn’t a creep.

Jack is immature when it comes to a bigger picture and consequences. Being selfless got him into troubles.

It’s a bit creepy that he lied so smoothly like it’s a second nature to him. I understand if Britney doesn’t want to be with him because she cannot trust him anymore but she left him because of the abortion, right? 
 

46 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I get that Clara was scared and traumatized and didn’t want to break up her family, but pinning the blame on Jack when all he tried to do was help her? Nice.

Clara is a bit manipulative in some ways. She’s more concerned about her mom than her teacher who’s helping her. And there’s no consequences for lying under oath?

 

[Spartan Girl]

38 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

It’s a bit creepy that he lied so smoothly like it’s a second nature to him. I understand if Britney doesn’t want to be with him because she cannot trust him anymore but she left him because of the abortion, right? 

Yup, she made it clear that was what she couldn’t get past because that issue was still black and white for her, even though she knew he was a good person. Which makes it understandable they Jack didn’t tell her about it in the first place knowing how strongly she felt about it. I mean, he shouldn’t have lied, but I get it. And if that was the one unforgivable thing for her in this whole mess, then he’s better off without her.

41 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Clara is a bit manipulative in some ways. She’s more concerned about her mom than her teacher who’s helping her. And there’s no consequences for lying under oath?

Perjury comes to mind, but I don’t they’d want to open that can of worms with a rape victim being coerced by her abuser.

[possibilities]

I think a lot of people need to be shown emotionally because talking rationally is too abstract to them. They need to feel it to really understand.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I had to pause while watching this one about 10 minutes in, because I was sure it was going to make me angry early on (beyond my usual frustrations with the series). It seemed likely that it would not handle the delicate politics around abortion well. 

Maybe I'll go back and finish watching. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Accused: Wrenn Schmidt Ruminates on "Jack's Story," Being "Attracted and Repelled" by "Lightning Rod" Subject Matter

 

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy
Added a tweet!

[Madding crowd]

I don’t agree with a lot of that article. Some students have no one to talk to and they may seek out a teacher who they feel is understanding. Saying that the rape would have been easily disclosed if Jack reported her for her suicide attempt is assuming things not seen in this episode. If we say it is always wrong for students to confide in a teacher, there will be less students helped with problems at home. Also we were not told that Jack was a chronic liar; he was caught up in a situation with a student he didn’t want to betray. I agree his actions were wrong but not agreeing that he is supposed to be a creep like this article states.

[mansonlamps]

7 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yup, she made it clear that was what she couldn’t get past because that issue was still black and white for her, even though she knew he was a good person. Which makes it understandable they Jack didn’t tell her about it in the first place knowing how strongly she felt about it. I mean, he shouldn’t have lied, but I get it. And if that was the one unforgivable thing for her in this whole mess, then he’s better off without her.

Perjury comes to mind, but I don’t they’d want to open that can of worms with a rape victim being coerced by her abuser.

Two people that disagree on something so fundamental as abortion rights and religion should know that about each other before they get married.  It's unfortunate that this is how they discovered their differences, but she was right to walk away and he should be grateful she didn't pretend to be okay with it to "keep a man." This in no way implies I agree with her position. 

[gesundheit]

 

On 3/22/2023 at 7:13 AM, dancingdreamer said:

Jason Ritter looks like his father, he has the same warmth in his demeanor. That's what apparently  gets him into his trouble. I didn't  like his girlfriend before  anything  happened. It's a shame Jack lost his teaching  position,  over something so infuriating. I was angry watching.

So true about Jason Ritter. My heart was basically bleeding every second I looked at his face, it's just baked in.

On 3/22/2023 at 9:15 AM, LakeGal said:

I can see Jack's girlfriend breaking up with him.  It was about the lies.  He lied to her.  I did not understand why he could not have told her the truth.  He handled everything wrong.  

He didn't seem at all surprised that she's so anti-abortion so I'd imagine that's why he didn't include her. But it's too fundamental a difference, so it's good that they split.

I found this to be one of the better episodes. Pretty engaging. That said, I didn't understand what the girlfriend said to the mom that made her turn on a dime like that and 100% believe that Jack was innocent and her husband was a rapist after having been so committed to the other version of things just seconds before. It didn't really seem like enough.

[Starchild]

The quality of this show is pretty high. But for some reason it still hasn't gelled with me. Every episode leaves an itchy feeling under my skin.

At first I was thinking it was a bait-and-switch, that the courtroom conceit of telling the story of the accused was not really about the trial as much as the backstory. And maybe that wasn't a bait-and-switch, maybe that's what it was always supposed to be. But compared to some of the others, this episode had a lot of courtroom time and I still felt unsatisfied.

I think maybe the issue for me is that the accused is always a decent person in a bad situation. Even if they aren't convicted, they've suffered a significant negative impact, up to and including a ruined life, like Jack's. There've been no happy endings, and it's getting depressing.

But the writing and acting is good, so I'll probably keep watching for a while yet.

[DanaK]

Let's face it, Jack is a dumbass. He totally deserves to lose his job and his teaching license for taking a minor over state lines to get her an abortion (and paying for it!), and he did it when he still thought the father was just another student. There were a lot of options he could have chosen to help Clara without him breaking a few laws. And I want to know why the authorities readily believed Clara when she changed her statement to accuse her stepfather after she had lied (and committed perjury) about Jack abusing her and getting her pregnant. And Jack too readily forgave Clara for accusing and lying about him

As for Brittney reaching Clara's mom, I think somehow she connected on a religious and mother to mother level and the mom finally couldn't overlook what she probably was trying to not see

The stepfather looked so much like a younger Clint Howard, it was eerie

 

[Whimsy]

16 hours ago, gesundheit said:

 

I found this to be one of the better episodes. Pretty engaging. That said, I didn't understand what the girlfriend said to the mom that made her turn on a dime like that and 100% believe that Jack was innocent and her husband was a rapist after having been so committed to the other version of things just seconds before. It didn't really seem like enough.

That said, to me, that the mom actually knew all along but was living in denial. Once it was out in the open, she finally did what she should’ve done all along and defended her daughter. 

[possibilities]

4 hours ago, DanaK said:

There were a lot of options he could have chosen to help Clara without him breaking a few laws.

What do you think he should have done?

[Crashcourse]

Jack could have scooped her up and taken her to the school nurse or principal and told the truth about her trying to hang herself, and let the authorities handle the situation.   After that, it was none of his business.

[Court]

This is the second episode I've had to suspend my disbelief. There is no way in hell that they would arrest Jack that damn fast because of an accusation with zero evidence. It doesn't even happen when there is proof. And if they did, it would have never been brought to trial. 

Also, he would be fired but he wouldn't have lost his license that easily. There are teachers in many states that have sexually abused students and all the district does is dismiss them and they hop on to another district to continue abusing. 

I wish they had left that part out or at least left the accusation in, have the police interview him and they find out that way about the stepfather abuse. 

 There are also guidelines and protocols for what you do when a student tries to harm themselvese and he did none of those things. 

[Halting Hex]

Jack should have put Clara on a plane to Albuquerque.  (Flights from Lubbock [via Houston] are surprisingly affordable.) And he should have contacted the organization that the clinic mentioned so he didn't pay for it.  (He can make a "donation" to Planned Parenthood of New Mexico or whomever later.  But he should know that directly providing transportation or funds in that situation opens you up to charges.  It's not as if the laws that he was breaking have gone unpublicized. )

But never mind the details of the plot; I'd just like one episode where the courtroom procedure isn't horribly botched.  Why was Clara a defense witness?  How had the prosecution established a prima facie case without her testimony, given that this was pretty much a "he said, she said"?  They'd never have made it past a motion for directed verdict without her already being on the stand.

Now I know why the writer did it this way:  they wanted Clara's lie about the baseball game on the radio to come up at the last possible minute, so that Britney and Clara's mom could be the heroes of the story.  The writer was worried that having Jack and his attorney break Clara's story and expose her as a liar would be considered sexist or something like that.  Plus all the "drama" where once Clara's off the stand, it's "summations in 15 minutes!" OMG, Jack is trouble if Britney doesn't save him RIGHT NOW!

Except, of course, that Jack's attorney hadn't rested his case.  So the call for summations would be reversible error, right there.  And even if Clara had somehow been called as a defense witness (lucky for the DA, who was practically badgering her, which you can't do on direct), Jack's attorney would be entitled to redirect examination.

If they wanted a woman to "rescue" Jack, why not have Jack employ a female attorney?  The way a significant percentage of men facing similar charges do, not only so the jury subconsciously thinks "well, he can't be such a creep or she wouldn't be defending him" but also so that the accuser's credibility can be attacked without it coming across as "OMG THOSE HORRIBLE MEN! Leave her alone, you bastards!!"

And speaking of Clara's story, no way in hell would the case ever go to trial with almost no details, just a last-second "um, we first had sex sometime in the spring, I don't remember when".  What grand jury would indict without a specific accusation?  And Clara would have given a statement to the police, which Jack and his attorney would have been given a copy of.

Thus making it possible for basic alibi issues to come up, like perhaps on the night Clara claimed they had sex, Jack was actually at church with Britney and 200 witnesses, including Clara's mother.  Or with the unseen Dustin, or someone else. Or the Texas Rangers didn't even have a game that night (or it was an afternoon game, or they were rained out, or the game was on the West Coast and didn't start until after Clara claimed Jack dropped her off after their encounter). Or any other factual gap, never mind the bit about how Jack doesn't listen to sports.

So annoying.  And it's not as if I'm an attorney; I just have a basic layperson's understanding, chiefly from watching almost 500 episodes of Law & Order and so on.  Gah!

[possibilities]

He would still have been liable for helping her get to Albuquerque, even if he didn't go with her. The Texas law says anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion, even by giving them money or transportation or even advice about how to get one, can be sued.

Not saying mistakes were not made, only that that particular fix wouldn't have helped him. 

[Simba122504]

On 3/22/2023 at 4:24 PM, mansonlamps said:

Two people that disagree on something so fundamental as abortion rights and religion should know that about each other before they get married.  It's unfortunate that this is how they discovered their differences, but she was right to walk away and he should be grateful she didn't pretend to be okay with it to "keep a man." This in no way implies I agree with her position. 

Given they live in a southern state.  I'm surprised this never came up, especially with abortion being front page news for a minute now. He knows lot of Conservatives. His own parents are probably Conservatives. 

[Halting Hex]

On 3/26/2023 at 4:30 PM, possibilities said:

He would still have been liable for helping her get to Albuquerque, even if he didn't go with her. The Texas law says anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion, even by giving them money or transportation or even advice about how to get one, can be sued.

Not saying mistakes were not made, only that that particular fix wouldn't have helped him. 

Well, I did say that he shouldn't have paid for the ticket.  Not sure that "you can take a plane to Albuquerque, y'know" would qualify as  "advice on how to get an abortion", as the state would have to prove that Clara didn't know there were clinics in New Mexico or that Lubbock had an airport.

I grant you we'd be back in "he said, she said" territory, but if the jury doesn't believe her about his being the father, they'd be less likely to fall for "I never even thought about going to New Mexico until that bastard told me too!" either, IMO.

(Clara does tell Jack that Oklahoma is useless for abortions, so she's clearly checked out at least one neighboring state on her own.)

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 3/25/2023 at 11:13 PM, Halting Hex said:

But never mind the details of the plot; I'd just like one episode where the courtroom procedure isn't horribly botched.  Why was Clara a defense witness?  How had the prosecution established a prima facie case without her testimony, given that this was pretty much a "he said, she said"?  They'd never have made it past a motion for directed verdict without her already being on the stand.

Now I know why the writer did it this way:  they wanted Clara's lie about the baseball game on the radio to come up at the last possible minute, so that Britney and Clara's mom could be the heroes of the story.  The writer was worried that having Jack and his attorney break Clara's story and expose her as a liar would be considered sexist or something like that.  Plus all the "drama" where once Clara's off the stand, it's "summations in 15 minutes!" OMG, Jack is trouble if Britney doesn't save him RIGHT NOW!

Except, of course, that Jack's attorney hadn't rested his case.  So the call for summations would be reversible error, right there.  And even if Clara had somehow been called as a defense witness (lucky for the DA, who was practically badgering her, which you can't do on direct), Jack's attorney would be entitled to redirect examination.

If they wanted a woman to "rescue" Jack, why not have Jack employ a female attorney?  The way a significant percentage of men facing similar charges do, not only so the jury subconsciously thinks "well, he can't be such a creep or she wouldn't be defending him" but also so that the accuser's credibility can be attacked without it coming across as "OMG THOSE HORRIBLE MEN! Leave her alone, you bastards!!"

And speaking of Clara's story, no way in hell would the case ever go to trial with almost no details, just a last-second "um, we first had sex sometime in the spring, I don't remember when".  What grand jury would indict without a specific accusation?  And Clara would have given a statement to the police, which Jack and his attorney would have been given a copy of.

Thus making it possible for basic alibi issues to come up, like perhaps on the night Clara claimed they had sex, Jack was actually at church with Britney and 200 witnesses, including Clara's mother.  Or with the unseen Dustin, or someone else. Or the Texas Rangers didn't even have a game that night (or it was an afternoon game, or they were rained out, or the game was on the West Coast and didn't start until after Clara claimed Jack dropped her off after their encounter). Or any other factual gap, never mind the bit about how Jack doesn't listen to sports.

So annoying.  And it's not as if I'm an attorney; I just have a basic layperson's understanding, chiefly from watching almost 500 episodes of Law & Order and so on.  Gah!

Ugh. This isn't very clear. They start off "The Defense calls Clara Palmer" at the beginning of the testimony they show us  So it would be part of the defense case. But a short while later,  she gives some more testimony and then the prosecutor rests. 

At a criminal trial, the typical structure is:

Opening statements

Prosecution main case

Defense main case

Prosecution rebuttal case (typically skipped)

Closing arguments.

So I would think she had gotten called earlier in the prosecution main case, and then the defense had her recalled to the stand during its case. Then time passes and she gets recalled yet again in a prosecution rebuttal case, after which point the prosecution rests. 

This would be a very messy way to question any witness, let alone a purported rape victim. But it's at least possible. A better show would have just had the prosecution calling her and then shown the cross-examination and maybe some redirect.

Yes, technically things would have required Jack formally resting before they could go to closing arguments. But if my understanding is correct and that last bit of questioning was in the prosecution's rebuttal, then there would not be a need for the defense to rest -- the defense had already closed their case before the rebuttal.

Even if we were in the prosecution main case it is not unlikely that the defense attorney had already informed the court that Jack wasn't going to be testifying in his own defense and that Jack wasn't going to have any other witnesses, so the judge was shortcutting that the defense attorney would be getting up to say "The defense rests" and then the case would go to closings.

It seems like it would be a poor decision to not have defense witnesses and for Jack not to testify in his own defense in this case since he and only he can explain the trip to New Mexico. But maybe he did testify as to that and the show just skipped that part.

It would take little effort to structure the show so that the flashbacks to the story were not placed in the context of testimony. Hopefully they put forth that effort next season.

Also it would be weird to the point of being unheard of for a criminal case to a) do depositions at all and b) for those depositions to be presented to the jury instead of live witnesses. Normally the only times a deposition would be allowed to reach the jury would be if the witnesses were unavailable for trial. The defense would prefer live witnesses to reject the notion that Jack was sleeping with Clara. 

I don't think that even in a world where Jack's attorney had not intended to rest it would be reversible error for the judge to say "time for closing arguments" because Jack's attorney would still have an opportunity to say "Actually I am not yet ready to rest." and if he didn't speak up and want to present a case, any error would be waived. It would only be reversible error if Jack's attorney wanted to present a case but the judge didn't allow it. The show tried to do some end-around by saying that there were depositions taken.

There's an old saying that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich, and there's some truth to that. The grand jury wouldn't necessarily need to hear evidence from Clara directly at all to bring charges, and it certainly wouldn't need every single detail of the supposed affair. All it would need is a cop saying "I interviewed the victim. She told me that she had had sex with Mr. Fletcher, that she found out she was pregnant, that she told him, and that he drove her to New Mexico and paid for her to have an abortion." Hypothetically any half-decent prosecutor would find out more and prepare Clara for her testimony better than this one did. 

The "I never listen to sports on the radio" doesn't even work very well as an alibi. Even if Jack doesn't care about sports and would never typically listen to a baseball game, it could be that he decided to that day. Or it could be that Clara could have wanted the ball game on -- some girls are sports fans, after all. Or they could have come across the baseball game while changing channels.  It's kind of a sad commentary on their relationship that Fiancee could more easily envision Jack raping a student than listening to a baseball game. 

Good luck prosecuting stepdad when your chief witness has already perjured herself repeatedly. 

 

[possibilities]

I don't think they introduced Jack's not listening to baseball games into the trial. Jack used that to get his fiancee to believe the girl was lying. But I agree that it's pathetic that she believed he'd rape her until the baseball lie was told.

IIRC, the case was dropped because after the fiancee confronted the girl's mother, the girl decided to recant her testimony. So the baseball game was not used as evidence to exonerate Jack, it was only used outside the courtroom to enlist support from the fiancee.

It was stlll a mess, I'm not disputing that.

[Chicago Redshirt]

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

I don't think they introduced Jack's not listening to baseball games into the trial. Jack used that to get his fiancee to believe the girl was lying. But I agree that it's pathetic that she believed he'd rape her until the baseball lie was told.

IIRC, the case was dropped because after the fiancee confronted the girl's mother, the girl decided to recant her testimony. So the baseball game was not used as evidence to exonerate Jack, it was only used outside the courtroom to enlist support from the fiancee.

Right, sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that it was actually formally introduced in court, just that it was an odd turning point for Fiancee.

[Cotypubby]

This show is so terrible, I really don’t know why I keep watching. The first episode or two were good but all the rest have been garbage designed to anger the audience about political issues. I feel like this show became some kind of bait and switch. Originally from the trailers it seemed like “So-and-so is accused of a crime and did they really do for or not!?” But every episode has really been “Well-meaning innocent person gets accused of something they didn’t do. Please feel bad for them.”

The writing of this one was especially awful. So the girlfriend confronts the mother in the hallway during the trial and suddenly for no reason (from her perspective) the mother does a 180 against the step-father and believes Jack is innocent, even though the daughter was still claiming otherwise?  Whyyyyy? 
 

And Clara destroyed Jack’s life and would have put him in prison. She should feel bad about what she did. False accusations like hers cause actual rapists to go free and stop people from believing other victims.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Cotypubby

[Irate Panda]

On 4/9/2023 at 4:38 PM, Cotypubby said:

This show is so terrible, I really don’t know why I keep watching. The first episode or two were good but all the rest have been garbage designed to anger the audience about political issues. I feel like this show became some kind of bait and switch. Originally from the trailers it seemed like “So-and-so is accused of a crime and did they really do for or not!?” But every episode has really been “Well-meaning innocent person gets accused of something they didn’t do. Please feel bad for them.”

The writing of this one was especially awful. So the girlfriend confronts the mother in the hallway during the trial and suddenly for no reason (from her perspective) the mother does a 180 against the step-father and believes Jack is innocent, even though the daughter was still claiming otherwise?  Whyyyyy? 
 

And Clara destroyed Jack’s life and would have put him in prison. She should feel bad about what she did. False accusations like hers cause actual rapists to go free and stop people from believing other victims.

I actually took the mother’s quick turn as the mother had already suspected the stepfather had been abusing Clara.  I think the mother was supposed to be in some sort of denial about it but when the fiancée talks to her it pushes the mother to confront her feelings about what has really been going on.  I agree that the writing in most of these episodes is awful.  I like the concept of the show but the writers ask the audience to make one preposterous leap after another, yet like you, I continue to watch this trash 😂