THE MARSHALL
Hitwoman
Pictures captured byMaike Liedtke
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THE MARSHALL "Hitwoman" First season, episode 5. James Morrison plays a crooked prosecuting attorney by the name of Chet Fields.

marshall05_small.jpg 4.9Kmarshall01_small.jpg 4.9KMarshall Winston McBride helps deliver Veronica Cole to court for her trial as the assassin in an unprovoked fatal attack on a couple and their son. Chet Fields, a prosecuting attorney, looks professional dressed in a dark blue suit, light blue shirt, gold wire rims and the ubiquitous striped school tie.

While leaving the courthouse, Veronica escapes, hides in McBride's car, and kidnaps him. She tells him she's been setup for this particular crime ("I never aim for the head"). She wants his help to clear herself, but when patrol cars pursue them, McBride is caught in the crossfire.

Returning to consciousness, McBride finds himself bandaged and handcuffed to a sofabed. Back at the station house, the police settle in for an around-the-clock search, and the attorneys prosecuting Veronica arrive to follow the progress in person. After all, as Robert Steiner puts it, "she's our case". Chet Fields elaborates, "We have reason to believe Miss Cole's murdered upwards of a half a dozen people in our state alone."

Meanwhile, Veronica returns from shopping on McBride's credit cards. "Who set me up, Winston? I'm not difficult to get along with, as long as I get what I want, when I want it", she says, fondling her pistol.

It seems that Veronica was approached by someone named "Rorschach" to take the job, but refused him. McBride sneaks a call to his assistant, Donna Claiborne, who discovers that chief prosecuting attorney Robert Steiner is responsible for most of the take in drug arrests, which he's been funneling into a Swiss bank account.

Veronica abruptly releases McBride, who makes a beeline for Steiner's office to search for more evidence. He learns that Chet Fields has never lost a case, and that he spends most of his time on cases that never come to trial, because the defendants are killed before their trial dates come up.

McBride and Donna struggle through traffic in a desperate race to beat Veronica to Chet's house. Several squad cars crowd the curbs at Fields' neighborhood, and McBride, stuck in traffic takes off on foot. Of course, by the time McBride arrives, Chet's in a sweat, and McBride tries to force a confession from him. "What are you up to, Marshall?"

 

marshall02_small.jpg 4.2Kmarshall04_small.jpg 4.3KMcBride: "I figure we have about three and a half minutes until Veronica gets here, so you better talk fast, Chet." Chet runs for his desk and reaches for his pistol, but McBride overpowers and handcuffs him.

"I wasn't going use that on you. If Miss Cole harms me, I'm going hold you personally accountable!" Chet blusters.

McBride throws him to the ground. "You wouldn't happen to have one of those wall-sized Miranda warning cards, would you, Chet? Since you're an attorney, I want to make sure I say everything exactly right."

"I've never lost a case, and I tell you that is one heck of a record, you're right!" Chet fumes.

marshall03_small.jpg 5.1KMcBride tries again to draw out Chet. "I think you should be running that whole department."

"Politics, everything's politics..." Chet murmurs.

"You think you could of won the Cooper case?" McBride asks.

"Steiner's not incompetent, really, he's not a bad guy, he just doesn't know how to argue the tough cases." Chet claims, trying to deflect McBride.

"Yeah, but that was your case", says McBride, refusing to be distracted. "I guess you didn't think you could win, and that's why you hired Veronica to kill him."

"NO!" Chet denies vehemently.

"Let me ask you this, Chet. Did you hire Veronica to pop all the defendants that you didn't think you could convict? Or did you kind of spread that work around?"

"What are you talking about?" asks Chet, refusing to be pinned down.

"I'll bet that internal audit last year scared the hell out of you, didn't it?" McBride probes again.

"Why would an audit scare me? You know, there are studies about how hostages start to identify with their kidnappers. I think you should put in for some medical leave, Marshall, get yourself some serious psychotherapy." Chet says, trying again to distract McBride.

McBride isn't buying it. "Alright, I'm going call my answering machine, Chet, and we're going record your confession, just in case I screw up."

"This could be construed as coercion," says Chet, still trying to put him off.

"Shhh...I think Veronica's here."

"Ok, Ok, Ok! She's not a good person, let's just establish that right up front. I had her do some. some work for me, you know, decommissioning some drug dealing scum who were yanking the law around to make loopholes they could drop through. When the audit came down, I decided it was time to do some house cleaning of my own." Chet begins.

"Like Cooper and Miss Cole," McBride prompts.

"She knew too much, man."

"She didn't know anything," McBride rebuts. "She needed me to get to you."

"Yeah, and here you are!"

"What I don't understand is why did you have to kill the kid?" asks the Marshall.

Meanwhile, Veronica has flashed her stolen Marshall's badge to the police, and walked into Chet's house without obstruction. Chet hears the door snap shut. "Oh, God, it's her. She's in the house. My house. Oh, oh, look, suppose I testify against her? She's done other killings. I know about them, and not just for me! We can take her down together!"

"She's the bad guy, man!" Chet continues to plead. "I'm on your side, here, you know that! McBride? This woman is a free-range, ice cold killer! Oh, God!" he cries, as Veronica walks into the room. "Mr. Fields, you're Rorschach", she says, aiming for him.

"This isn't happening!" Chet cries, just as McBride who had hidden, appears, shooting Veronica in the arm to apprehend her.

As he's led to a squad car in his final scene, Chet is already planning his defense. "It was a forced confession, it'll never stand up."

Back at home, McBride and his wife have fallen asleep in front of the TV, where the evening news announces the escape of Veronica Cole on her way to the hospital. As the credits begin to roll, his telephone rings...

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