Trevor Elliott's free-throw parable
The grieving tech mogul, days from his murder trial, sizes Mickey up and muses on control and chance.
Trevor Elliott
Every The Lincoln Lawyer moment featuring Trevor Elliott, in story order. Played by Christopher Gorham.
37 moments · 1h 11m
Elliott tells Mickey not to handle him
Elliott demands a trial next week, refuses any delay and warns Mickey he has not hit the lottery yet.
Mickey's terms: not guilty, and don't lie to me
Elliott wants his freedom and his name back; Mickey promises only a not-guilty verdict and walks if lied to.
Trevor Elliott: without Lara, I have no magic
Elliott tells how he crossed the uncanny valley with code built around his wife, insists he could not have killed her, and hires Mickey.
Golantz outs Mickey's rehab in open court
At the status conference the prosecutor raises Mickey's addiction, the judge reins him in and Elliott erupts against any delay.
Elliott's ultimatum: this is your one shot
Pressed for his angle, Elliott reveals a company sale riding on a fast verdict and dares Mickey to take the case as scheduled.
Trevor Elliott insists on testifying
Mickey drives his client's sports car to the coast, walks through the evidence, and Trevor refuses to stay off the stand.
Mickey makes Trevor relive the murders at the beach house
Mickey times the drive, then forces Trevor through the house to tell exactly what he found that morning.
The cameras question: Mickey's mock cross breaks Trevor
Mickey catches Trevor lying about the affair, then reveals the walkthrough was a rehearsal of what the prosecutor will do.
Mickey takes Trevor to Pink's to meet the jury pool
Over chili dogs Mickey explains the Gods of Guilt, swaps Trevor's supercar for a Prius, and Trevor flatly refuses a jury consultant.
Mickey wants twelve lemmings in a box
Walking Trevor past the press, Mickey explains voir dire: he does not want fair jurors, he wants them biased for him.
Trevor demands a veto over every juror cut
Lorna mocks Mickey's colored pens, then Trevor insists that no juror goes without his say, and Mickey grudgingly agrees.
Anonymous jurors introduce themselves and Golantz strikes first
The judge sets up an anonymous jury, a comedian blurts her name and is excused, and Golantz smokes out three bluffers.
Mickey charms the jury pool with his daughter story
After explaining peremptory challenges as bullets to save, Mickey uses his daughter to ask who blindly trusts cops.
Mickey baits juror one about her cop ex-husband
Mickey probes why her ex left the force early, the judge refuses to strike her for cause, and he burns a challenge on purpose.
The open folder trick that gets Golantz to cut juror five
Mickey stalls for a recess, leaves his notes open, and lets Golantz misread blue as a juror he wants.
Mickey springs a Wheeler motion in chambers
Trevor pushes to cut juror ten; Mickey accuses Golantz of striking women, loses, and gains time instead.
The Prius fiasco costs Mickey his last challenge
Golantz cuts 27, juror ten accuses Trevor of following her in the lot, and Mickey must kick his best juror.
Trevor's convenient story about the missing $100,000
Trevor dismisses Sonia and suddenly remembers a pricey video re-enactment; afterward Mickey tells Izzy people are lying to him.
Golantz opens while Mickey critiques his style
The Elliott trial begins as the prosecutor gives a long opening, intercut with Mickey's rules for quick jabs and the proving ground in front of the jury.
Mickey's tunnel vision opening statement
Mickey needles the long-winded opening, counts how often Golantz said gun, and frames the whole defense as police tunnel vision.
Deputy Murray: Trevor showed no emotion
The rookie deputy tells the jury Trevor walked them past the bodies calmly and kept insisting, unprompted, that he didn't do it.
Is there a correct way to grieve? Mickey's closing jabs
Mickey challenges the deputy's read on Trevor's emotions and ends by pointing out he was still on probation that day.
Trevor panics over the missing juror
Trevor accuses Mickey of blowing up the plan and fears the Russians will come for them both; Mickey insists they'll win fair and square.
Mickey's cross turns Sonia's grudge against her
Mickey reveals Sonia emailed Trevor over 20 times looking for career help and suggests she testified out of resentment.
Trevor wishes Jerry were still his lawyer
Furious after the GSR setback, Trevor tells Mickey he threw away a won case and that Jerry at least had a plan.
The videographer and the Topanga shooting footage
Mickey has the crime-scene videographer recall a sniper shooting at deputies the night before, leaving Golantz and Trevor baffled.
Trevor apologises, then insists on testifying
Trevor thanks Mickey for a strong day, then says he must take the stand to clear his name and walks out before Mickey can stop him.
Mickey rehearses a brutal cross-examination with Trevor
Playing prosecutor, Mickey hammers Trevor with the murder scenario, then tells him to give the jury only one thing: his love for Lara.
Trevor takes the stand: Nocturna and how he met Lara
Mickey leads Trevor through his game's star, modeled on Lara, and the grad-school story of how she covered for his mistake.
Trevor confesses his own affairs and denies the murder
On direct, Trevor admits he knew of Lara's affair and cheated too, then breaks down answering Mickey's last question: did he kill his wife?
Golantz dismantles Trevor's surprise-trip story
On cross, Golantz uses Trevor's packed calendar, the camera log and the missing prenup to paint a jealous husband with a motive.
The video game gun: Golantz's ambush with Nocturna
Golantz plays Trevor's own game to show its hero's gun matches the murder weapon; Mickey's sidebar objection fails.
Golantz's closing: the gilded cage
Golantz recaps the undisputed facts and casts Trevor as a man who turned his wife into a game character he could control.
The Elliott verdict
The jury returns and the forewoman reads the verdict on both counts of first-degree murder.
Trevor: you have to curate their reality
Mickey demands to know who is behind the bribe and Jerry's murder; Trevor shrugs it off and explains his lies through game design.
Mickey's warning, then shots at Trevor's press event
Mickey warns Trevor he wrote everything down; moments later, Trevor's triumphant merger announcement ends in gunfire.