It has to be said, Liz Gawleyer was a fortunate woman.

Leaving aside, of course, the raw fact of having been charged with murdering Carrie Farber.

Oh, and of trying to burn her own house down.

No, her good fortune came in the person of a brilliant, charismatic, and highly regarded defense attorney

named James Martin Davis, one of the preeminent attorneys in all the Midwest, according to the

people who judge these things. Gone from us now, sadly. He died in 2021, heart attack, right there

in the courthouse.

But when Liz Gawyer went on trial, vilified as she was by trial time, Martin was all in.

And maybe the most dangerous place around was between him and a TV camera when he stood up for Liz,

as he did here, the judge in court.

I know they've got all this bizarre behavior, and they've got all this circumstantial evidence,

but it doesn't show my client on that day, and this jurisdiction took a knife and stabbed

Carrie Farber to death.

Savvy, as he was, he'd recommended, and Liz agreed,

that she'd be tried by judge alone. No jury.

Figured a jury might get caught up in the emotions

stirred by Liz's long, devious campaign.

But a judge?

A judge would adhere to the facts in the law.

And the facts before the court?

Well, there wasn't even a body, was there?

And for that matter, said James Martin Davis.

...