- A case from Catherine's past is reopened when a man who has been in prison for 18 years challenges the evidence that convicted him.
- After 18 years in jail, Jeremy Kent obtains a retrial for the brutal murder of lonely old Thomas Harrott during a robberies spree. It was Catherine's first unsupervised case and far from up to since much stricter evidence rules. While she and captain Brass just race to uphold the conviction, Nicks spearheads the unbiased search for the truth. After the murder weapon, a hammer, is finally found, and the emergency services' recording expertly analyzed, the plot proves more complicated then anyone anticipated, with major consequences for more people then Kent.—KGF Vissers
- When the inmate Jeremy Kent questions his case to the parole board, the CSIs are forced to reopen his case from eighteen years ago. Kent was accused of murdering the ninety-one-year-old Thomas Harriot in the first solo-case of Catherine. The bruises suggested that the victim had been struck two blows to the head with a blunt instrument like a hammer that was never found. The only evidence was a stone with Kent's fingerprint used to break the window. Now Kent is claiming that he found Harriot dead and he only found the dead body. The CSI' have to use state-of-art technology to re-investigate the case and prove that Catherine was right, but they discover he had a partner.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- "CSI" - "If I Had a Hammer" - April 23, 2009
As we watch a man- Jeremy Kent- booked, fingerprinted, and processed into jail we hear him talk about how he never got to tell his side of the story, his cell mate gave false testimony in exchange for a suspended sentence, he was told not to take the stand by his public defender, he was transferred to the state pen, which was a nightmare for him. In the pen after 18 years he started studying the law and looked for ways to exonerate himself. He ran into his old cell mate again who told him it was his lawyer's idea for him to give false testimony. Turns out they had the same lawyer, the late Benjamin Tripp. We cut to the inmate- who is played by Henry Thomas- speaking before a panel of judges. He's telling them his public defender conspired against him and 18 years ago he was denied his right to a fair trial and he deserves his day in court.
We then hear Catherine's voice talking about that night 18 years ago as we see it play out on screen. It was her first solo assignment as a CSI. The victim was a 91-year-old man who was killed by blunt force trauma. The window was broken with a rock. We see a very young Catherine in the window reflection. She says documentation protocol has changed substantially since 1991 and they have to reexamine the crime scene, which, since the house was demolished recently will mainly have to be off sketches. Catherine walks through the layout with Nick and Langston.
The robber, Kent, might've thought the house was empty since the lights were out and there was no car in the driveway of the no longer driving old man. There were robberies at two other houses in the neighborhood. A witness ID-ed Kent as the boy he saw running down the driveway. The only evidence that led to Kent was a fingerprint found on the rock. They envision that he broke in and was startled by the old man who fought back which led to the murder, even though as an old man it was unnecessary to kill him since he was weak. The murder weapon was never found but the injuries suggested a hammer.
They walk back into the alley where they discuss the shoe impression Catherine found. Langston says all she had was testimony from an eyewitness who was a half a mile away, testimony of an ex-cellmate, and a single fingerprint. She says back then it was enough. A cop walks up with a subpoena for Catherine from Jeremy Kent, for a pre-trial conference. Nick points out he probably wants to know how he got life based on a rock.
Sanders and Archie analyze the original 911 call from 1991. They isolate an engine noise nearby. Archie will try and match the noise to the suspect's car.
Robbins and Langston go over the autopsy notes. The original coroner is dead, he made some bad calls about how the victim's ribs were broken. The duo criticizes the old M.E.'s work.
Kent interviews Catherine about her experience as a CSI, pointing out this was her first solo case and therefore a conviction was good for her. She says that was up to the jury, not her. He taunts her about her dead husband. He asks her if she was on drugs when she processed him or if her pregnancy influenced what chemicals she could use. She says no and explains he can hire his own experts to reprocess the evidence. That would be at his expense though, he says- he's become quite the legal expert- and he says he doesn't make that kind of money.
We see Riley unfurling the old carpet, with a huge bloodstain, and begin to examine it. Wendy says they didn't do DNA back then so Catherine needs to get a sample. Wendy wonders what she's doing. Riley thinks that maybe they can differentiate the victim's blood from the murderer's blood on the carpet, something they didn't have the technology to do back then. As they examine the rug they discover the imprint of a hammer.
We cut back to Kent and Catherine and he asks about the rock she "claims" she found in the old man's house. He says by today's standards the fingerprint match would not be any good and he's filing a motion to exclude it so he wonders if she actually has any other evidence, at all.
Catherine explains the problem about the rock to the chief of police. He doesn't want to lose the conviction. Catherine goes back to examine the rock. She lifts the print again and runs it again Kent's print and still gets a match and is happy.
Langston is examining the shoe print. Catherine comes in crowing about the rock. Langston has a theory about the shoe imprint and he and Catherine go back to the scene. Langston thinks he tossed the weapon. Catherine looks up and remembers the first thing Grissom taught her: to look up. Cut to them examining the roof of the neighboring house. Langston picks through the gutters and finds binoculars. Catherine looks at a tree and the hammer is stuck in it. They can't believe it. The tree grew around it. They document it's location and cut it out. They may have Kent's prints and the victim's blood. If it's the murder weapon, she says excitedly, they have Kent dead to rights. Everyone goes to work on the hammer. Blood, fingerprints, checking against the injuries etc.
Hodges explains to Catherine about how she can explain what happened with the hammmer and the tree.
Nick dejectedly tells her the prints from the hammer don't match Kent.
Catherine goes back to the chief and explains and he's not happy about the fingerprints. Catherine wonders if there was an accomplice.
She goes back to Kent and "sweats" him with the rock evidence to try and get accomplice info out of him. He tells her he was there but he didn't commit the murder. He broke into all three houses because he thought they were empty. The old man's house was his third stop, his body was already on the floor, but he'd already thrown the rock through the window. He didn't call 911 for obvious, "I was just breaking and entering" reasons. He admits to being a reckless punk but not a murderer. They wonder why he didn't come clean back then. His lawyer counseled against it. Kent says if he'd seen the suspect he would've spoken up. Cahterine says they're done. He says all he wants is his life back.
She goes back to the lab but is obviously disturbed by the discrepancy issue.
She meets up with Brass and explains her concerns. He tries to dismiss them. She wonders what if he's telling the truth. He says she needs to tune that out. She talks about going to a party with her husband years ago and almost running over a man when she was drunk driving. She wonders how in that moment she was different from Kent. Brass says Kent is a scumbag trying to get her to doubt herself and to not let him.
Catherine goes to the team and tells them she wants to run the case to see if it supports her initial conclusion. They go through the evidence. It doesn't look good. They muse on a possible accomplice. Catherine wonders why Kent didn't give up that accomplice. Langston thinks maybe Kent is either covering up for a loved one or afraid of someone. They decide to look into high school friends and teachers.
Archie couldn't match the engine noise to Kent's car. They think it might be the accomplice's car. They analyze the noises from the car and realize that there were definitely two people involved.
Nick gives Catherine more fingerprint evidence, about the way the hammer was held.
Sanders and Riley go through the yearbook. They find Kent with a girl, leaning against a car that could be the car from the background of the 911 call.
They have Brass interrogate the girl, who now has teenage kids of her own. She seems skittish to talk about Jeremy. Brass explains he's been granted a new trial. Samantha says Jeremy liked to play his bad boy rep to impress the girls but it didn't work on her. She says she didn't know him that well. Brass wonders if that's true why Jeremy was driving her dad's car the night of the murder. She admits they were dating but they kept it a secret because of his bad boy rep. She said she let him use the car sometimes. Brass asks where she was. She says she was at home with her parents watching news coverage of the rampart fire. Brass asks for confirmation. Her parents are dead and her husband's a lawyer. Brass gives a search warrant for the car. She does not look happy.
They examine the car back at the lab. Catherine finds something, a bloody piece of glass. Wendy examines the blood. Hodges examines the glass. The glass is the same. Wendy says the blood on the glass belonged to a female.
Brass brings her in. Her husband tells her not to answer. She starts to answer. Her husband stops her and gets snippy with Brass. She overrides her husband and explains Jeremy got her pregnant, said they would move to L.A. and be together, she was naive and believed him. She admits she was with him but she waited in the car until they got to the old man's house. She says she saw Jeremy standing over the man with a hammer. Brass says they have her fingerprints on the hammer. She says she didn't kill him, Jeremy gave her the hammer to throw away. She asks if her husband believes her. The husband is disgusted and leaves her there. She starts to cry. Brass explains the felony murder rule: all accomplices can be found guilty regardless of who actually swings the hammer.
Catherine goes to Kent and explains their case against him and Sabrina. He thinks she's lying. Kent looks at Sabrina's statement. He can't believe she would do this to him. He said he kept his mouth shut so his kid could have a mother. Catherine wonders why he asked for a new trial since he must've known they would find this out. He says he's entitled to a fair trial. She says but he's still guilty. He can't say anything. Catherine says it must've burned him up knowing Sabrina was free. Kent says she never came to visit or even sent pictures of their child. Kent says he hopes Sabrina testifies against him since it might be the only chance he has to see his son. Catherine pushes a picture of the victim across the table and says she's saving her sympathy for him.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content