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* JerkassHasAPoint: Tim is completely correct that he does have the right to call expert witnesses and compensate them for their testimony. It's just that expert witnesses usually aren't used to settle a debate with your friend about the ''Star Trek'' movies in the middle of court.

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** Upon learning that one of the Electric Sun Twenty died of a heroin overdose, he insinuates that the remaining nineteen all died of unrelated causes and the vape pens are all coincidental.
** He continually brings up the "China connection," or the belief that he was conned and sold poisonous goods by a Chinese chemical company, for which he has zero evidence.
** He attempts to prove Gregg Turkington is an unreliable witness because he mixed up the plot of ''Star Trek II'' and ''Star Trek IV''.

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** Upon learning that one One of the Electric Sun Twenty victims died of a an unrelated heroin overdose, he insinuates so who's to say that they didn't ''all'' die of heroin overdoses?
** The police department never investigated
the remaining nineteen all died of unrelated causes and the vape pens are all coincidental.
** He continually brings up the "China connection," or the belief that he was conned and sold poisonous goods by a
Chinese chemical company, for which he has zero evidence.
is therefore proof of a criminal conspiracy between them to forge evidence against Tim.
** He attempts to prove Gregg Turkington is an unreliable witness because he mixed up can't remember the plot of difference between ''Star Trek II'' and ''Star Trek IV''.''IV'', therefore his entire testimony is faulty and should be thrown out.
** He was just an innocent man at the scene of the crime, just like the dead victims. So why aren't the victims on trial too?!
** Just because the prosecution had his spurious evidence thrown out doesn't mean the jury still can't use it anyway.



** Making wild conjecture during his opening and closing statements, to the point where the judge has to remind the jury that such statements aren't admissible as evidence.



** Arguing directly with the prosecution's lawyers, then with the judge when he tells Tim to stop arguing with the prosecution's lawyers.

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** Arguing directly with the prosecution's lawyers, prosecution, then with the judge when he tells Tim to stop arguing with the prosecution's lawyers.prosecution.



** Judge Szymczyk tells the Jury not to take Tim's outbursts into account when deciding his guilt in the felony murders.

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** Judge Szymczyk tells has to tell the Jury jury at multiple points that Tim's wild conjecture during his opening and closing statements, as well as the time he holds up a sign reading "THE CHINA CONNECTION," are not evidence.
** The jury is also reminded
not to take Tim's outbursts into account when deciding his guilt in the felony murders.



** After Manuel is outed as having forged evidence on Tim's orders, his entire testimony is thrown out.






* JuryAndWitnessTampering: In spades. Besides paying several witnesses in hopes of getting favorable testimony, Tim outright threatens Mark Proksch for testifying against him.
* KangarooCourt: Tim feels that the trial is one, and refers to it as such several times.

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* JuryAndWitnessTampering: In spades. Besides paying several witnesses in hopes of getting favorable testimony, Tim outright threatens Mark Proksch with bodily harm for testifying against him.
* KangarooCourt: Tim feels that the trial is one, and emphatically refers to it as such several times.

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* BackfireOnTheWitnessStand: All of Tim's witnesses are either ineffective at best or actively harmful to his case at worst.

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* BackfireOnTheWitnessStand: All of Tim's witnesses are either ineffective at best or actively harmful to his case at worst.worst:
** Orion Jaxx reveals that Tim tried to bribe him to give a favorable testimony, and reaffirms the prosecution witnesses' claims about the lack of amenities.
** Jesse Popp is outed as an actor who Tim paid to outright lie on his behalf, risking a perjury charge.
** Joe Estevez is useless as a character witness, while also revealing that Tim had an ongoing drug problem.
** Creator/NicholasMeyer's testimony is part of a harebrained scheme to disprove Gregg Turkington's testimony by showing he doesn't remember the ''Star Trek'' movies.
** Manuel is caught trying to introduce obviously forged evidence that Tim had given him.



* FreezeFrameBonus: Before the courtroom proceedings start on Day 5, Gregg can be seen walking up to Miriam Waymon and giving her a (likely unrequested and unwanted) VHS copy of the 2003 movie ''Levity''. She politely thanks him and puts it in her suitcase.

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* FreezeFrameBonus: FreezeFrameBonus:
**
Before the courtroom proceedings start on Day 5, Gregg Tim can be seen walking talking to Manuel--likely coaching him on how to give his perjurious testimony.
** That same day, Gregg walks
up to Miriam Waymon and giving gives her a (likely unrequested and unwanted) VHS copy of the 2003 movie ''Levity''. She politely thanks him and puts it in her suitcase.suitcase.
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* AccidentalMisnaming: Tim repeatedly botches the pronunciation of Judge Szymczyk's name, and spells Orion Jaxx as "Orion Jacks."

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* AccidentalMisnaming: Tim repeatedly botches the pronunciation of Judge Szymczyk's name, misremembers his bandmate Manuel Giusti's last name as Cessi, and spells Orion Jaxx as "Orion Jacks."

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* PenultimateOutburst: Judge Szymczyk gives several final warnings to Tim for his behavior in court. Tim [[TemptingFate doesn't change his behavior]] and gets hit with two "contempt of court" charges.

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* PenultimateOutburst: PenultimateOutburst:
**
Judge Szymczyk gives several final warnings to Tim for his behavior in court. Tim [[TemptingFate doesn't change his behavior]] and gets hit with two "contempt of court" charges.
** Gregg gets a similar warning from Judge Szymczyk when he repeatedly tries to insist that Tim is wrong about the ''Star Trek'' movies. He, too, gets escorted out by the bailiff, but doesn't net any additional
charges.
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* FreezeFrameBonus: Before the courtroom proceedings start on Day 5, Gregg can be seen walking up to Miriam Waymon and giving her a (likely unrequested and unwanted) VHS copy of the 2003 movie ''Levity''. She politely thanks him and puts it in her suitcase.
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* IronicEcho: When Orion Jaxx says his original praise for the festival was invalidated after he got stiffed and twenty concertgoers died, Tim tries to downplay it and says "That's for the jury to decide." Later, when Jaxx's testimony becomes unfavorable and Tim tries to have it stricken from the record, Judge Szymczyk smugly tells him, "That will be up to the jury, Mister Heidecker."

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* IronicEcho: When Orion Jaxx says his original praise for the festival was invalidated after he got stiffed and twenty concertgoers died, Tim tries to downplay it and says "That's for the jury to decide." Later, when Jaxx's testimony becomes unfavorable and Tim tries to have it stricken from the record, Judge Szymczyk smugly tells him, "That "As you noted earlier, that will be up to the jury, Mister Heidecker."jury to decide, won't it?"
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* IronicEcho: When Orion Jaxx says his original praise for the festival was invalidated after he got stiffed and twenty concertgoers died, Tim tries to downplay it and says "That's for the jury to decide." Later, when Jaxx's testimony becomes unfavorable and Tim tries to have it stricken from the record, Judge Szymczyk smugly tells him, "That will be up to the jury, Mister Heidecker."

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* DisregardThatStatement: Judge Szymczyk tells the Jury not to take Tim's outbursts into account when deciding his guilt in the felony murders.

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* DisregardThatStatement: CourtroomAntics: Tim commits one nearly every time he opens his mouth. The things he get admonished for during his trial include, but are not limited to:
** Making wild conjecture during his opening and closing statements, to the point where the judge has to remind the jury that such statements aren't admissible as evidence.
** Asking questions to prosecution witnesses that the District Attorney readily (and validly) objects to.
** Arguing, intimidating, and even attempting to assault witnesses, earning him two contempt of court charges in a single day.
** Arguing directly with the prosecution's lawyers, then with the judge when he tells Tim to stop arguing with the prosecution's lawyers.
** Trying to manipulate or bribe defense witnesses into giving him the most favorable testimony possible.
* DisregardThatStatement:
**
Judge Szymczyk tells the Jury not to take Tim's outbursts into account when deciding his guilt in the felony murders.murders.
** Tim tries to have witnesses' testimony struck the moment they start saying things that don't go his way, or for saying incredibly petty slights against his character.
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* CourtroomAntics: Tim commits one practically every time he opens his mouth.

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-->'''Miriam Waymon:''' "Your daughter was seventeen when she left you."
-->'''Amanda Davis:''' "Yes, she was seventeen."
-->'''Miriam Waymon:''' "If there was anything you could say to her, what would that be?"
-->'''Tim Heidecker:''' "Objection, speculative!"

to:

-->'''Miriam Waymon:''' "Your Your daughter was seventeen when she left you."
-->'''Amanda
\\
'''Amanda
Davis:''' "Yes, Yes, she was seventeen."
-->'''Miriam
\\
'''Miriam
Waymon:''' "If If there was anything you could say to her, what would that be?"
-->'''Tim
be?\\
[{{Beat}}]\\
'''Tim
Heidecker:''' "Objection, speculative!"Objection, speculative!



** The prosecution has several, most notably footage of Dr. San's interrogation where he admits that he and Tim were partners the entire time.

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** The prosecution has several, most notably footage of Dr. San's interrogation where he admits that he and Tim were partners in making the entire time.vape pens.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trial_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Film/TheMuppetMovie Someday we'll find it, the China connection...]]'']]
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Capitalization was fixed from WebVideo.The Trialof Tim Heidecker to WebVideo.The Trial Of Tim Heidecker. Null edit to update page.
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Ghost wick was fixed on WebVideo.The Trial Of Tim Heidecker.
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Ghost wick was fixed on WebVideo.The Trial Of Tim Heidecker.

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* BadBoss: Tim is incredibly abusive toward Mark Proksch, including claiming he has the Constitutional right to beat his employees.



** He attempts to discredit all of Gregg Turkington's testimony by proving he's wrong about the plot of ''Star Trek IV''.

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** He attempts to discredit all of prove Gregg Turkington's testimony by proving he's wrong about Turkington is an unreliable witness because he mixed up the plot of ''Star Trek II'' and ''Star Trek IV''.



* HollywoodLaw: Largely averted. While there are some concessions for storytelling, the series sticks rather closely to actual legal proceedings. This is helped by several of the actors having actual legal backgrounds.

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* HollywoodLaw: Largely averted. While there are some concessions for storytelling, the series sticks rather closely to actual legal proceedings. This is helped by several of the actors having actual legal backgrounds. Tim, on the other hand, is the exception:
** He thinks that if a single part of an employee's testimony is invalidated, then their entire testimony is thrown out.
** He tries to present SmokingGun evidence (which was actually forged) in the middle of trial, completely foregoing the discovery phase of the trial.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Tim thinks he has the Constitutional right to [[BadBoss strike employees who misbehave]], including people who testify against him in a court of law, as long as they're still under his employment.



* TheSheriff: One of the witnesses is Detective Bill Ellis of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

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* TheSheriff: One ** Similarly, Tim's accusations that Gregg has not seen ''Film/{{Sully}}'' have been ongoing since season 8 of the witnesses is Detective Bill Ellis of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.''On Cinema''.



* ThatWasObjectionable: Many of Tim's objections are for baseless reasons, assuming he even offers a reason.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Rosetti is able to get Manuel to admit the confession note is a forgery from Tim by appealing to his Catholic faith.

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* ThatWasObjectionable: Many of Tim's objections are for baseless reasons, assuming he even offers or rooted in incredibly flimsy understandings of law. He tends to throw them out when a reason.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Rosetti
witness is able starting to get Manuel to admit the confession note is say things that put him in a forgery from Tim by appealing to his Catholic faith.bad light.
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** The debate over whether ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Star Trek II]]'' or ''[[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Star Trek IV]]'' is set in San Francisco has been going on for 6 years by the time of the miniseries, stretching all the way back to season one of the ''On Cinema'' podcast.

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** The debate over whether ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Star Trek II]]'' or ''[[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Star Trek IV]]'' is set in San Francisco has been going on for over 6 years by the time of the miniseries, stretching all the way back to season one of the ''On Cinema'' podcast.

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* DisregardThatStatement: Judge Szymczyk tells the Jury not to take Tim's outbursts into account when deciding his guilt in the felony murders.



* FelonyMurder: Tim faces twenty counts of felony murder as his charges,

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* FelonyMurder: Tim faces is charged with twenty counts of felony murder as his charges, murder, since he handed out toxic vape pens without any warning that they were dangerous while hosting an illegal music festival.



* ForgedMessage: Dr. San's alleged [[DeathbedConfession confession note]] where he admits full responsibility and says Tim is innocent

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* ForgedMessage: Dr. San's alleged [[DeathbedConfession confession note]] where he admits full responsibility and says Tim is innocent is read out loud by Manuel. However, he reveals that it was given to him by Tim that day, and is obviously written on the same paper as Tim's legal pad.
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* BackfireOnTheWitnessStand: All of Tim's witnesses are either ineffective at best or actively harmful to his case at worst.
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* NotProven: [[spoiler:Tim is ultimately not found guilty because the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict, and a mistrial is declared.

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* NotProven: [[spoiler:Tim is ultimately not found guilty because the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict, and a mistrial is declared. ]]

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* AsHimself: Tim Heidecker, Gregg Turkington, Mark Proksch, Axiom, Ayaka Ohtani, Jesse Popp, Joe Estevez, and Manuel Giusti all play fictionalized versions of themselves, as they have throughout the ''On Cinema'' franchise.



* FelonyMurder: Tim faces twenty counts of felony murder as his charges,



* JuryAndWitnessTampering: Tim repeatedly threatens Mark Proksch's job and livelihood for testifying against him in court.

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* JuryAndWitnessTampering: In spades. Besides paying several witnesses in hopes of getting favorable testimony, Tim repeatedly outright threatens Mark Proksch's job and livelihood Proksch for testifying against him in court.him.
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Over the course of the trial, Heidecker chooses to represent himself, and he constantly flounders due to his short temper, lack of tact and decorum, and total absence of legal knowledge. He uses the court to settle personal scores, such as a long-running debate with his ''On Cinema'' co-host [[Creator/NeilHamburger Gregg Turkington]] about the setting of ''[[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Star Trek IV]]''. He also attempts to shift the blame for the "Electric Sun Twenty's" deaths onto anyone but himself, including the paramedics, Doctor San, Mark Proksch, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and the Chinese company that sold him the chemicals.

to:

Over the course of the trial, Heidecker chooses to represent himself, and he constantly flounders due to his short temper, lack of tact and decorum, and total absence of legal knowledge. He uses the court to settle personal scores, such as a long-running debate with his ''On Cinema'' co-host [[Creator/NeilHamburger Gregg Turkington]] about the setting of ''[[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Star Trek IV]]''. He also attempts to shift the blame for the "Electric Sun Twenty's" deaths onto anyone but himself, including the paramedics, Doctor San, Mark Proksch, Creator/MarkProksch, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and the Chinese company that sold him the chemicals.

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* BadBoss: Tim is incredibly abusive toward Mark Proksch, including claiming he has the Constitutional right to beat his employees.



* FlyCrazy: Tim blames his erratic swatting and disruptive gestures on the first day on a fly in the courtroom. At one point in the footage, [[CassandraTruth a fly actually is visible]], but it's possible [[AccidentalTruth he was intending to lie anyway]].



* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Tim escapes all of the murder charges due to a hung jury, resulting in his case being ruled a mistrial.]]



* MustHaveCaffeine: Tim drinks a Sprite every day for a caffeine fix, unaware that it's caffeine free.



* SmokingGun: Tim treats his forged confession note from Dr. San like it is one.

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* SmokingGun: Tim treats his forged confession note from Dr. San like it is one.



** Tim tries to

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** Tim tries to make his own with the forged confession note from Dr. San.
* SneezeInterruption: Tim attempts to interrupt Rosetti's opening statement with excessive coughing.
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A spinoff/interlude of the web series ''[[WebVideo/OnCinema On Cinema at the Cinema]]'', ''The Trial of Tim Heidecker'' (often billed as just ''The Trial'') is a 2017 6-part web series chronicling the fictionalized [[Creator/TimandEric Tim Heidecker]]'s murder trial. At the Electric Sun Desert Music Festival, Tim and Luther "Doctor San" Sanchez gave out free vape pens filled with a dangerous mix of toxic chemicals; twenty people died and over a hundred were hospitalized as a result of the vape pens, and Tim was charged with twenty counts of FelonyMurder.
Over the course of the trial, Heidecker chooses to represent himself, and he constantly flounders due to his short temper, lack of tact and decorum, and total absence of legal knowledge. He uses the court to settle personal scores, such as a long-running debate with his ''On Cinema'' co-host [[Creator/NeilHamburger Gregg Turkington]] about the setting of ''[[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Star Trek IV]]''. He also attempts to shift the blame for the "Electric Sun Twenty's" deaths onto anyone but himself, including the paramedics, Doctor San, Mark Proksch, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and the Chinese company that sold him the chemicals.

----
!!Objection, defendant is clearly intimidating the tropes:

* AccidentalMisnaming: Tim repeatedly botches the pronunciation of Judge Szymczyk's name, and spells Orion Jaxx as "Orion Jacks."
* AmoralAttorney: Tim Heidecker certainly ''sees'' Vincent Rosetti as this, referring to him as a "rat" in his closing statement.
* ChewbaccaDefense: Tim's defense argument is nothing but these:
** Upon learning that one of the Electric Sun Twenty died of a heroin overdose, he insinuates that the remaining nineteen all died of unrelated causes and the vape pens are all coincidental.
** He continually brings up the "China connection," or the belief that he was conned and sold poisonous goods by a Chinese chemical company, for which he has zero evidence.
** He attempts to discredit all of Gregg Turkington's testimony by proving he's wrong about the plot of ''Star Trek IV''.
* CourtroomAntics: Tim commits one practically every time he opens his mouth.
* DontCallMeSir: Inverted. Tim repeatedly refers to to Judge Szymczyk as simply "Judge" when addressing him, instead of the proper "Your Honor."
* AFoolForAClient: After what he felt was a lackluster first day of cross-examination, Tim fires his lawyer Mark Dwyer and chooses to represent himself.
* ForgedMessage: Dr. San's alleged [[DeathbedConfession confession note]] where he admits full responsibility and says Tim is innocent
* HollywoodLaw: Largely averted. While there are some concessions for storytelling, the series sticks rather closely to actual legal proceedings. This is helped by several of the actors having actual legal backgrounds.
* JuryAndWitnessTampering: Tim repeatedly threatens Mark Proksch's job and livelihood for testifying against him in court.
* KangarooCourt: Tim feels that the trial is one, and refers to it as such several times.
* LawProcedural: The entire miniseries is one.
* LongerThanLifeSentence: The total time served for Tim if he were convicted of all twenty felony murder charges is 370 years.
* MiscarriageOfJustice: [[spoiler:Nearly everyone involved in the trial, save for Tim and his bandmates, feels that the outcome was one.]]
* MockingTheMourner: Tim semi-intentionally does this when Amanda Davis, mother of one of the Electric Sun victims, takes the stand.
-->'''Miriam Waymon:''' "Your daughter was seventeen when she left you."
-->'''Amanda Davis:''' "Yes, she was seventeen."
-->'''Miriam Waymon:''' "If there was anything you could say to her, what would that be?"
-->'''Tim Heidecker:''' "Objection, speculative!"
* NotProven: [[spoiler:Tim is ultimately not found guilty because the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict, and a mistrial is declared.
* PenultimateOutburst: Judge Szymczyk gives several final warnings to Tim for his behavior in court. Tim [[TemptingFate doesn't change his behavior]] and gets hit with two "contempt of court" charges.
* RogueJuror: [[spoiler:The trial ends in a mistrial because one juror refuses to reach a "guilty" verdict with the other eleven.]]
* RunningGag: There are multiple gags that carry over from the ''On Cinema'' franchise:
** When Gregg takes the stand, he opens by saying [[CatchPhrase "Hey, guys!"]]
** The debate over whether ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Star Trek II]]'' or ''[[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Star Trek IV]]'' is set in San Francisco has been going on for 6 years by the time of the miniseries, stretching all the way back to season one of the ''On Cinema'' podcast.
* TheSheriff: One of the witnesses is Detective Bill Ellis of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.
* SmokingGun: Tim treats his forged confession note from Dr. San like it is one.
** The prosecution has several, most notably footage of Dr. San's interrogation where he admits that he and Tim were partners the entire time.
** Tim tries to
* StockLegalPhrases: Tim ''tries'' to use them properly, but ends up ineffective at best or harming his case at worst.
* SternOldJudge: Judge Edward Szymczyk fits this trope to a T, and has no tolerance for Tim's misbehavior beyond the bare minimum the law requires.
* ThatWasObjectionable: Many of Tim's objections are for baseless reasons, assuming he even offers a reason.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Rosetti is able to get Manuel to admit the confession note is a forgery from Tim by appealing to his Catholic faith.

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