प्लॉट

Shawn and Gus horn their way onto murder case as consultants, which includes propping up the lead attorney and somehow proving the client didn't commit the crime.

Shawn is convinced that Sandra Panitch is not only innocently accused of murdering weatherman Jackson Hale but also hopelessly defended by nervous newbie Hornstock, so he offers his and Gus's services as legal consultants, approved even by Lassiter, who reluctantly made the arrest, and starts looking for an alternative suspect in the studio. Meanwhile Shawn's motorcycle gets confiscated and auctioned for recklessness in traffic and questioning.—KGF Vissers

1985. Shawn and Henry sit in a courtroom gallery during a trial. Henry explains the jury's role and asks Shawn to study Juror No. 5. Shawn notes several aspects of the man's unkempt appearance. Henry then explains "deductive reasoning" and deduces the juror is likely unmarried. No wife would let her husband leave the house looking like that.

Henry is called to the witness stand, and he tells Shawn to watch closely. One day Shawn will walk up the steps of the courthouse and make Henry proud.

Present day. Shawn and Gus arrive at the courthouse to pay the $900 in parking tickets that got Shawn's motorcycle impounded. After seeing the long customer line, Shawn refuses to wait. He sees a woman stop to pick up a piece of trash and dispose of it properly.

At the Psych office, Gus turns on the Channel 8 news just as prosecutor Phelps is addressing reporters about the first-degree murder trial of Sandra Panitch. He says Sandra went to the studio with the station's popular weatherman Jackson Hale, where they had sex. Then she stabbed him in the heart with a letter opener and fled, leaving a mountain of physical evidence including the murder weapon with her fingerprints. Sandra is the woman Shawn observed at the courthouse.

The cameras turn to Adam Hornback, Sandra's nervous wreck of a defense attorney. Shawn believes that Sandra's innocent because an accused murderer wouldn't bother with social niceties like picking up trash. He also believes that Adam needs their assistance to save her.

The next day Shawn and Gus are in the courtroom when Judge Leland irritably calls a recess, to give the scattered Adam time to organize himself. Shawn approaches Adam and points out well-dressed Juror No. 4, who's clearly unimpressed by the attorney. Shawn has Adam put on Gus' nicer tie and lose his rumpled pocket square. Adam's improved appearance boosts his confidence, and he makes a stellar opening statement that wins over Juror No. 4 and even impresses Leland before the court breaks for lunch.

Adam apologizes that his firm won't pay the guys, who take the case for free. Outside the courtroom they encounter Lassiter and O'Hara. Lassiter, who arrested Sandra, tells them not to screw up assisting with her defense.

Adam explains that Sandra's case was dumped on him after the partner who accepted it decided it was a lost cause. At the TV studio, receptionist Priscilla Offerman shows Shawn and Gus the set where Jackson's body was found. Shawn asks about the green screen on the wall. A technician demonstrates projecting a background onto the screen, then combining that image with a live person on the set so that TV viewers see the person in front of, for instance, a rainstorm.

The guys then meet Ruben Leonard, a station lab meteorologist. Ruben speaks well of his late colleague, but Shawn gathers that Ruben actually hated the weatherman.

Shawn and Gus interview Sandra for her version of events. She's new to Santa Barbara, and met Jackson only on the night they slept together. She can't remember anything that happened after they had sex and before she woke up the next morning. His blood was on her, and in a panic she fled the studio.

In a courthouse hallway, the guys see Leland pressing his hand against his lower back. Gus deduces that he has a painful kidney stone, which explains his irritability in the courtroom.

Back in court, Adam cross-examines Priscilla. As the station receptionist she received calls for Jackson from many women, but none from Sandra to her knowledge. After her testimony, the prosecution asks for a pause during which Adam tells Shawn that Henry is in the gallery.

A surprised Shawn asks for a recess, and Phelps objects to his involvement in the trial. Leland is about to toss Shawn out when Shawn senses the judge's kidney stone, and suggests a home remedy. Henry is in the courtroom to ensure Shawn doesn't discredit the Spencer name, especially if he's throwing around Henry's.

On the stand, Ruben identifies Sandra as the person he saw running through the studio parking lot when Jackson was murdered. Shawn and Adam hear Phelps ask his fellow prosecutor if something has been authenticated.

Shawn tells Adam his vibe that Ruben wanted to be an on-the-air weatherman. Ruben probably isn't the killer, but they can use him to plant doubt about Sandra. Under a withering cross-examination by Adam, Ruben cracks and ferociously unleashes his hatred of Jackson.

The next day the guys encounter Lassiter and O'Hara outside the courthouse. After complaining about the day's weather forecast, Lassiter leaves O'Hara alone with Shawn and Gus. She tells Shawn he's missing something right in front of his face, and it's too bad because he might actually learn something about Lassiter. Then she drops some papers face down on the wet pavement. As she picks them up, Shawn sees some print bleeding through. The detectives are telling him something.

Later Shawn writes out the partial information he saw. Lassiter sent a memo to Phelps on August 7. Gus reviewed Adam's case file, and there was nothing with that date. Phelps never filed that memo with the court. Why?

On cross-examination, Adam asks Lassiter if the detective sent a letter to Phelps on August 7. Lassiter answers he did, and Phelps objects but Leland allows Adam to continue. Lassiter says that in the letter, he questioned whether Sandra had any motive at all to kill Jackson. Adam declares the letter was never submitted into evidence, and asks for a mistrial.

Phelps can't smooth over this glaring omission, and Leland sternly warns him that any new evidence must be submitted to all parties immediately. Phelps then says the prosecution wishes to submit some new evidence. Leland repeats his pretrial order that he won't allow any audiovisual evidence which can't be authenticated. But now Phelps has authenticated a video showing Sandra murdering Jackson.

After seeing the video, Leland urges Adam to advise Sandra to plead guilty to second-degree murder. Phelps gives Adam until the next morning to accept the deal.

Sandra didn't know about the video, which was filmed on the studio set against a green-screen background of clouds. She and Jackson passionately go at it, eventually dropping out of frame and leaving only the cloud background visible. Then Jackson is heard screaming.

Sandra refuses to take the deal. Shawn wonders why Phelps is treating Jackson's murder as a crime of passion, when Sandra had met the weatherman only hours earlier. Henry says that crimes of passion are usually about revenge or hatred, not love or sex. He agrees Ruben isn't the killer, and says Shawn should look for someone who hated the womanizing Jackson with a similar fury.

Shawn then mentions his parking tickets, and Henry slips up that he arranged the ticketing so Shawn would lose the motorcycle. Henry has feared for his son's safety since Shawn was injured in a crash.

The next morning Gus finds Shawn at the Psych office, Shawn having fallen asleep while re-watching the video nonstop. They rush to court, and Shawn tells Adam to recall Priscilla to the stand. Leland allows it, provided the defense has new evidence to present. Adam asks Priscilla if she's absolutely certain she never slept with Jackson. Phelps objects that the question was already asked and answered. Leland agrees and allows the defense only one more question. Shawn then asks Priscilla, "Did you want to?"

Leland allows Shawn to question Priscilla. Everyone there is certain she never slept with Jackson. But Jackson slept with everyone -- except her, didn't he?

Shawn continues that the video will show Jackson being murdered, but not by Sandra. The video plays for the jury, and Shawn points to where a person's shadow - Priscilla's - is faintly visible against the cloud background. Priscilla's distinctive glasses are identifiable. She was there and waited until Jackson and Sandra dropped out of the camera frame. Then she knocked Sandra unconscious and stabbed Jackson in the heart, thinking the cloud background would conceal her presence.

Adam takes over for the finish. Priscilla killed Jackson not because he loved her, but because he didn't. She breaks down and confesses she loved him, but he continually ignored her. He kept breaking her heart, so she broke his.

Later, the guys go to buy back Shawn's motorcycle at a police auction. Henry is already there, to do the same because he regrets arranging the parking tickets. Adam also arrives for that reason, as a proper thank-you to Shawn and Gus. An officer brings out the motorcycle and says it was just pulled from the auction. He only knows the matter was handled internally.

Lassiter appears, and everyone stares at him. He tells them to go home, and walks off.