The Defenders Season 4 Episodes

Episode 1

The Seven Hundred Year Old Gang: Part 1

Thu, Sep 24, 196460 mins

An elderly man is accused of making bootleg wine - and he turns out not to be the only senior citizen involved.

Episode 2

The Seven Hundred Year Old Gang: Part 2

Thu, Oct 1, 196460 mins

The DA feels his political future will be shattered if he prosecutes the elderly and illegal winemaker, so he implores Preston to ask for a postponement of the trial.

Episode 3

Hero of the People

Thu, Oct 8, 196460 mins

A lonely nonentity confesses (untruthfully) to the killing of a drug dealer in the hope of finding some transitory celebrity.

Episode 4

Go Between

Thu, Oct 15, 196460 mins

Candidate Matthew Ritter's young son vanishes during his party's sprawling convention ceremonies. After receiving a kidnapper's demand for $200,000 in exchange for his boy's safety, Ritter seeks help from Lawrence Preston instead of the police. Preston agrees to act as a go-between as public and private pressures mount for the Ritter family.

Episode 5

Conflict of Interests

Thu, Oct 22, 196460 mins

The Prestons defend a drama critic in a libel case.

Episode 6

The Man Who

Thu, Oct 29, 196460 mins

Lawrence Preston is persuaded to go into politics - and regrets it.

Episode 7

Turning Point

Thu, Nov 5, 196460 mins

Convinced that his late client Joey Americus was executed for a crime that he didn't commit, an obsessed Ken seeks answers to the crime on his own. His investigation leads him into dangerous territory where he is beaten, falsely accused of felonious assault, and arrested.

Episode 8

A Taste of Ashes

Thu, Nov 12, 196460 mins

The Prestons accept the case of three defendants involved in a bizarre murder case. The seamen are charged with killing a fourth man with whom they were stranded on a small lifeboat in the ocean following a shipboard explosion. The twist in the case: the murder was committed with the victim's full consent in order to increase the odds of survival for the other men.

Episode 9

Comeback

Thu, Nov 26, 196460 mins

Lawrence Preston defends a once-famous actress on a drunk-driving charge.

Episode 10

The Siege

Thu, Dec 3, 196460 mins

Gary Degan blames Lawrence Preston for his prison term - and now he holds him hostage.

Episode 11

Whitewash

Thu, Dec 10, 196460 mins

City councilman Juan "Spanish John" Espejo has been indicted for extorting money from a contractor. Espejo claims the accusation is a maneuver designed to discredit Puerto Ricans in political life.

Episode 12

A Voice Loud and Clear

Thu, Dec 17, 196460 mins

A strange young woman claims she has been told "by voices" to kill someone.

Episode 13

King of the Hill

Thu, Dec 31, 196460 mins

Episode 14

Whipping Boy

Thu, Jan 7, 196560 mins

A single mother stands accused of murdering her two and a half year old son.

Episode 15

Eyewitness

Thu, Jan 14, 196560 mins

Young hoodlums Erik Davis and Arnold Campbell violently beat an elderly man to death on a city street for seemingly no reason. Although 27 eyewitnesses are spectators to the crime, none make any attempt to help the victim. Lawrence agrees to defend the accused, and their motives, as well as the eyewitnesses', are revealed on the witness stand.

Episode 16

The Silent Killer

Thu, Jan 21, 196560 mins

While boating on Long Island Sound, Marian Gerard vanishes. After witnesses implicate him in her presumed death, husband Mark is indicted for first degree murder. With the death penalty on the table, the Prestons argue against conviction without a body, while in upstate New York, Marian is secretly alive and in hiding.

Episode 17

Death on Wheels

Thu, Jan 28, 196560 mins

Harried businessman Bob Garrison storms off following a fight with his wife, runs a red light, and strikes a pedestrian. The Prestons encourage him to accept a plea of temporary insanity, arguing that severe emotional conflicts made him act without reason.

Episode 18

The Unwritten Law

Thu, Feb 4, 196560 mins

Leo Rolf discovers his wife's affair with Arthur Raskin and murders his rival. Rolf confesses to the crime, adding that it was a premeditated act. However, citing the ancient "unwritten law" that allows a man to kill his wife's lover, Rolf argues that he should enjoy impunity. It's up to the Prestons to plead his case in court.

Episode 19

The Objector

Thu, Feb 11, 196560 mins

The Prestons accept the case of Roger Bailey, a college-aged pacifist attempting to stop his induction into the armed forces. A professed agnostic, Bailey can't use the loophole of being a conscientious objector on religious grounds and potentially faces prison time as draft dodger.

Episode 20

Fires of the Mind

Thu, Feb 18, 196560 mins

Dr. Byron Saul's controversial use of LSD in treating his patients is called into question after a patient dies whilst under the drug's influence.

Episode 21

No-Knock

Thu, Feb 25, 196560 mins

Willie Drucker, a numbers racket middleman, shoots and kills Sturdivant, a police detective who enters his apartment unannounced through a window using New York state's controversial "no-knock warrant" law. When the district attorney's office indicts Drucker for first-degree murder, the Prestons take his case and argue that the killing was self-defense.

Episode 22

The Merry-Go-Round Mender

Thu, Mar 4, 196560 mins

Young Christopher Yager is badly affected by his parents' divorce, but the well-intentioned efforts of his governess to help him lead to difficulties.

Episode 23

Nobody Asks What Side You're On

Thu, Mar 11, 196560 mins

Reporter Maria Edwards disregards advice to cover a police story, but finds herself in danger when an apprehension becomes violent. She flees to the safety of her car, but shoots and kills a man who is hiding in the backseat. The Prestons are prepared to defend on her on a manslaughter charge, until it surfaces that Maria knew the man she shot and the manslaughter plea is no longer available.

Episode 24

Impeachment

Thu, Mar 18, 196560 mins

After his political party attempts to have him impeached from office on a charge of malfeasance, Governor William Defoe seeks legal assistance from Lawrence, who is an old college buddy. Defoe claims he's being ousted because of radical changes he wants to make his party; however, as testimony begins before a judiciary committee, accusations arise that Defoe bought his way into governor's mansion with a sizable, anonymous donation.

Episode 25

The Sworn Twelve

Thu, Mar 25, 196560 mins

The Prestons defend Pete Shannon, who is accused of burglary and grand larceny against the trucking firm employing him for years. Despite his protestations of innocence, the jury convicts him. However, the Prestons are convinced of his innocence and after they receive an anonymous letter suggesting that the guilty verdict was rendered without following protocol, they set about questioning the jurors in hopes of obtaining a new trial.

Episode 26

A Matter of Law and Disorder

Thu, Apr 8, 196560 mins

While walking his do in the park, Peter Dowling is confronted by three young men who threaten him. Dowling kills one of the young men and is indicted for manslaughter. Although the Prestons argue that he killed in self-defense based on the idea of self-preservation, the prosecution disagrees as the boy was unarmed.

Episode 27

Youths and Maidens on an Evening Walk

Thu, Apr 15, 196560 mins

Bertha Schlock, an aspiring, but eccentric young actress from the Bronx, seeks help from the Prestons after being arrested on an assault charge. With predictably humorous results, Lawrence decides to play Pygmalion by making a presentable lady for the jury out of the odd, flamboyant girl.

Episode 28

The Prosecutor

Thu, Apr 29, 196560 mins

Assistant district attorney Charles Parker considers accepting a position in the Preston and Preston law firm. However, the Prestons are set to defend Richard Holmes on a charge of murdering the man who raped his wife and caused a breakdown that institutionalized her. When Parker is assigned to prosecute the Holmes case, a conflict of interest charge arises.

Episode 29

The Bum's Rush

Thu, May 6, 196560 mins

Preston and Preston are at odds over potential client Charlie Barry, a homeless man accused of killing another bum. Lawrence turns down the case, which he thinks isn't a winning prospect, but Ken, sympathetic to the plight of the derelicts, wants to defend him.

Episode 30

Only a Child

Thu, May 13, 196560 mins

In their final televised case, the Prestons tackle a New York state law limiting the amount of compensation for wrongful death cases. After Bill Andrews' young son dies in a car accident, he sues, but finds that the fees he's set to collect aren't even sufficient to cover the psychiatric care his devastated wife needs to recover from the loss. He seeks help from the Prestons, who argue for changes to the law.