ABSTRACT
Late in the penultimate episode of The Staircase (de Lestrade 2005), an eightpart documentary series chronicling the high-profile murder trial of novelist, newspaper columnist and former Durham, North Carolina mayoral candidate Michael Peterson, the film reaches a dramatic cliffhanger. Throughout the duration of the trial, the prosecution had argued that a missing fireplace poker was likely the weapon Peterson had used to murder his wife. However, mere days before the defence had planned to rest its case, Peterson’s son Clayton discovers the missing poker in the garage, covered in cobwebs, where it has seemingly been lying undisturbed for quite some time. Peterson’s attorney, David Rudolf, is thrilled by this discovery; he is certain this will be the crucial evidence that will shift the trial’s momentum in his client’s favour. ‘It’s one of those moments that trial lawyers enjoy’, Rudolf knowingly remarks to the camera, ‘Trial lawyers and filmmakers’. For Rudolf, the discovery of the putative murder weapon (clean of any physical evidence linking it to a crime) solidifies the story he has been telling in court – Michael Peterson is innocent of his wife’s murder. The discovery of the poker is the dramatic twist in the narrative’s third act. It is the pivotal turning point in the battle between opposing sides in this courtroom drama.
