The novel The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly provides exciting potential spoilers for Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer season 4. The legal drama, featuring stars like Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Becki Newton, adapts the best-selling book series in an exciting way. The Lincoln Lawyer seasons 1, 2, and 3 adapt The Brass Verdict, The Fifth Witness, and The Gods of Guilt, respectively. While The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 made some changes to The Gods of Guilt, it maintained the twist ending that sets up The Law of Innocence.
Mickey gets pulled over for a missing license plate, and the officer discovers the body of Sam Scales in the trunk. The obvious assumption is that Mickey killed his former client. The Law Of Innocence continues this storyline, revealing many twists and turns that could appear in The Lincoln Lawyer season 4.
Mickey Haller Gets Arrested For The Murder Of Sam Scales
Mickey Is Framed For The Murder Of His Former Client
The twist ending of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 sets up the storyline for both The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 and The Law of Innocence. Mickey is charged with first-degree murder and faces the possibility of life without the possibility of parole. He must build his own case and uncover the person framing him for murder with the help of his team, which includes his half-brother Harry Bosch, a private investigator. The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 will follow this storyline, minus the character Bosch since Netflix doesn’t have the rights to the character.
Mickey Chooses To Stay Behind Bars Instead Of Paying Bail
Mickey Defends Himself From Inside The Jail
After Mickey is arraigned on first-degree murder charges in The Law of Innocence, a judge sets his bail inordinately high at $5 million because of a grudge about an old case. The court eventually lowers the amount to $2.5 million, which is much closer to the $2 million base amount for the crime in LA courts (via 2024 Felony Bail Schedule).
Thanks to bail bond agents, Mickey would only have needed to pay 10% of the bail amount; however, he chooses to stay behind bars. Since he’s helping Hayley out as she attends law school, he doesn’t have the money to pay, and he’s unwilling to stop funding his daughter’s education. Consequently, he has to stay behind bars throughout his trial, planning out most of his defense in the prison library while his team helps investigate the crime and frame job on the outside.
A Mobster Named Opparizio Killed Sam Scales
Opparizio Achieves Two Goals With One Murder
The biggest question going into The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 is who killed Sam Scales and why they framed Mickey Haller. The Law of Innocence answers this question, connecting the events of the murder back to a previous storyline. The Lincoln Lawyer’s Sam Scales was a con artist who preyed on people who cared about vulnerable communities. Before his death, he ran a scam under the guise of converting used cooking oil into biofuel.
Unfortunately, he negatively impacted the revenue for BioGreen Industries, a company run by a mobster named Louis Opparizio – the book equivalent of Alex Grant from The Lincoln Lawyer season 2. He took out Sam Scales because of the scam, and he put the body in Mickey’s trunk as revenge for the events of Lisa Trammel’s trial, where he implicated the mobster.
Hayley Haller Decides To Be A Defense Attorney Instead Of A Prosecutor
Mickey Haller’s Trial Changes Hayley’s Perspective On The Law
At the end of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, Hayley Haller reveals that she wants to pursue law but that she is interested in being a prosecutor, not a defense attorney. This reflects the Lincoln Lawyer series where Hayley Haller pursues criminal law. At the start of The Law of Innocence, she is in law school, having graduated from university. She has every intention of becoming a prosecutor when she graduates. However, her intended career path changes after Mickey gets wrongfully accused of first-degree murder.
She already expressed in the finale of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 that innocent people deserve lawyers that will represent them effectively, and Mickey’s situation drives that point home for Hayley, making it so she wants to be a defense attorney instead of a prosecutor. Because of the age difference between Hayley in the books and in the Netflix series, it’s unlikely she’ll already be in college and pursuing law when Mickey’s trial starts. However, she could still change her mind about her career path, even if her career would start further down the line.
The FBI Keeps Mickey In Jail Even Though They Know He Was Framed
The FBI Puts Their Own Interests Ahead Of Mickey’s Freedom
In The Law of Innocence, the FBI has a massive investigation into Louis Opparizio and his company BioGreen Industries, which Cisco and Jennifer Aronson learn about. Even though the FBI figures out that Mickey was being framed, they don’t disclose that information to the DA, prosecutors, or police in Los Angeles. Even though Judge Violet Warfield subpoenas agents to testify in Mickey Haller’s court case, the FBI refuses to comply, which fits into The Lincoln Lawyer season 3’s themes about corruption and misconduct within the government and police.
Mickey’s Charges Are Dropped, But He’s Not Found Innocent
The FBI Pushes The District Attorney To Drop Charges
Rather than being found innocent by a jury, Mickey Haller’s court case ends in an unexpected way. Since pressure is placed on the FBI to let their agents testify in Mickey’s court case, they find a way to do the right thing for the wrongfully accused defense attorney without publicly revealing their investigation into BioGreen Industries. They go to the Los Angeles District Attorney with their evidence about Opparizio killing Sam Scales, and the DA’s office decides to drop the charges against Mickey.
Unfortunately for Mickey, when charges are dropped, that doesn’t mean they’re legally innocent. It simply means they aren’t being charged with a crime anymore. As such, the dropped charges aren’t completely fulfilling for the defense attorney, who likes winning in a trial instead of out of court. Moreover, Opparizio doesn’t get charged and convicted for the crime, which would have effectively deemed Mickey innocent.
Mickey Haller And Maggie McPherson Get Back Together
Mickey And Maggie Rekindle Their Romance Right Before COVID-19 Lockdown
One looming event in The Law of Innocence is a mysterious illness that turns out to be COVID-19. At the very end of the book, Mickey and Maggie rebuild their romantic connection and decide to quarantine together. Because The Lincoln Lawyer is seemingly set in the present day, the fourth season of the Netflix series will likely take the quarantining element out even if they have the couple rekindle their relationship. However, there’s also a possibility that The Lincoln Lawyer will forgo the on-and-off relationship because they built a relationship between Andy and Mickey in season 3.
