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Murder Two (1)
Season 04, Episode 15
Air Date January 30, 1997
Previous A History of Murder
Next Murder Two (2)

Murder Two (1) is the fifteenth episode of Diagnosis Murder's fourth season which was first broadcast on January 30, 1997.

Plot[]

Jesse is arrested and charged with murder after a doctor testifying against Jesse in a malpractice suit is poisoned. Mark convinces his old friend, Ben Matlock, to defend Jesse.

Summary[]

Stuntwoman Paula McCarthy was found beaten to death in an L.A. hotel room. Her husband Barry McCarthy was arrested there. Dr. Eric Spindler tries to stop Jesse from operating on a car accident victim without waiting for an MRI, then convinces the family to sue the E.R. for malpractice and acts as a star witness. Spindler's girlfriend nurse Jeri Murdico cheated him at birth-control and refuses an abortion, he thinks she just wants to marry him for his money. Jesse begs Mark to ask his friend Ben Matlock (star of the eponymous murder lawyer series) to defend him, which requires good pay and fringe benefits. Alas, Ben's boisterous court room style gets him jailed for contempt of court. Jeri goes over to Eric's place and during an argument knocks him down with a lamp and he's dead. Ben takes her case at Mark's insistence, but she's not charged because Spindler was already fatally poisoned. Steve is taken off the case because Jesse becomes the prime suspect, given his motive and his fingerprints on a bottle containing the rare poison which was also found in his bathroom: Ben now has an angelic murder charge defendant as client, bail denied. Steve is too late to stop a man stealing something from the murder-scene. Spindler's car was packed for a Santa Barbara hotel, where he repeatedly called stunt double Debbie Gardner, Paula McCarthy's sister and successor. She drives her now absent husband Jack Gardner's black truck, which was used to steal from the Spindler house, and denies having called back but her phone was billed for 12 minutes. Ben finds in the truck a video tape and more stuff on the McCarthy murder. A masked man tries to drown Ben, Debbie saves him, and is horrified when she finds out who the assailant is. . .

Cast[]

  • Dick Van Dyke as Mark Sloan
  • Victoria Rowell as Amanda Bentley
  • Charlie Schlatter as Jesse Travis
  • Michael Tucci as Norman Briggs
  • Barry Van Dyke as Steve Sloan
  • Susan Diol as Jeri Murdico
  • Andy Griffith as Ben Matlock
  • Thom Barry as Capt. Phil Bryant
  • Lee Chamberlin as Judge Gwen Mosford
  • Kevin Cooney as Edward Price
  • Mark Kiely as Dr. Eric Spindler
  • Jennifer Sommerfield as Debbie Gardner
  • Michael C. Mahon as Barry McCarthy
  • Murray Rubinstein as Unknown
  • Greg Benson as Messenger
  • Jann Carl as Reporter
  • Jim Jansen as Judge Douglas Karp
  • Rob Steinberg as Hal Carter
  • Gregory White as Charlie
  • Norman Compton as Ross
  • Carlo Felix as Uniformed Officer #1
  • Susie Schelling as Nurse
  • Spike Silver as Jack Gardner
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