The film Fracture, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, tells the story of an engineer who shoots his wife for having an affair with a detective. Jennifer Crawford (Embeth Davidtz) and Detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke) are unknowingly caught by Jennifer's husband, Theodore "Ted" Crawford, having an affair. Crawford goes to the hotel where his wife and Nunally are and exchanges his gun for the officer's. When Jennifer returns home, Crawford shoots her in the face, seriously injuring her but not completely killing her. When the police arrive, Crawford specifically requests that Nunally be the one to enter. Crawford admits to shooting his wife. The prosecutor, Willy Beachum, is going to trial because he thinks it will be another easy victory for him. Beachum is an excellent prosecutor with a 97% conviction rate. It's his last week before accepting a new job at Wooton and Simms. He is more concerned with his new job as a corporate lawyer and his new love interest, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike), who also happens to be his new boss, to pay much attention to the details of Crawford's case. So, inevitably, some things go unnoticed. No one expects Crawford to be close to winning because he confessed and is defending himself against a prosecutor who has an excellent track record. He surprises everyone at the trial by revealing that the officer who arrested him was having an affair with his wife and intimidated him into confessing. After this new information, the confessions are no longer worth anything. Beachum now has no evidence against Crawford since the gun at the scene was not the one used to shoot Jennifer. Before the next hearing, Nunally tries to convince Beachum to let him hide another gun at Crawford's house. Beachum refuses to allow this o...... middle of paper ...... to be thrown away and cannot be used as evidence against the suspect. Crawford also used this to his advantage and says Nunally made him lose his confession, which is extremely believable since Nunally chased him over the table in the courtroom after Crawford said he was fucking his wife. Since Nunally was with him at the time of both confessions, they could not use either one. Nunally's presence made it possible to obtain Crawford's confession using force, threats or intimidation. Works Cited Cole, GF, Smith, CE, and DeJong, C. (1996). Criminal Justice in America (7 ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Co..Hoblit, G. (Director). (2007). Fracture [Motion image]. United States: New Line Cinema. Self-representation. (nd). Justia Law. Retrieved March 30, 2014 from http://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-06/16-self-representation.html