What Happened at Lester's Trial in Suits LA? Episode 6 Reaches Its Verdict: Recap
Find out what happens in the explosive first trial on Suits LA.
Ted Black’s (Stephen Amell) first major trial on Suits LA ended in an explosive courtroom finale fans probably didn’t see coming after an unlikely alliance was forged between two one-time adversaries.
Episode 6 proved the old adage the truth shall set you free (in more ways than one) after Ted set out to mend the fractured relationships that have become a staple in his life, all while trying to win his floundering first case as a criminal defense attorney.
The episode opened with Ted delivering his final summation to the jury. Ted freely admitted that the decision of 12 strangers would not only seal the fate of movie producer Lester Thompson (Kevin Weisman), who was accused of killing his business partner and friend, but would also dictate the future of his entire firm.
Ted staked everything on Lester’s innocence, but he just may have backed the wrong horse. Four days earlier, Lester — the very man responsible for the future of the firm — admitted to the defense’s cynical investigator Kevin (Tony Winbush) that he had, in fact, killed his business partner, Simon. Lester insisted, however, that he killed Simon in self-defense.
According to his latest version of events, the night of the killing Lester confronted Simon about stealing money from their project’s movie studio as they were blowing off steam by firing Lester’s guns in the backyard. Lester said he suggested returning the money, but Simon flew into a rage and turned the gun on him, saying that he was going to kill Lester, calling him by the nickname “Dester.” When Simon stumbled and lost his footing, Lester tried to grab the gun. As they battled for control of the weapon, Lester said he realized only one of them was walking away from the fatal confrontation and he pulled the trigger, killing Simon. When the police arrived later, he borrowed some verbiage from one of his own unproduced scripts to make his account that Simon had taken his own life more convincing.
Kevin had the video camera rolling as Lester made the confession and although the seasoned investigator told Lester that he believed him, he also told him he could never tell that story out loud again.
Meanwhile, with Ted’s case circling the drain in court, his one-time friend turned enemy, Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), seized the opportunity to try to recruit entertainment attorney extraordinaire Erica (Lex Scott Davis) to his new firm, telling her that she should jump ship before Ted crashed and burned at trial. But Erica wasn’t having it, and told Stuart that Ted was still her guy no matter what the verdict.
The next day, Ted took another beating in court after Simon’s long-time psychiatrist testified that he wasn’t suicidal and that he even once told her he thought Lester would kill him if he ever found out that he was sleeping with Lester’s wife, only adding to the prosecution’s theory of motive. One of Lester’s business associates also took the stand to disparage Lester’s character, calling him a liar and someone who was so violent it “makes Charles Manson look like a pacifist.” Ted did his best to discredit both witnesses, but was clear the damage had been done.
Back at the office, Ted got a call from his one-time love turned frequent legal opponent Samantha Railsback (Rachelle Goulding) encouraging him to keep fighting.
At the same time, Erica and Kevin were trying to decide whether to tell Ted the truth about Lester’s confession. While Erica voted to tell her boss, Kevin argued that they should keep it to themselves in order to protect Ted so that he wasn’t forced to put Lester on the stand knowing he was lying. Kevin confessed to Erica that he was once in a similar position and told Ted something he shouldn’t have and now he would never make the same mistake again.
Fans learned that back when Ted was living in New York in 2010 and hunting down a vicious gangster by the name of Pellegrini, he got one of his then-girlfriend Samantha’s entertainment clients killed after using the talented impersonator to pretend that he was a dead witness to force another reluctant witness to cooperate in the case. When Pellegrini found out, he had the impersonator killed for his role in the ruse, devastating Samantha in the process. Samantha had warned Ted earlier that he was putting the lives of others at risk by continuing to pursue the case, but Ted wouldn’t back off. She gave him one last chance to prove he could be there for her by attending the impersonator’s funeral, but just as Ted and Kevin were ready to walk out the door, Kevin got a text that authorities planned to finally arrest Pellgrini. Kevin tried to hide the text from Ted, but Ted forced him to reveal what it said and chose, against Kevin’s advice, to skip the funeral to attend the arrest instead. It was the final straw for Samantha, who ended the relationship and accepted a job with a law firm in LA.
Back in present day, a desperate Ted tried out another tactic in court, going after federal prosecutor Elizabeth Smith (Sofia Pernas) herself with the help of pro bono attorney Amanda Stevens (Maggie Grace). Amanda told the jury how Elizabeth had once tried “every trick in the book” to put her 19-year-old client behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Then just when evidence surfaced to exonerate him, she claimed Elizabeth planted a story with a reporter in her pocket saying the teen was suspected in a gang member’s murder, getting him killed in prison.
According to Amanda, Elizabeth used the same reporter to plant a story in Lester’s case to get information from his divorce negotiations introduced at trial.
Her testimony damaged the prosecutor’s credibility, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win. For that, Ted believed they’d have to put Lester on the stand. Lester told the jury that Simon killed himself and, for a moment, it looked like jurors might believe the lie — until Elizabeth produced a witness who saw Lester pull the trigger. The witness — a bartender working a party in the neighborhood — testified that she saw the two men fighting and heard someone yell “I’m going to kill you dead, sir,” just before Lester fired the weapon.
The testimony landed what was likely a fatal blow to Ted’s case. Furious, he confronted Lester and Kevin in the bathroom and both men admitted the bartender was telling the truth, but at this point, it was too late to change Lester’s plea to self-defense.
In one final hail Mary move, Ted sought out the only man he thought who could help him get out of this mess: Stuart. As seasoned criminal defense attorney Stuart was only too happy to point out, from the beginning he told Ted the only move to make was a claim of self-defense before Ted stole Lester as a client and then punched him in the face in a heated brawl. Understandably, Stuart wasn’t eager to lace up his boots to help Ted out, but Ted appealed to Stuart’s unwavering dedication to his clients, pointing out that Lester had once been one of them.
With a surprising alliance now formed, Ted and Stuart stayed up all night brainstorming ways to try to save the fledgling case. As time was running out, Ted finally made amends to his friend, admitting that now that he was filling the role of criminal defense attorney himself, he realized that he “probably” never gave Stuart the amount of respect he deserved. Ted even implied in a heartfelt moment that he regretted the “flea” comment that pushed Stuart to cut him out of their old firm.
As Stuart joked that he’d need a court reporter to read back what Ted just said, he got the idea that would save the case. The only way they’d be able to change Lester’s plea to self-defense was if evidence had been admitted during the prosecution’s portion of the case that justified its use. As it turned out, Elizabeth had done just that when she pushed for the transcript of the divorce negotiations to be introduced. Lester’s wife noted during the talks that Simon wanted to kill Lester.
It was enough to change the plea to self-defense and Lester took the stand again, this time revealing the truth of what happened that night. As he explained, what the witness had really heard was Simon saying “I’m going to kill you, Dester.”
Elizabeth made one last move to try to save the case by questioning why Lester had never told this version of events at any point before, to which Lester replied that he had. Ted jumped up to produce the recording of Lester’s original confession, which Kevin had conveniently sent through certified mail four days earlier, proving the timestamp of when the recording was made.
It didn’t take the jury long to find Lester not guilty, giving Ted his first criminal defense win. Still fresh off his victory, Ted later continued his apology tour when he dropped by Samantha’s office.
He admitted that it was his fault her client had died all those years ago, telling her he should have chosen to go to the funeral and apologizing for his actions. The episode ended as Samantha gave him a hug, seemingly putting any bad blood between them behind them.
With the courtroom win in hand, it looks like Ted and his savvy band of attorneys will live to fight another day. To find out what case Ted will tackle next, watch Suits LA Sundays at 9/8c on NBC or stream the episodes on Peacock.
