The Trials of Cate McCall

Plot

Cate McCall is an alcoholic lawyer who is in recovery, on probation, and estranged from her family. In order to regain custody of her young daughter and be reinstated to the bar, she accepts the pro bono appeal of a woman, Lacey, who has been convicted of murder. Aided by her assistant, Cate pulls out all stops to prove Lacey's innocence, as well as work on her own alcohol and work addictions. Cate becomes obsessed with the case, neglecting arranged time with her daughter while she successfully gets Lacey's conviction overturned. When Cate finds out that Lacey is guilty, she starts drinking again, causing her to further neglect her daughter. Cate returns to her old job at a high-profile law firm, and purposefully torpedoes her own client's case in the middle of a trial. Cate then takes multiple illegal actions to put Lacey back in prison. Cate gives evidence to the prosecutor who can convict Lacey, then conspires with the prosecutor; the two of them agree to keep it a secret so that she won't be disbarred, which would deny him the ability to use the evidence that he should not have. Cate does not recuse herself from Lacey's trial – though she does blackmail the original judge, who previously ruled in Lacey's favour, to recuse himself. The prosecutor, exercising prosecuterial misconduct, does not recuse himself from the case either. Cate's overt acts of fraud, conspiracy, blackmail and misconduct enable her to get Lacey re-convicted. Cate's reward for her illegal actions is to be granted shared custody of her daughter.

Cast

Production

The filming of the The Trials of Cate McCall began on May 16, 2012 in Los Angeles.

Distribution

The 2012 production was not released in the United States until 2014. In June 2012 Sierra/Affinity acquired the international distribution rights to the film.

Box office performance

The Trails of Cate McCall performed poorly, showing total box office revenue, from foreign markets, of less than $250,000.

Critical response

The review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes shows that The Trails of Cate McCall has not received any reviews from critics. Fan reviews on the site show that only 35% liked the film.