Did Columbo really solve the murder in "A Stitch in Crime"?
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rms-49651 — 9 years ago(November 22, 2016 11:49 PM)
Best answer is likely that it's a TV show not reality. I like the show but in most episodes any criminal as smart as they were supposed to be in this show would have lawyered up immediately. Not good for tv show but in reality that's what happens. And with all evidence mishandling, search & seizure without warrants even a public defender could file a motion to suppress that would likely be granted forcing the DA to dismiss the case. Columbo wouldn't be a real cop for very long with his methods.
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operabuff67 — 9 years ago(November 24, 2016 08:47 AM)
This discussion reminds me of a spoof that Mad Magazine did on the forced retirement of various TV characters, including Columbo. Columbo is being forced to retire, and he protests, citing his great arrest record. But then the chief points out that all of them were arrested on evidence that didn't hold up in court. Then they were acquitted, and sued the department for false arrest. The chief says they can't afford it anymore. So Columbo goes home, and gets shot by his wife when she realizes that he will be home, talking, 24/7!
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graham-167 — 9 years ago(November 25, 2016 06:57 PM)
Not even close.
Columbo finds some thread in his pocket. He can't prove that Mayfield put it there. He can't even prove it came from the guy's chest. And he has no evidence at all that he killed the nurse.
I always wondered why Mayfield didn't just tuck the thread into the body when nobody was looking and leave it there when he closed the guy up. Nobody could search for it there, and it would dissolve away within another couple of days. No need to smuggle it out of the operating room at all. -
amyghost — 9 years ago(January 03, 2017 07:20 AM)
I've never seen how the dissolving suture scheme would have worked anyway. Supposing Heidermann had died and been autopsied? An autopsy would have revealed that incorrect thread had been used for the sutures, thus opening up Mayfield, at the very least, to a charge of gross negligence or incompetence even if not deliberate murder. How would his professional reputation have survived that?
50 Is The New Cutoff Age. -
Tjanssen411 — 9 years ago(January 04, 2017 03:03 PM)
"Supposing Autopsy"
an ailing person died on the Operating Table
even today unless some one gets a wild hair; an Autopsy is maybe only a 50% chance in the 70s it'd have been way less
it's the old Horse v Zebra argument -
amyghost — 9 years ago(January 05, 2017 07:00 AM)
I don't know what the statistical percentage was of autopsies performed in the state of California, during the 1970's, on patients who died on the operating table; however I'm betting it was still high enough to make this a large and problematic plot hole for this episode.
According to the CDC, the incidence of autopsy performed on death from disease, throughout the US, was 79% in 1972, as opposed to 46% in 2007, making it
more
likely that the victim's death would have been investigated by the procedure at that time, not less.
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20110804/autopsy-rate-shows-big-decline
As careful as Mayfield was of his reputation, it would seem pretty unlikely that he'd have taken even the minor risk of his crime being discovered in that manner. Being a doctor, he certainly must have had some idea that his victim undergoing a post-mortem examination was not all that remote of a possibility. I like Nimoy's performance in this episode, as well as his and Falk's testy interplay, but plot-wise, I still rank this episode as one of the weakest in terms of overall probability.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age. -
caladon — 9 years ago(January 05, 2017 07:53 AM)
Dr. Mayfield probably felt his chances of getting away with murder were pretty good. If a person dies under the care of a doctor and in this case Mayfield was Hidemann's doctor, and the death was related to why he was under a doctor's care (his heart condition,) then chances are that an autopsy would've been ruled as unnecessary due to lack of suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. Fortunately Nurse Martin suspected something was wrong with the sutures which would've lead to an investigation. Unfortunately, she told the person she suspected of what she thought. The really odd thing about this episode was that Mayfield (clearly a sociopath) ended up being arrested for two murders; neither of which was his intial target.
Jesus is the Son of God and my Lord and savior. Pretty cool. -
amyghost — 9 years ago(January 05, 2017 12:14 PM)
Fortunately Nurse Martin suspected something was wrong with the sutures which would've lead to an investigation. Unfortunately, she told the person she suspected of what she thought.
Which opens up another hole in this Swiss cheese of a plot. Not impossible she might have gone to him first, but reallyif you actually suspect someone of capability of cold-blooded murder, are you all that apt to go to them and tell them of your strong suspicion that they've committed one? (Especially when the party in question has as much to lose as Mayfield did.)
Again, the performances in this one are the episode's chief strengththe story itself is largely flimsy and ridiculous in its hinging on contrivances.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age. -
caladon — 9 years ago(January 05, 2017 05:19 PM)
I agree, the episode would've worked better had Mayfield overheard her suspicions rather than being confronted by them. Also, Mayfield took a big chance by killing her in the parking lot of a hospital when people are coming and going at all hours. It would've played better had he killed her in her apartment where he was less likely to have been seen.
Jesus is the Son of God and my Lord and savior. Pretty cool.