Corrected entry: Once Rusty Sabich was a suspect and a murder weapon had not been found, then surely a search would have been done of his properties in which case the murder weapon complete with blood and hair would have been very quickly found? Also, why if his wife decided to return the murder weapon did she not clean it?
Corrected entry: When Rusty is first charged with the murder, the police obtain a search warrant for his house and they do what appears to be a thorough search. Near the end of the movie, it is revealed that the murder weapon was a roofing hatchet/hammer, kept in a tool crib, stored in the basement of Rusty's house. Given that the police knew the nature of the murder weapon, it is inconceivable that the basement of the house would not have been searched for such a weapon. When Barbara confesses to the murder, we learn how detailed and thorough her plot was. Given her attention to detail, it is hard to understand why she would have not washed the blood and hair from the hatchet/hammer before it was returned to the tool crib.
Correction: Helen has the hammer hidden elsewhere - not in the house - during the search, and after the trial and Rusty's exoneration, knowing the house won't be searched again, she puts it where Rusty will find it. She WANTS him to know that she killed the woman he was having an affair with.
Corrected entry: When Carolyn Polhemus is questioning a young witness on the stand, she commits several legal errors that would certainly have led to objections from the defense. For example, she asks, "Did someone put your head in the vise?" That's called a leading question, and is generally not allowed during direct examination, even if the witness is a child. Then when the child doesn't answer, she asks "What did you say when someone put your head in the vise?" You can't legally ask the follow-up question when the first question has not been answered. Even if the defense lawyer allowed the leading question, which is unlikely, he would certainly have objected to the follow-up question.
Correction: I am taking a class called procedures of the criminal justice system and in my class I have learned about this precise thing. The lawyer that calls the witness is only allowed to do direct examination. The definition of this is non-leading questions that do not suggest an answer. However, there are exceptions to this, and one of these exceptions, is one that Carolyn used. You can usually lead a child victim/witness.
Corrected entry: Harrison Ford takes the ferry home across the Detroit River - which is doubly problematic: There is no ferry service across the Detroit River, and it would mean that he lived in Canada, which is across from the Detroit River. City employees have to reside in the city, and county and state employees have to live in the state.
Correction: The story is set in Kindle County, which is fictional. Its geography, therefore, is also fictional.
Correction: Barbara Sabich hid the hammer somewhere off the premises so it would not be found, even during the most thorough search. She didn't clean it before handing it to her husband after his exoneration because she wanted him to know that she killed Caroline Polhemus - she admits it, describing in gruesome detail how she carefully prepared the 'evidence'. She knows Sabich will not turn her in, and he now has to live with this horrible secret for the rest of his life.