For leading the police and marshals on a multi-state chase and stealing things and causing damage along the way, would Richard still have to do some jail time even though he successfully proved he didn't kill his wife?
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Almost certainly not.
He committed theft, vandalism, ID theft, burglary, and could even be charged with felony murder (two people died because of his felony escape).
BUT ... his case would make national news, and any DA who goes after him would face significant political pressure to ease up.
It's possible Kimble gets probation and maybe community service at most.
None of that will bring his wife back, though, so I doubt he cares. He accomplished his goal - catch the guys who really killed his wife. Clearing his own name was likely a side benefit. Avoiding any further prosecution wouldn't be high on his list of priorities
No....I'm thinking he sues them (the state/police) for millions for false imprisonment and almost ending his life when he was 100% innocent.
I'm sure he'd win big too.
False imprisonment's a hard sell when a jury convicts you - you only win those suits when the DA hides evidence.
In this case, Richard was a victim of a "perfect storm" of circumstantial evidence, the most damning of which was his wife saying "Richard ... he's trying to kill me."
Yes, we know she was dying AND she was calling TO him not accusing him, but think how it sounds in court.
Oooh but I just realized ... he could VERY easily sue the crap outta Sykes (who’s probably not worth much, the Lenz estate (probably worth a lot), Nichols (also probably worth a lot), and best of all, the pharmaceutical company, Devlin MacGregor, since the entire conspiracy was intended to push their Provasic drug.
BIG money ... and it would DEFINITELY settle quietly without going to trial
Why would Richard sue the Lentz estate when Lentz was also a victim of the conspiracy?
Nichols was Chief of Pathology at Chicago Memorial, and acting as liaison between Chicago Memorial and Devlin-MacGregor. Lentz was a Pathologist working for Nichols, and seemed to be the direct supervisor for the drug study at the hospital. Richard was aware of the study as it involved the vascular system, and he was a practicing Vascular Surgeon.
So the chain is Richard--->Lentz--->Nichols--->Devlin-MacGregor.
Richard noticed discrepancies in the study results compared to his observations while operating on patients under said study and was in the process of bringing his concerns to Lentz. Richard must have confided in Nichols as well, which makes sense as they have been close friends since medical school and of course he would know of Nichols' involvement in the study. Nichols couldn't let Richard get to Lentz which is why he recruited Sykes to kill the Kimbles (I guess he assumed Richard might have talked about it with Helen too?)
Lentz would have continued to work on the drug study after Richard's incarceration and presumably discovered some of the same issues Richard did. He would have brought his concerns to Nichols as his direct supervisor. Lentz also seemed to be refusing to sign off on any further study reports until his concerns were addressed. Nichols couldn't allow that so he had Sykes kill Lentz as well and then Nichols forged Lentz's signature on all the outstanding reports.
One detail they didn't really focus on is that Nichols was a member of a tennis club and Lentz was "on his way to his daily tennis match" when he was killed. Perhaps they were members of the SAME club, and Lentz was on his way to play with or against Nichols. Nichols would then be able to tell Sykes when/where to set up the fatal "accident".
Oops, sorry … I’d always remembered Lentz as a pharmaceutical rep, I think just based on the fishing trip photo
If he was a pathologist, then he was as much a victim as Richard himself
Indeed.
Honestly, I would've liked them to be a bit clearer about the whole conspiracy and who fit in where in the movie itself.
Did it stop at Nichols or were people at Devlin-MacGregor involved? What was in it for Sykes and why did he have to kill Helen so brutally when he brought a gun? Who were the 15 people who backed up the lie about Sykes being on a business trip the night of the murder? Were they part of the conspiracy? Paid off? Tricked into thinking he went? Is it possible that Detectives Kelly and Rosetti were part of the conspiracy as well, considering Sykes was an ex-cop? Did they all know each other?
We do sort of know what was in it for Nichols. When he was introduced as keynote speaker at the end it was mentioned that "He was appointed to the board of directors of Devlin-MacGregor Pharmaceuticals". That's a huge monetary and reputation boost right there which I'm assuming was contingent on how he (and Chicago Memorial) performed during the study.
The only problem with that is, the whole point of a drug study is to test out how it affects the patients. Discovering side effects is the whole damn point! What is accomplished by hiding them? The study can still be considered a success when major side effects are found because that's how you prevent a bad drug from entering the market. You make adjustments and try again. It could still have eventually been the "wonder drug" they were hyping and Nichols would still get credit for working the studies.
At any rate, the majority of these thoughts are my own conjecture; attempting to connect the dots as presented to us through Richard and Gerard's parallel investigations.
I think the movie needed some kind of wrap-up scene after the car pulled away, perhaps through another newscast by the same reporter who opened the movie reporting on Helen's murder. This time he would break down the conspiracy briefly and go over what happened to Sykes, Nichols, Richard, etc. as Richard is leaving the courtroom a free man, as he did at the end of the original 60s series.
It would've made a nice bookend.
Which 2 people died? The black prisoner and who else?
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The bus driver and at least one prisoner died in the crash
If a DA thinks Kimble participated in the escape attempt, he could be charged with felony murder for those deaths
However, we (as the audience) know that the escape wasn’t Kimble’s plan, so there’s likely NOT enough evidence to charge him with felony murder
Then again, he was innocent of his wife’s murder too
Just the same, I don’t think Kimble cares one way or another, so the movie doesn’t care either and, I guess, neither should we
The bus Driver dying wasn't Kimble's fault. It was the fault of the prisoner up front who stabbed the cop and the bearded officer who reacted by shooting his gun at said prisoner and then aiming his gun at the other prisoners. Though he lied about saving his partner so he'd probably lie about what really happened on the bus.
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Understood and agreed.
But "felony murder" is where you get charged with murder if anyone dies while you're committing a felony. You could be stealing a car, and accidentally run over your own partner while driving off, for example.
Good point about the lying prison guard, though. They'd never bring charges against Kimble with that guy as their witness.
Bottom line: escape is a crime, but once the whole story comes to light, Kimble likely won't be prosecuted.
And I still maintain that it doesn't matter. Kimble's been exonerated of his wife's murder AND gotten revenge on the conspirators. I'm sure he doesn't want to go to jail, but I doubt he cares THAT much either way. Which is why I say that the movie's own story doesn't "care" either.
Copeland, the black prisoner, wasn’t killed because of Kimble - they would have been searching for him anyway (once they realised there were only two dead inmates in the bus/train wreck). And I suppose the cop on the subway was killed partially due to Kimble’s escape, but Sykes would be going down for that.
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