The glaring problems with "Lady in Waiting" (1971)

Yah, Columbo (which I love) is hardly a realistic portrayal of police work. It's not uncommon for Columbo to do something that a defense attorney could just rip to shreds.

I do like the episode. Here's a review that may answer a few questions (or maybe not). https://columbophile.com/2016/03/20/columbo-episode-review-lady-in-waiting/

This is the most active Columbo board I know of http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/ click on fan forum

she did drag him a few feet while he was face down. there should have been some blood on the carpet.

I don't recall this episode. Is it possible you are misremembering regarding a "court of inquiry". The US does not have courts of inquiry (the military does.)

If she had gone to trial then she is legally not guilty. She cannot be tried for the same crime. If she is suspected of another crime she can certainly be investigated for that.

If the DA brought her before a grand jury to obtain an indictment that failed that only means they would have difficulty bringing her to trial. She could still be investigated.

Re: No trace of blood.

Yeah there's very little blood in Columbo, just a few drops here and there. I'm thinking of that while watching OZARK. Almost every murder results in huge pools of blood !

How many posts do you need to start about the same topic? If no one replies, you just create a new one until someone does? Come on, that's just stupid.

"Why is there no trace of blood on the floor where the murderess' brother falls on the floor?"

Bullet wounds don't necessarily result in a lot of external bleeding, especially ones made by a snub-nose .38 Special revolver loaded with typical/standard 158-grain round-nose lead bullets, which are traveling at less than 700 feet per second from a 2" barrel, and they don't expand, since they're just relatively slow-moving pieces of solid lead. It's powerful enough to be deadly if it hits a vital organ or a major artery, but it doesn't exactly leave a gaping hole in someone. Whatever external bleeding there was could have been absorbed by his clothes. If a blood spot on his clothes touched the carpet it may have transferred trace amounts of blood to the carpet that would be detectable with e.g., luminol, but the investigators obviously didn't go to that extent.

"And why is there no line of blood leading to where the body is dragged"

He was shot in the torso and she keeps his torso lifted off the floor the whole time she's dragging him. Keep in mind that bullet wounds don't necessarily bleed profusely. If you want some evidence of this, read this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Hunting/comments/180i833/any_ideas_on_why_there_was_no_blood_trail_here/

That deer was shot with a .308 Winchester, which is a rifle round that is drastically more powerful than a .38 Special fired from a 2" barrel (about 2,650 foot pounds of muzzle energy vs. about 150 foot pounds of muzzle energy). Plus there are other people with similar accounts in the comments.

"Also, since when are American detectives allowed to freely march into a citizen's abode in the middle of the night and confront a suspect in her bedroom?"

Columbo didn't do that. She invited him in. She specifically said, "Come on Lieutenant, come in and have a drink." Before she said that he hadn't yet entered. He, or maybe another police officer who was at the scene with him, had only made sounds outside her French doors.

"And doesn't Columbo take a great risk at the climax?"

Columbo takes lots of great risks throughout the series; it's part of his character. The fact that he's always completely unarmed even though his job is dealing with murder suspects on a regular basis, usually alone (no backup), and often in non-public places (such as the murder suspect's home or business), is a great risk in and of itself, and it happens in most, if not all, of the episodes.