Hank Jennings' alibi

[Cappy]

Hank Jennings had an awful alibi for Andrew Packard's death. I know I am overthinking a minor plot point, but why would he even need an alibi?

I mean Andrew Packard's death was viewed as a boating accident, so were the authorities even looking for suspects? Its not like Andrew was shot in the head, and Hank had to do something to prove he wasn't at the scene of the crime.

Even if the boating accident that killed Andrew was Hank "accidentally" hitting him with a boat, wouldn't the prison sentence be comparable to what Hank got for running over a vagrant on the side of the road?

And $90K seems like not a lot for a 2 year prison stint, even by 1990 economics. Hank likely could have made more money had he stayed out of prison and trafficked cocaine.

 

[Mr. Reindeer]

Everything involving the Packards and the Mill is so hopelessly convoluted and frankly doesn’t make much sense (we could easily have a whole thread on all the Packard/Eckhardt backstory we’re told and all the contradictions, and I’d happily debate it for pages). I think it’s all (intentionally) left vague enough that we can kind of roll with it, even though none of it holds up to much scrutiny. As far as Hank, we don’t know the exact circumstances of the boat explosion, or Hank’s prior relationship with the Packards (if any), so perhaps there might have been some reason to suspect Hank of foul play if he hadn’t had an alibi? It’s a stretch, but the only logical explanation is that clearly he had SOME reason to think someone might catch on.

In a way, the hit and run / vehicular manslaughter thing is sort of a brilliant alibi, because as opposed to the usual “I was at a friend’s house” or something, it puts him in a highly undesirable situation, so it makes it much less likely that anyone would suspect him of making it up. The fact that it is such an awful alibi is what makes it a great alibi! It’s also a real crap shoot, though. He (presumably) had no guarantee how much time he’d end up being offered in a plea (or what he’d be sentenced to at trial if the plea wasn’t to his liking), so that seems like a mighty big gamble. Having worked in criminal law, I can tell you that a lot of sentencing stuff ends up being highly discretionary (within the proscribed legal parameters of course) and dependent on the personalities/whims of the prosecutor, judge, etc. Frost does specify in The Secret History that Josie paid for a really good lawyer for Hank, so I guess that helped him feel a little more comfortable with the bargain. But yeah. It’s all pretty silly.

 

[Cappy]

Everything involving the Packards and the Mill is so hopelessly convoluted and frankly doesn’t make much sense (we could easily have a whole thread on all the Packard/Eckhardt backstory we’re told and all the contradictions, and I’d happily debate it for pages). I think it’s all (intentionally) left vague enough that we can kind of roll with it, even though none of it holds up to much scrutiny. As far as Hank, we don’t know the exact circumstances of the boat explosion, or Hank’s prior relationship with the Packards (if any), so perhaps there might have been some reason to suspect Hank of foul play if he hadn’t had an alibi? It’s a stretch, but the only logical explanation is that clearly he had SOME reason to think someone might catch on.

In a way, the hit and run / vehicular manslaughter thing is sort of a brilliant alibi, because as opposed to the usual “I was at a friend’s house” or something, it puts him in a highly undesirable situation, so it makes it much less likely that anyone would suspect him of making it up. The fact that it is such an awful alibi is what makes it a great alibi! It’s also a real crap shoot, though. He (presumably) had no guarantee how much time he’d end up being offered in a plea (or what he’d be sentenced to at trial if the plea wasn’t to his liking), so that seems like a mighty big gamble. Having worked in criminal law, I can tell you that a lot of sentencing stuff ends up being highly discretionary (within the proscribed legal parameters of course) and dependent on the personalities/whims of the prosecutor, judge, etc. Frost does specify in The Secret History that Josie paid for a really good lawyer for Hank, so I guess that helped him feel a little more comfortable with the bargain. But yeah. It’s all pretty silly.

I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect Hank could've gotten a suspended sentence or probation, were it not for some prior convictions.

He was out for like a week and half? Shame he never got a chance to put that 90K to use -- Maybe Norma found it and used it to open a second RR location. Or the original Toad discovered it stashed in a booth and left town the next day.

 

[Cappy]

One of the more absurd possibilities would involve Hank paying Leo to find and run over some random person at the exact moment he planned to kill Andrew Packard. And Leo would be driving Hanks car in this scenario, and even wearing a bad Hank wig.

 

[Mr. Reindeer]

One of the more absurd possibilities would involve Hank paying Leo to find and run over some random person at the exact moment he planned to kill Andrew Packard. And Leo would be driving Hanks car in this scenario, and even wearing a bad Hank wig.

I love this.

Weirdly, you’d think if anyone would have needed an alibi, it would be Josie…the mysterious out-of-towner whose husband conveniently left her his fortune a couple of years after they met and married! She seems to somehow avoid all suspicion.

 

[Cappy]

Speaking of Josie... It drives me crazy when she accepts that 5 mil check from Ben for the mill. I mean a personal check from Ben Horne would be one thing, but a foreign check from some random person who Josie's never met before (pretending that Tojumura isn't Catherine for a moment)? Again, I know this is probably not worth scrutinizing, but it just seems like awful business sense on Josie's part.

And isn't 5 mil a little low for the mill? I might be mis-remembering, but doesn't Catherine say something in the pilot to the effect of Josie's closing the mill early cost them 80K? Assuming they make 80K every day, then they clear waaay more than 5 mil in a year. Hell, even if the mill was only open half the year they'd still clear close to 15 mil.