Dhruv Trivedi
‘The Lincoln Lawyer‘ follows prolific attorney Mickey Haller, who returns to criminal law after a battle with drug addiction. When an acquaintance, another criminal attorney, is mysteriously murdered and leaves his legal practice to Mickey, our hero finds himself inundated with new cases. Most notable among them is the high-profile Trevor Elliott murder case, which season 1 predominantly focuses on.
However, there are some past wrongs too that Mickey wants to correct. After dealing with Trevor, the lawyer turns his attention to an incarcerated young man named Jesus Menendez. The connection between Mickey and Jesus goes back a long way. Here’s what you need to know about Jesus Menendez. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who is Jesus Menendez?
For most of season 1, when he isn’t dealing with Trevor Elliott’s seemingly unwinnable case or one of Jerry’s other leftover cases, Mickey tries desperately to find a woman called Glory Days. Through fragments of conversation, it becomes clear that she is a crucial defense witness who disappeared before the trial, resulting in Mickey’s client, Jesus Menendez, being sentenced to prison. In the final episode of the season, Mickey finds Glory Days and convinces her to testify, though she remains apprehensive about the situation.
Jesus is an old client of Mickey’s from before the lawyer met with a surfing accident and subsequently got addicted to drugs. The show doesn’t give us too many details about Jesus or his alleged crime, but it is clear that he was wrongfully convicted of killing a woman. Mickey, who has since become aware of Jesus’ innocence, thus feels responsible for the young man being in prison and tries to do everything he can to find the witness, Glory Days, so Jesus can have another hearing in front of a judge.
Interestingly, Jesus also makes an appearance in the 2011 Matthew McConaughey led legal thriller ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ under the slightly modified name Jesus Martinez. In the film, Jesus is revealed to have gone to prison after being charged with murdering a woman. Despite Jesus’ repeated claims of innocence, we find that Mickey persuaded him to plead guilty to the crime in order to avoid the death penalty. As it turns out, another one of Mickey’s clients, Louis Roulet, is behind the murder Jesus is convicted of. When the lawyer finds out, he vows to help Jesus prove the truth so he can be freed from prison.
Is Jesus Menendez Freed From Prison?
In the film, Jesus is ultimately released from prison after his innocence is proved. The series, however, doesn’t pick up from the movie and finds the young man still in prison for a woman’s murder. This time around, the only one that can prove Jesus’ innocence is Glory Days, who was a witness to the crime. Unfortunately, Glory Days is threatened into leaving town by a police official named Linda Perez, who is trying to further her own career by making Jesus’ arrest legitimate.
In the season 1 finale, Mickey finally convinces Glory Days to testify, and she reveals Perez’s threats to the court. The police officer and her superior, Detective Lee Lankford, are penalized, and Jesus finally goes free. Glory Days also reveals that the victim was a friend of hers and that she wants her actual killer brought to justice.
Ultimately, Jesus gets freed from prison, thanks to Mickey’s efforts to track down and convince Glory Days to testify. However, unlike the movie, the show doesn’t reveal who the actual perpetrator of the crime was, and Jesus is released due to the legal technicality of a witness (Glory Days) being coerced by a police officer.
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