Who do you root for when some of the most unlikeable people on the General Hospital canvas are gathered in one courtroom? No one. You just sit back, pour the wine, grab the popcorn and enjoy the chaos.
This is exactly what I have been doing throughout Ava’s (Maura West) sham of a trial. Admittedly, the prosecution put on a strong emotional case. Describing Kristina’s (Kate Mansi) injuries and putting her on the stand to talk about the baby definitely pulled at the heartstrings.
But it was a foregone conclusion that Kristina wouldn’t be able to control herself. And it wasn’t a surprise that Ric (Rick Hearst) used the incident that happened in the restaurant to show Kristina’s hot temper and inability to regulate her emotions, even for the safety and health of her baby.
Sonny (Maurice Benard) definitely deserves some recognition for those looks he was serving throughout the trial. No one can throw a dark, intense, vaguely threatening side eye like Sonny Corinthos. But the case against Ava was doomed from the start because so many people involved in this case have history with Ava.
Just because Kristina gave the jury reasonable doubt doesn’t mean Ava isn’t a horrible person. Two things can be true at once. It’s unfortunate that Ava is probably going to never face accountability for her schemes because of the obvious bias that the Corinthos family has against her.
Sonny’s custody fight with Ava will make it hard for the jury to overlook how many members of the Corinthos family are testifying for the prosecution. It also makes it seem like the trial is just part of an overall scheme for Sonny to get custody of Avery.
It doesn’t matter that Ric has tapped Molly to testify for the defense, because so many of the Corinthos’ have already made it clear that they are standing as one against Ava.
Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) didn’t even try to hide his disdain for Ava. He just put it all right out there. I guess that helped build credibility with the jury, even though he was admitting he wants Ava to be found guilty.
Ric was right to question Dante’s bias. And he was right that there was a clear conflict of interest in Dante questioning her about what happened to Kristina. The issue of bias against Ava is very relevant to the trial. Whether or not she pushed Kristina, it doesn’t look good for Dante to be the one in charge of investigating what happened.
Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) didn’t help her daughter prepare enough for this trial. She’s still grieving, which could be part of it, but she let Kristina down by not putting her through a more rigorous preparation. She’s been up against Ric before, and she had a personal relationship with him. She had to know what he was going to do to Kristina on the stand.
Alexis knows her daughter well. She knows that Kristina has a hot temper and has a hard time controlling her emotions. She should have done more to make sure that Kristina knew how important it was for her to keep her temper in check when she testified.
It was disappointing to see Alexis fail because she is a talented lawyer, and she knows better. But considering what she’s dealing with it’s understandable.
It’s extremely irritating when I’m forced to concede that Ric did a good job, but he did a good job getting Kristina to crumble on the stand. He’s pervasively unlikable, but watching him grill Kristina was actually fun. He’s a good lawyer and he knew exactly how to press Kristina’s buttons to get the reactions he wanted.
Now Kristina’s testimony is worthless to the prosecution, and she’s going to be left questioning herself and what role she played in the baby’s death. If it was anyone else, I would feel sorry for them. But I have no sympathy for Kristina.
Kristina gives into her emotions like a toddler and has very little control over herself. And now Ava is going to walk because of it. She is not credible as a witness after admitting she hates Ava, admitting to threatening her twice and creating a violent scene in public.
Alexis should have prepared her better to explain the scene in the restaurant, because that was the last nail in the coffin for her testimony. After hearing that she smashed a glass, threatened Ric and Ava publicly and caused a scene, the jury won’t take her testimony seriously.
The jury may have been willing to see Kristina as a grieving mother if she had managed to continue testifying calmly and a little sadly the way she did when the prosecutor was asking her questions. But after Ric was done with her, there’s no way they don’t have reasonable doubt about Ava’s intent.
And really that’s what the case comes down to isn’t it? Intent. Kristina definitely fell out the window and lost her baby as a result. But did she trip and fall? Did Ava push her? Only two people know what happened in that room. And now that Kristina has totally tanked her testimony there’s no way the jury will take her word that Ava pushed her.
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