The Trials of Rosie O'Neill

- Season 1

(1990)

Rosie's put through her paces by a client who's charged with killing her newborn infant. Meanwhile, she struggles with her feelings of loss over her recent divorce, and the needs of her mother, sister, and step-daughter.

Rosie battles her conscience and her fear when she fights to clear a rapist who shows no remorse and says he'll strike again.

After a client's mother puts a hex on her, Rosie is cursed with a seemingly unwinnable case and a personal life that seems jinxed as well.

The man Rosie defends in a case of mistaken identity gets the wrong idea about their relationship; Steve (Doug Wert) wants a decision from Rosie on their future.

Rosie believes in her All-American client, who's accused of defacing a Jewish cemetery, while Hank (Dorian Harewood) questions Ben's beliefs on personal freedom.

Rosie comes face-to-face with her own mortality when her handling of an AIDS euthanasia case gets her thinking about her own susceptibility to the disease.

Rosie's 44th birthday is no party as she burns the candle at both ends searching for evidence to clear a man accused of child molestation.

Thanksgiving gives Rosie the blues when she tries to help a homeless blues legend (Bill Cobbs) charged with kidnapping the rocker who stole his song.

The severity of the gang problem hits home with Rosie, who tries to help an ex-gang member beat an assault charge, even though the fight was videotaped.

Rosie faces two trials: quitting smoking and defending a prostitute (Alix Koromzay) accused of killing her vicious pimp with the gun he used to threaten her.

Rosie hopes to spring a client claiming to be an elf (Paul Williams) before Christmas Eve, the night a Scrooge of a judge has set for trial.

Rosie fights with a fragile Kim while representing a woman (Sheila Johns) who shot and killed her drug-addicted daughter.

Rosie becomes preoccupied with curing the ills of a system that allows a mentally unstable woman (Peggy McCay) to live on the streets.

At an awards dinner, Rosie discovers a side of her father she doesn't like, and a side of Kim (Lisa Rieffel) she does, when Kim tags along for a school project on the justice system.

Rosie's high-school pal (Tyne Daly), now a Broadway star, returns for their 25th reunion---only she's not exactly singing Rosie's praises. Carole King performs the show's theme song, which she wrote.

Rosie notices a family resemblance---in attitude---when she defends Hank's obstinate brother (Kevin N. Davis), who laments his lack of opportunity while refusing to give up the guy who committed an armed robbery.

An ecoterrorist (Robert Foxworth) holds Rosie's conscience hostage, pressuring her to argue the issue, which Rosie feels could be toxic to her mistaken-identity defense.

In Rosie's first capital offense case, which could end in the death penalty, Rosie and Hank defend a young black man accused of murder. Rosie insists that she should make the closing arguments, but Hank, haunted by his own experiences of racism, says she can't possibly speak for a black man in America. Later, circumstances put Rosie to the test and her client's life hangs in the balance.