40 pages • 1 hour read
William LandayDefending Jacob
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 33-36Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 33 Summary: “Father O’Leary”
Back at home after another day of testimony, the Barbers notice the sedan has returned. Duffy drives up and asks the driver for his license and registration. The man greets Andy and asks how his family is doing. Duffy lets him go and talks with Andy. He tells him the man is James O’Leary, nicknamed Father O’Leary. Duffy says, “‘He’s a fixer [who] hires himself out” (25). He does not know who might have hired him. Duffy also tells Andy that he has found a new connection between Logiudice and Patz—the prosecutor let Logiudice plead out of a past crime, which may explain Logiudice’s reluctance to look at another suspect.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Jacob Was Mad”
Father O’Leary attends court the next day. Derek testifies that there was a small amount of blood on Jacob the day of Ben’s murder. Logiudice tries to question him about Jacob and the stray dog, but Jonathan objects. He is, however, able to ask him about the knife and the Cutting Room. Derek admits that he felt he had to turn Jacob in—he was certain about his guilt. Andy has the immediate feeling that the mood in the courtroom has changed: “everyone’s doubts were resolved at last” (367). Everyone believes Jacob is guilty. Jonathan does his best on cross-examination as he asks why Derek continued to hang out with Jacob, but it does little to change things.
Chapter 35 Summary: “Argentina”
Andy drives home feeling hopeless. At the house, Jacob is clearly dejected and asks what would happen if he “took off” (372). Andy tells him that they would lose the house, but that wouldn’t matter. Jacob says he would like to go to Argentina. Together, Jacob and his parents imagine him going to Argentina, learning to dance the tango, and living a life so happy and full that the trial seems like a distant nightmare. In bed a few hours later, Laurie asks Andy, “‘What if he went to Buenos Aires and killed someone there?’” (375). She is concerned that, if he does get off, he might commit another murder, and they will be responsible for fighting so hard on his behalf. She asks her husband if he truly has no doubts, but he cannot bear to answer. As she continues to press him, he refuses her path of logic: “I could not go any further. The danger was too great” (377). At night, they hear a siren, not knowing that they are “already in Argentina” (378).
Chapter 36 Summary: “Helluva Show”
Jonathan calls Andy: Patz had been subpoenaed the night before, and then killed himself. He left a confession. The family feels a joyful relief, and Andy describes it as “a miracle” (380). Logiudice files a nolle prosequi, meaning the government will drop the charges. The judge dismisses the case. As they leave the building, Dan Rifkin approaches with a kitchen knife. Father O’Leary grabs him by the arm. Andy asks O’Leary who he is, and he announces, “‘Friend of your father’s’” (383). He releases Rifkin and calls the trial a “‘helluva show’” (383). Andy never sees the man again.
Chapters 33-36 Analysis
These chapters bring Jacob’s trial to a conclusion, strongly suggesting that Billy and Father O’Leary interfered. After Derek’s confession, even Andy has lost his confidence that Jacob will beat the charges. When the family fantasizes about his new life in Argentina, it is a temporary escape from an increasingly unpleasant reality: Laurie believes her son may be guilty and likely to kill again. Andy refuses to continue with her thought experiment; when he says he cannot bear to contemplate Jacob’s guilt, it is unclear whether this is because he would fall apart, as he believes Laurie has, or for some other reason.
However, once saved by what Andy calls a “miracle” (380), he no longer needs to contemplate Jacob’s guilt. Indeed, a year later, in 2008, he will continue to maintain Jacob’s innocence to a grand jury. However, the admission that Billy sent Father O’Leary to look over the family strongly implies that Billy and Father O’Leary had something to do with Patz’s sudden death and confession.
