Most of the US legal system comes to us out of British common law. This comes, originally, from as far back as the Magna Carta and before—the Magna Carta is just where it was first codified. Though the Magna Carta was never intended to be protections for the common people per se. It was more protections for the barons against King John. (That’s the evil Prince John of Robin Hood fame; it’s worth noting that he was considered such a lousy king that no English prince has been named John since—Disney songs notwithstanding, he was both John the First and John the Worst.) Unfortunately, the protections are not all they’re cracked up to be sometimes.
Jim is summoned to testify before the Grand Jury. He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t think he has anything to worry about. Rocky agrees. Beth does not. The District Attorney, Gary Bevins (William Daniels), interrogates him about Frank Sorvino. Frank Sorvino was a union official who was kidnapped. His phone log shows that a call was completed to Jim; Jim has never met the man. Bevins has him held in contempt. Civil contempt, which pretty well means he can in theory be imprisoned forever.
Rocky is absolutely convinced that Jim, an innocent man, has nothing to fear. He tells Jim it’s a privilege to testify before the Grand Jury. It’s not only a privilege, it’s his legal duty as a citizen. Jim is considerably more suspicious. This is the Watergate era; it was unfolding at the time this aired. Jimmy Carter had just been elected, in part because of public indignation that Gerald Ford had pardoned Nixon. Jim is suspicious because he’s aware of his government’s failings; Rocky was born, if you assume he and Noah Beery are exactly the same age, almost a year to the day before World War I began. It’s a generational difference, and an important one.
The longest sentence for contempt of court in the United States was fourteen years. Hugo Black was opposed to the system. He didn’t like that it made the judge—or in this case the DA—the jury and executioner. In this case, one guy doesn’t believe Jim, and that’s all it takes. He can’t track any way of Jim’s knowing him. There’s a single phone call. One person says it was completed, but she can’t actually be sure. No one has seen them together. No one has any evidence that they’ve interacted in any way ever. But that one checkmark in the book is enough to get Jim sent to prison for, you know, however long it takes.
A lot of these episodes are playing around with Jimmy Hoffa. His name doesn’t ever come up, of course, but he’s part of it. He’s in the DNA of this episode. Of course he is. Now, Hoffa was on the East Coast and Jim’s on the West Coast, but the issue is there. Growing up in LA, I always thought of our organized crime as being different from the East Coast mob, and in many cases it was, but in many others, there were similarities. And the history of East Coast organized crime does tie in to the West Coast stuff.
Take Care of Rockford Files: Fight in the prison yard. Fight in the prison laundry. Jim gets shivved.
One of the absolute best episodes of the show, to a large degree because Garner is so good at show outright indignation. In part because Daniels is perfect as the federal attorney. And in part because it really handles the serious matter well without losing the show’s essential Rockford-ness.
Worth noting that according to the hosts of “Two Hundred Dollars Plus Expenses” – THE Rockford Files podcast (or so the hosts say tongue in cheek) – the United States is the only western nation that still uses a grand jury system (one entrenched in the Constitution so we aren’t getting rid of it soon).
Daniels is on the show twice and is so beautifully cast as both characters.