Reasonable Doubt has returned with Season 2, but before moving forward with the recap of episode 1, let me walk you through a bit about what happened in the previous season. In Season 1 we have seen how Jax Stewart had been facing trouble in her marriage with her husband Lewis since she was struggling because she was focusing more on her job as a lawyer at a big firm than on her family. And then there was Damon—the ex-con Jax had fallen for. Things between them got complicated, to say the least. When Jax finally decided to focus on her husband and family, she broke things off with Damon. That led to Damon spiraling, kidnapping her, and tragically ending his own life right in front of her. That left Jax completely shaken up. On top of all that, we saw how Jax was finally able to put Brayden Miller behind bars at the end of Reasonable Doubt Season 1.
Now, in this new season, we see another case unfolding and, truth be told, it’s more personal. One of Jax’s childhood friends, Shanelle, had killed her own husband, Jamarion Tucker, a famous football player. But on the other hand, to focus on her mental health and marriage, Jax has decided not to return to work for now. Will she be able to take the case and fight for her friend? The first episode has been released, and we are going to recap what happened in episode one of Reasonable Doubt season 2 for now.Â
Why did Jax think Shanelle acted in self-defense?
In this new season, we see a different Jax. She’s really trying to work on herself—focusing on her marriage, going to therapy, and even doing couples therapy with Lewis. She’s more determined than ever to be a better version of herself, taking time away from work to heal. Even though she’s still struggling with the occasional tremor, mental breakdown, and panic attack from her past trauma with Damon, she’s fighting hard to deal with it. She’s also still puffing on the occasional cigarette to cope, but Lewis is by her side, helping her through it. Things seemed to be improving—she was even getting ready to head back to work. But then, out of nowhere, she got a call from her best friend Shanelle, who dropped a bombshell: she had killed her husband, Jamarion Tucker, the famous football player. Jax was stunned. She knew Shanelle needed her more than anything at that moment, so without hesitation, she jumped right back into work mode. She understood that Shanelle had been in a terrible situation—Jamarion had a history of torturing and abusing her, so it seemed likely that Shanelle had acted in self-defense.
When Jax arrived at the scene, she saw how broken Shanelle looked, with bruises all over her neck, head, and face. Jax felt for her friend and immediately took control and made sure the police didn’t question Shanelle and got her sent to the hospital for treatment instead. But when Jax saw Jamarion’s body lying there in a pool of blood, it hit her hard. It brought back all the trauma she had buried from what happened with Damon. Even though Jax was shaken, after hearing what Shanelle had been through, she knew she had to stand by her. She believed that this would be an open-and-shut case—no trial, no huge publicity storm—just a woman who acted in self-defense. Jax was ready to handle it and support her friend through this awful time.
Why was Shanelle sent to prison?
At first, everyone—including Jax—thought Shanelle had acted in self-defense. It seemed like she had been defending herself from her abusive husband, Jamarion Tucker. But then the post-mortem report came in, and everything changed. Turns out, Shanelle didn’t call the police right away. She waited a full two hours before picking up the phone, and guess who she called first? Yes, it wasn’t the police—it was Jax! That was her first big mistake. And then Shanelle made another bad move. After finding Jamarion’s body, instead of leaving things alone, she tilted his body over to check if he was actually dead. This raised red flags for everyone. People started thinking, How could someone act with such a cold and calculated mindset after killing their husband, no matter how bad things were? She was supposed to be acting out of fear and self-preservation, not like she was plotting something. This really hurt her case. Jax was initially working with Mike, the public defender, trying to build the story that Shanelle was just defending herself. But as more details came out, it became harder to stick to that narrative. The case started slipping out of Jax’s hands when a new public defender, Lucy Wargo, stepped in. Lucy used to work for the LAPD, and she wasn’t playing around. She took over the case from Mike and got Shanelle taken into custody. Just like that, Shanelle was sent to prison.
Not only that, Shanelle was charged with first-degree murder and was not allowed bail. She explained that after killing Jamarion, her mind wasn’t in the right place, so she didn’t think clearly and forgot to call the police first before moving the body. But no one was willing to listen, not even Jax, because the evidence was stacking up against her. And with Jamarion being a celebrity, this case was under the spotlight, making it even harder to deal with. Clearly, there was no easy way out of this for Shanelle.
At the end of episode 1, we saw that even though Jax initially wanted to handle Shanelle’s case herself, she realized she couldn’t. She knew she wasn’t mentally ready to take on such a serious case because of her breakdowns. Jax didn’t want to put her friend’s case at risk. She understood Shanelle needed someone who could focus and make sure she got justice. That’s why Jax decided to pass the case to Corey. From what we’ve seen, Corey seems like a bit of a womanizer, but Jax believes he’s capable of handling the case. As the season moves forward, we’ll have to wait and see if Corey can really step up and help Shanelle after all.
