Fracture

Fracture is a 2007 psychological legal crime thriller film starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, and directed by Gregory Hoblit. It is the story of a man who shoots his unfaithful wife, and then engages in a battle of wits with a young assistant district attorney. Plot Theodore "Ted" Crawford, a wealthy Irish aeronautical engineer living in Los Angeles, confirms that his wife, Jennifer, is having an affair with police detective Robert Nunally. Confronting his wife, Crawford shoots her. Police are called, including Nunally, who enters the house cautiously, negotiating with Crawford for both to put down their guns. Crawford confesses he shot his wife. Recognizing the victim, and being subtly goaded by Crawford, Nunally becomes enraged and assaults him. Jennifer, despite her injuries, is not killed, but left in a coma. Crawford is arrested for attempted murder. Now in jail awaiting trial, Crawford engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum, who considers the case an open-and-shut matter and agrees to go to trial immediately. Beachum is preparing to change over from criminal law to a corporate attorneyship at well-known law firm Wooton Sims, and flirts with his future boss, Nikki Gardner. At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, thereby matching himself, an untrained defendant, against a star prosecutor. Crawford informs the court that the arresting officer (Nunally) was having an affair with his wife, assaulted him during his arrest, and was present during his interrogation. Crawford's confession is therefore ruled inadmissible as evidence, being, as the judge puts it, fruit of the poisonous tree. Beachum discovers that Crawford's handgun could not have been used in the shooting because it does not match shell casings at the crime scene and in fact has never been fired. This baffles police, since CCTV surveillance was in use during the shooting and until Crawford's arrest, during which time he did not leave the house.