Walker, Texas Ranger/The Lynching

The Lynching
Season 3, Episode 8
Airdate	November 18, 1995
Written by	Nick Corea
Directed by	Michael Preece
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Walker, Texas Ranger — Season Three

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The Lynching is the eighth episode of the third season of Walker, Texas Ranger, and the sixtieth episode overall.

When a beloved member of the community is brutally murdered, the townspeople immediately suspect a special needs man who was living with her as the killer. Walker and Trivette are called in to prevent a lynching, and it's all they can do to investigate the case and stop vengeful members of the town – each who have their own reasons for wanting their own brand of justice – before an innocent man is hanged.

Chuck Norris (Cordell Walker)

Starring: Clarence Gilyard (James Trivette), Noble Willingham (C.D. Parker), Sheree J. Wilson (Alex Cahill)

Guest Starring: Eric Bruskotter (Jonah Nelson), Ritch Brinkley (Sheriff Nathan Decker), Cooper Huckabee (Earl Nelson), Blue Deckert (Howard Markham)

Featuring: Spencer Prokop (J.J. Carney), Cliff Stephens (Jack Hewitt), Sam Williamson (Deputy Banks), Diane Perella (Wilma), David Harrod (Jackson)

Plot Overview

Wilma Casey is a beloved community philanthropist in the small town of Bremer, running a care center for special needs people. One of her wards is Jonah Nelson, who enjoys his carefree life. His only living relative is his uncle, Earl, who has custody of him after Jonah's parents were killed in an accident several years earlier.

One afternoon after Jonah comes home, he hears screams coming from the house and then a masked man running from the house. He investigates and sees Wilma, dead. Frightened, Jonah runs from the house to a barn, his special hiding place. Later, one of Wilma's maids arrives, sees her body and calls the sheriff. Jonah is arrested as the primary suspect.

The townspeople find out about the murder and before long, one of them, Jack Hewett, forms a lynch mob, overrun the jail and try to hang Jonah. Several years earlier, Hewett's son, Billy, was accidentally killed by Jonah during an incident where he was being teased by several men, and Hewett pushed back. A judge ruled the death accidental and Jonah's uncle, Earl, kept him out of an institution and moved him to Bremer, where he got a job as Wilma's gardener. The grief-bittered Jack Hewett vowed revenge and nearly gets it ...

... until the Rangers, who are called to help investigate Casey's death, arrive just in time to stop the lynching. Mayor Howard Markham, meanwhile, doesn't want a lynching but stands idly by.

Sheriff Nathan Decker also believes, at least initially, that Jonah is guilty, but Walker is able to – through investigating the crime scene and rebutting Decker's preconceptions about Jonah and special needs people – convince him that someone else may be responsible. They also have their hands full by holding off Hewett and his friends, and Markham, who interferes in the investigation ... so as to cover up an affair he had with Casey.

As the investigation proceeds, Walker and Decker see that a large stash of rare gold coins had been stolen. While Jonah was aware of them, they soon realize he didn't have any reason for them and it isn't long before he is cleared as as suspect and freed. Walker keeps Jonah in his care as the investigation continues.

In the end, Trivette – along with Cahill and others – track down a young investor who they learn had recently purchased the coins, which he was not told were stolen. The investor, Jackson, cooperates with the Rangers and identifies the man who sold them to him, and that will go a long way toward identifying Wilma Casey's murderer.

But before the real killer is revealed, the lynch mob reforms, learn where Walker has been keeping Jonah in safe keeping, and surround the house. Walker shows up and, along with Decker, orders them to disperse. This time, they're determined the extract vengeance, and they set the house on fire. It appears that Walker, Jonah and Decker will be killed in the fire ... .

... until several hours later, when (somehow), all three emerge from the smoldering rubble. Some second-degree burns perhaps, but otherwise OK. (Apparently, they hid in the basement, and Walker – using his experiences from Vietnam – came up with a way to take shelter until they could safely emerge.) The mob had started to disperse when the three men emerge and Walker demanded to know some answers, namely who killed Wilma.

Eventually, Hewett is forced to admit Earl Nelson killed Wilma Casey, and only wanted Jonah to be the scapegoat because he killed his beloved son, Billy. When Earl tries to say the accusation was a lie, Hewett says he remembers him saying, "You couldn't protect a killer." Jonah is stunned by the betrayal.

At that point, Trivette shows up with Jackson, who identifies Earl as the man who sold him the coins.

At that point, Earl grabs Jonah and holds him at gunpoint. Jonah asks why, since Wilma treated him and paid him well. Earl goes on a rant about how he felt he was little more than a hired hand and not paid well enough, and should have been entitled to the whole of her estate. (Apparently, he broke into the house one day when Wilma was not home and stole the coins. When Wilma came home and interrupted the robbery, she was beaten to death. One of the factors that eliminated Jonah, however, was that there was a struggle and the fatal injuries were not as severe as they may have been had it been Jonah, who was much bigger and stronger and, had it been him, there would have been no resistance.) Instead of working for her or "her lousy handouts," Earl wanted to live a life of luxury, taking exotic vacations and living it up with women, alcohol, fast cars and much more. At that point, Jonah is able to overpower Earl until he is subdued and taken into custody, to face murder, robbery and other charges.

Hewett and three others are also arrested, presumably for their actions to try to silence Jonah and kill off Walker and Decker.

Walker then sternly tells the crowd that there is a reason for laws and that they should have allowed the justice system to play itself out. Instead, through their actions, an innocent man almost was allowed to be killed. He then orders everyone to go home.

In the tag, Walker and Trivette reveal that Jonah got everything in Wilma Casey's estate, to pay for his future care.