Pathological

This episode was loosely based off the case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.

Barba risks his job and his license to practice law by intentionally causing a mistrial and then asking the judge to move the case to family court, thereby allowing Mariel to be sentenced as a minor because he felt that she didn't deserve the prospect of spending the next 25 years in prison for being convicted as an adult for second degree murder. However he didn't need to take this tremendous risk, as an ADA he had the authority to offer Mariel a plea bargain considering the extenuating circumstances of the case. Mariel was obviously under extreme emotional distress after the years of abuse she suffered at her mothers hands, so it would of been perfectly reasonable for Barba to plead her down to manslaughter in the first degree and recommend she be sentenced as a minor, meaning she would only have to spend three years in a juvenile facility.

References Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017)