Cover For Me… Or Everyone Might Wind Up In Prison (Broken laws recap of PLL episode 4×22)

With broken laws from 4×21, “She’s Come Undone” **

At the beginning of the episode, we learn that a sober Spencer has just returned from a 3 day stint at rehab. This is a big change from “She’s Come Undone” when she was taking adderall “prescribed” to her by “A.” Taking the medication that “A” gave her was not only an enormous lapse in judgment, considering it could have been poisoned, but also illegal! Spencer’s poor judgment brings us to:

Broken Law # 1 Alert! (from episode 4×21)

Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act (35 P. S. § §  780-101—780-144) (in relevant part)
“…Knowingly or intentionally possessing a controlled or counterfeit substance by a person not registered under this act, or a practitioner not registered or licensed by the appropriate State board…”

Spencer has more of her terrifying flashbacks to the night that Alison disappeared. These flashbacks strongly indicate that Spencer hit Alison, or somebody who looks a lot like her, with a shovel…hard.

Legal Note # 1: 

If this is proven true, we will discuss it further. For now, do NOT get any crazy ideas; smacking somebody with a shovel is in no way legal. I repeat, do NOT hit people with shovels. 



Next, we see a very NOT sober Aria at a frat house making out with a guy we’ve never seen before. His name is Riley the Rebound, and neither he nor Aria are 21. This brings us to:

Broken Law # 2 Alert! 

We’ve discussed this one relatively recently, only this time it was about Aria’s brother. For a refresher, see broken law # 1 of my entry on PLL episode “Bite Your Tongue.” 

Underage Drinking (in Relevant Part) 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6308 (a) :
“A person has violated the law against underage drinking if she is under 21 years old, attempts to purchase, consumes, possesses OR knowingly or intentionally transports any liquor or malt beverages…For a first offense, this is a “summary offense,” the lowest level of crime in Pennsylvania.
Penalties: Fine of up to $500.00, but the maximum fine for a first offense is $300, License Suspension of 90 days (1st offense) (an occupational limited license may be available for a first offense).”

The following day, Spencer goes down to her kitchen searching for her car keys; she wants to get to school early. Instead, she finds her mother sitting with yet another guy we haven’t seen before. He’s Spencer’s babysitter/ drug and alcohol abuse counselor. Veronica demands that Spencer hand over all of her electronics; she has already confiscated Spencer’s car keys. Veronica also mentions that Spencer is currently not allowed to have friends. Sounds awesome! When Spencer asks Dean what she should do first, he hands her a take-home drug test.

Next, Aria talks on the phone with Emily. We learn that the frat party she attended is at Syracuse; Aria went there with her father to pretend she’s interested in touring the college. She’s really trying to rid herself of all things Ezra, and it looks like it’s working. Aria gets off the phone when she sees a hungover Riley approaching. They decide to ditch the tour to get pancakes and nurse their hangovers.

At school, Hanna and Emily discuss the situations with Aria and Spencer. Hanna reveals that she tried calling Spencer’s phone, but her mom answered and informed her that Spencer won’t be at school for awhile and is not allowed any visitors. Even Ashley Marin was allowed visitors when she was in prison! Emily mentions that Aria’s at Syracuse. Then, Emily informs Hanna that Ezra is back at school. This makes Hanna furious and gives her the motivation she needed to ditch class. Before Hanna leaves, she and Emily overhear a heated argument between Mona and Mike. They quickly realize that this argument is likely Ezra’s fault. As Emily says, it looks like “Ezra’s still pulling Mona’s strings.”

Although Hanna’s ditching class, Emily’s not leaving before she gets to confront Ezra. Emily goes into Ezra’s classroom before class starts. Ezra attempts to get Emily to give him a chance to explain himself and his behavior, but Emily doesn’t allow this. She rattles off a list of times Ezra helped her outside of the classroom and asks him what he got out of all of that. He doesn’t even have an answer for her, which is pretty pathetic. Emily turns in an assignment that’s due that day, explaining that she won’t be staying for the class. Before leaving, she pointedly requests that Ezra make sure a REAL teacher gets her work. Oh, burn! Sorry Ezra, but you deserved that one.

Hanna runs into Gabe/Detective Holbrook at the Brew. She apologizes for “accidentally running into [his] mouth,” something that most people refer to as kissing. Holbrook asks her to join him; he has something else to discuss with her. He wants to know what Hanna knows about the anonymous note he received claiming that Alison is alive. Particularly, he wants to know if Hanna wrote the note. Hanna denies knowing anything about the note, which at the moment is true. She asks if this means that the police will start searching for Alison, but Holbrook tells her that the note likely came from “another crackpot,” and it’s not likely to be pursued. Hanna makes an excuse to leave before getting herself into a conversation that she’s not prepared to have.

Meanwhile, at Syracuse, Aria wakes up in her motel room. Riley is there too, and they quickly realize that they’ve pretty much emptied the room’s entire mini bar. Aria also learns that Riley can play guitar and owns a guitar named Antonio. Apparently, this is some sort of magical guitar, since Riley claims that it named ITSELF Antonio. Aria and Riley’s hotel bar binge is on Byron’s dime; he’s staying in the room next door. Riley suggests that Aria tell her father that she had “the drunkies.” Somehow I don’t think this is a good idea, and it’s unlikely to make Byron excuse the fact that he now owes the hotel at least $100 extra dollars because of “the drunkies.”

Spencer heads to bed, but quickly discovers that half of her sheets are covered in dirt, courtesy of “A.” The dirt is accompanied by a note: “I know you dug her grave, now I’m digging yours. Kisses, A.” Excellent, that’s just what Spencer needs during her recovery process.

Outside the school the next day, Hanna fills Emily in on the latest scary information from Holbrook. Emily’s questions about this anonymous note suggest that she might suspect Paige. Travis approaches Hanna and they make plans for a date the next night. Emily questions this idea with a question along the lines of “Caleb just left PLL like 5 seconds ago, are you sure about this?”

At Spencer’s house, Dean prepares her a disgusting green drink and calls her out on doing her laundry at 2 in the morning. “Um, sorry I had to wash my sheets because you’re a crappy babysitter and allowed someone to get into my room and cover my sheets with dirt?,” she replies. Ok, she was more polite than that. When Dean asks Spencer about her withdrawal symptoms, she mentions the hallucinations she has been having. He suggests that this could be suppressed memories coming back as the drugs leave her system. Spencer excuses herself to take a shower, but she swipes the house phone first. Bad girl! She sneakily starts leaving Toby a voicemail, but is quickly interrupted by Dean; he doesn’t hear running water and he’s onto Spencer’s games.

Hanna runs into Detective Holbrook again, but this time he’s with his partner, Lieutenant Tanner. Tanner believes that Hanna is the one who wrote the note, and she’s ready to prove it with handwriting analysis. Hanna still adamantly insists that she didn’t write the note. Tanner tells Holbrook that she thinks Hanna is a “tough cookie.” She’s right about that, so she should stop messing with Hanna. Look at what happened to the last cop who bothered her!

Aria is still hanging out with Riley. They’re by the water discussing their real reasons for coming to Syracuse. Riley is expected to go there because his entire family went to Syracuse. He wants to study music at a different college. Aria explains that some jerk aka Ezra broke her heart into “thirty thousand million pieces.” Riley thinks that Ezra should be the one exiled from town, NOT Aria. I agree.

That night, Mrs. DiLaurentis shows up at Spencer’s house. She claims she’s there because she wants to know if they will be attending her bridal charity for starving children. When Veronica leaves the room to check their calendar, Mrs. D remarks that she’s likely writing a check in the other room. Spencer apologizes for her behavior in episode 4×21 where she violently grabbed Mrs. DiLaurentis’s arm and screamed at her. It’s a good thing Mrs. D is so forgiving, because Spencer’s stunt was not legal.

Broken Law # 3 Alert! (Episode 4×21)

Simple assault – 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2701 (in relevant part)
“(a) Offense defined.–A person is guilty of assault if he:(1)  attempts to cause or intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;…”
  “(b) Grading.–Simple assault is a misdemeanor of the second degree…”

 Mrs. D emphasizes the good cause for her charity and makes an eerie remark that “no parent should ever have to watch their child die.” Spencer excuses herself, using her laundry as an excuse to go upstairs and go to bed. Before she leaves the room, Mrs. D makes an extraordinarily creepy comment: “Nothing beats a good night’s sleep on a set of fresh, clean sheets.” Spencer clearly wonders if that means that Mrs. D was the reason that she had to wash those fresh, clean sheets in the first place.

Riley and Aria say their goodbyes, and Riley leaves Aria with a “beat up a jerk card.” He notes, however, that he thinks Aria can handle this one on her own. Meanwhile, Mike shows up at The Brew and ambushes Emily. Mona broke up with him via text message, and he’s furious because he thinks that Aria is to blame. He tells Emily to tell Aria “thanks” for him. Emily defends Aria and offers to speak to Mona about this. Mike doesn’t buy into Emily’s claim that Aria had nothing to do with this, considering Aria and her friends can’t stand Mona.

Dean and Spencer run 3 miles, then Dean orders Spencer to take another lap because of her stunt with the house phone. They then start freestyling rhymes: “Why are you so mean, Dean?” “Because you make me tense, Spence.” This doesn’t stop them from running the 4th mile, but it makes for some comic relief. Spencer has more terrifying flashbacks, and this time in her flashback, she slams Alison (or somebody who looks a LOT like her and wears the same clothes) with the shovel hard, to the point that Spencer winds up with blood spatter on her face. We don’t know yet if this flashback is real, so as mentioned above, we will discuss it further if it turns out to be true.

When Dean asks Spencer what’s wrong, she tells him that she thinks she knows what she did. She explains that she’s been using other people’s memories of the night Ali disappeared to fill in the blanks in her own memory. Dean encourages her to look at this positively; perhaps she’s ready to accept some things that she’s done and make good on them. Spencer stops talking right before she accidentally reveals too much about what she thinks she did. Dean gives Spencer privacy to read a note from Toby, which is postmarked from LONDON. Toby seems like he’s always Out Of Town, and now he’s upgraded to Out Of Country.

Hanna and Travis go on what’s supposed to be a date, but Travis points out that Hanna’s phone is a lousy third-wheel. Jessica DiLaurentis interrupts their meal (seemingly politely) and then Hanna sees her go off to speak with Detective Holbrook. After she sees this, she’s all about texting. She’s almost sending as many texts as “A” would send. She informs Emily of what’s going on and speculates that the reason Mrs. D is speaking to the cops has to do with the anonymous note, which we know is from Paige.

Mona backs her car out of her driveway, but is quickly stopped when she realizes that someone is right behind her car; it’s Emily. I admire Emily’s courage, but I still think she should have thought this through a bit more. She knows that Mona had no problem running Hanna over with a car! Luckily, Mona does not do this to Emily. Emily tells Mona that she needs to talk to her, but Mona attempts to brush her off by saying that she has somewhere to be. Emily doesn’t allow this though; she shoots right back asking Mona if she’s heading to meet with Ezra Fitz. Mona realizes that she’s trapped and tells Emily to get in her car.

Aria shows up at the rubble known as Ezra’s apartment. As we know, in episode 4×21, Aria went into his apartment and broke nearly all of his possessions. This, of course, is not legal, which brings us to:

Broken Law # 4 Alert!

Burglary – 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3502 (in relevant part) (Episode 4×21)

We discussed this one in my entry on PLL, “Hot For Teacher” 
See Broken Law 7.

“(a)  Offense defined.–A person is guilty of burglary if he enters a building or occupied structure, or separately secured or occupied portion thereof, with intent to commit a crime therein…”
   (c)  Grading. :(1) … burglary is a felony of the first degree.”

Now, we don’t know Aria’s EXACT intentions were for entering Ezra’s apartment, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t involve legal conduct. We do know what she actually wound up doing in his apartment, which leads us to: 

Broken Law # 5 Alert!

Criminal mischief – 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3304 (in relevant part) (Episode 4×21)

       ” (a)  Offense defined.–A person is guilty of criminal mischief if he:
            …(5)  intentionally damages real or personal property of another…”
        (b)  Grading.–Criminal mischief is a felony of the third degree if the actor intentionally causes pecuniary loss in excess of $5,000, or a substantial interruption or impairment of public communication, transportation, supply of water, gas or power, or other public service. It is a misdemeanor of the second degree if the actor intentionally causes pecuniary loss in excess of $1,000, or a misdemeanor of the third degree if he intentionally or recklessly causes pecuniary loss in excess of $500…(4). Otherwise criminal mischief is a summary offense.”

NOTE: Since I don’t know the value of Ezra’s belongings, I included most of the possibilities in the grading section above. Also,
NOTE: If Aria were to be charged with a crime, it would have to be either burglary or criminal mischief, not both. Here’s why: 
§ 3502.  Burglary.
(d)  Multiple convictions.–A person may not be convicted both for burglary and for the offense which it was his intent to commit after the burglarious entry or for an attempt to commit that offense, unless the additional offense constitutes a felony of the first or second degree.”
     Note: At highest, criminal mischief is a felony in the THIRD degree, which does not fall into the situations where someone could be charged with both crimes. 

Back in episode 4×22, Ezra lets Aria into the apartment that she destroyed. Aria wants him to leave town for good. Ezra gives her his manuscript, which he says he is no longer publishing. He wants her to have it because he found out information that could help Aria and her friends.

Mona explains to Emily that when she found out about Ezra’s book, she realized that it contained information about her that could land her in jail. Ezra bribed her; if she gave him the information he requested, he’d omit the illegal things that Mona did from his book. Uh oh, that doesn’t sound right…

Broken Law # 6 Alert!

Since Ezra, at the time of his agreement with Mona, was still planning on publishing a TRUE crime novel, this behavior is not within the law. This is especially true because it is highly doubtful that Ezra had his publishing company’s permission to do this.

Commercial bribery and breach of duty to act disinterestedly – 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4108

        “(a)  Corrupt employee, agent or fiduciary.–An employee, agent or fiduciary commits a misdemeanor of the second degree when, without the consent of his employer or principal, he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from another person upon agreement or understanding that such benefit will influence his conduct in relation to the affairs of his employer or principal.
        (b)  Corrupt disinterested person.–A person who holds himself out to the public as being engaged in the business of making disinterested selection, appraisal, or criticism of commodities or services commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he solicits, accepts or agrees to accept any benefit to influence his selection, appraisal or criticism.
        (c)  Solicitation.–A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he confers, or offers or agrees to confer, any benefit the acceptance of which would be criminal under subsections (a) or (b) of this section.”

As if Ezra needs more crimes on his less than stellar resume. 

Mona explains to Emily that she tried to get out of the deal that she made with Ezra, but Ezra wouldn’t allow it. That’s why she broke up with Mike; she didn’t want to drag him into this mess. Mike DOES have enough drama involving Ezra already. Mona also tells Emily that Ezra thinks he knows who the person who “stole the game” from her is. At least she sort of got something out of the deal.

Aria begins reading Ezra’s manuscript. She finds something important, because the next thing we know, Spencer’s phone, which is locked in a drawer goes off. When Spencer gets the phone out, she has an “SOS” text from Aria. Hanna is still being the worst date in the world to Travis, when she gets a text from Emily to meet at her house. She leaves, but she promises Travis that she genuinely had a good time and that she’ll be a better date next time.

While the girls wait for Aria to arrive at Emily’s, Hanna notices a familiar-looking envelope hanging up in Emily’s room. It’s an exact match to the envelope that Holbrook showed her before. Hanna quickly puts two and two together, being the “tough cookie” that she is. Before she can say anything, Aria arrives. Emily fills Aria in on Mona breaking up with Mike and Mike thinking it’s Aria’s fault, even though Ezra’s the one to blame. Then Aria tells the girls that she went to Ezra’s and got the manuscript, and Ezra’s theory is that “A” is Alison’s mom. It seems as if Spencer agrees with Ezra on one thing at least, because she’s suspecting Mrs. D also. She fills the girls in on her dirty sheets and Mrs. D’s shady comment. She also tells them about CeCe and Mrs. D seeing her holding a shovel to Ali’s head on the night Ali disappeared. Hanna isn’t buying this though; Mrs. D is too old to text!

Hanna confronts Emily about telling Paige that Alison is alive, however she doesn’t yet reveal why she’s asking. The look on Emily’s face makes it obvious to Hanna that she’s correct about Paige. By the time Aria gets home, Mike has figured out that it wasn’t her fault that Mona broke up with him. They have a cute sibling moment.

When Spencer gets home, Veronica is furious that she snuck out. She goes through her texts and demands to know what SOS means. Really? Spencer tells her mom that she wants to know what really happened the night Alison disappeared, but her mother tells her to consider it a blessing that she can’t remember. Veronica suggests that Spencer go to bed. In her bedroom, we see JESSICA DILAURENTIS creeping behind Spencer. It’s a very scary scene. We don’t yet know why she’s in there, but we do know that nobody gave her permission to be there. Jessica’s weird walk next door brings us to:

Broken Law # 7 Alert!

Criminal trespass – 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3503 (in relevant part) :  

“(a)  Buildings and occupied structures.–  (1)  A person commits an offense if, knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so, he: (i)  enters, gains entry by subterfuge or surreptitiously remains in any building or occupied structure or separately secured or occupied portion thereof. (2)  An offense under paragraph (1)(i) is a felony of the third degree.”

Spencer doesn’t notice Jessica, and Jessica gets the chance to escape unseen when Veronica comes into Spencer’s room. At the very end of the episode, we see “A” creepily messing around with a wedding dress, which is interesting because we know that Mrs. D. is holding a bridal charity event soon. I can’t wait to see what happens then! Next week’s episode should definitely be interesting, and I’ll be here with updates! Thank for reading! 🙂