Sam Scales’ death sets up the storyline for The Lincoln Lawyer season 4, raising questions about who he is and what really happened to him in Michael Connelly’s books. The Netflix series follows defense attorney Mickey Haller as he tries to defend his clients. Rather than following one case every season or a different case every episode, The Lincoln Lawyer fuses together the two formats, covering one overarching case and multiple one-off cases in each season.

The Lincoln Lawyer cases include familiar faces from the book series by Michael Connelly. Like season 2’s ending, the finale of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 consists of a former client of Mickey showing up dead. Glory Days’ death at the end of the second season promised to be the defense attorney’s most difficult challenge yet, given his emotional connection to the deceased. However, the last episode of the third season sets up Mickey to have his most challenging client – himself. He will have to examine the life and death of Sam Scales to defend himself against the murder charge in The Lincoln Lawyer season 4.

Sam Scales Is A Con Man & Mickey’s Client In The Lincoln Lawyer

Sam Scales Gets Arrested For Wire Fraud And Theft

When Mickey inherits Jerry Vincent’s law practice, his clients, assets, and liabilities come along with it. One of his clients deemed a liability is Sam Scales, a con artist who presents himself as an activist trying to benefit underprivileged communities. However, he has no regard for anyone but himself. In The Lincoln Lawyer season 1, Sam Scales goes to court for faking charity to solicit donations for cancer research. He used this money to get a commercial-grade espresso machine and a Rolex, among other things.

Even without any other crimes, this would be despicable and heinous, especially with the cost of medical care in the United States. However, Sam Scales shows how truly disgusting he is when he runs another fake charity scam with a website called Homes4Youth.com while in the courtroom. This presumably solicits donations for foster children. The next time he appears in the show, he runs another scam in a booth outside a grocery store, soliciting money for service animals for veterans. He hasn’t paid back any money he owes to Mickey and the other Lincoln Lawyer characters.

Sam Scales’ Various Identities

Samuel Scales

Benny Bates

Francois DuPont

Daniel Varela

Gunther Schmidt

Vincenzo D’Aramo

Walter Lennon (book)

Lorna and Cisco come to Sam in The Lincoln Lawyer season 2, episode 6, “Withdrawal,” with a proposal that he create a website for them, and they’ll wipe one of his many bills clean. However, he refuses to pay any of the rest. Then, in The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, he’s again in jail because of another scam. This time, his scam was both altruistic and selfish. He collected money to buy grocery gift cards for people on strike. Unlike in past scams, he donated money to the cause for which he said he was collecting. However, he kept two-thirds of the money he raised.

What Happened To Sam Scales After Lorna Represented Him In The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3

Mickey And Sam Get Into A Verbal Fight Before He Shows Up Dead

After Lorna represents Sam Scales in The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, episode 7, “Relevance,” the con artist has a verbal altercation with Mickey outside the courthouse. The prosecution and the defense compromise that the charges would be dropped if he pays back the stolen money. He says that they’ll never see the money because he owes it to someone who will kill him if he doesn’t pay. However, Mickey gets angry and says Sam Scales will die if he doesn’t pay the law firm.

Unfortunately, the lawyer’s words might come back to bite him because the con artist shows up dead in the trunk of Mickey’s car at the end of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3

Before the season 3 trial with Lorna, he already owed $25,000 plus interest to the firm, a number that only continued to grow. Mickey’s statement is obviously meant in a hyperbolic way, as he didn’t really plan to kill his client. Unfortunately, these words might come back to bite him because the con artist shows up dead in the trunk of Mickey’s car at the end of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3. This moment confirms that season 4 will follow Michael Connelly’s The Law Of Innocence, the sixth book out of seven in the series The Lincoln Lawyer.

Who Really Killed Sam Scales In The Lincoln Lawyer Books & Why Mickey Was Framed

Sam Scales’ Dies At The Hands Of Mickey’s Enemy

In Michael Connelly’s The Law Of Innocence, Mickey Haller learns that a wealthy mob boss named Louis Opparizio killed Sam Scales because of one of his scams. The con artist solicited money under the guise of converting used cooking oil into biofuel. Unfortunately, he ripped off the organized crime group that Opparizio runs. After killing Sam Scales, Opparizio decides to get revenge on Mickey by framing him, since he previously caused the mob boss to lose money.

Consequently, he puts the dead body in the back of Mickey’s car and presumably steals the license plate off the back of the Lincoln, leading to the officer pulling Mickey over. Opparizio is changed to Alex Grant in The Lincoln Lawyer, a suspect in the Mitchell Bondurant case. Considering Grant wasn’t brought back during the 13-month timeline of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, it seemed like Grant had moved on instead of holding a grudge. However, the finale proves that he isn’t done with Mickey Haller.