MovieChat Forums > Dolan's Cadillac (2010) Discussion > Robinson is GOING to get caught.

Robinson is GOING to get caught.


Because:

1) He buries the Caddy right beneath the asphalt. No buffer of roadbed at all.

2) The highway workers are going to notice, when they come back and resume work after Labor Day, that that section of asphalt is laid out in nice geometric squares. They'll wonder why, lift one up, and find the Caddy.

3) Dolan may or may not be dead by then. If he isn't, he's going to finger Robinson. Or he'll say nothing to authorities about who buried him there, and have Robinson killed. If Dolan is dead, police are going to open up an investigation (yes, they even do this for dead scumbag mobsters), because the deaths of those three people are clearly not an accident. Who had the motive, means and opportunity, and also no alibi?



The Falcon flies

reply

The evidence would only be circumstancial though, and thus wouldnt hold in court. Not having an alibi is not a crime.

---------------------------------------------
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

reply

Circumstantial? I don't think so. It's been a while since I watched this movie, but, hypothetically, I'll bet he left fingerprints, DNA, or something else pointing to him behind there at the burial site. It's virtually impossible to commit a crime like this and not leave anything behind pointing to you.

But, assuming the case against him is entirely circumstantial, with not a shred of physical evidence:

I didn't say he would be convicted and sent to jail, only that he would be caught. When he's caught, needless to say, proving the charges against him would be quite difficult. In all likelihood, they wouldn't even charge him with the crime, because the odds of getting a conviction against him would be very slim indeed. Unless his lawyer is extraordinarily incompetent, he'll point out that a dozen or so of Dolan's mob connections could have done it. And Robinson would present a nice, sympathetic face to a jury. The prosecution will bring out that the only way to bury that Caddy would be with highway equipment; and who had experience with highway equipment? And who had a motive, opportunity, and no alibi?

Keep in mind that the phrase "circumstantial case" has become synonymous with "weak case" in the public's mind. But that isn't true. A prosecutor doesn't always need an airtight case against someone to get a conviction. To paraphrase the great Vincent Bugliosi, the common fallacy is that circumstantial evidence is like a chain. You could have a chain stretching from Nova Scotia to Bordeaux, France, and with one weak link, that chain is broken. But circumstantial evidence is, in fact, more like a rope. And each fact that points to a defendant's guilt is a strand that adds strength to that rope. Even if one strand breaks (which wouldn't happen in Robinson's case, since he's guilty), the rope is not broken; its strength is barely diminished. A competent prosecutor might be able to get a conviction against Robinson, no matter how sympathetic he is to a jury. And regardless of whether or not he was convicted, the police would always know he was guilty of the crime.

One other thing: if someone else were to be brought in, charged with Dolan's murder and convicted, Robinson would have to be the ultimate amoral bastard to let somebody else rot in jail for what he did.

The Falcon flies

reply

His fingerprints would be at the site, however remember that he worked at that site for months and thus his fingerprints would be all over the place from that as well, so he could jsut say he worked with that equipment on normal work days and thats how it got there, therefore this evidence does not tell is anything from a police perspective.
Since he never actually entered the car ir even touched it other than standing on top of it it would be unlikely any DNA would be found unless they go though very thoural examination costing billions and taking years, which is doubtful considering reality if how far the research goes when known criminal dies.

Circumstancial case is synonymous with weak case because circumstantial evidence alone is not enough to prove conviction in court of law, altrough they can be very helpful if direct eveidence is found.

there are thousands of people with experience of highway equipment. in fact when he goes to get hired the manager tells him that most of his workers are in fact ex-criminal who just went out of jail, and thus very likely be in one of the rival mobs actually. not to mention all other roadworks ever in recent US history.




---------------------------------------------
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

reply

Just the kind of response I'd expect from someone who is not a lawyer, and has no idea what a powerful prosecutor can do with just a single piece of evidence, circumstantial or otherwise. And who didn't read my posts carefully, especially the part where I said that he would not necessarily be convicted, only that he would be caught. Which he will.

The Falcon flies

reply

If he got caught, I don't think he'd care. He got the justice for his wife that he's been obsessing about and has finally gotten relief from his psychosis. Besides, if you've actually read the novella, he actually got away with it (and for Number 2, in the novella, it's explained that the road workers were actually going to be tearing up the road into large chunks with heavy machines, and that when it came to that particular section, it would be torn up with the rest of the road and would go unnoticed).

But this one's eating my popcorn!

reply

In the novella, he gets away with it (at least, so far; the end of the story comes years later, not at the end of the protagonist's life, as in "The Cask of Amontillado") because he buried the Caddy under about 5 feet of earth before he laid down the pavement, not directly beneath the pavement with no buffer of roadbed, as he did in the movie. And keep in mind that at that point in the story (where Robinson is wrapping up the narrative several years later), he tells the reader that nothing unusual was reported during the repaving of that stretch of highway -- Dolan's Cadillac was not discovered, and if some roadworker noticed that the pavement he was plowing up was coming out in nice geometric chunks, he never reported it. Robinson figures that the road had become covered in dunes during the sandstorm, and instead of clearing the dunes away before they plowed up the pavement, they just did both at the same time. And he knows that the Caddy will not hold up forever, that at some point in the future it will simply collapse under the weight of all that earth. But the resulting dent in the road will probably be attributed to a collapsed salt-dome or a desert temblor; they'll simply repave that section of highway again and it'll be over for good. So it's highly unlikely he will be caught. But movie Robinson will. Not might, will.

I agree with you, though, that Robinson probably wouldn't care that he was caught -- unless, of course (as I said above), Dolan was still alive when highway workers found his car (admittedly unlikely, but remotely possible). In that case, he'd care plenty! Elizabeth's still dead, no real revenge, and Robinson's either out of free time or out of air.

The Falcon flies

reply

But wasn't the roadwork take place within a few days after Robinson buried Dolan's caddy in the film? If so, Dolan would run out of air long before anyone found the car. So, he'd be dead when they found the car (as he had already used up all the oxygen in that tank he was using, and would have used up any remaining oxygen inside the car after Robinson completed the burial, especially with the panicking and labored breathing he was doing would cause him to use up the oxygen in the car even quicker), and the human body can't go very long without oxygen (only minutes without it). That would mean that even if they found the car, Dolan would be dead and Robinson (caught or not) succeeded in getting the justice he believed his wife would have wanted.

But this one's eating my popcorn!

reply