Did she intervene to help, or did she cross the line into murder? That’s the central question driving the latest case on A&E’s Taking the Stand, airing Wednesday at 10:01 PM ET. Hannah Payne, the subject of this week’s episode (Season 4, Episode 2), faces the jury, recounting her version of events in a trial that hinges on conflicting eyewitness accounts and the murky ethics of good intentions gone wrong.
Payne stands accused of murdering Kenneth Herring, a man who, by her account, had just fled the scene of an accident. She claims the shooting was accidental, that Herring somehow shot himself with her gun during a confrontation. The prosecution, however, paints a different picture—one in which Payne became judge, jury, and executioner.
Taking the Stand, hosted by Dan Abrams, gets its power from first-person testimony, from the accused taking the stand to defend themselves. Cell phone footage from eyewitnesses at the scene brings a chaotic, real-time element into the courtroom.
The true-crime series returns for its fourth season with another batch of raw and real cases. Wednesday’s episode looks to be another tightrope walk between self-defense and vigilantism, and the jury’s decision could hinge on which version of the story they believe.
Taking the Stand airs Wednesday, June 4 at 10:01 PM ET on A&E.
