''If Someone Had Known'' is a 1995 American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

based on a true story, directed by

Eric Laneuville Eric Gerard Laneuville (born July 14, 1952) is an American television director, producer and actor. His first acting roles were in the science-fiction film ''The Omega Man'' (1971) with Charlton Heston, and the ABC television series '' Room 222 ...

. It was released on Monday, May 1, 1995 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

Plot

Katie Liner is the 18-year-old daughter of Jack Liner, a powerful

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. At one of his benefit parties, she meets Jimmy Pettit, a man in his early twenties she soon starts dating. Initially, he seems to be the perfect guy; he is well-educated, respectful, polite, popular, and has no records with the police. None-the-less, Jack is not sure about Jimmy, and he is not

enthusiastic In modern usage, enthusiasm refers to intense enjoyment, interest, or approval expressed by a person. The term is related to playfulness, inventiveness, optimism and high energy. The word was originally used to refer to a person possessed by G ...

when he finds out that Katie is soon

engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

. In a short period of time, Katie and Jimmy are

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

, and she gives birth to a son, they name Jamie. Soon after Jamie is born, Katie learns that Jimmy is not the perfect man she thought he was, as he starts to show violent behavior, pushing Katie, and slapping her in the face. His apologies afterwards make Katie forgive him every time. After this happens regularly for two straight years, her older sister, Sharon, notices bruises on her skin. Katie admits the truth about Jimmy's abuse, but begs Sharon not to reveal the violence. Sharon makes Katie promise to tell her if Jimmy beats her again. By the time she is

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

with her second child, his aggressive behavior has worsened, and he has also begun to slap Jamie. Desperate, Katie admits to her mother, Ellen, that she is a victim of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...

, and that Jimmy isn't treating her right. Ellen convinces her daughter to leave Jimmy, but Jimmy is not willing to let go of his wife, and severely beats her for trying to leave him. When he threatens to shoot her, she defends herself by killing him with the

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- pr ...

. Katie is arrested by her father and admits to her

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

, Paul Chambers, that she is

guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

, although claiming that she still loves her husband. Later in the hospital, photos are taken of scars and bruises on Katie's body. Jack learns from Paul that Jimmy had abused Katie on a regular basis and had beaten her up every single day, making him realise that she was only protecting herself and had killed Jimmy out of self defence. He also has trouble accepting that she did not turn to him with her problems, implying how it could have saved her from the abuse, and the current situation. Jack tries to discourage Katie from taking the case to

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...

, explaining that she could be sentenced to life in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

. Katie thinks her case has a chance, though, and wants to show the jury that she was abused. She also confronts Jack for emotionally abusing Ellen (though it's implied it was done unintentionally). She also points out that she never came to him about the abuse in fear he would become overprotective of her in the future. Realizing that it is the truth, Jack tries to better his life, and apologizes to Ellen. Later, Jack has a possible

perpetrator arrested, despite his friendship with the man. Once the

begins, Katie has trouble proving the intensity of the

, and she is followed around by Wade Blankenship, Jimmy's best friend, who wants

revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." P ...

for the killing. Additionally, the fact that none of the witnesses reported the violence instead of standing by and doing nothing to help Katie starts to work against her, as does the fact that Katie herself never tried to get help from law enforcement before killing Jimmy. When Sharon attempts to elaborately answer the question of whether or not she reported her sister's bruises to police, the prosecuting attorney cuts her off, forcing her to say only "yes" or "no." Herbert Evans, an older neighbour of Katie, who was another witness, explains that in his day, whatever happened with another couple, the marriage was "their business". When Katie testifies, she admits she was so naïve for believing if she provided unconditional love to Jimmy, he would eventually stop abusing her, but she realized that it was never going to stop, and that one of them was going to end up killing the other. (During her testimony, it is shown that Jimmy told her she'd have to kill him and offered her the rifle, but she kept resisting because she loved him too much. However, when he finally told her, "Yeah, that's what I thought!" and hit her across the head with the butt of the rifle, dropped it, then retreated to the bedroom, that was the moment. She walked in and shot him, breaking down crying as she did so.) The

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England d ...

then reaches a verdict, finding Katie not guilty and when everyone walks out after the trial, Jimmy's parents, who at first wanted Katie in prison for the murder, apologise to her for her pain and showing regret for not knowing what a violent man their son was. The film ends, a year later, with Katie laying a flower at Jimmy's grave, then telling Jamie and her newborn second child that they will have a better life.

Cast

Kellie Martin Kellie Martin (born October 16, 1975) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher in '' Life Goes On'' (1989–1993), Lucy Knight on '' ER'' (1998–2000), Samantha Kinsey in the '' Mystery Woman'' TV film seri ...

as Katherine "Katie" Liner-Pettit *

Kevin Dobson Kevin Patrick Dobson (March 18, 1943 – September 6, 2020) was an American film and television actor, best known for his roles as Detective Bobby Crocker, the trusted protege of Lt. Theo Kojak (played by Telly Savalas) in the CBS crime ...

as Jack Liner * Linda Kelsey as Ellen Liner *

Ivan Sergei Ivan Sergei Gaudio (; born May 7, 1971) is an American actor known for his work in television. His best known roles are Dr. Peter Winslow in ''Crossing Jordan'' and Henry Mitchell in ''Charmed''. Life Ivan Sergei Gaudio was born in Hawthorne, ...

as James Charles "Jimmy" Pettit *

Kristin Dattilo Kristin Dattilo (born November 30, 1970) is an American television actress, known for playing manager Yola Gaylen on '' The Chris Isaak Show'' from 2001 to 2004 and detective Barbara Gianna in season 3 of ''Dexter''. Early life Dattilo was b ...

as Sharon Liner *

Anna Gunn Anna Gunn (born August 11, 1968) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Skyler White on the AMC drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...

as Officer Linda Reed *

Alan Fudge Alan Fudge (February 27, 1944 – October 10, 2011) was an American actor known for his roles in four television programs, '' Man from Atlantis'', '' Eischied'', ''Paper Dolls'' and ''Bodies of Evidence'', along with a recurring role on '' 7th H ...

as Chief Hunt *

Jennifer Savidge Jennifer Savidge is an American actress, best known for her role as Nurse Lucy Papandrao in the NBC medical drama series, ''St. Elsewhere''. She is married to actor Robert Fuller. Career Savidge has appeared in a number of television shows. Fro ...

as Dr. Lois Coutu *

Tom Amandes Tom Amandes (born March 9, 1959) is an American actor. His best-known role to date is that of Eliot Ness in the 1990s television series ''The Untouchables''; he also played Geena Davis' boyfriend in '' The Long Kiss Goodnight'', and Abraham Lin ...

as Paul Chambers * James Harper as Charles Pettit *

Noah Emmerich Noah Nicholas Emmerich (born February 27, 1965) is an American actor and director who is best known for his roles in films such as '' Beautiful Girls'' (1996), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Frequency'' (2000), ''Miracle'' (2004), '' Little Child ...

as Officer Ed Hunt * Jennifer Griffin as Marian Pettit *

Rodney Rowland Rodney G. Rowland (born February 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is credited as Rod Rowland in more recent productions, given his predilection to being called Rod. Rowland's most noted appearances to date were as 1st Lieutenant Cooper Hawkes ...

as Doug Pettit

Broadcast

The film originally aired on

and was later re-aired on Lifetime and its sister channel

Lifetime Movie Network LMN (also known previously as Lifetime Movies, and an initialism for Lifetime Movie Network) is an American pay television network owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and t ...

Home media

The film was released on DVD in 2005 by

MPI Home Video MPI Media Group is an American producer, distributor and licensor of theatrical film and home entertainment. MPI's subsidiaries include MPI Pictures, MPI Home Video, Gorgon Video, and the horror film distributor Dark Sky Films. The company is l ...

, one of a number of TV films issued under their "True Stories Collection" banner.

Reception

Although the film received no critical acclaim,

was praised for her "believable performance".Review Summary
The New York Times Writers Alan Landsburg, Susan Cuscuna and Michael Petryni received the

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organizatio ...

for their teleplay.

References

External links

* {{Eric Laneuville 1990s crime films 1995 television films 1995 films 1995 crime drama films Crime television films American drama television films American courtroom films Films about domestic violence Films directed by Eric Laneuville NBC network original films Crime films based on actual events Films set in 1990 Films set in 1991 Films set in 1992 Films set in 1994 Films set in 1995 1990s English-language films 1990s American films