It just occurred to me that Mac must really spend most of his life in court.
First there are all the villains that he detained without killing-- he'd be required to testify against them.
Then there would be the people who die around him. Regardless of whether the people are friends or enemies, if somebody dies around you, and you are either a witness or somehow involved in their death, you go to court (like when Deborah died, Mac would surely have to testify about it, even though he didn't murder her.)
Then there would probably be some cases waged against him for stealing motorcycles, damaging property, etc. (even if it was for a good cause, you know some people would try to prosecute him for it.)

And while some cases might not have gone to court, he would surely be under investigation, such as when Mike died on the Widowmaker. No police department is going to simply take somebody's word about it being an accident. There would be a full investigation to see if it was foul play.

We all know how slowly the courts can operate. I mean, I've been on jury duty cases that have lasted weeks and those were for much simpler things than what Mac gets involved in. So you have to figure that for almost every episode of the show, Mac probably has to spend at least a couple of weeks going in and out of court afterwards to testify about it (or, in some cases, possibly defend himself... if the villain died, it's entirely possible the villain's family might press charges against Mac. Look how many times police officers have to defend themselves when they kill somebody, whether it's accidental or not.)

In the actual show, we very rarely see this. The second Dr. Zito episode is one of the only times when we really get a look at this part of his life. But if you think about it realistically (which is probably never a good idea when it comes to a show like MacGyver), it's amazing the guy had any time at all to himself.

Doesn't that all depend on how you're involved in the case and how big a case is? I think there's a difference between sitting next to the judge and being questioned and discussing something like the marina issue in The Negotiator let alone being made a fool off as in Trail of Tears.

I think in most cases the court room would be empty as with Zito's trial and probably are smalltime trials maybe even unofficial trials. Lesson in Evil is like I'd say the only real official trial we've seen and the only time Mac wears a decent suit because of that. Depends on the level I think.

If Larson got his trial after he killed Booker, I surely can understand Mac had to go to court and testify against him.

OK, there are others like with the marina thing but a business trial is a lot different than a murder trial or a political trial as Rush To Judgment or Obsessed that has a lot of media coverage.

Pete probably get that covered for his friend. Mac can provide up for the brains and Pete can provide up for the paychecks.

I can hear Mac say like everytime as in Renegade Pete would pay 500 bucks for the motorcycles and the damages are for the insurances.

I think Mac had plenty time for himself. Going off hiking for a week and taking the dust off in the houseboat twice a year with a nice game of hockey every now and than + a western would do the trick for him. I think he knows best when you have to work and when to relax, look at Early Retirement. He took Pete with him to go play hockey when it was needed.

But that's kind of the point-- Mac would be very involved in a lot of the cases. You figure every week he gets involved in something which usually ends up with somebody either being dead or at the very least detained by the law. Mac is always the main person involved in catching that person (or, in some cases, getting that person killed.) A lot of the cases would go to court, and Mac would be called upon as a key witness or, in some cases, even a defendant. That's gotta be time-consuming!

Yeah, it certainly looks like he has a decent amount of time for his own pursuits, but what I was saying is that it's amazing that he does have so much free time, because realistically, he'd be constantly having to go to court.

Of course, realistically, nobody would ever get involved in all the stuff that Mac gets involved in, and it's silly to try to see the show in realistic terms. It's kind of like how somebody ALWAYS gets killed when Jessica goes anywhere in "Murder, She Wrote." In real life, if somebody always died whenever you went somewhere, you would become a prime suspect. In the show, the police just brush it off as coincidence.

Interesting point.

I think we need to consider that a lot of MacGyver's activities where under the umbrella of either the DXS.. (national security = no court).. and later on the Phoenix Foundation, which again was either involved in security or had a lot of good lawyers to to handle the bureaucracy at a government/security/intelligence type level. Also remember that the phoenix Foundation had strong ties with DXS, militry and government in general and therefore carried a fair bit of weight. I think also that a lot of MacGyvers activities would have been classified and therefore not treated through the usual legal channels.

Good points. But there are a LOT of episodes (especially later in the series) when things happen to him on his days off, or while working for various organizations like the Challengers Club, not related to the Phoenix Foundation.

Indeed. But he'd probably turned himself in or called the police himself and of course appeals on Pete and the board of Phoenix. Maybe more on Pete than on the board because of their personal feelings for each other. It can be nice to be chummy with the superior who can pull a few strings.

Trust me, here in the US, everything ends up becoming a prolonged court case Somebody who did just one season's worth of what Mac does would probably end up spending the rest of their lives testitfying, being sued, etc. And the villains would appeal the court decisions, so Mac would probably have to testify more than once. In the cases where Mac gets sued, even if he was found "not guilty" in criminal court, it would probably get re-tried as a civil case.

I'm just trying to think of some examples where someone was killed or he was involved in stopping a crime which wasn't DXS or Phoenix related.

I can think of the season 3 Blowout episode where they actually mention the "hidden cost of heroism" when MacGyver complains about spending 3 hours at the police station filing reports after stopping the hold up at the supermarket, but other than that I can only think of the Prometheus Syndrome.

What other examples are there?

Keep in mind that what we see on the show isn't his whole life. In his world, there could be several weeks or even months between last week's show and this week's. So he has all that time free to testify in court, cut through the red tape with Pete, play hockey, think of excuses not to ask Penny out, etc.

I wonder how he would handle court. I know I've get nervous anytime I'm in court (which has be a lot recently).

Lesson in Evil is a very good example for that. And he acted very formal and dressed formal. And this guy is not a tie-man. He didn't seem nervous at all but stayed to the point on how he got to know Dr. Zito and Lt. Murphy and on what happened in the episode Deadly Dreams.

I guess the nerves things might depend on your purpose for beign in court.. i.e. just to give evidence or there to be charged, defend yourself against a charge.. I would think the later would be cause for nervousness more-so than to simply provide evidence.

Don't forget we see Mac in court in Trail of Tears to. He does seem to know his way around a court room

Probably goes without saying, but to those who have never been in a courtroom, it is NOTHING like they show on tv. I mean, tv courtrooms are just fairy tale land, about 95% pure fiction. In reality it's rather bland and methodical, kinda like an extremely dull play. Although I did hear an exchange in a courtroom once that almost had me cracking up:

The gentleman on the stand couldn't remember something, so he ask to see a paper to "refresh my recollection". The attorney handed him the paper, waited a moment, then ask "has your recollection been refreshed?" I about died.


Merry MacChristmas to everyone btw.

In Trail of Tears Willis kinda cracked me up with his remarks and Mac looking at him.