INTERVIEW: Criminal defense attorney joins ‘Reasonable Doubt’ team
Photo: Criminal defense attorney Fatima Silva and retired homicide detective Chris Anderson team up to help families who are convinced their loved ones were wrongfully convicted on Investigation Discovery’s Reasonable Doubt. Photo courtesy of Reasonable Doubt / Provided with permission.
Reasonable Doubt, the successful reality series on Investigation Discovery, looks back at violent cases in which the suspects maintain their innocence. These re-investigations combine the resources and talents of retired homicide detective Chris Anderson and criminal defense attorney Fatima Silva.
New episodes air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on the true-crime network.
Silva is new to the show this season and had some hesitation before signing on the dotted line. “I got a random call, gosh, maybe last July,” Silva said in a recent phone interview. “I was actually on my bachelorette party in Mexico and had a very frank message from the network saying somebody I guess had referred me, and they wanted to meet. It sounded like something completely different than my everyday life, and so I decided to explore it and went from there. I never anticipated that it would end up what it is; that’s for sure.”
Eventually, after joining up with Anderson and looking back into these cases, Silva realized she had made the right choice. She learned to appreciate how different Reasonable Doubt was from her day job.
“It was awesome,” she said. “From the start, I wasn’t sure if this was something that I wanted to do. It was just so completely different than my day job. I just wasn’t sure if it was going to be a fit, and they had me meet Chris. They flew me to L.A., and they flew him from Alabama to L.A. And we met, and immediately upon meeting him, he just feels like home. He’s down to earth, very professional and extremely passionate about what he does.”
Silva said Anderson is the type of person who only wants to create a quality show that is centered on the pursuit of truth. “He was not in it for anything else,” she said. “My first intuition about him was right all along. We remained not just partners but extremely [close] friends and colleagues throughout the season, and I just admire him and his work ethic.”
The hesitancy that Silva had when she started filming and investigating the crimes dealt with the families involved in these difficult cases. She didn’t want anyone to relive the horrors of these gut-wrenching experiences, but soon enough, she realized her questioning led to answers.
“As I started to film, I realized what an honor it was to be the people that got to investigate this for these families,” she said. “These families have so many unanswered questions. Some of them are actually fairly easy questions, too. They just never understood maybe the legal process, or how a piece of evidence came in or didn’t come in, and to heavier things obviously, to some of the leads we end up digging into. But to be that person who is able to give more insight and answers to these families, I started to look it as a blessing that I was picked to sit across from these families and for them to trust me in that way. So I took it very serious. I did. I took it to heart. Each and every case, both Chris and I, we did not take any of it lightly.”
Silva said she appreciates the qualities of a good criminal defense attorney, and those run back to her childhood. “I’d say that the part about arguing and being I guess a stubborn kind of person and wanting to advocate and prove your point, that started really young,” she said. “I think I was just naturally one of those kinds of kids. I’m the youngest in my family, and I’m the only girl. So there’s a lot of pushback growing up from your older brothers. They don’t want you hanging out with them. You’re not allowed to do what they do, and so I had to be tough. I had to stand my ground and argue with them sometimes.”
The qualities were always there, but Silva’s interest in the legal field came after her family had to endure a personal tragedy that still stays with her to this day. Her brother died in a train accident, and the resulting court case gave a young Silva an appreciation for the efforts and impact of a single lawyer — her family’s attorney throughout the ordeal.
“It was difficult for us,” she said. “We didn’t have resources. It was difficult to get attorneys to take the case. There was one attorney, and he stuck by my parents’ side for years.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Reasonable Doubt continues Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. Click here for more information.
