(Bernard?) "Bernie" Bethel is a billionaire hedge fund manager and arrested for the murder of his girlfiend Sheila Hanson, whom he allegedly strangled in a "crime of passion" after she wanted to stop seeing him. He is one of Lassiter's greatest collars, which is why Lassie has gone as far as to throw a party for himself to celebrate his success, inviting other people over to watch the TV interview in which he breaks down how he caught this murderer. Sadly, however, the party is pooped when Bethel is found not guilty by reason of insanity and is instead committed to the West Haven Psychiatric Center. Shawn, with Henry's blessing for once, is going undercover inside the asylum to root out the evidence that Bethel is faking, thus allowing him to be retried and sentenced 'properly' (in Lassie's opinion). Shawn finds life on the inside not what he expected, particularly with regard to his subject and his many phobias (including fear of loud noises, crowds, saxophones and mirrors), which drive home the possibility that Bernie's insanity might not purely be for public consumption. When he finally surfaces from the depths of his own labyrinthine mind with the help of his medication, Bernie tells Shawn of the degenerative arthritis in his left hand, which means it would have been impossible for him to strangle Sheila Hanson in the first place. As Shawn then also uncovers evidence that Bernie was being dosed in such a manner as to make him appear insane, he himself gets into grave trouble when doctor Abel Elliott is murdered and no one else on the staff knows or believes that Shawn is there undercover, taking the announcement as a sign of his delusional state. When Shawn struggles free to save Bernie from electroshock therapy and confront nurse Lavender McElroy, who was the one dosing Bernie, he runs afoul of her employer, Bernie's brother Daniel, who orchestrated the whole thing to get his hands on his brother's fortune. Bernie's 'saxophobia' then proves to be very real as Shawn uses it to incapacitate Daniel, allowing Lassie and Juliet to turn up just in time to arrest him. With his fortune once again secure, Bernie decides to stay in the clinic in order to work through the issues he does genuinely have.
Trivia[]
- He loves Skittles.
- He is trying to stop smoking with the help of nicotine patches.