Barb Trathen, a veteran Indiana prosecutor, is a a consultant for a new drama that will air on CBS this fall called “Close to Home.” The show is based on the life of a female prosecutor working in Indianapolis, says the Indianapolis Star. The lead character is loosely drawn from the life of Trathen, 56. The show is co-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who is behind the CBS mega-hit series “CSI.” Trathen was part of the team that successfully prosecuted boxer Mike Tyson on charges of raping a beauty pageant contestant in 1992. Executive producer Jim Leonard, a Fort Wayne, In., native, wanted to base the program in Indianapolis and was sent to Trathen by local lawyers.
Producers flew Trathen to California last month and to meet with scriptwriters who fired off dozens of questions: What do prosecutors do? How do women cope in a male-dominated field? What’s it like trying a case? She spent an evening with lead actress Jennifer Finnigan talking about “the prosecutor that together we were trying to create,” Trathen said. In the first episode, the script called for the prosecutor to cry, Trathen persuaded the writers to make sure no one else was watching, maintaining no female prosecutor would cry in public.
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