Why Does Days of Our Lives’s Eric Brady Never Get Any Justice?

On Days of Our Lives, Eric Brady is a character who spent time behind bars when he drove drunk and killed Nicole’s significant other, Daniel Jonas. However, multiple crimes have been perpetrated against him, and nobody’s done a single day in prison for it. In fact, some of those criminals walk around Salem like nothing has ever happened. In a couple of instances, the criminals traded their cooperation for immunity or charges dropped. So they’ll never pay for what they did.

If You Do The Crime (against Eric), You Don’t Do the Time

There are many DAYS characters out there who never get justice for the crimes committed against them. Eric Brady is one of them.

Jude, I Am Not Your Father

Recently, Eric (Greg Vaughan — May’s Performer of the Month and runner-up for June) gave up his adopted son when his wife — the lying liar that lies Sloan Petersen (Jessica Serfaty) — finally revealed the half-truth to him. Consequently, he returned Jude (Oliver McLarty) to Nicole (Arianne Zucker — who addresses her upcoming exit) and EJ (Dan Feuerriegel), thinking they were his biological parents. Of course, viewers and a handful of Salemites (including EJ) know that Eric is really Jude’s bio dad. But nobody’s paid for the baby switch thus far.

With EJ’s help, Sloan hightailed it out of town. Leo may be analyzing his self-esteem issues, but for some reason, he’s not behind bars. And the ink just dried on Melinda’s (Tina Huang) immunity deal to keep her from getting arrested for her part in the switch. Instead, a blackmailed EJ got Gabi (Cherie Jimenez) out of prison, where she did time for a crime she didn’t commit. So, ultimately, who’s paying? Eric.

Kristen DiMera’s Summer Seduction, AKA Rape

Eleven years ago this summer, Kristen (then-Eileen Davidson) wanted revenge on Marlena (Deidre Hall) and decided to take it out on Father Eric. She drugged and raped him, and it didn’t come out until Kristen and Brady (Eric Martsolf) attempted to get married. Of course, shortly after that, Kristen fled town, and when she came back down the road, the Salem PD arrested her. Did she get convicted? Nope. You see, she had a formula for a miracle drug that would help John (Drake Hogestyn) wake up from his coma. But first, she needed Eric to agree to drop the charges against her. After some angsting (and a really powerful scene between brothers Eric and Brady), he did. As for Kristen’s medical minion, Dr. Chyka (Michael Benyaer), he escaped town unpunished.

The X Factor

Arguably (or not), Eric’s biggest foe in Salem is Xander Cook (Paul Telfer). Xander is responsible for multiple crimes and misdeeds against the former priest. Let’s see if we can break down this laundry list.

• Xander shared a sordid past with Eric’s girlfriend, Serena (Melissa Archer). The two were exes, plus there was a whole blood diamond smuggling connection that introduced Salem to the dreaded elephant statue (the statue alone was a major crime).
• Xander and his badass henchwoman locked Nicole and Eric in a furnace, where the two almost died.
• Xander kidnapped Nicole and baby Holly and holed them up in Greece. An out-of-prison Eric rescued them, but not before Xander held him captive for a little while.
• After Xander forced Nicole into a marriage. Also, Kristen (now Stacy Haiduk) basically held Eric captive at the lair where they “resurrected” Salemites long thought dead.
• First, Xander helped Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) hide Mackenzie’s true parentage from Eric. Later, he switched babies and made Sarah and Eric think that Rachel was Mackenzie. In reality, Kristen and Brady were Rachel’s biological parents, leaving Eric and Sarah to mourn Mackenzie.
• Xander showed up at Marlena and John’s wedding (one of them) and accidentally shot her. He meant to shoot Eric. So, technically, the Kiriakis committed a crime against Marlena, but he meant to take down Eric!
• Finally, while Eric was off doing charitable acts in Africa, Xander and Nicole had a one-night stand. That’s not the sole reason Eric and Nicole’s brief marriage ended, but it was one of the reasons.

Honorable Mention: Of course, Nicole lied, cheated, and covered up her misdeeds against Eric. To be fair, he hasn’t been a perfect angel with her either, which is why the two have been apart for so long.

We want to know now what it will take for Eric to get justice in Salem. It’s a good thing that — as you can see in Soap Hub‘s 2-week DAYS breakdown — something amazing might be coming Eric’s way sooner rather than later. Will he finally learn he really is Jude’s dad?

Have other crimes committed against Eric gone unpunished? Let us know in the comments.