Certainly Mayfield would go down for ATTEMPTED murder of Heidleman. But is there a true case against him for Sharon? I wonder. And we never really know the truth about Harry Alexander. Just some thoughts to ponder.

Good points. I think, for the purposes of drama, Columbo “got him”. But in a courtroom I think the prosecutor would have Mayfield for attempted murder minimum as you said. But the attack on Harry Alexander would be pinned to Mayfield due to such an obvious and clear motive, as would the murder of Sharon Martin. If Mayfield wriggled out of those charges somehow, his career would still be ruined.

I always wonder whether he was allowed to go on with his and Hiedeman's research (even in prison).

Attempted murder of the man your doing research for is something that the courts will not look too favorably upon. Even attempted murder carries a pretty healthy sentence. And there's probably no way in the world that he'd be allowed to continue his work in prison. Furthermore the good doctor that survived the attempt wouldn't want anything to do with him.

This episode, when you think of it, was a bit different for Columbo. He initially focused on the death of the nurse, but the final clue involved the attempted murder of Dr Heideman. At its conclusion there was no reference to the initial murder which began the Lieutenants involvement with the case.