The Ledger

11.17 Amends

In this episode (11.17), Briscoe and Green attempt to solve a 20-year-old murder case. The case closely resembles that of Martha Moxley, the young woman killed in Greenwich, CT, by a relative of the Kennedys.

The episode begins with Lt. Van Buren being chastised by department brass at what appears to be a department-wide meeting. Her commanders tell her that her clearance rate of homicide cases -- 22% -- is too low, and she better improve her numbers, or they're going to find someone else to take her position. They tell her to close cases, even it involves opening up cold cases. Why the department would want her detectives to concentrate on decades-old cases is beyond me, but it makes for a good story, so Briscoe and Green comb through the old files looking for something that looks solvable.

The settle on the murder of a young woman that had a lot of promising leads but never got solved. The chief suspect in the case was a plumber, but his wife provided him with an alibi. The detectives reason that the wife may not be so interested in protecting her husband after 20 years, so they pay her a visit. No such luck. Even though they're now divorced, she sticks to her story. Briscoe knows the (now retired) detective who worked the case all those years ago, Tommy Brannigan, so he goes to visit him. Brannigan isn't much help, and their chances are further diminished when they discover a lot of essential evidence -- including the murder weapon -- has gone missing from the property room, apparently the victim of several moves. Through the few leads that they have -- including boys (now men) who went to high school with the victim, Green and Briscoe start taking a closer look at a one of her classmates, Michael Sarno, who is the son of an ambassador and the nephew of a Senator. Sarno's alibi was that he was at college at the time of the murder, but upon investigation, the detectives learn that he had been suspended that week, and his car (a Triumph TR-7 his father let him drive) even received a parking ticket in NYC that day. Suspicious! So why didn't Brannigan figure all this out when he was investigating the case? That will eventually be revealed.

Their case against Sarno is bolstered when a man steps forward and says Sarnow once confessed in front of him while the two were in group therapy at rehab. Good evidence, but a judge suppresses it, arguing that doctor/patient privilege applies in this context, even to the other patients in the room.

Meanwhile, the detectives get closer to an explanation as to why Brannigan didn't solve this case: they find property room records that suggest Brannigan signed out the murder weapon, a wrench. Carmichael tracks down the property room clerk from that time, who is now a very old man prone to discussing his earlier days on the job, back when he still walked a beat, and he tells her that he didn't remember who signed out the wrench, but he remembers that whoever it was told him he was a driver for a certain police inspector. Records confirm that Brannigan was the driver for this inspector. With much reluctance and under a great deal of pressure, Brannigan eventually admits what he has spent the last 20 years covering up: his boss, a friend of the Sarno's, told him not to pursue sarno as a suspect, and provided him with a promotion in exchange.

With this new leverage, McCoy pressures an apparently drugged-up Sarno into making a plea, something he is reluctant to do until McCoy says he's going to go after Sarno Sr, the ambassador, for obstruction of justice (covering up the crime).

The episode begins with Briscoe visitng his old friend Brannigan and offering his forgiveness. "Do you forgive me?" Brannigan asks. "All day long," Briscoe replies. "All day long."

As I mentioned above, the case bears a strong resemblance to the Moxley case. Both cases were cold for decades, a man with close ties to a powerful political family and a penchant for drugs and alcohol is a suspect, and an associate from rehab testified about a confession.

Posted by adm at March 16, 2004 02:14 AM

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