The Ledger

12.18 Equal Rights

In this episode (12.18), a reasonably well-off man turns up shot to death near the Hudson River Ferry terminal, and lots of people held a grudge against him, including his wife. Briscoe and Green investigate, while McCoy and Southerlyn have trouble building a case against their prime suspect.

The episode begins with two women walking off the ferry discussing women's rights. They discover a man who has been shot two times. Briscoe and Green notice that the man's coat is opened, but one shot went through it, indicating that he was shot, opened his coat, and then was shot again. They find blue fibers on him, but his watch wasn't taken, indicating it wasn't a robbery. He was shot with a 9mm weapon, and there is an expensive cigar near the body.

The detectives trace the cigar via a cigar store that Green used to visit during his "high rolling days." They visit a cigar bar where the cigar was sold, and use credit card records to identify the victim, John Cooper.

They talk to Cooper's wife and kids, and his wife's sister. They visit his fellow commuters on the ferry, who accidentally mention a poker game they play during the ride, and they learn that Cooper owed some money to a part-time loan shark named O'Mann. O'Mann is questioned, but it doesn't really lead anywwhere. Soon, the detectives learn that the SEC was investigating the victim for involving his investment firm with a technology company called Everson. They learn that he routinely played gold with the CFO of the company. This seems like a promising angle.

They talk to the CFO, a man named Brenner, and learn that he had lunch with the victim right after the SEC interviewed Cooper. Perhaps he wanted to eliminate Cooper as a witness against him. They talk to Cooper's assistant to get more info on this, and learn that the victim let everyone he knew lose money on their Everson investments, even though he got out himself. His brother-in-law, Russell, for example, lost $200,000.

They talk to the brother-in-law. His fingerprints match a those on a shell casing found at the scene. They arrest him (27 mins).

Southerlyn talks to the victim's wife, who acts oddly. She also questions their neighbors to find out more about the marriage, and the neighbor suggests they might have been heading for a divorce. Phone records confirm many conversations between the wife and Russell. At a family conference at the ADA's office, the victim's wife admits she was having an affair with her sister's husband, Russell. Furthermore, she has one of those cellphone with GPS tracking built in, and the phone places her near the scene at the time of the murder. (Oops!) The victim's wife confesses, and says that her husband beat her, so she had Russell kill him.

She's put on trial for arranging the murder, and offers battered wife syndrome as her defense. Photos of her abuse are introduced into evidence. Lewin tells McCoy to make a deal with the wife for Manslaughter I, but McCoy only offers 15 to life. The wife refuses the deal, and Lewin is angry with McCoy for blowing it.

Skoda talks to the wife, and confirms that she was fearful of her husband, while SS and Lewin have a talk about special standards for women in the criminal justice system.

At trial (45 mins), her son testifies about the abuse. Things aren't going well. McCoy talks to Russell to get more information about what happened, and argues that battered wife syndrome usually involves an immediate response, not a planned hired killing. The wife is recalled to the stand, and syas that she knew her husband stole money from Russell, and McCoy argues that she killed him for revenge for that, not self-defense.

Unfortunately for McCoy, this argument doesn't sway the jury, and the verdict comes back not guilty. Her lawyer says it's a victory for battered women, Lewin says the woman did what she had to do, but SS says the verdict doesn't help women at all.

Posted by adm at May 10, 2004 10:23 PM

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