The Ledger

9.17 Shield

In this episode (9.17), a relationship between two cops leads to the murder of one of them. After much investigation, it appears a protective and vengeful partner is to blame. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, McCoy and Carmichael prosecute.

The episode begins with a cop inside a deli, picking up some snacks. He walks back out to his car and finds his partner, dead, weapon still holstered. The two were involved in a stakeout of a con named Jerry Mays, and were waiting at his girlfriend's apartment for him. A homeless witness to the crime says he saw someone running away. Briscoe and Curtis raid the girlfriend's apartment. Mays is not there, and he is their chief suspect.

They talk to the girlfriend, Lois Hennick, but she doesn't have much info. They talk to his brother, a dry cleaner, who lent him his car, and find someone who sold a fake if to Mays. The ID used the name "Mark Wainwright." They track down Mays at LaGuardia and arrest him (off-camera). He's innocent, but says he saw the murder. Van Buren says the victim, Officer Pelham, knew his attacker. They canvas nearby hotels and a guard there says someone has been coming around there frequently, and he describes Pelham's partner, Peter. The detectives begin to think this is how the killer knew where to find Pelham: his partner was meeting his wife at the hotel, the wife told someone, and word got around, etc.

They talk to the victim's parents to disocer a motive. They say he has a girlfriend, Marissa Hastings, who is alo a cop. They talk to Hastings who is defensive and has a weak alibi. They talk to her ex-partner, Nash, at the 31st precinct, and learn that Hastings kept tabs on Pelham, often calling in to see where was. Hastings begins to look like a suspect, especially when they learn she made a credit card inquiry on Pelham's partner, to see when he was at the hotel. They arrest Hastings (19').

Internal Affairs (IAB) meets with McCoy and Carmichael to discuss the case. They say they've learned Hastings might have a "problem with men." AC talks to Hastings partner, who reveals that he and another cop brought Pelham to the hospital one time for a stab wound on his back, apparently inflicted by Hastings. The cops say they were covering for their abusive relationship.

Hastings' lady friend on the force says that Pelham beat her. They go out to Rikers to talk things over, and she tells the ADAs that IAB ignored her calls about Pelham's abuse. Skoda interviews her and learns that Pelham once pushed Hastings down some stairs.

At trial (40'), Hastings testifies. Skoda arrives in the middle of her testimony. She describes the first time she was beaten, and again says her complaints were ignored. During this, there are many reaction shots of Skoda, so you know he's going to offer an opinion later. He tells McCoy and AC that Hastings is innocent, because Hastings said she felt "sooner or later" Pelham would kill her, but abused women who kill their husbands/partners only do so when they feel their own death is imminent.

They talk to her partner, Felton, who becomes the new suspect. Felton's wife suspects that Felton may have been having an affair with Hastings. He also doesn't have an alibi. They bring everybody together in the Family Conference Room, and Felton gets sandbagged by McCoy and confesses, so that he doesn't send Hastings to jail. He allocutes and is sentenced to 15-Life. Carmichael says, "After 6 years, I still don't know what cops are about."

Character background: During the "problem with men" conversation, Carmichael reveals she was on the track team at University of Texas.

Posted by adm at June 30, 2004 03:22 AM

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