Law & Order: 19.7 Zero - Recap
ByA woman named Nancy says goodbye to her husband and kid. She then turns up dead. Kevin and Cyrus go to the scene and examine the body, which is lying next to a gardening shed.
Kevin and Cyrus talk to Nancy’s husband. He says that her husband left around 1 pm to run some errands. He explains that they try to live without living a carbon footprint which is why there is no electricity. He asks how Nancy died and Cyrus says blunt force trauma to her head.
Kevin and Cyrus go back to the station and look over the case. Kevin reads more about their zero carbon lifestyle. Anita says that Nancy’s blood alcohol content was really high. Cyrus says she was breaking the rules by eating olives since none grow within 100 miles. The detectives then go to a bar and the bartender confirms that Nancy used to come in frequently. He says that sometimes she would meet up with a man, but he doesn’t know his name. The bartender offers a printout of credit card receipts with a couple hundred names for the day that Nancy was murdered.
The detectives meet with Nancy’s sister and she says there’s no way Nancy would have had an affair. Cyrus points out that Nancy’s husband was driving the zero carbon lifestyle and asks if Nancy had her doubts. Nancy’s sister says she was okay with the lifestyle. They ask when the last time she saw her sister was and she says that a couple of weeks ago her kid got sick and Nancy drove right over. The detectives wonder why Nancy broke the carbon free rules by driving her car.
The detectives return to Nancy’s husband and ask him if he knew Nancy was driving and going to a bar with a man. The husband says he didn’t know. The detectives ask to see their car. They arrive at the storage garage and find the car is missing. The husband says that the car has an electronic tracking system. The detectives get a call that the car was found in New Jersey with half a kilo of cocaine and a dead body.
The detectives arrive at the scene and learn the dead man in the car was a cop killer. The local officer says that the car was involved in a shootout and chase with a cop and the passenger was shot. He says they are still looking for the driver.
The detectives watch video of the traffic stop that resulted in the shoot out and chase. The local officer says that the dead man is a local coke dealer named Wayne. The detectives search Wayne’s apartment and see a baseball uniform for a bank. They go to the bank and get confirmation that Wayne played on the softball team. The man at the bank says that Wayne was a ringer and only played on the team. The detectives ask if he was a customer of Wayne’s and the man admits that he had occasionally bought some of his products. He then tells the detectives that he was going to go in on a buy with a man named Chris. Cyrus sees the name Chris as one of the credit card customers at the bar with Nancy.
The detectives go to Chris and he denies the cocaine purchase. He says he was home when Nancy was murdered and he never heard of her. The detectives then ask if they talk to the bartender if he will confirm that he was never with her. Chris then says that he was friends with Nancy and they would just talk.
The detectives return to the station and learn that Chris is separated from his wife, but has visitation rights to their kids. They find that New Jersey would be on the way to visit his kids. The detectives got to Ann, Chris’s wife, and she confirms that he visited them last weekend. Kevin talks the the girls and they tell him that their dad picked them up in a green car. Kevin asks if Chris ever mentioned Nancy or Wayne. Ann says no. Cyrus asks permission to get fingerprints of her children and Ann says no.
Kevin takes a toy from the yard. The detectives then go to Judge Reynolds to get a search warrant of Chris’s apartment based on matching fingerprints of his kids to Nancy’s car. The judge confers with his assistant Carlie, then allows the detectives to search Chris’s home. They find compost on the bottom of Chris’s shoes, then arrest him for murder.
The New Jersey DA goes to Michael and Connie and says he wants to extradite Chris for the police murder. Michael and Connie say that they want to keep him to try him for Nancy’s murder. The New Jersey DA says he still has an active request, then leaves.
Michael and Connie meet with Chris and his lawyer. They say that if he confesses to Nancy’s murder, he will get 20 to life and won’t be extradited to New Jersey. The lawyer says that Chris is going to plead not guilty.
Michael introduces Carlie to Connie and Jack and says that they are old friends. The judge then meets with Connie, Michael, and Chris’s lawyer. Chris’s lawyer doesn’t want any of the charges from New Jersey to surface in the case. Michael says taht the crimes Chris committed in New Jersey are relevant to Nancy’s murder. The judge denies Chris’s lawyer’s motion. Connie then asks Michael if they have a conflict of interest problem since Michael and Carlie are friends.
At the trial, Michael asks Nancy’s husband if he knew that Nancy used the car. He says no. Michael asks if she would lend the car to a friend and he says that she might. Chris’s lawyer asks Nancy’s husband about the drinks she was having with Chris. She asks if Nancy didn’t tell him that she was using the bar’s bathroom because using toilet paper is against the rules. She then asks if he would be jealous if Nancy was seeing another man. He says he would be jealous, but doesn’t believe she was having an affair.
Kevin takes the stand and says that Chris’s daughter said he was driving a green car. Chris’s lawyer approaches the bench. She objects to the means used by Kevin to obtain the children’s fingerprints. The judge agrees that the method was improper and excludes the evidence. At the end of the day, Carlie runs up to Michael and tells him that she doesn’t agree with the judge’s decision to exclude the evidence. She says that she will fix it.
The next day, the judge says he acted in haste and will now allow the evidence to be included in the trial. Michael asks Carlie what is going on. She says that she only helped him research the law. Michael asks if she is manipulating the case to benefit him. She tells him that she likes him, but it has nothing to do with the judge making a wrong ruling. Michael then looks at a letter on the judge’s desk. The judge returns and Michael walks out of the office with the paper.
Micahel asks if Connie noticed that the judge looks at his computer before every ruling. Michael then says that he thinks the judge is being instructed on every move by Carlie. He pulls out the paper and Connie sees the verbadem script of his latest ruling and a seating chart. They figure the chart is a tool the judge uses to aide his memory.
Michael and Connie spy on the judge and Carlie. When Carlie gets up to go to the bathroom, Connie follows her. Michael then goes up to the judge. He recognizes Michael as one of the judges, but can’t remember his name. Michael asks for more details on his ruling, but the judge says he needs to refer to his notes. The judge then says he doesn’t remember who he was sitting with.
Michael goes to Jack and says that he thinks the judge is suffering from dementia. Jack asks if Michael’s defendant is guilty and if he is winning his case. Michael says yes.
Carlie meets with Michael and asks him about his conversation with the judge. Michael says that the judge should withdraw and retire. Michael asks why Carlie is protecting him. Carlie says that she needs the job. She says she knows what she is doing, but Michael won’t let it go. He says he is taking the trial to another judge.
Michael interrupts another courtroom and asks the new judge to comment on Judge Reynold’s mental competency. Judge Brannigan says that Michael needs to take the matter to a judicial review board. He then tells Michael to rethink what he’s doing. Connie goes to Michael and tells him that rumors are circulating that he is having an affair with Carlie. Michael wonders what is happening. Jack says judges all protect each other.
Michael meets with Judge Reynolds at his house and tells him that he has been trying to get him removed from the bench. Michael says it’s time for him to retire. Judge Reynolds asks if he’s done him any harm. Michael says no. Judge Reynolds says he has nothing else to do. Carlie then arrives and the two go to work.
Connie tells Michael he has now pissed off the clerk and the judge. Michael says he is just trying to do the right thing. Chris’s lawyer shows up and teases Michael for his relationship with Carlie. They then go to court to set things right.
Mr. Dooley takes the stand and says that Chris and he were going to buy cocaine from Wayne. Chris’s lawyer objects to Dooley being a witness and asks for confirmation that she received a witness list. The judge then calls Carlie to take the stand. Carlie says she has a copy of the defense’s witness list that was sent to both parties. Michael makes an objection. Judge Reynolds looks at his computer for help, but since Carlie is on the stand, he is getting no incoming messages. The judge then realizes that Michael is the one spreading lies about him. Carlie tells Judge Reynolds to say Michael is in contempt. The judge says Michael is in contempt and then asks what he does next.
Jack gets a call that Judge Reynolds is taking a medical leave and Carlie has been fired. Jack says that they are going to have to have a retrial. Judge Reynolds walks into the office and tells Jack he’s leaving. He says that he was told he was sick, but he doesn’t feel sick. Judge Reynolds reminisces about the former occupant of Jack’s office. He then forgets Jack’s name. Jack reminds him and Judge Reynolds leaves.
This was another episode that didn’t leave me with closure. This show does this a lot where the outcome of the case isn’t shown. They’ll never go back to it either, so we’ll never know if Chris killed Nancy or not. The issue with the senile judge was touching, but I spent two thirds of the episode following the murder case and it was just dumped with no final verdict. Seeing Judge Reynolds dealing with his memory loss was really sad, though. I wonder if there are a lot of judges that suffer from senility or dementia. I would think that their condition would be outed in the course of daily work. I would also think a senile judge would cause a lot of mistrials and appeals. That seems like something that would slow the system down considerably which would override the camaraderie between judges. I don’t really know why Carlie was fired, though. She didn’t really do anything wrong. It would be the judicial review board that let Reynolds slide by. I’m guessing no one on the board will lose their job.
[source: beesight.com]
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