History Recap / LawAndOrderS12E21FoulPlay

* TheAce: Miguel is talented enough for professional baseball and also reportedly very smart. The suddenly poorer school records in his name (because Ramiro, who's been placed two years ahead of his age in school, is posing as Miguel) help to confirm Southerlyn's suspicions.

* ThatManIsDead: While this exact phrase isn't use, the trope is referenced when [=McCoy=] asks during cross-examination whether Miguel understood that he was expected to keep pretending to be Ramiro for the rest of his life. Miguel says he didn't mind having to become someone else forever if it would get his family out of poverty.

Miguel's father confesses that he threatened Drucker, and each had a gun, so they fought; Drucker accidentally discharged his own gun and was killed. The evidence supports this. Now the [=DA=]'s office wants to prosecute Leahy, who stood to make a huge amount of money if he could find a player talented enough to be scouted. In court,[=McCoy=] convinces the jury that Leahy exploited Miguel and his family, then used Miguel's father to do the dirty work of getting rid of Drucker. Leahy is convicted. Later, the family returns to Honduras despite receiving immunity for the immigration fraud they committed; Southerlyn is sad at the loss of Miguel's chance to achieve his dream. [=McCoy=] says Miguel will come back to the US to play in the professional leagues, either when he's 18, or whenever he can get his hands on an 18-year-old's ID.

Mike Drucker, a private investigator, is found murdered. Initially, the detectives believe the victim was killed over a client's contentious divorce case. This line of inquiry leads Green and Briscoe to learn Drucker was hired to look into suspicions that a youth baseball team's star player is too old to play in the league. The team's owner Frank Leahy insists everything is above board and the boy, Ramiro Benitez, has provided proof that he is 12 years old. But a little investigation reveals that "Ramiro" is actually Miguel Soto and is 14. The real Ramiro is Miguel's cousin and they switched identities so Miguel could play. Their family came over from Honduras and is very poor, so they were easily convinced to go along with the fraud.

Miguel's father confesses that he threatened Drucker, and each had a gun, so they fought; Drucker accidentally discharged his own gun and was killed. The evidence supports this. Now the [=DA=]'s office wants to prosecute Leahy, who stood to make a huge amount of money if he could find a player talented enough to be scouted. In court,[=McCoy=] convinces the jury that Leahy exploited Miguel and his family, then used Miguel's father to do the dirty work of getting rid of Drucker. Leahy is convicted. Later, Miguel and his family return to Honduras despite receiving immunity for the immigration fraud they committed; Southerlyn is sad at the loss of Miguel's chance to achieve his dream. [=McCoy=] says he'll be back when he's 18 and old enough for the professional leagues - or whenever he can get his hands on an 18-year-old's ID.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Based on the case of .

Miguel's father confesses that he threatened Drucker, and each had a gun, so they fought; Drucker accidentally discharged his own gun and was killed. The evidence supports this. Now the [=DA=]'s office wants to prosecute Leahy, who stood to make a huge amount of money if he could find a player talented enough to be scouted. In court,[=McCoy=] convinces the jury that Leahy exploited Miguel and his family, then used Miguel's father to do the dirty work of getting rid of Drucker. Leahy is convicted. Later, Miguel and his family return to Honduras despite receiving immunity for the immigration fraud they committed; Southerlyn is sad at the loss of Miguel's chance to achieve his dream. [=McCoy=] says he'll be back when he's 18 and old enough for the professional leagues - or at least when he can get his hands on an 18-year-old's ID.