Lucy Dolan, a struggling actress, is robbed and murdered in her apartment above a popular deli. From a video taken outside the deli, Briscoe and Green identify Danny Otum, Harry Johnson, and Matthew Carton carrying Lucy's TV out of her building. The men are arrested. Otum, a drug dealer, claims Lucy worked for him and offered him her TV to repay money she owed him. All three suspects insist they didn't kill her. An investigation ensues into Green's conduct when arresting Otum, but he's ultimately found to have followed protocol.

Branch announces that the state will pursue the death penalty against the defendants. Van Buren, [=McCoy=], and Southerlyn all argue that this is disproportionate. Andrew Maynard, who is Carton and Johnson's attorney, tells the jury that Lucy was selling drugs and a client probably killed her. He's confident of acquittal, but all three defendants are found guilty. [=McCoy=] does not want them to be sentenced to execution. He takes a closer look at phone records used as evidence during the trial.

The records show that one person used to call Lucy every day, but then suddenly stopped calling on the same day she was murdered, even though her body wasn't found until two or three days later. The caller, Ernest Borges, is charged. The murder weapon is found in his house and he quickly takes a plea bargain. Otum, Johnson, and Carton are released; Southerlyn questions if the next defendant will be so lucky. [=McCoy=] is angry that Maynard was more concerned with making the victim look bad to the jury than examining evidence that could acquit his clients.

!!!This episode contains examples of:
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Maynard plays dirty for a defense attorney, attempting to shame and undermine the victim so his clients come off as clean and fine rather than trying to defend them directly. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This nearly sends three men, crooks but innocent of the charges, to death row.]] The last we see of Maynard is him being indignant about this potential outcome [[TemptingFate right before it happens.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: Branch wants to pursue the death penalty against Otum, Carton, and Johnson even though Otum is the only one with a previous felony conviction. Turns out it was just a pressure tactic that was [[GoneHorriblyRight dangerously close to convicting them.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: Van Buren and our lawyer duo balk at the idea of Branch jumping to the death penalty to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem send a message]] and to try to bail Green out on PoliceBrutality charges. Given Branch is usually the BigGood, it shows even he isn't infallible, and our bunch having these standards helps push them into investigating a bit further to find out the real killer. Even once Branch reveals his real motives at the end, Southerlyn is horrified enough at the close call to reject the usual post-case celebration.
* LeftHanging: It is never explained what Borges' connection to Lucy was or why he wanted to kill her, though presumably it was over drugs.
* PoliceBrutality: Otum alleges this after Green tackles him to the ground, thinking Otum was reaching for a gun.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Loosely based on the "Carnegie Deli Massacre" in 2001, where three people were killed in an apartment above the famous Carnegie Deli.
* StarvingArtist: This trope applied to the victim, who was supposedly a musician and actress, but not doing well in either.