Traffic police find the body of Doug Bender in an abandoned car. He had served jail time for truckjacking with his brother-in-law Max Sheridan, who is still on the run. On the day Bender died, he left work early after taking a call from Sheridan. Briscoe and Curtis trace Sheridan to a motel room, but he's not there. Instead two bounty hunters, Andy Granada and Ron Difka, are looking for him. Curtis finds the murder weapon in the bathroom.

Just a few hours later, Sheridan and his sister Millie (Bender's wife) and her babysitter are shot by Granada and Difka. They insist it was self-defense and he threatened them with a gun. Sheridan survives and is charged with the murders of Bender, Millie, and the babysitter. A judge gives [=McCoy=] five days to indict before she grants a writ to have Sheridan tried on a hijacking charge in Atlanta.

But then the [=DA=]s discover the murder weapon wasn't Sheridan's; Granada and Difka took it from another felon they arrested. They shot Sheridan, Millie, and the babysitter all to cover up for killing Bender. The [=DA=]s decide to arraign Granada only, so that he'll flip on Difka. He says Difka mistakenly shot Bender, believing him to be Sheridan. Their boss Al Festov told them to make Sheridan look like the killer and then bring him in.

The [=DA=]s can prove Difka has a history of violence and was discharged from the military. Festov knew about it and hired him anyway. But the judge decides that since existing Supreme Court rulings allow bounty hunters to use deadly force against suspects, it was not illegal for them to shoot Bender. They therefore had no reason to cover it up, so there is no conspiracy to murder. All charges are dismissed.

!! Tropes in this episode
* TheBadGuysAreCops: In this case, the bounty hunters who kill a whole family. Also, Bender's body is initially found by traffic cops who were stealing from the car.
* TheBadGuysWin: Festov, Granada, and Difka get away with everything since the law says bounty hunters can use deadly force.
* BetterToKillThanFrighten: This is apparently Granada and Difka's MO. The law is on their side, and Granada justifies himself by saying that they never know if their targets will kill them.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: The murder weapon initially came from a dealer who impersonates disabled, elderly, and/or dead people and registers guns in their names so that the guns cannot be traced to his clients.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: According to Granada, Difka became enraged that they didn't find Sheridan after driving for hours, and began driving very recklessly before running Bender (who they thought was Sheridan) off the road.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: This is essentially Granada's justification for his actions. He says bounty hunters are told to bring in fugitives dead or alive, and if they don't use deadly force, they risk being killed - which has happened to a number of guys he's worked with.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Millie's young son survives the shooting because he managed to hide from Granada and Difka.
* LeaveNoWitnesses: [=McCoy=] thinks (but can't prove) that this is why the bounty hunters killed Sheridan's family as well as him.
* LeftHanging: It is mentioned early in the episode that Millie is pregnant, and Bender may have agreed to work with Sheridan again because his family needed the money. This is never brought up again and we never find out why Sheridan called Bender, nor is Millie's pregnancy treated as an aggravating factor in the case.
* MurderByMistake: Bender was killed because Granada and Difka mistook him for Sheridan.
* WouldHitAGirl: Granada and Difka killed Millie and her babysitter, and beat up a woman who wouldn't tell them what they wanted to know.