A peace activist named Brian Teague is found strangled. The detectives connect the victim to a veteran named Kenny Silva, who argued with Teague in a bar before Teague's death. Kenny is charged with murder. His son Matt, also a soldier, was recently killed in Iraq. A community meeting was held to discuss Kenny's petition to re-name a street after Matt, but Teague hijacked the meeting to protest against the war. This outraged Kenny, and he blamed Teague for the subsequent decision not to re-name the street.
Subsequently, Kenny and his friend Ron Gibbons were in a bar where Kenny spotted Teague's car and encouraged Gibbons to vandalize it. Teague went into the bar to call a tow truck and Kenny attacked him outside. So McCoy agrees a deal with Gibbons to testify against Kenny. Kenny's lawyer, Leon Chiles, tells McCoy that the defence will allege extreme emotional distress. McCoy doesn't buy it because Kenny was obviously in enough control to wait till he could get Teague alone outside to kill him.
McCoy maintains this argument at trial, but Kenny becomes very agitated and breaks down. He says Teague called Matt a criminal, and Kenny just wanted an apology. McCoy tells the jury that Kenny's military training is what made him an efficient killer: he knew how to stay in control of himself, and ultimately killed Teague with a lethal chokehold he'd learned in the Army. The jury acquits of murder but cannot agree on a manslaughter charge. The judge declares a mistrial, so Kenny is free.
This episode contains examples of:
- Draft Dodging: Chiles tries to imply that Teague and his girlfriend are akin to this because their generation wasn't conscripted for war. Branch says that anyone who would refuse to serve on a jury is essentially doing the same.
- Middle Name Basis: Kenny's full name is Patrizio Kenneth Silva.
- Outliving One's Offspring:
- What triggered Kenny into killing Teague is that League had, according to Kenny, desecrated the memory of his son who died in the war. The son's mother is also still alive.
- Teague's parents are also still alive after his death.
