At a diner, 14-year-old Jeremy Miller opens fire and kills an employee named Oscar Morales. Jeremy says this was an accident and his intended target was Dr. Elaine Clemens, who was in the diner at the time. He instantly commits suicide, and a note indicates he believed Clemens was responsible for his sister Emily's death. Emily was HIV+ from birth and has recently died from AIDS; she was being treated by Clemens at a children's hospital.
Emily's autopsy shows that she died from multiple organ failure caused by a powerful combination of AIDS drugs, that clearly shouldn't have been given to her. In fact, she was part of an experimental drug trial at the hospital led by Dr. Andrew Copelan. He gave Emily an experimental AIDS vaccine called LAV 60, that is not approved for use in humans. Copelan is charged with murder.
The judge excludes evidence suggesting Copelan caused two other deaths of foster children in similar circumstances as Emily. Copelan's medical records, which show he himself is HIV+ and was treated at a clinic near a lab where LAV 60 is produced, are also excluded. But then the owner of another lab producing LAV 60 reports that samples of the vaccine were stolen. Crime scene analysis places Copelan in the lab.
On the stand, Copelan admits that he has AIDS, stole the samples, and gave Emily LAV 60. He says this was an attempt to prolong her life. McCoy demonstrates that the progression of the virus in Copelan and Emily was near-identical, so she was the perfect test subject. But the jury believes Copelan's story that he thought he could save thousands of lives, and acquits. Branch thinks they couldn't bring themselves to convict a dying man. McCoy gives the more cynical theory that the jury valued the possibility of saving many lives over saving one little girl.
This episode contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Averted. Pamela was painted as this by Copelan after she saw the meds weren't helping Emily.
- Big Brother Instinct: Jeremy tried to save his little sister from illegal experiments.
- Boom, Headshot!: Jeremy Miller commits suicide this way after the shooting.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Emily's death was this for Jeremy.
- Deadly Doctor: Copelan, who was willing to risk children's lives to find a cure for his own disease.
- Death of a Child: Jeremy was 14 when he died. And his little sister died first.
- Disposable Vagrant: Copelan did illegal testing for AIDS treatment on orphans, so that no one would care enough to stop him.
- Driven to Suicide: Jeremy shoots himself in the head after he killed an innocent man.
- Innocent Bystander: The diner owner Morales.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: Or in this case, littlest AIDS patient.
- Murder by Mistake: Jeremy hit Morales accidentally, when Clemens was his intended target.
