Erin Garrett, an actress and director, is found hanged in her apartment. She had recently directed a controversial movie about abuse of women under Islam, which could be a motive for murder; a Muslim sound engineer who worked on the movie becomes a suspect. However, evidence points to Julio Rodriguez, an undocumented construction worker at her apartment building. He confesses that Garrett threatened to report him for working illegally, so he pushed her and she hit her head. He denies staging her death to look like a suicide.
Julio's defense alleges mitigating circumstances because he financially supports his whole family, who will be at risk if he is deported. Connie is sympathetic to him but McCoy thinks she's getting too personally involved. The sound engineer comes back into the frame with new evidence, and the DAs must now decide which suspect to charge. Connie finds out that Julio's employer Carl Easton was also at Garrett's apartment on the day of her murder. His company makes millions of dollars per year using illegal labor, so he'd have a lot to lose if she reported him. But Julio, whose cousins also work for the company, refuses to implicate Easton.
McCoy orders an immigration raid on the company and uses Julio's family as leverage against him. Connie kindly tells Julio that he's the only person who can get justice for Garrett, and asks him for the full story. Julio says that after he pushed Garrett, he asked Easton for help. Easton went to Garrett's apartment alone, and later said he'd "taken care" of her; he threatened to fire Julio's cousins if Julio told anyone. With the threat of a life sentence, and having his profits seized as the proceeds of criminal activity, Easton takes a plea deal and will serve 15 years in jail.
This episode contains examples of:
- Honor-Related Abuse: Erin had made a movie on the subject; which is a potential motive for her murder.
- The Illegal: Julio.
- Kangaroo Court: The sound engineer believes the entire American legal system is this for Muslims, and as such is prepared to take a murder charge despite denying he killed Garrett.
- Never Suicide
- No-Tell Motel: Averted. The detectives are initially suspicious when they find out Garrett's husband was seen in a hotel room with a young woman, but it turns out she's his sister and was staying there whilst visiting them at Christmas.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the murders of both Adrienne Shelley, who had herself appeared on the show; and Theo Van Gogh.
- Strip Poker: Garrett's body is noticed by a neighbor playing strip chess.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Connie gets to aim one at Easton over his treatment of his undocumented workers.
