Journalist Gerald Fox is shot in what appears to be a planned hit. The prime suspect is Johnny Franchetta, a mobster convicted of killing his then-girlfriend, the famous actress Rebecca Hampton. He served a 20-year sentence for her murder, but likely would have been acquitted if not for Fox, whose coverage of the case influenced the jury. Fox has a history of publishing fabricated stories, and furthermore, he lied about a source placing Franchetta at the scene of the murder. When Fox awakes in hospital, he tells the police that it isn't Franchetta who shot him. It now appears someone else killed Rebecca and has tried to silence Fox.
Rebecca had two children, Andrew and Nicole. Andrew is arrested after a witness identifies him as the person who shot Fox. But a closer look at the evidence in Rebecca's death shows that Nicole's whereabouts weren't accounted for. She and Andrew told the police they came home from school together, but only Andrew signed in with door security at their apartment complex. Nicole's ex says she told him Franchetta raped her; giving her a motive to kill her mother. She is charged with Rebecca's murder.
However, Nicole was only 15 years old at the time of the murder. Under the laws in effect at that time, her case would have to be dealt with by a Family Court. The case is referred, and then dismissed. McCoy and Carmichael convince Franchetta to co-operate rather than risk being charged with statutory rape. He produces love letters Nicole wrote to him - evidence that she killed her mother out of jealousy. Andrew was 18 when Rebecca died, and he can be charged as an accessory to her murder. He accepts a plea and confesses that he lied to protect Nicole, then shot Fox at her request. Nicole is charged with attempted murder of Fox but acquitted at trial.
This episode contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Hampton was a neglectful mother and allowed her violent boyfriend to molest her daughter. Fox also counts as this (although he survives) because he shamelessly ruined others' lives to further his career.
- The Bad Guy Wins: An ending card reveals that Nicole was acquitted of the shooting and won't face any punishment.
- False Rape Accusation: Nicole claimed that Franchetta raped her and Hampton failed to protect her, all so that Andrew would cover for her for murder and then shoot Fox to keep him from investigating the truth.
- Frame-Up: Fox essentially did this by deliberately misrepresenting facts to make Franchetta look guilty, influencing a jury to wrongly convict him of murder.
- Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: Schiff suggests that if Nicole had been sent to prison for murdering her mother, as the law allowed since a year after the murder, she may have ended up as a career criminal.
- Immoral Journalist: Gerald Fox fabricated a series on gangbangers who use old ladies to smuggle drugs, then claims they targeted him. The actual gangbangers found it quite amusing. He also wrote articles that led a jury to find a man guilty.
- Karma Houdini: Nicole manages to wriggle out of absolutely everything even when she's finally exposed for her mother's murder.
- Loophole Abuse: Nicole's lawyer exploits this to get the murder charges against her dismissed. Under the laws in effect at the time of Hampton's murder, the maximum penalty Nicole could receive would be to be detained until she was 21 - and now she's past that age so technically the Family Court can't do anything.
- Matricide: Rebecca Hampton was murdered by her own daughter.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Rebecca's mother is still alive, 19 years after Rebecca was killed.
- Parental Neglect: Hampton neglected her children to spend all her time partying with various boyfriends.
- Really Gets Around: By all accounts, both Hampton and Nicole fit this trope.
- Slut-Shaming: Franchetta's response when Carmichael and McCoy try to point out how wrong it was for him to sleep with then 15-year-old Nicole.
- Sophisticated as Hell: McCoy has to read out Nicole's raunchy love letter to Franchetta in front of Andrew and his lawyer, all with a completely straight face.
