- A woman claims she killed a man outside a bar because he was going to rape her, but was it really a mob hit? Logan is partnered up with Lennie Briscoe, and Ceretta tells Logan that he isn't returning to the precinct after his shooting.
- With Phil Cerreta recovering from his gunshot wounds, Detective Logan is partnered with Det. Lennie Briscoe, an old hand whose brash demeanor is somewhat off-putting. Their first case is a shooting death outside a nightclub just around closing time. The shooter, Mary Kostrinski, freely admits killing the man saying she was in fear of being raped. Dr. Elizabeth Olivet's opinion is that the woman was in genuine fear of her life. The police investigation and her account of events don't add up. She's charged with murder but Stone is prepared to deal to get a conviction, especially after Olivet is called as a defense witness. She has bigger fish for him to fry. Meanwhile, Phil Cerreta decides not to return to the streets.—garykmcd
- Officers Libik and Adams are patrolling a dark street at night when cruise past a man and woman talking on the sidewalk outside a bar called PJ's. A few minutes, while they are parked outside a donut store, they are called to a crime where shots have been fired. At the scene, which is outside of PJ's bar, Detective Mike Logan looks at the body, a John Doe who has been fatally shot. Detective Lenny Briscoe appears; he is Logan's new, temporary partner. He comments on the powdered sugar from a donut on Libik's uniform. Logan and Briscoe talk to the bar owner who called in the sound of gunshots. He reports that he doesn't know the victim's identity.
Outside, Briscoe tells Logan he's not worried about Logan's jinx, referring to his last two partners who were shot, one fatally, and Logan reminds Briscoe that their partnership is temporary and will end when Detective Phil Cerreta is back on the job.
Tickets to a boxing gym were found on the body, so the detectives go there. One of the trainers identifies the victim via a photo as Tommy Duff, a man who boxed there. He doesn't know Tommy's address but directs them to Tommy's estranged wife's place of work, a diner. She tells the detectives that Tommy was womanizer. Her alibi is her priest. She doesn't know what Tommy was doing for work but tells them where he kept a small office.
At the office, the detectives learn that Tommy sold liquor and cigarettes to bars all over town. They see that one of Tommy's deliveries was PJ, where the bartender send he didn't know the victim. Back at the bar, the bartender explains that he lied because he didn't want people to get the impression that his bar is dangerous. He tells the detectives that Tommy was associated with Jimmy Scanlon, who has been charged with racketeering several times without being convicted.
At Scanlon's Trucking Company, the detectives ask if Tommy Duff was Scanlon's bag man. Scanlon and his right hand man deny it.
At the precinct, Logan complains that Briscoe is getting too comfortable Phil's desk. Cragen tells the detectives that a Councilman Levin is protesting Scanlon's involvement in crime. They agree it looks like a mob-related hit. Privately, Logan asks Cragen when Phil is due back. He says he doesn't know.
Briscoe points out a discrepancy in Adams' and Libik's reports. Libik's report says that they passed the bar at 2:15am whereas Adams' says it was 1:45am. The two officers are brought into the interrogation room. Adams' reveals that they had seen the victim before he was shot; he was the man who was talking to the woman they passed before they went for donuts.
At a pizza parlor, the detectives talk about the woman who was seen talking to Tommy before he was shot. They leave without paying for the pizza; Lenny says that the owner is one of his snitches and thinks Lenny's corrupt. Lenny lets him think that because the snitch gives him more information that way.
Logan visits Phil in the hospital. Phil is doing better and will go home soon, but he might have nerve damage in his legs and can't be 100% on the street with Mike. Logan says it doesn't matter. But Phil says he's agreed to take a higher-paying desk job at a precinct closer to his home in Forest Hills. Phil's wife joins them and Logan wishes them well.
Back at the precinct, Lenny has created a list of PJ's customers based on receipts the night of the shooting. The detectives first interview an accountant at work, who is nervous because he doesn't want his conservative employer to know he was at a bar. He recognizes the man in the photo they show him; he was talking to a woman. They find the woman from the list of customers; she knows Tommy Duff. She said that she didn't leave the bar with Tommy but there was another woman at the bar who did leave with him. She had talked to the woman in the restroom and learned that she had makeup done at a professional certain salon.
At the salon, the detectives ask the manager to give them a list of their customers, including photos. Eventually, they find one of the stylists fits the description of the woman they're looking for, Mary Kostrinski. They bring her in for a line up; Adams identifies her and a lab report comes back showing that Mary's fingerprint was found on a shell casing found at the crime scene.
In the DA's conference room, Mary and her attorney, Lanie Stieglitz, meet with Ben Stone and Paul Robinette. Mary says that she had a few drinks with Tommy, but when he followed her outside and grabbed her, she was afraid he would attack her and shot him.
With Arthur Schiff, Ben points out that Ben should drop the case, since Tommy had a long criminal history and Mary is a church-going widow with no criminal history. Robinette comes in and says that Duff had zero alcohol and no gunpowder on his clothes. That means that Mary lied about the drinks and about how close she was when she shot him.
They arrange for Mary to meet with Dr. Olivet. Mary tells her that she kissed Tommy but she didn't want any more and felt that shooting him was her only way to avoid rape. Olivet reports back to Stone that what Mary did was justified and Stone probably wouldn't want Olivet to testify.
In trial, Adams testifies that the Mary and Tommy did not seem to be arguing when she and Libik passed them. Libik testifies that he didn't think the couple looked like they were in trouble. The bar owner testifies that Tommy and Mary were mutually flirting that night. He also says that Mary had been there before Tommy arrived, as if she were expecting someone.
Outside, Ben and Paul decide to interview the families to see if Mary and Tommy knew each other before. They learn that Dr. Olivet has been called to testify for the defense. In Schiff's office, he wants to know how the defense learned that Olivet thought the killing was justified. Paul admits that a summary of her report was accidentally mixed with material sent to the defense in discovery. Schiff says that Ben is going to have to discredit Olivet on the stand.
Olivet testifies on behalf of Mary, saying Mary's fear and actions were justifiable. On cross, Ben brings up that Olivet was raped the previous year and asks if that affects her findings about Mary. Dr. Olivet answers, "Possibly." Paul said Mary's family won't talk to him so he goes to visit Mary's apartment to talk to her neighbors to see if any of them had seen Tommy and Mary together. The manager reports that Mary has been a model tenant and has never brought any men in at all. He also explains that Mary had just purchased her apartment, putting $40K down, which included a $30K gift. The gift came from a man named Sean McKerrick, who works for Scanlon's Trucking Company.
On the steps of the courthouse, Ben and Paul talk about why Scanlong might have paid Mary $30K to kill Tommy. Paul re-interviews Tommy's ex-wife who denies any knowledge. Schiff says that they don't have enough on Scanlon. Ben says he will talk to Mary's lawyer Lanie.
Over salads with Lanie, Ben explains that Mary tricked all of them by taking money from Scanlon to kill Tommy and pretending it was justifiable.
In Ben's office, Ben offers Mary 15 years to life for manslaughter one. Lanie tells Mary that Lanie will not defend her previous story of the justifiable killing. Mary relents. She tells Ben that her husband used to beat her. Scanlon was friends with her father and had her husband killed, though it had been ruled an accident at the time.
Lenny and Logan arrest Scanlon at his office for the murder of Thomas Duff. Ben runs into Dr. Olivet and apologizes. She admits Mary fooled her. In the precinct, Logan tells Lenny to unpack his stuff at Phil's desk. Lenny hands Logan Phil's nameplate to return to him.
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