I can’t find any fault in Law & Order “Fault Lines.” This ripped-from-the-headlines story (Brittney Spears morphed with Naomi Osaka, plus Venus and Serena Williams?), involving the murder of a judge, presented an interesting legal case. The investigation wasn’t particularly complex but I liked that simplicity. There were touches of humor, such as Cosgrove’s “Not the verdict he was looking for” line, and Bernard wondering why everyone is surprised he follows tennis. Bernard also let out his feelings about the inequity in how funds for cases for white victims can magically appear, while a case for a poor black kid can’t get this treatment. Dixon seems constantly under pressure by people in higher positions and hopefully we’ll see her go head to head with these people in the future to see what kind of leader she really is. Cosgrove used some quick thinking to get some DNA to match what was found on the murder weapon.
When the killer is Lucy, a famous tennis star controlled by her father, the case finds Price and Maroun at odds. I’ve come to the conclusion that Maroun is the smart one on this team. While Price seems to be looking at the case with a “black and white” legal eye, Maroun has a keen sense for the “gray”. Based on her conclusions, she believes this is manslaughter, not murder. Jack McCoy is in agreement with her. But Price forges ahead with the murder case. Lucy’s legal counsel and her father/guardian passed on the manslaughter offer, and Price made only one try with the judge to get the guardianship revoked. Luckily for Lucy, Maroun sees a way around the judge and the lawyers so Lucy can hear the truth and decide for herself. If anything, this case shows Price’s lack of creative thinking and highlights Maroun’s sense of finding justice. Whether Maroun will go around Price again remains to be seen. I’m not sure if the threat of being fired by Price would be enough of a deterrent for her.
Here is the recap:
A judge, The Honorable David Keating, is found dead in a parking garage, having been beaten by a fire extinguisher. There are no working cameras in the garage. The detectives speak with his wife, who indicates the past few months Keating has been distracted and they’d had a disagreement that morning. She thinks his work was bothering him. Speaking with someone in his office, they get a list of cases and of people that threatened him. Something not in the files is the judge had mentioned someone confronted him on the courthouse steps the other day. They later look at that video and see the judge with a blonde woman, and a man approaches and argues with the judge and storms off. As courthouse visitors are logged they should be able to identify the woman.
The woman is lawyer Clara Newhall, and the detectives visit her office. She has a client roster of famous sports people. One is a tennis player who had a breakdown and pulled out of the French Open. They discuss what happened at the courthouse and she said the man said the judge ruined his life and then left.
The detectives later speak with Greg Wallace, who complains about the judge and a child custody case. He says he was at home all night, and he was alone.
Later, Cosgrove tells Dixon that Wallace is lying as he was seen on video from his apartment building and he was seen leaving; he didn’t get back until 10:08. Bernard shows Wallace’s cell phone pinged a tower near the parking garage and Wallace lives in the Bronx.
They bring Wallace into interrogation to talk about his lies. Wallace admits he was there with his son and his ex can’t find out he violated the visitation order. He mentions after he left the courthouse he followed the lady and the judge to a hotel and there were lots of security cameras there.
The detectives are at the Keymont Hotel and hear that the judge was there as he was keynote speaker at a legal conference at the hotel.
In Dixon’s office, she says she never heard of the Greater Manhattan University of Law, and Cosgrove says it is an un-accredited, for-profit place. The school paid $10,000 for the speech. Bernard says the judge is flat broke and credit cards are maxed out, his tab close to a million. Dixon tells them to find out where the money went.
In the squad room, Dani tells the them judge had a serious gambling problem, and was also doing betting with a bookie, “Dr. Weisman” and owed him 100 grand and it looks like Weisman made a threat in a text. They bring “Dr. Weisman” into interrogation – he’s not a doctor, he just went to dental school for a few months and the name stuck. He explains he never got physical with the judge and that Keating paid him in full in cash in the garage. Dixon gets Bernard out of the interrogation room and says forensics recovered a hair on the extinguisher. Dixon sent it to special labs as he was a judge - she wishes she could pull out the stops on all cases but they have limited resources. Bernard comments its funny they always find the cash when the victim is a white dude from the upper east side but when it’s a poor black kid from East Flatbush “Oh I’m sorry we don’t have it in the budget.” She says she hears him but he asks “do you?’. She explains she got a profile: brown eye, black hair, sub-Saharan ancestry, likely diabetic, a woman. Bernard heads back into interrogation and asks Weisman if he saw another woman near the garage. He says yes, getting out of a car on 87th street, wearing sunglasses and a big black jacket. She was alone, and hopped out of a black Range Rover on the passenger side.
The detectives speaks with Jesse Malloy about his car and admits he drove Lucy McDaniel, his girlfriend, asking if her father sent them. She is the famous tennis player. They mention the judges name and Jess is clueless.
Back at the 2-7 they discuss these developments, Lucy meets the profile and is a type-1 diabetic. They wonder what is the connection and her lawyer, Clara Newhall is friends with Keating. She was with the judge when Wallace confronted him and then the judge turns up dead a day later. Dixon thinks there is no such thing as a coincidence and suggests they pay Lucy a visit.
The detectives push their way into Lucy’s practice session and attempt to question her and ask for her DNA, but her overbearing father pushes back and gets Lucy to say she won’t give a DNA sample, won’t say any more, and wants a lawyer. They storm off, and Bernard says he will call the DA’s office for a swab order. But Cosgrove has taken one of her workout towels, calling it abandoned property – in the laundry hamper - and it belongs to the tennis club, not Lucy. If the hair on the fire extinguisher syncs up with the towel… Bernard says it is game, set, match.
Later, Price and Maroun speak with Jack and when he suggests talking to Lucy’s lawyer, they tell him she made herself part of the defense team. Jack says they’ve tried cases without motive before, telling him to tell the jury what they have and what they don’t have, be upfront or they will never believe another word that comes out of his mouth.
In Supreme Court, Price makes his opening comments, outlining all the evidence against Lucy and then showing a photo of Keating’s body, shocking the jury.
Later, Weisman testifies about seeing Lucy in the garage. Under cross by Mr. Mendez, the lawyer tries to implicate Weisman, citing some of his own history of problems with the law.
Next, Jesse Malloy takes the fifth at first but Price brings out a grant of immunity for him, and the judge says Jesse must now answer. He reluctantly admits that it is his car and he dropped Lucy off in front of the parking garage.
Afterward, in his office, Price and Maroun discuss the case and Maroun says the defense just filed a psych notice, now claiming not guilty by reason of insanity.
Back in Supreme Court, Dr. Stewart Moore testifies about Lucy's situation and her history; she is bipolar 1, suffering from manic-depression. The doctor thinks this affected her ability to understand the nature of the consequences of what she did. Under cross, Moore comments that Lucy has the benefit of therapy and medication, and the love and guidance of her father. He adds the best thing was to have her father become her legal guardian. This surprises Price and Maroun. The doctor states it started six years ago and was court ordered but the records were sealed.
Back in the office, Price tells Maroun it is confirmed that Judge Keating appointed Tom McDaniel as Lucy’s guardian and Clara as her lawyer. Price thinks the defense wanted the jury to know. They discuss any connection to motive. Price thinks the jury WILL think Lucy is insane and therefore not guilty; the difference between legally insane and mentally incapacitated would be hard to explain to the jury. Maroun wonders if this is a tennis dad trying to manage his rich daughter. She adds that Moore never treated Lucy, he runs the clinic. Price tells her to find the doctor who did and why that person didn’t testify.
Maroun speaks with Dr. Gustofson who says Moore fired her two months ago. They discuss Lucy’s situation and Gustofson thinks it made it easy for Tom McDaniel to control Lucy and her life and finances. She spoke with Moore and wrote Keating a letter saying the guardianship should be terminated. She said Lucy didn’t need someone to control her life, and she was fired two days later. The letter went to the courthouse certified mail.
Later, Maroun shows the paperwork to Jack and Price, saying the guardianship was a sham. Price says Keating rubber stamped everything. Keating buried the paper trail, making it impossible to find and had they not put her mental state in play they would never have found out. Hearings were held in secret but they were recorded and transcribed and Lucy didn’t know she could terminate it. Her father paid himself a $10 million salary. Maroun suspects Lucy killed Keating as she wanted to marry her boyfriend but the judge said no because her father didn’t want it. Maroun thinks this is manslaughter. Price waivers on this and he and Maroun disagree. Jack says she still murdered a judge and when Maroun says he was corrupt, Jack asks if she has proof. Maroun states nothing concrete but brings up the $100 grand he got to pay off his bookie. Jack agrees with her and says the correct charge is manslaughter, and Price counters the defense will never agree to that. Jack tells him to talk to her lawyer and try to work something out.
Price and Maroun speak with Mendez, Clara and Tom and make the offer of Man 1, 15 years. They will not agree and want to go to trial. Price and Maroun try to explain again but Tom says Lucy will want what he wants.
In the judge’s chambers, Price and Maroun are there with Tom and Clara, Price making the motion to terminate the guardianship. He makes his argument, saying they are not looking out for Lucy’s best interests. The judge says to bring lots of proof because otherwise the motion is denied.
Afterwards, Price and Maroun discuss this and Price says they have to move forward on the murder charge. Maroun mentions the transcripts, but Price says her lawyers and her father said no. Maroun argues this is not murder and Maroun continues to argue against it. When Price says it is what it is, Maroun says she is not so sure about that.
Later, in the visitors area, Bernard meets with Lucy and tries to explain the situation about the deal, and mentions what is in the transcripts. She is stunned. He leaves the transcripts there for her to read.
At trial, Lucy stands up and says she wants to plead guilty. Mendez asks for time but Lucy doesn’t want it. Her father tells her to sit down or stop and she tells him to let her talk. She admits to killing the judge and says she didn’t plan to. She went there to ask to marry Jesse and the judge wouldn’t listen and said it wasn’t an option. She snapped and grabbed the fire extinguisher and attacked him. She wishes she could take it back but she can’t. She says she is sorry and feels horrible, adding she is a good person. She just wanted to marry Jesse. She says she wants to accept the offer the prosecutor made – Price look surprised – and Lucy says she wants to plead guilty to manslaughter. Price glances over to Maroun. Lucy doesn’t want to ask permission, she wants to control her own life.
As they walk down the courthouse steps, Maroun says to Price that she spoke with the financial frauds bureau; they are going to open an investigation into Tom McDaniel and Clara Newhall. She adds she couldn’t just sit there and watch Lucy get screwed over, again. Price asked how she did it, letting Lucy know about the deal. She admits she had Bernard reach out to her. Price tells her if she ever pulls a stunt like that again, he’ll fire her. He walks off, leaving Maroun standing on the steps. As we watch her stand there alone, we fade to black.
