Law & Order: Los Angeles Episode 1.11 East Pasadena

A late model sedan careens around a corner with two black-and-whites in hot pursuit. After blowing a red light, the car cuts hard into a parking garage, but by the time the cops arrive, the driver's gone, the corpse of a woman left behind in the passenger seat. When TJ and Morales show up, the officers have already identified the car's owner and victim inside as Amanda Russell. As for the driver, the unis describe him as a white male with black hair, aged 20 to 30. There's blunt force trauma to Amanda's head, bruises on her neck, and no blood in the car - TJ suggests she was killed elsewhere and her killer was dumping the body. That's when Morales spies the dog tags around her neck - Amanda used to be a Marine.

TJ and Morales proceed to Amanda's apartment. The bedroom shows scenes of a fight; she was clearly killed on the bed, which is covered in blood. They spy a photo of Amanda with a white male with black hair, which they later show to her parents. Apparently, Amanda moved in with her welder/artist boyfriend Dave Harlan when she returned home from Afghanistan last summer. Amanda's mom says Dave was suspicious, especially when Amanda worked late at her job as a bookkeeper for the City of East Pasadena. Amanda didn't like her job, and she didn't like thinking Dave was following her.

The coroner's report indicates Amanda was killed between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., cause of death asphyxiation by manual strangulation. Sifting through photos from her apartment, TJ has found one of Dave standing in front of a painting with another artist. Maybe the Art Theft Detail can enhance the signature on the painting. It's not long before the detectives are questioning the other artist, Arturo, at his studio, explaining that prior graffiti busts put him on their radar. Arturo claims he hasn't seen Dave, but Morales spies some welding tools, which are still hot. TJ handcuffs Arturo to a pipe, and Dave is located on the roof, poised to jump. Luckily, Morales talks him out of it, explaining the roof's not high enough to kill him. Crying that he loved Amanda so much, Dave gets taken into custody.

Dave explains that he and Amanda were arguing because she accused him of following her. She was getting crazy and he didn't want to argue anymore, so he went to Arturo's and started drinking tequila. When Arturo brought him home around 2:00 a.m., Dave was so hammered that Arturo had to find his key and help him inside. Arturo recalls that the porch light bulb was unscrewed, and no sign of Amanda. Dave claims he blacked out. When he woke up, he found Amanda all bloody on the bed, and figured he must have killed her while he was drunk. Not knowing what to do, he loaded her into the car, thinking to take her to a hospital.

TJ and Morales confer with Gonzales outside the interrogation room. TJ can't believe Dave fought hand-to-hand with a trained Marine and walked away without a scratch. The unscrewed porch light is consistent with breaking and entering, as are pick marks SID found on the front door lock. When Gonzales reminds that Amanda thought someone was following her, the detectives resume the interrogation, asking Dave if she had bad blood with anyone. There's no particular person, but Dave knows Amanda couldn't wait for her work contract with East Pasadena to end - weird things were happening there. Apparently, East Pasadena requires tradespeople like welders and plumbers to purchase special licenses to work within city limits - when all they should need is a state license.

The detectives proceed to East Pasadena City Hall to meet with Don Wheeler, who hired Amanda through a Marine TAP program. He claims that when he discussed hiring Amanda permanently, she was thrilled. When TJ questions him about special licenses, Wheeler insists Amanda was confused. Morales is confused to see Amanda's desk stripped of her computer, files and paperwork; all that remains is a small box of her personal possessions. The detectives move on to question a plumber about the local license conundrum, but he doesn't want any more trouble. What he does have is a Civil Compromise that the City of East Pasadena made him sign. Later, Connie inspects the document - issued by a court which doesn't exist. Looks like Amanda may have uncovered a scam, and that's what got her killed...

Disguised as house painters, TJ and Morales decide to pull their own sting, and pretend to unload a contractor's truck for a job in East Pasadena. They don't have the tailgate down before a local cop has his ticket book out. Explaining that every tradesman working in East Pasadena needs to have a local license, he impounds the truck and levies a fine; they have 30 days to pay at City Hall. Standing in line at City Hall, the detectives watch as clerk Susan Foreman tells a fruit salesman the same thing. TJ and Morales will have to pay a fine of $300 and $125 for the tow - the license will cost them $500, and that's per truck. Oh, and they'll need to sign a Civil Compromise as well. It's clear East Pasadena is pulling in big dollars with their local license scam.

TJ and Morales arrest Susan Foreman as she's leaving for work. Her husband Mike comes running out of the house in confusion - she didn't do anything! Down at RHD, Susan insists she's never stolen anything in her life; she's just doing her job for Don Wheeler, her boss. She only spoke to Amanda once, a few weeks ago, when Amanda was covering for Wheeler's "regular girl." She was processing code enforcements, just like Susan usually does, and started getting testy, asking questions. Susan reported Amanda to Don, who told her not to worry. The detectives interrogate the officer who gave them the citations in the first place, who explains that he too just follows the orders of his boss, police Lieutenant Petrocelli.

Figuring Susan and the officer are just the bagmen, and the money's being laundered through the East Pasadena treasury, Rubiosa's ready to start issuing subpoenas, but Gonzales advises her to go for warrants instead. Evidence is probably already being shredded. It's not long before TJ and Morales are at the East Pasadena City Council Chamber with an arrest warrant for Don Wheeler. The officer at the door is just telling them council is in session and they can't enter, when several women run out of the chamber in a panic. Someone's in there with a gun!

With the main door locked, TJ and Morales split up, staying in contact on cell phones. Morales tells TJ to hold at the side door until he gives the signal, then distract the gunmen so Morales can take him down. Morales enters the chamber to spy Mike Foreman with a gun, accusing Don Wheeler of killing Amanda and involving Susan. Wheeler claims innocence - Amanda's drunken boyfriend killed her! Mayor Velman pipes up to confirm this story, adding that Amanda was strangled in her bed. Morales gives TJ the signal, but TJ oddly holds back, so Morales makes his move, shooting Foreman three times. Immediately, a fourth shot rings out, and Morales turns to see the officer who was guarding the chamber aiming his gun - Lieutenant Petrocelli.

TJ immediately tends to Mike Foreman, but there's another man down - Don Wheeler's been shot in the heart. It's not long before internal investigators and Gonzales are on the scene, requesting that Morales turn over his weapon. Morales tells Gonzales about what Mike Foreman was saying before he died, as TJ and Rubirosa speak with Mayor Velman, who claims Mike was raving incoherently. He used to work for the city, got fired, and stayed angry. But a devastated Susan Foreman knows her husband wasn't fired - he quit, after working for the Parks Department for 22 years. When Velman became mayor, he told Mike to hire his people or be fired and lose his pension - same for Susan. And then there was the money Velman stole from the kids...

Apparently the State of California told East Pasadena they had to fix their playgrounds. Velman hired his buddies, who turned half the money over to the city treasury. Mike tried to go to the City Council, but when threatened to keep his mouth shut, quit his job. The cops can ask the city treasurer, Avery Ruiz, who should have record of the transaction. Rubirosa meets with Ruiz, and is surprised to learn Ruiz is head cashier at a local big box store - her "real job." When Rubirosa brings up the playground scam, claiming the payment into the city treasury was more than 40% of the job's entire budget, Ruiz heads for her car - a high-end Mercedes convertible. And no - she didn't buy it on her cashier's salary, but on the $240,000 she makes as city treasurer. The City Council voted on it, the mayor makes four times that amount, and it's all perfectly legal.

At a big meeting of the team, both cops and lawyers, Dekker charges East Pasadena with behaving like a crime syndicate. Gonzales enters with the OST report: Mike Foreman was killed by Morales' three shots, and Wheeler was killed by a round fired by Petrocelli, who claimed Wheeler entered his line of fire. Gonzales comments that Petrocelli is either a liar or the worst shot west of the Mississippi, and it's clear to all that he wanted to shut Wheeler up for good. Since both Wheeler and Mayor Velman knew details of Amanda's murder that weren't released to the papers they must all be in cahoots. Morales has learned that Petrocelli was off-duty and within a mile of Amanda's house on the night in question - and he made a call at 1:55 a.m. to City Hall.

After the meeting, Dekker pulls Morales aside. If it wasn't for Morales and TJ, a lot more lives would have been lost. Everyone's proud of them - even DA Harding. Morales and TJ head for the equipment room at East Pasadena City Hall to meet with a technician who promises to figure out which extension Petrocelli called. Maintenance worker Quintana recognizes extension 33 as the City Council Room, where the mayor, the deputy mayor, Wheeler and another councilman were holed up late into the night. Deciding they have enough evidence, the cops arrest the four men along with Lieutenant Petrocelli, and lead them out of City Hall in front of an angry crowd.

Dekker and Rubirosa review their case with Morales, who repeats what he heard in the Council Chamber prior to shooting Mike Foreman. None of the other councilmen will corroborate, and TJ didn't hear anything since he was out of the room. All they have to go on is Morales' testimony. Morales assures the ADAs he can handle the witness stand; there's nothing to worry about, not even in his interview with the PD's shrink, standard protocol. He did mention that he shot a suspect in the line of duty as a young patrolman, but that shouldn't be a problem. Dekker fears the defense will paint Morales as an old school LAPD cowboy, but Morales is confident he can handle whatever they throw at him.

At the motion hearing, defense lawyer Byron fails to preclude Morales' testimony, so he challenges him to release his psychiatric evaluation to the court, while nodding to a reporter. If Morales has nothing to hide, why not? The judge insists this is totally out of order - without Morales' clear consent, which would set a bad precedent, the psych report is out. It's not long before Amanda's parents are in Gonzales' office, waving around a newspaper, the front page charging Morales with cover-up. Gonzales assures them it's all about lawyers spinning facts; the DA is doing what he needs to do to get justice for Amanda. Meanwhile, Morales is called into Dekker's office to meet with Gonzales and the Chief of Police, who's flagging under pressure from above, and wants Morales to release the report.

Still insisting there's nothing in the report that would embarrass the department or screw the case, Morales asks if anyone can guarantee him the report won't be smeared all over the Internet. Met with silence, he leaves, refusing to sign the release. Back at RHD, TJ asks what went down, full well knowing. Morales asks him to take a walk and talk. He can handle the report's release - but he did talk about TJ's hesitation before entering the City Council chamber. He knows TJ's been lending a lot of support to Winters' widow Casey and the kids lately; maybe they were on his mind that day, and he didn't want to put them through another loss. Whatever happened, Morales isn't signing the release unless TJ's okay with it. He leaves the room, leaving the report behind.

After reading the report, TJ tells Morales there's nothing in it that isn't true - he should sign the damn waiver. It's not long before Morales is on the witness stand, giving his testimony. It all seems pretty straightforward until Byron cross-examines, immediately focusing on the psych report. Apparently, Morales discussed shooting a 17-year-old crack dealer in the line of duty, which may have been instrumental in his promotion to detective. Morales felt guilty about killing this man, just as he feels guilty about killing Mike Foreman. The psychiatrist mentioned that such guilt could result in inappropriate behavior - like fabricating false memories. Morales denies it as Dekker charges up to object but Byron presses on, prompting Morales to request a change of his answer.

Morales points out that the reason the psychiatrist did find him fit to return to duty was that his behavior was in no way inappropriate. But beyond that, in all his time as a police officer and prosecutor, the notion of committing perjury would violate every single oath he's ever taken, and would make him feel far worse than he feels now over the justifiable shooting of Mike Foreman. So the notion that he fabricated a false memory to make himself feel better is patently absurd, however possible. Nevertheless, Byron focuses on this idea in his short closing statement.

Dekker begins his closing statement by showing a photograph of Amanda, presenting her as the best sort of American who risked her life to defend the rest of us, just as Gonzales does every day. What he confided to the psychiatrist was only an emotional manifestation of a good conscience, which is what Byron wants to hold against him. Because in East Pasadena city government, conscience would be a sign of weakness, that has to be turned off while robbing citizens... and killing good young soldiers. The jury finds Petrocelli guilty of murder and the four civil servants guilty of conspiracy to murder. Later at work, Morales tells Gonzales that Petrocelli got the death penalty, the others 25 to life. When TJ asks Morales what he would have done if TJ asked him not to sign the waiver, Morales admits he never considered that option.