Law & Order: Los Angeles Episode 1.19 Carthay Circle

Carthay Circle resident Ted Mullin is working in his yard when neighbor Kim Ho Lee drives up. Ted's annoyed that the raccoons have strewn Kim's garbage across their properties and says so. He's even more annoyed when the garbage is still there later that night. No one answers Kim's door, so he peeps through a window, to spy her lying in a pool of blood. Later a uniformed sergeant gives TJ and Winters the details. Kim has multiple stab wounds from a French chef's knife, still on the kitchen table. She lives with her boyfriend Derrick Joyner, who's nowhere to be found. TJ finds Derrick's briefcase, which contains his Corrigan Strategy Group ID and a receipt for his Audi, which is in the shop. TJ puts out a BOLO on Derrick just as Kim's cell phone rings. It's her father, so Winters picks up to deliver the bad news.

The detectives proceed to the Koreatown dental office of Mr. Lee, Kim's father, to speak with the family. Kim's parents immediately suspect Derrick, so Winters pulls Kim's sister Min aside. Min explains that her parents are very traditional and have a problem with Derrick because he's African American, but graphic designer Kim was very happy in the relationship. Min shows them a poster designed by Kim, featuring a distinctive chop, or signature, and explains that Kim leased her car through their father's practice. TJ and Winters find the car parked at Union Station, and the ticket confirms the car entered the lot at 6:14 on the night of the murder.

Back at RHD, TJ and Winters tell Gonzales what they know. Derrick paid for a one-way ticket on the 6:30 train to San Diego, and the conductor punched his ticket 20 minutes after the train left the station. A trace on his cell phone has revealed the only calls to the San Diego area are to a branch office of Corrigan Strategy - which will be their next destination. Political strategist Ben Corrigan explains that his company helps get political initiatives on the state ballot, and Derrick was working on Prop 128, the California Marriage Protection Act, out of the Crenshaw field office. Derrick's work includes a lot of travel, and he was known to have a thing for the ladies. On the way out, Winters gets an alert on his phone. The Garden Grove cops have arrested someone caught using Derrick's credit card.

Philip Rice, aka P-Dawg, wastes no time confessing he found a wallet containing Derrick's credit cards in a dumpster. Learning he may be implicated in murder, he offers more details about the wallet, which strangely included cash. TJ and Winters know this doesn't sound right. SID found a mix of rodent excrement, fiberglass and insulation in Kim's car. Thanks to a recent possum hunt, Winters knows the debris mix is consistent with what you'd find under a house. It's not long before Derrick's corpse is pulled from under the house he shared with Kim.

Back at RHD, the detectives confer with Gonzales. Derrick was beaten then strangled, and his blood was in the kitchen, overlaid with Kim's blood; so he was killed first. The perp must have staged the train trip to make Kim's murder look like a domestic and must have been waiting for Derrick when he got home. Since there was a cab receipt in Derrick's pocket, the detectives check with cabbie Milos, who parked on the street for a few minutes after dropping Derrick off at home, late in the afternoon on the day of the murder. Milos remembers that after some sprinklers turned on, a black guy parked down the street went to Derrick's door. Realizing that Derrick left work early, the detectives proceed to Prop 128 headquarters in Crenshaw to interview receptionist Helen.

Helen explains that everyone at work knew Derrick was leaving early. She rescheduled two of his meetings, and Roland Davison, co-sponsor of Prop 128, cancelled a third, claiming a family emergency. Roland is the son of the powerful Reverend Davison, who's shepherding the bill. The detectives move on to the church to meet with Roland, who explains that in the last year of working with Derrick, they collected 500,000 signatures, which are currently being certified by the county. Roland and Derrick did have a run-in on the morning of his disappearance, but Roland has an alibi: he was driving to Bellflower for a fundraising dinner at the Promise Women's Shelter, where he met his father about 7:00. Oh, and Derrick had come to him for counseling in the past, regarding his penchant for the ladies.

In the church parking lot, Winters notices that Roland's car is covered with water spots - perhaps it got hit by the sprinklers noticed by the cabbie? Deciding to investigate Roland's alibi, the guys drive to the Promise Women's Shelter to interview manager Patricia, who confirms that Reverend Davison and Roland were present for the fundraising dinner - but Roland showed up at 8:00. She's hesitant to answer more questions because the Davisons are the shelter's primary contributors. On the way out, TJ notices a poster for the fundraiser, signed with Kim's distinctive chop. Patricia explains that Roland found a high-end company to design the poster for free.

The detectives return to Koreatown for another meeting with Min, who explains that she and Kim went to Roland's gospel mass a few times. Although most people who wear crosses do it for fashion, Kim wore hers as a sign of devotion. Winters recalls that Kim was wearing it when she was found dead, which Min thinks is impossible. Kim went to the Korean spa that afternoon, and she always left her jewelry home, in a heart-shaped box on her dresser. After finding Roland's fingerprints on Kim's jewelry box, TJ and Winters arrest him for murder.

At the DA's office, Morales, Hardin and Price meet with Reverend Davison, who threatens Hardin not to pick a fight on such a thin case in an election year - his people can always stay home. Hardin points out that his people won't be able to vote for Prop 128 if they stay home, but the Reverend knows he'll have his cake and eat it too. Outraged by the Reverend's hypocritical support of Prop 128, Morales insults him, quoting Dr. King. Later, at the preliminary hearing, Roland's lawyer Garth Miller explains away the fingerprints on the heart-shaped box: Roland was having an affair with Kim. Ambushed without proper notice, Morales withdraws charges, but reserves the right to refile later, and Roland is released. Unable to believe there was an affair, Morales wonders why Roland would ruin his reputation - could the murder have been about something else entirely?

Price, TJ and Winters go through the case, searching for inspiring leads. Could it have something to do with the fact that over $80 million is being spent to get Prop 128 on the ballot, and a lot of it is coming through church groups like the Reverend's? That's when TJ realizes the one place they never looked was in Derrick's Audi, which is still at the repair shop. Hidden under the passenger seat, TJ finds a Prop 128 signature list with several Culver City-area residents' names highlighted. The detectives decide to go door-to-door, checking names, only to discover that 11 of them are phony. Then they check with County Clerk Bill Dougherty, who explains that signatures on ballot measures are cross-checked against voter rolls, and their phony names match up. Someone must have messed with the voter registration databank. There could be tens of thousands of phony signatures, and thus millions at stake. With over 20 ballot initiatives in the last eight years, Corrigan must be at the heart of the scam.

Morales orders a search warrant, but as he arrives at Prop 128's Crenshaw headquarters with TJ, Winters and Price, a press conference headed up by Corrigan and the Reverend is just getting started. The fraud is blamed wholly on Derrick, and Morales is hailed as the savior come to clean up the mess. Later the DAs report back to Hardin: after just scratching the service, it looks like 30% of Corrigan's signatures are phony, with a potential total of over 150,000. And many of the signatures have appeared on Corrigan's seven other ballots, four of which are now California law. Smelling a Constitutional crisis, Hardin leaves to call the Attorney General, as Morales and Price haul Roland back to RHD. Morales promises Roland that he'll be tried for murder one way or another; what's at stake is whether he'll face the death penalty. Morales wants Corrigan, and he's willing to make a deal for him.

In exchange for 30 to life, Roland confesses. Corrigan told him that Derrick was threatening to report the phony signatures; thus, the Reverend and his church would be ruined. Roland tried talking to both Derrick and Kim; but everything went sideways, and he wound up killing Derrick. When Kim walked in, he panicked and knocked her out, then called Corrigan, who came over and stabbed her in the heart. It's not long before Morales and Price are at the county jail, meeting with Corrigan and his lawyer Barry Mooney, who claim it was all Derrick and Roland. When Morales points out that he can prove the fraud has been going on for years, Corrigan alludes to knowing something the DAs don't. Later, Hardin informs Morales that he can't present evidence against Corrigan from any of the past ballot initiatives - that investigation is being taken over the Attorney General's office - or as Morales puts it, buried.

Roland testifies at Corrigan's trial, explaining how Corrigan orchestrated not only the murders but also their cover-up and admitting that he put Kim's cross around her neck once she was dead. On cross, Mooney accuses Roland of orchestrating the voter fraud to fill church coffers, but Roland maintains his innocence. Prop 128 meant everything to his father, and he was simply and respectfully obeying him. Even though Roland swears he's telling the truth, Mooney accuses him of lying; after all, he lied once before. Later that night, Price goes over testimony with a weary Reverend Davison, coaching him to stick to specifics of his deal with Corrigan. When the Reverend asks what happens to Roland's plea bargain if it turns out he's lying, Price explains the deal would be off, and Roland would face the death penalty.

The next day in court, the Reverend tells Mooney that Roland never told him about a problem with Corrigan or the signatures - then he decides to recant. A month before the murders, the Reverend noticed errors on a petition and told Roland. A few days later, Roland said he straightened everything out; it was just a clerical error. In other words, Roland and Derrick cooked up a lie to cover their fraud. Corrigan and Mooney are delighted, but a furious Morales asks for time to prepare for re-direct. Afterwards, Morales visits Roland in jail to inform him that his father has betrayed him. When Roland's unable to figure why the Reverend would do such a thing, Morales fills in. Could the Reverend have been in on the fraud with Corrigan from the beginning? Roland can't accept this explanation. There was so much money flowing into the church, his father didn't need to cheat.

Back in the courtroom, Reverend Davison claims he was only trying to protect his son. Now he's got to do the right thing, even if it means the death penalty for Roland. Morales brings up the Promise Women's Shelter as an example of the Reverend's penchant for doing the right thing. One $20,000 donation came from one of the phony names on Corrigan's list. In fact, they've found over a thousand such donations totaling $1 million. Instead of reporting Corrigan's fraud and possibly sabotaging the Prop 128 campaign, the Reverend blackmailed him for the donation. When the Reverend accuses Morales of being cynical, Morales points to all the civil rights work the Reverend did in the 1960s and 1970s. How can he now work to deny an entire class of people their civil rights? And how could he sacrifice his own son to save his own skin?

The Reverend takes a deep breath and tells the judge that at his age, events become confused. He's not sure what the truth is anymore. Later the jury comes back with a verdict of guilty for Corrigan on one count of murder in the first degree, and Reverend Davison is forced to face the Lee family on the way out of the courtroom.