On edge, Mitch walks towards a sidewalk cafe to meet Andrew while talking to Ray, Abby and Tammy on his cell. He's unaware that Alex's two guys - the guys that were chasing him at The Westin - are still on his tail and communicating with her by phone. They're just closing in, when a rookie cop points his gun in Mitch's face, yelling, "Freeze!" After taking Mitch down to the sidewalk, the rookie cop cuffs him. Mitch is under arrest for throwing Moxon off the balcony of The Westin Hotel. The action jumps to three weeks earlier. The McDeere family is gathered in the kitchen, as Abby and Mitch discuss the Althea Sanderson case. An offer of $210,000 has come in, which both Mitch and Abby agree is not nearly enough. Mitch has arranged for Abby to show the books that she's been keeping for months to Andrew at Kinross & Clark, in hopes of persuading them that the settlement offer isn't nearly enough.
Down at the courthouse, Mitch meets with a new client, 25-year-old lawyer Judd Grafton, who decided to open an illegal casino rather than practice his profession. According to Judd, there are no jobs for new attorneys, and besides, he's made more money in the last year than any graduate from his class. Judd killed gangster Jimmy Riggs in self-defense. He's innocent. All he wants is a fair trial - no deals, no more discussion. Ray calls to check in. Mitch is unable to join him for a meeting with Sarah Holt since Judd's trial is about to get underway. Unbeknownst to Ray, the prison guard on Sarah's cellblock calls Alex to inform that Mitch won't attend the meeting. Alex hangs up to ask Andrew if she should be concerned about Ray. Allowing that Ray may be a bit of a wild card, Andrew assures Alex she has nothing to worry about.
When Ray walks up, Sarah's busy making her bed, annoyed that Mitch didn't show up for the meeting. Ray informs her that her laptop took a dive and relates his conversation with Carmen Askew. They may have motive on Margaret's son. Meanwhile, Judd's trial has begun. ADA Gordon Shanley questions Detective Keene about Judd's illegal casino, which was being run out of a bar called the Double Down, owned by Judd's best friend, Tom Connolly, who has come to court in his wheelchair. Once the guys started making good money, gangster Riggs stepped in to demand a cut. When the guys didn't pay, Riggs beat Tom so badly he wound up in a wheelchair. Two weeks later, a call from the Double Down came in to the precinct. When the cops arrived, Riggs was dead and Judd was holding the gun. Mitch begins cross by pointing out that Judd called 911. He didn't hide his gun, and Riggs also had a gun. Keene doesn't care. In his mind, Judd is a gangster too.
Abby runs into Andrew in the lobby at Kinross & Clark and immediately lays into him - he can't settle the Sanderson case without understanding the books! Althea was the McDeere's first DC client, and they care about her and her daughter Caroline. When Andrew points out that the only reason they have an offer is the reputation the firm brings to the table, Abby asks him to help find what they need to win big. Ray calls Mitch. Sarah's hiding something. She didn't care about her laptop, but news that Margaret's son may be the killer rocked her. And how long was she in the military? Mitch doesn't think she was in the military, but Ray's convinced that the precision with which Sarah made her bed proves it. Since the cops released her keys, he wants to check out her apartment, but Mitch forbids it. They can't search the apartment without Sarah's permission.
Back in court, Shanley questions medical examiner Dr. Radha Pardeep, who explains Riggs was shot three times, in the right shoulder, left chest and lastly in the back. Pardeep uses an animated simulation to show the victim couldn't have been pointing a gun at Riggs when he fired in self-defense. Furthermore, she believes Riggs' gun was put in his hand after the fact, due to blood spatter in his right palm. On cross, Mitch suggests that Pardeep mistook the order of shots. Couldn't the force of a bullet have spun Riggs around so that the second or third bullet hit him in the back? It's unlikely, but at least possible. Back at the firm, Andrew assures Abby that Kinross & Clark is not like its competitors. He brings her to a file-packed room where the 10-person Team Althea is working 24/7 on her case, looking for the smoking gun. When Andrew tells Abby that the McDeeres did the right thing when they joined the firm, she almost believes him.
On a break, Judd and Tom are pleased Mitch has established reasonable doubt. In fact, Tom is convinced that once he testifies, the jury will know how dangerous Riggs really was, and Judd will go home. Shanley knocks on the door. He's changing the witness list, and Bobby Monaghan, a casino regular, is up next. He's the perfect witness to help Shanley prove motive. Back at the office, Ray tries to seduce Tammy. She's onto his game - he wants Sarah's key. But Ray's not taking no for an answer. Once he gets Tammy up on the desk, he presses the key into her compact to make an impression, then pockets the compact. Meanwhile, Bobby takes the stand to talk about the night Riggs fractured Tom's spine. Judd freaked out, claiming he was going to kill Jimmy - so Jimmy's a gangster, too.
Mitch bounces back, asking Bobby about his deal with the government sparing him from prosecution, which he made because he used to help run the casino. And since Bobby went to law school with Judd, he knows exactly what to say to prove the prosecution's case. Couldn't Judd have been scared for his life when he shot Riggs? Bobby insists that he's known Judd for a long time and seen him a lot of ways - but never scared. Meanwhile, Ray is searching Sarah's apartment when Mitch calls, asking him to go to the hospital to find the surveillance video for the night Riggs was shot. They need to prove Judd wasn't out of control. Ray empties the contents of Sarah's paper shredder into his pocket and takes off.
Althea Sanderson's 19-year-old daughter Caroline stops by Mitch's office while he's in court. Since all the Sanderson's money has gone to medical expenses, Caroline's fearing eviction, and her mom's not going to get any better. Clearly, Caroline wants to accept the offer, but Abby convinces her to hold out for one more week. Later at home, Abby relates the conversation to Mitch and Claire, who thinks her parents should loan Caroline rent money. Mitch explains that if he or anyone who works for him loans Caroline money, he'll be disbarred. He promises to talk to Andrew. If there's a smoking gun, they need to find it now. Ray and Tammy show up with a laptop. Ray's been watching hospital surveillance videos for hours and finally found something. Shocked by what he sees in the video, Mitch tells Ray they need to talk to Judd - now!
Back in the witness room, Mitch and Ray show Judd the hospital surveillance video - of wheelchair-bound Tom Connolly walking out of the hospital 30 minutes before Riggs was shot. When a smirking Judd refuses to respond, Mitch threatens to call the judge. Continuing to maintain his innocence, Judd flashes back to the night in question. Five weeks after Riggs beat up Tom, Judd went to the hospital to visit Tom on his birthday. He told Tom that it was time to re-open the casino. Then he called Riggs down to the bar after closing to pay him off. Judd left the bar gun in the office - because he didn't need it, since they were paying Riggs - which is where Tom found it. Tom shot Riggs, but Judd still feels like it was all his fault, since Riggs beat up Tom because of him. Judd covered up the shooting because he didn't know what to do, telling Tom he'd protect him, spinning the whole thing as self-defense. Mitch wants to bring Judd's story into the courtroom, but Judd refuses, insisting they'll win on self-defense.
Afterwards in the hallway, Ray tells Mitch that Tom and Judd are like brothers, and brothers protect each other. When Ray spies Tom, he asks Mitch if he can take a shot. Is Tom really going to let Judd take the heat - a life sentence - for something he did? Speaking with the voice of experience, Ray advises Tom that he can't know what prison's like until he's been there. The guy who goes in isn't the guy who comes out. That night the McDeere clan gathers in the kitchen. Tammy suggests that Ray testify to seeing the video, but Ray refuses with respect to Judd's decision. Mitch wants to figure out how he can get the surveillance video into evidence when his client specifically ordered him not to. Abby's phone rings. It's Andrew. Team Althea found their smoking gun!
The next morning, Abby and Mitch hightail it to Kinross & Clark to check out DC-Tech's stent design blueprint, which is not exactly the smoking gun Mitch had in mind. The document lays out the design for an improved, unflawed stent and was dated 18 months before Althea got hers. Figuring the risk of defect was rare and the cost of replacing all previous stents massive, DC-Tech shelved the new model. Now they need an expert to explain it all to a jury. Andrew claims that's no problem, and an overjoyed Mitch asks him to set up a settlement conference. Mitch will have time for it, since he's planning to withdraw from Judd's trial. Unfortunately for Mitch, Judge Pruitt isn't having it. Mitch can't quit because his client is innocent. Since Mitch has no more evidence to present, the judge schedules closing arguments for the following morning.
At the office, Tammy spies Ray puzzling over the pile of paper shreds from Sarah's shredder. Meanwhile, Mitch, Andrew and a whole mess of lawyers assemble in Cromwell & Taft's conference room. When Bolson announces DC-Tech won't up their offer, Mitch presents his stent design document. Bolson remains confident. Even if Mitch knew what that document meant, he needs a very special expert to interpret it, and Cromwell & Taft retained every American expert months ago. Mitch smiles, then introduces Dr. Jean Aurmant from France and Dr. Sakadi of Tokyo, the premiere stent design engineers in the world. They taught Bolson's experts. It's time for a settlement check, and whatever number Bolson has in mind, it needs to be much, much bigger.
Later, Caroline rushes over to Mitch and Abby's, fearing something's wrong. Mitch hands over the settlement check; it's not everything Caroline deserves, but it's a good number. Now she's part of one of the biggest tort cases of the year. Kinross & Clark will sign up plaintiffs from all over the country and hold DC-Tech accountable. The next morning, Mitch returns to court, where Shanley presents his closing statement. Mitch does his best in his close, maintaining Riggs was a bad man, but Judd is not - and he's innocent. Afterwards, Mitch, Tom and Judd await the jury's verdict in the witness room. When Tom tells Judd he doesn't have to do this, Judd insists they're both going home today. And when the jury hands back a not-guilty verdict, he's proven correct.
That evening, Ray stops by the office to learn Tammy has finished taping Sarah's shreds together. They're stunned to see that the paper lists four women's names, including Martha Epps, the night nurse Margaret fired before meeting Sarah. The other three are also nurses fired by Margaret in the last year of her life. Ray thinks Sarah lied; she knew Margaret's history - maybe she really was intending to rob her all along. Regardless, Ray and Tammy are running late for the party at Kinross & Clark, celebrating the Althea Sanderson settlement. Ray decides to tell Mitch his news another day.