Law & Order: Los Angeles Episode 1.09 Zuma Canyon

A yuppie couple gardens in their backyard. From next door, they hear the music of the quinceanera party of their neighbors' daughter. Suddenly, several men masked in bandanas open fire on the party. In the aftermath, Winters and TJ investigate the crime scene. Sergeant Jonas fills them in. Two SUVs pulled up in the front of the house, then four male Latinos went into the backyard and opened fire. They don't have plate numbers. Winters picks up some shell casings, commenting that the gunmen used assault rifles. The resident Mr. Alcazar, was killed, but his wife and daughter survived. Nine people were killed in total, including three kids. Winters grimly comments to TJ that it's time to get to work.

Gonzales, Winters and TJ interview the Alcazar family, who provide a few details - the cars used were a black 4Runner and a white Cherokee with a roof rack. The deceased Mr. Alcazar was a developer who built houses. Gonzales asks his widow if she noticed anything unusual about her husband recently. She admits her husband looked worried and said there was some trouble at work, but she doesn't know anything more specific. At home that night, Winters gathers photos of the crime scene as he talks to TJ on the phone about strategy for the next day. A news report about the murders plays in the background. Casey enters the bedroom as Winters hangs up, saying he's going to tuck in the kids. Casey put the kids to bed hours ago; this case must be a bad one. Winters doesn't disagree or elaborate.

The next morning, Winters and TJ visit Mr. Alcazar's office, where they meet Mitch Pellington, an architect Alcazar shared space with. Pellington shows them Alcazar's desk, and says he seemed worried lately. He thinks Alcazar had a big project fall through recently. He had taken some photos of a spot he'd found for a new development, an old housing tract up in the canyons somewhere, but then said it didn't pan out. TJ finds the photos on Mr. Alcazar's computer. They were taken with a cell phone, a week and a half before the shooting.

Winters and TJ use the GPS on Mr. Alcazar's cell phone to locate the area where the photos were taken. TJ smells something, and wonders if someone's cooking, then spies a blue object in the distance that could be a tent. TJ and Winters investigate, announcing themselves as police. They find food and water, as well as Spanish comic books and ammunition for a .38 Special, but the tent's empty. Winters and TJ move past the tent and look down to see a vast field of marijuana plants. TJ surmises that the tent's inhabitant is guarding the crop. Winters guesses Alcazar saw this and had a run-in with the guard. TJ thinks that whoever owns the pot must've had Alcazar killed, so they need to find the guard. They know they can't track the guard on their own, so they call in tactical backup.

Later, the tactical cops, Winters and TJ fan out looking for the guard. Winters finds him - it's a young Latino boy, who's pointing a gun right at him. Speaking Spanish, Winters talks the boy down and gets him to surrender. The boy collapses into Winters' arms in tears. Later, Gonzales steps into the interview room with some food for the boy, Fernando, who tells them he's 11 years old and a Yaqui Indian from Sonora, Mexico. Fernando has been in Zuma Canyon for three months, but didn't realize he was in the United States. Fernando won't tell them who brought him there. Gonzales asks if it was the man who owns the marijuana. Winters shows Fernando a photo of Alcazar, but Fernando won't talk, because the man he works for has "eyes that watch him everywhere," and burns him with cigarettes. He describes the man as having snake's feet. Fernando has scars on his chest.

Gonzales, Price, Winters and TJ meet with Manuel Ortega, an official from the Mexican consulate. Ortega says that without the boy's family name, he can't help. Ortega suggests returning Fernando to Mexico. Price points out that Fernando was arrested guarding a marijuana field with a gun and he's a material witness to the murder of nine people, so they're definitely not releasing him. Ortega can't believe they're putting an 11 year old in prison. Gonzales explains that Fernando is being held at the Eastlake Juvenile Facility under a pseudonym for his own protection. Ortega leaves. TJ reassures Price that she didn't over-hype anything. Fernando is their only link to the murders, since he saw Alcazar and likely told his boss ("snake foot"), after which four guys shut Alcazar up. Gonzales suggests Winters and TJ find out who owns the land under the dope farm.

Winters and TJ visit the owner of the Zuma Canyon land, Greg Ralston, at Ralston Resource Management. Ralston explains his land hasn't been used in years, but he recently had the water turned back on because someone leased it to grow avocados. Winters show Ralston a photo of the marijuana plants. This is news to Ralston, who tells them he leased the land to a man named Cesar. He's concerned about his company's liability and excuses himself to go call his lawyer. TJ thinks Cesar must've scouted the land in Zuma first, then found Ralston the way they did. A title search would've left a paper trail.

Winters and TJ visit the title company to find out who hired them to do the search on Ralston's land. One of the employees tells them it was her cousin, Ray Mota. Ray's been in trouble before with gangs, and she recently saw him with a friend named Cesar in his car. Ray drives a white Cherokee with a roof rack. Winters and TJ stop by Ray Mota's house to find him outside grilling with friends. Ray claims his Cherokee was stolen last week, but he didn't file a police report. Winters asks which one of them is Cesar. One of the guys speaks up, but when Winters asks for ID, Ray says not without a warrant. Winters starts to walk away, then approaches a different guy, calling him Cesar. Winters asks if the guy's boots are snakeskin, then embarrasses him with a pat down and checks his ID. He's Cesar Vargas from Sonora, Mexico. TJ snaps his picture, then takes Cesar's beer can.

Winters and TJ show Fernando the photo of Cesar. Fernando refuses to identify him. Gonzales promises they won't let Cesar hurt him. But Fernando still won't talk. His public defender leads him away. Gonzales comments that you can't blame Fernando, since Cesar knows where his family lives. Cesar's prints off the beer can didn't yield anything local, and TJ says they're waiting to hear back from their friends south of the border. Gonzales deduces that if Fernando told Cesar about Alcazar, Cesar would've had to get Alcazar's address. First thing tomorrow morning, they'll check with the DMV about any unauthorized searches in their database.

At home, Winters finishes dinner with his family. Suddenly, he sees a car slowing down in front of his house, just before a gunman opens fire. He throws his daughter Lily to the floor and yells for Casey to get down. Once the shooting stops, Casey and Lily are fine, but Winters has been shot in the chest. As Casey administers CPR, their landline rings. Cesar's filtered voice leaves an ominous message on the answering machine.

At the hospital, Casey walks wordlessly into the waiting room where numerous cops and lawyers from the DA's office are gathered. Winters is dead. Casey tells them that whoever did this called their house to make sure Winters knew they'd done it. TJ promises they'll get the culprit. Price comments that Cesar is probably already making a run for the border. TJ suggests they start with Ray Mota's house. Price volunteers to get a warrant, but Gonzales insists there's no time, and tells TJ and Gonzales to do whatever they have to.

TJ questions Ray in an interview room. He claims he doesn't know where Cesar is. Ray says he was with his girlfriend all night. TJ accuses him of attacking Winters' house. Ray still denies any involvement and asks for a lawyer. Gonzales talks to Ray's girlfriend, Yolanda, showing her pictures of the massacre at the quinceanera. Gonzales tells Yolanda that she could go to jail for anything Ray did, but Yolanda's still not talking. Then TJ walks in, holding up Ray's cell phone. TJ reads imaginary texts from other girls Ray's supposedly cheating on her with. That gets Yolanda to talk. She says Ray got a call at about 2:00 a.m. - the plans were changing because the border was "hot." Then she heard Ray say that if Fernando was still at Eastlake, they could find somebody to visit him.

Outside the interview room, Morales, Price, Gonzales and TJ discuss the case. Gonzales says it sounds like Cesar and his people want to put a hit on Fernando. TJ's concerned because they know Fernando's stashed at Eastlake, even if he's there under a pseudonym. Morales and Price visit Ortega at the Mexican consulate again, and Morales accuses him of leaking the information about Fernando's location to Cesar, which Ortega denies. When Morales asks how Ortega knows Cesar, Ortega refuses to answer. Morales threatens to put a police tail on him, which finally gets Ortega to talk. He tells Morales and Price that Cesar presented himself at the consulate that morning seeking refuge and asking to be repatriated. Morales wonders how much Cesar is paying for sanctuary. Ortega dismisses them, but not before Morales gets the last word, accusing Ortega of corruption.

Back at the office, Hardin chews out Morales, who insists the consulate is harboring a cop killer. Having been chewed out himself all morning, Hardin says they'll have to wait until Cesar's back in Mexico, then make a formal extradition demand. Morales knows there'll be hell to pay if Cesar slips through their fingers. Hardin pauses, thinking. He met a Mexican prosecutor at a conference, who's a big deal in their department of justice now... Hardin and Morales meet with the Mexican Consul General, Efraim Contreras, and Ortega. Hardin offers to repatriate three Mexican citizens incarcerated in California in exchange for Cesar. Contreras refuses. Hardin reveals that Maneula Diaz, the deputy assistant attorney general of Mexico, is listening on the phone. She speaks privately with Contreras, instructing him to cooperate.

Cesar rides as a passenger in a black SUV. Thinking he's headed to Mexico, he talks big about what he's going to do when he gets home. Suddenly, the car stops in the middle of the road, and the Mexican consulate officials jump out. TJ pulls Cesar out of the back seat and arrests him. Morales and Price meet with Cesar and his attorney. The attorney asks for bail, pointing out that Cesar's voice couldn't be matched to the answering machine message, and he has an alibi for the times of the shootings. Price comments that Cesar pulled the strings, not the triggers. Cesar's attorney hasn't seen any witness statements to that effect, including that of Fernando, which Morales knows isn't likely to be forthcoming.

Morales lunches with Fernando at a park and succeeds in getting him to loosen up and talk about his family and his experience in the mountains. Later, Morales meets with Hardin and Bo Washburn, a representative from the State Department. Apparently, Morales promised to move Fernando's family to Los Angeles, in exchange for Fernando's testimony. Washburn tells Morales that they can't move Fernando's family without granting asylum and Morales had no authority to make that promise. Morales argues that without Fernando, Cesar walks, and once he's out, Fernando's and his family's lives will be endangered. Washburn tells Morales that his request is denied. As Washburn leaves, Morales ambushes him with an emergency petition to compel the State Department to grant asylum to Fernando's family. They'll see each other in federal court tomorrow.

At the federal court hearing, Morales makes the case for asylum for Fernando's family. Washburn argues that Mexico is not a repressive regime, so by definition they can't be granted asylum. Morales appeals to the judge, emphasizing Fernando's courage in testifying against Cesar despite the threat to him and his family. Luckily, the judge is swayed. Later, Fernando's reunited with his family, and his father thanks Morales for finding his son. Morales promises that after Fernando testifies, they'll find the family a new home and give them new identities. Fernando's father asks Fernando if this is what he wants to do, and Fernando says he wants to help put Cesar in jail.

As Cesar is led into the courtroom in handcuffs, Morales checks on Fernando in the holding area. Morales asks if he's scared, and he says that he is. Morales tells him that he's proud of him. As Morales heads back into the courtroom, the interpreter assigned to Fernando checks in at the desk. Once court's in session, Morales calls Fernando as his first witness. The court clerk gets a phone call. Morales, Price and Gonzales rush to the holding cell, where Fernando lies in a pool of blood, his throat cut. The bailiff says that only the interpreter was allowed back there. She must've left through the judges' corridor. Gonzales orders the building locked down. Later in court, Morales can make no case without his witness. Under the law, the judge has to dismiss the charges. To the horror of Casey, Fernando's family, and the Alcazars, Cesar is set free.

Morales wants Hardin to get the feds to file charges against Cesar. Hardin dresses down Morales, questioning how federal charges will make the DA's office look, and complains that he's called in a lot of chits on Morales' behalf with this case. Morales didn't think it was on his behalf, he thought they were speaking for the victims. Morales quit the police department 12 years ago because he thought he could make a difference in the DA's office. But it's all politics and posturing. Morales wonders how it will look for the DA's office if he quits and returns to the police force, because his boss is too vain to ask for help in bringing a cop killer to justice. Hardin turns the tables, spinning Morales' move as a resignation after being replaced as the prosecutor in Cesar's case. Hardin will say the case needed a fresh pair of eyes. It's Morales' move.

At the precinct, TJ looks across his desk to Winters' empty one. He walks away to stare out the window at the night skyline. Morales walks in with a box of his things, and sets them down on an empty desk (not Winters'). And so a new chapter begins..