Law & Order

A suspicious apartment fire leaves a severely disabled boy dead of smoke inhalation. Though an antique store owner in the same building had been "victim" to several other fires in the past, Detectives Briscoe and Green are drawn to suspects closer to home as they discover the tremendous burden the young boy posed to his parents and their failed marriage during his twelve years. As more is learned about the devoted mother (Megan Follows), even E.A.D.A. Jack McCoy begins to question whether his prosecution is truly in the service of justice. Meanwhile, Mayor Giuliani introduces Interim District Attorney Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest) to McCoy and Carmichael.

When a woman with no identification is found dead from a blow to the head with a pavement stone, the only clues to her past are found in the information stored on her mass-transit pass. More magnetic evidence leads Detectives Briscoe and Green to the current possessor of the dead woman's credit card; but once they have their suspect, the mental state of the attacker calls into question whether the perpetrator alone is responsible for the tragedy. Following a plea to action from the deceased's husband (Ty Burrell), District Attorney Lewin pursues media glory by encouraging prosecutors McCoy and Carmichael to take on the health care system responsible for releasing the emotionally disturbed convict into society.

When the star violinist of the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra is found murdered in her dressing room, Detectives Briscoe and Green don't have to look beyond the concert hall for an array of leads. The priceless violin she played is missing and the rest of the violin section is found to have been resentful of the recent Juilliard graduate's rapid ascent to stardom. Meanwhile, the brilliant and debonair conductor Carl Reger (Ronald Guttman), whose wife also performs in the orchestra, points the detectives toward a stagehand who may have been rebuffed in his advances toward the victim, as his own relationship with his first chair violinist comes under scrutiny.

When a gang leader convicted of brutal crimes is stabbed to death in a prison scuffle, Detectives Briscoe and Green find that their victim had numerous enemies on both sides of the law. The investigation; in which gang members, corrections officers, and undercover cops are all suspects; results in an eventual indictment that leaves E.A.D.A. McCoy with an uphill battle as he tries to convict the murderer of a vicious criminal.

The murder of a storeowner leads to a case where the suspect flees to Israel and may be protected from extradition by Israel's Law of Return.

A former Black Panther, accused of murdering a Caucasian police officer, questions Green's integrity amidst a politically charged trial.

Under pressure from the department's top brass, a 20-year-old murder case, initially investigated by Briscoe's now-retired boss, is reopened; it involves the slaying of a teenage girl, with the spoiled son of a politically connected family as the prime suspect.

The killing of a school hockey coach leads to a case in which the defendant claims that he committed the crime while suffering from "sports rage."

An assistant manager at a jeweler's discovers four bodies at the store, leading to the prosecution of an amiable murder suspect who insists on representing himself, and winning the admiration of a female juror.

The death of a lab technician and the abduction of 17 infected monkeys lead to a trial involving the treatment of research animals.

Following "wilding incidents" in Central Park, a woman's body is found in the lake and the suspects include the deceased's wealthy husband.

The beating death of a restaurant owner leads Briscoe and Green to thrill-seeking teenagers; McCoy and Lewin are forced to decide how young is too young for the death penalty.

Briscoe and Green investigate the beating death of a gay man and the kidnapping of his adopted son, and their investigation leads McCoy and Carmichael to believe that homophobia was the motive rather than ransom.

Briscoe and Green initially investigate the fiancé of a pregnant woman found dying in the trunk of her car, but the investigation soon turns to professional athlete Chris Coty, who may have had reasons of his own to want the woman and her unborn child out of the way.

When a participant in a TV reality show is murdered, McCoy goes after the producers and network executives for deliberately fomenting hostility among the participants to boost the ratings. All too appropriately, the outcome of the case hinges on a videotape made by a hidden camera.

When a woman is found strangled to death with a large quantity of the drug Ecstasy in her handbag, Detectives Briscoe and Green have difficulty gathering sufficient evidence for an indictment of their prime suspect, drug dealer Francis "Taz" Partell. But when they question one of his former associates, they discover new evidence indicating that Taz is responsible for the earlier murder of a bouncer in Bronx County.

When the dead body of Karen Hall, an investigator with the State Attorney General's Office Criminal Division, is found in the Hudson River, Detectives Briscoe and Green find that her boss, Alec Conroy, had written off her disappearance as a random kidnapping from an Albany train station. But as more is learned about Conroy's controlling relationships — with the dead woman, with his wife and with a longtime girlfriend — he quickly becomes a suspect.

Briscoe and Green investigate a couple murdered in their apartment, which leads them to the wife of an officer in the U.S. Army who is involved in anti-drug activities in Colombia, leaving McCoy with the awkward job of getting her to testify.

When a Hispanic male is found dead from a severe chest trauma, Detectives Briscoe and Green discover that he and two other illegal immigrants had been in a staged automobile accident. As evidence mounts linking numerous similar car crashes with the same employer, chiropractor, insurance adjuster and lawyers, ADAs McCoy and Carmichael must determine who is ultimately responsible for the man's death, from which so many others profited.

The murder of a prep school student points to a mysterious woman who may have been extorting money from the victim's wealthy father who she believed was also her father.

Briscoe and Green discover that a murdered businessman may have been the target of a well-known criminal, but the investigation stumbles when the FBI acts as the suspect's alibi. The case gets even more complicated when the detectives find out the suspect has a twin brother, that both brothers had a motive for killing the victim and they can't be sure who was actually the murderer.

Detectives Briscoe and Green investigate when a masked schoolkid opens fire on classmates, killing four and wounding eleven. It soon becomes apparent that more than one child fits the profile of a youth capable of committing such violence. An e-mail sent by one of the students skews the investigation towards one particular youth with a violent history. But finding the perpetrator becomes a race against time when another e-mail arrives threatening more murders. E.A.D.A. McCoy goes head to head with Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell), who is acting as the teen's defense attorney, and who argues that the e-mail is inadmissible because it is privileged.

An attempted murder of a tough judge leads Briscoe and Green on a wild goose chase to track down the inimical criminal. When the perpetrator is found, Carmichael and McCoy have a difficult time making a case.

A woman's murder leads Briscoe and Green to discover the actual target was a reporter who did a story about voting improprieties in a recent senatorial election. Carmichael can't get the reporter to reveal her sources for a story containing allegations that the vote was fixed and ballots tampered with, even though the reporter's life is at risk. Without the source, McCoy and Carmichael have a difficult time making a case against the Senator, who they believe has ties to the mob and ordered the hit on the reporter. The case hinges on 2,000 missing ballots from the vote that were stolen by the mob. Once the ballots are found, there is a court battle over whether or not they should be counted. McCoy believes that the ballots will show the Senator's motive for ordering the hit, but an appellate court won't allow it, so their case is virtually dead. In the end, McCoy is able to convince the reporter to reveal her source and have him testify against the senator, which surprisingly turns out to be the Senator's own assessor. Meanwhile Carmichael tells McCoy that she is leaving the D.A.'s Office to accept a job with the U.S. Attorney's Office as soon as the case is over.