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Law and Order went back to 1999 for its "rip" from the headlines in this latest episode. Articles on the real case can be found here and here.

Detectives Briscoe and Green are called into action when a drug addict and his wife are found murdered, with the addict's left ear cut off. An overnight bag found in the room revealed traces of cocaine.

Discussion with the victim's nephew reveals that the deceased had gone to the heliport to pick up a shipment. The heliport staff states that the helicopter in question came from an Air Force Base, and that the passenger who met the victim is Caryn Wyman. Since Caryn is the only passenger on the flight, the detectives understandably focus on her as a suspect. Quite ironically, her husband Major James Wyman is responsible for the management of the US anti-drug effort in Columbia.

Caryn is charged with possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine after the overnight bag at the crime scene is traced back to her by witnesses who suggest she had control of the bag. In a plea discussion, she denies involvement in the murder and states that the cocaine was supplied by Fernando, her gardener in Bogota, with the plan being for her to deliver the drugs to his cousin, the victim. On the basis of this statement, Jack and Abbie ask the Colombian consulate to extradite Fernando to New York to face conspiracy charges. Since jurisdiction for conspiracy lies in any district where a necessary act of the conspiracy occurs, McCoy is correct that New York has jurisdiction over Fernando regardless of the fact that he hadn't been to the US. But Fernando, a Columbian national, is little help in the murder investigation.

In a subsequent plea discussion, Caryn states that the murderer had forced himself into her hotel room, informing her that he expected her to deliver a large quantity of drugs to him. She claims that this demand was backed up by a display of the victim's ear. Acting on this information, the police arrest Pena at the heliport at the time scheduled for the delivery. Caryn identifies Pena as the man who demanded the shipment of drugs from her in the hotel room. The implication, then, is that Pena murdered Fernando's cousin in order to take over the distribution of the cocaine.

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At trial, it becomes apparent that two ID witnesses have been warned not to testify against Pena, leaving Jack and Abbie with Caryn as the sole witness. In a meeting with Nora Lewin over this latest turn, Nora and Abbie express concern that Caryn's lone testimony won't be sufficient to obtain a conviction. Caryn's testimony gets off to a shaky start, but she eventually provides damaging testimony against the defense. Her credibility is enhanced by her knowledge of the personal danger in testifying against a cold-blooded killer. Then suspense builds when Caryn escapes her protection detail after her direct testimony. She is found in a local restaurant after calling her husband on his cell phone, and claims she ran because she was nervous. Had Caryn not been found, Pena would probably have been entitled to a mistrial due to the lack of opportunity to cross-examine the only damaging witness against him.

The jury finds Pena guilty of murder in the first degree, dispelling the concerns of Abbie and Nora. However, the episode fell somewhat flat for following the real life case too closely; there were no unexpected legal twists, even though the writers had an excellent opportunity to plot a twist along the lines of Caryn being the true murderer and framing Pena with her story about the hotel encounter.

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