Illegal (Season 18, Episode 8)
Premise: A legal immigrant is killed by gunfire as police break up an immigration rally, and McCoy’s pursuit of the auxiliary officer who fired puts his own record on trial.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 18, Episode 8
- Detectives
- Det. Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin), Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Michael Cutter (Linus Roache), ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza), DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston)
- Guest stars
- John Pankow as A.D.A. Josh Lethem, Daniel Sauli as Officer Rodchenko, Christina Rouner as defense attorney Karen Sanders, Gina Rodriguez as Inez Soriano, Dominic Colón as Ignacio
- Director
- Constantine Makris
- Writers
- William N. Fordes & David Slack
Summary
The Investigation
“Illegal” follows an immigration rally that ends in a clash between protesters and police. The next day accountant Maria Soriano, a green card holder from El Salvador, is found dead of a gunshot wound in an alley near the park. Her sister Inez, who is undocumented and was arrested at the rally, says Maria was filming troublemakers with her phone. The recovered video identifies bottle thrower Ignacio Perez, who was grazed by a bullet himself and insists the shots came from the police line. The fatal round, a 9mm hollow point fired from a Glock, and two casings found nearby appear to support him.
McCoy, six weeks into his tenure as District Attorney, appoints veteran ADA Josh Lethem to investigate the riot. Police commanders say no officer fired a gun and want Internal Affairs to take over, but McCoy keeps Van Buren on the case and threatens to subpoena every officer who worked the rally. News footage shows a uniformed man leaving the shooting area and pocketing something. A suspended officer identifies him as an auxiliary, and the auxiliary unit’s commander, Lt. Brody, says he helped Officer Rodchenko get a permit for a Glock 19. Rodchenko, who emigrated from Bosnia as a child, claims he lost the gun while jogging and is arrested.
The Trial
Lethem’s grand jury presentation lets Brody vouch for Rodchenko, airs Perez’s record, and leaves jurors thinking the gun was tested without a match, and they decline to indict. McCoy takes Lethem off the case and, when Lethem says McCoy cannot be trusted, fires him and hands the case to Cutter. Casings from Rodchenko’s target practice at Brody’s Catskills property match those from the park and bear his thumbprint, and a second grand jury hears the case. Rodchenko now says he fired on an order, and enhanced audio captures Sgt. Sloan calling “green light,” a signal his own men understood to mean tear gas and beanbag rounds.
Rodchenko testifies that he was under attack, heard the command and fired twice. Cutter draws out his resentment of the regular police and his contempt for the protesters, Soriano included. The defense calls Lethem, who says McCoy is biased against police and was often reprimanded by earlier District Attorneys. McCoy answers on the witness stand, rejecting defense attorney Karen Sanders’ portrait of him as a liberal crusader and saying he enforces the law wherever it leads.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury convicts Rodchenko of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. McCoy finishes his long report on the riot, predicting that both sides will be angry with him.
Why it stands out
- McCoy invokes his predecessors, recalling the politics behind his appointment after Arthur Branch left and remarking that he now understands why Adam Schiff was so grumpy.
- McCoy himself takes the witness stand to answer a fired prosecutor’s claim that he is biased against the police.
- Lupo reveals that he once fell asleep hung over in his car while his partner was shot on a coffee run, and that he now attends night classes at Brooklyn Law School.