Skin Deep (Season 3, Episode 1)
Premise: A fashion photographer is found stabbed in his loft, and his secret business pimping out models past their prime points detectives toward one of his women.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 3, Episode 1
- Detectives
- Sgt. Phil Cerreta (Paul Sorvino), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Alberta Watson as Angela Brandt, Claire Danes as Tracy Brandt, Lorraine Toussaint as Shambala Green, Fia Porter as Betty Ann Carter, Murphy Guyer as Jeffrey Brandt, Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet (uncredited)
- Director
- Daniel Sackheim
- Writers
- Robert Nathan & Gordon Rayfield
Summary
The Investigation
“Skin Deep” opens when a young woman arriving for a photo session finds photographer Julian Decker dead in his Tribeca loft, stabbed in the back with a pair of scissors. There is no sign of forced entry, and the medical examiner finds evidence that Decker had sex shortly before he died. Cerreta and Logan work through the women in his appointment book, including veteran models Angela Brandt and Betty Ann Carter, who both admit they disliked him.
Decker’s accountant concedes that the photographer lived far beyond his reported income, and the detectives learn he was running a prostitution ring of models whose careers were fading. Password-protected files on his computer list the women by initials, and one entry leads to an advertising executive who says Angela visited him the evening of the murder, even though her ex-husband, Jeffrey, had backed her claim that they were at dinner. Fingerprints from Angela’s gym locker match the scissors, and underwear from her apartment is tied by lab tests to stains on Decker’s pajamas.
The Trial
Angela is charged with second-degree murder, with Shambala Green defending. Jeffrey now testifies that Angela asked him to lie for her, but Green reveals he once sued for custody of their daughter, Tracy. Judge Baum then rules the DNA evidence inadmissible, leaving the case close to dismissal. Angela, who had earlier dared the prosecutors to convict her, suddenly seems willing to plead.
At a modeling agency, the prosecutors learn Decker had photographed Tracy, and her classmates say the 15-year-old called him her boyfriend. After Dr. Olivet examines Tracy, the prosecutors begin to suspect the daughter. A blood test matches Tracy to the evidence on the pajamas, and Jeffrey admits he really was with Angela that night and changed his story at her request to shield Tracy.
Spoiler, the ending: The case against Angela is dismissed and Tracy is arrested. Decker had been having sex with the 15-year-old; Tracy tells Stone that he ended the relationship, mocked her looks and turned his back, and she stabbed him. She receives a juvenile sentence of three years at Spofford with treatment.
Why it stands out
- Early-career guest appearances include Claire Danes, Gina Torres and Lauren Ambrose.
- The judge throws out the DNA match under the Frye general-acceptance test, citing disagreement among scientists.
- The real killer turns out to be the suspect’s teenage daughter, whom her mother was willing to go to prison to protect.