Kids (Season 4, Episode 15)
Premise: A stray bullet kills a promising 14-year-old student, and the shooter turns out to be the teenage son of a retired detective who is an old friend of Briscoe’s.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 15
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Philip Bosco as Defense Attorney Gordon Schell, Robert Hogan as Ted Parker, Eric Alperin as Kevin Parker, Danny Gerard as Billy Wojak, Tresa Hughes as Mrs. Sugarman
- Director
- Don Scardino
- Writers
- Michael Harbert & Robert Nathan
Summary
The Investigation
“Kids” opens with 14-year-old Angel Ramirez shot through the neck while walking home with friends on 95th Street. An elderly woman knocked down by a fleeing man picks Juan Domingo from police photos. Domingo turns out to be a licensed gun dealer from Monticello who says he was only passing by and ran when the shooting started.
The detectives learn that Domingo is suspected in an earlier killing of another dealer in hot guns. The witness to that killing, Saint Matthews Prep student Ricky Morales, was later shot in a drive-by and is now paralyzed and claiming he saw nothing. A slip of the tongue suggests a second witness, and the detectives suspect that friend fired at Domingo and hit Angel instead. With the principal’s key, a search of Ricky’s friends’ lockers finds four guns in Billy Wojak’s, including a 9mm Glock whose serial number has been burned off with acid.
A second slug found near the scene matches the Glock with 85% certainty. A second elderly witness, Mrs. Sugarman, recalls a boy in a red-and-black school jacket bumping into her as she turned. Billy says the gun was Ricky’s and names Kevin Parker. Kevin’s father, Ted Parker, is a retired 33rd Precinct detective Briscoe knows, and he privately urges Briscoe to see the shooting as a scared boy defending himself. Mrs. Sugarman picks Kevin out of a lineup, and he is charged with second-degree murder.
The Trial
Defense lawyer Gordon Schell seeks a juvenile manslaughter plea, while Stone will go no lower than manslaughter one. Stone and Kincaid have the FBI raise the Glock’s serial number, trace it to Domingo, and use that leverage to get him to agree to testify that Kevin shot at him. The judge admits the gun under New Jersey v. T.L.O., though the ballistics expert concedes she cannot be absolutely certain. Judge Sally Norton then bars Mrs. Sugarman’s identification because Kevin’s jacket did not match those worn by the others in the lineup.
Briscoe testifies about Ted Parker’s private approach, and Billy testifies that Kevin borrowed the Glock after Ricky was shot and returned it after Angel died. At a plea meeting, Kevin says he believed Domingo would kill him next. The talks end when Stone learns Domingo has been shot dead during an undercover gun buy for federal agents.
Spoiler, the ending: While the jury deliberates, the prosecutors learn that officers from Ted Parker’s old precinct helped set up the buy where Domingo was killed, though nothing can be proven. The jury deadlocks and the judge declares a mistrial, and the prosecutors conclude a retrial would not produce a conviction. Briscoe reminds Ted that murder has no statute of limitations.
Why it stands out
- Stone defends the school locker search with the Supreme Court’s New Jersey v. T.L.O. ruling on student searches.
- Briscoe has a personal tie to the case: the defendant’s father is a retired detective he once knew.
- The case ends in a hung jury, with the People’s key witness killed before he can testify.