Justice: Part 1
Directed By: Michael Radford
Story By: Henry Bromell and Tom Fontana
Teleplay By: David Rupel.
Edgar Rodzinski, a 30-year member of the vice squad, is found dead at a cemetery. He's also the father of Jake Rodzinski (Bruce Campbell), a detective in the fraud unit, who is naturally upset about this, and starts interfering in Munch and Russert's investigation of his father's murder.
This episode contains examples of:
- Canine Companion: The dog found with Edgar turned out to be his, and ends up barking at everything and everyone, with only Jake able to calm him down.
- Extremely Short Timespan: This and the following episode imply that Kenny Damon was arraigned, tried and acquitted within only a few days of being arrested, which would be fairly implausible in real life.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Jake's partner and other former members of the vice squad offer a reward for any information leading to catching Edgar's killer. Darin Russom, the lawyer defending Kenny Damon (Wendell Jordan), the suspected killer, is able to use this against the gravedigger when he gives evidence, suggesting he only provided the evidence for the reward money.
- It's Personal: Obviously, Jake Rodzinski takes very seriously the fact his father was killed.
- Only in It for the Money: The gravedigger whom Munch and Russert had interviewed three times earlier only presented his new evidence when a reward was offered.
- Two-Part Episode
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The trial of Edgar's killer was loosely inspired by the trial of the man who blinded Officer Gene Cassidy (the Expy of Chris Thormann), specifically the fact the jury had asked the judge for a clarification of the difference between first-degree murder and second-degree murder (as with Cassidy's trial, Jake's colleagues think this means the jury wants to vote guilty), and the fact one juror kept holding out for not guilty, while two insisted on guilty, and the rest of the jurors didn't care. The difference is, in the Cassidy trial, they did find the culprit guilty, while Kenny Damon is found not guilty.
- Written-In Absence: Kellerman is supposedly away attending a relative's wedding in Wisconsin. This becomes a plot point in the following episode, when his absence during the investigation of Edgar Rodzinski's murder means that he is considered an unbiased party to investigate the possibility that Jake killed Damon.
