At a hotel, a couple go to confront another guest whose music is disturbing them, but find him dead in his room. Briscoe and Green discover that the deceased was a bounty hunter, Robert "Bobcat" Rovelli. He'd been trailing a journalist named Brian Kellogg, who's recently published an exclusive interview with Bobcat's current target: Mitchell Maas, a fugitive known as the "Rich-Kid Rapist." The detectives think that Bobcat got too close, and Maas killed him.
When Kellogg refuses to reveal what he knows about Maas's whereabouts, the prosecutors charge him with obstruction. The truth comes out that he's never even met Maas - the interview is completely made up. Bobcat found out, so Kellogg killed him to keep him quiet. Defence Attorney Randy Dworkin argues in court that Kellogg was hired under an affirmative action scheme because he's Black. This led to him being promoted to a senior role he was not prepared for, and placed him under intense pressure that drove him to kill. McCoy argues that Kellogg could have quit at any time, but stayed for the money and status. As proof, McCoy wants to cross-examine Kellogg's girlfriend; a wealthy, married white woman who wouldn't want to date him if not for his prestigious job. Rather than have their affair exposed, Kellogg agrees to a plea bargain.
This episode contains examples of:
- Atrocious Alias: Briscoe finds the names "Bobcat", and "Cosette" (the working name of an escort the victim hired), ridiculous.
- "Not Wearing Pants" Dream: Bizarrely, Dworkin refers to this in his defense of Kellogg.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The deceased insisted on being known only as Bobcat.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on a plagiarism scandal involving Jayson Blair, a journalist at the New York Times; and the then-recent capture of fugitive Andrew Luster.
- Series Continuity Error: Dworkin introduces himself to the arraignment judge as Randall K. Dworkin. In all other episodes, his full name is Randall J. Dworkin.
- Token Minority: Dworkin argues that Kellogg's newspaper hired him just to prove they had a Black person on staff, with no regard as to whether he could do the job.
- Villain of Another Story: The rich-kid-rapist had nothing to do with Bobcat's murder. He never appears in this episode, and is never mentioned again in the franchise, which is rather surprising considering he's a pretty typical SVU villain.
