Frank Elliot, a controversial investigative journalist, is shot outside a bar. He is "embedded" with a military unit in Iraq, and was due to return to the front the following day. Elliot is being sued, and has received death threats, because of the deaths of soldiers in his unit who were killed by the enemy after Elliot reported on their movements. The murder weapon is found to belong to Dixon Hawes, one of the soldiers who died.
Hawes' best friend in the unit, Sergeant George Meacham, was home at the time of the murder and had motive and opportunity to kill. He is charged with murder and brought back from overseas. Elliot is now out of hospital and claims at a press conference that the Pentagon ordered a hit on him. McCoy issues a gagging order, which Elliot fails to get overturned. Elliot is arrested by the FBI for treason in reporting on troop movements, but is released on bail.
Meacham's defence claims that he thought killing Elliot was a justified way to prevent more deaths. Elliot uses the Grand Jury hearing as a platform for his view that the Iraq War is wrong. Under questioning, Meacham changes his testimony and says he didn't shoot Elliot - or he wouldn't have missed. At this point McCoy and Southerlyn confront Elliot with their knowledge that he lied to the police, had access to Hawes' weapon, and could have had a friend shoot him and help him set up Meacham. Elliot says that McCoy cannot prove it, and all he's trying to do is expose the injustice of the war. Meacham is released, and McCoy resolves to find evidence against Elliot.
This episode contains examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: Until near the end of the episode, it appears that Meacham was the shooter. Then at the end, the audience is suddenly told that the shooting was all Elliot's plan.
- No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Referenced by one of Elliot's rivals. Elliot clearly adheres to this view himself.
- Smug Snake: Elliot is incredibly self-satisfied about his crusade to expose the evils of the war.
- Soapbox Sadie: Elliot uses the Grand Jury hearing to detail at length his opinions against the Iraq War.
- Title Drop: Briscoe gets one.
- Varying Competency Alibi: According to Meacham, if he had shot Elliot then Elliot would have been dead.
