The detectives investigate the murder of corrections officer Charlie Tyner. They question his interest in Alice Simonelli (Cara Buono), an inmate doing time for drug possession. Carmichael was the DA who prosecuted Alice's case; she'd tried to offer a plea deal with no prison time, but Alice refused to testify against her partner. Alice hates Carmichael and won't cooperate with her to give information about Tyner's murder. Briscoe and Curtis eventually learn that Alice hired her cellmate's brother Luis Pacheco to kill Tyner.
While being arraigned, Alice requests to have Carmichael taken off the case, but the judge refuses. Alice is remanded to Rikers, where she suffers a miscarriage; Tyner was the father of the baby. Alice's story is that Tyner raped her and then tried to keep her quiet by threatening her four-year-old daughter. Carmichael doesn't believe any of this. When the murder weapon gets excluded as evidence, Pacheco goes free. McCoy wants to make a deal with Alice but she again refuses.
In court Alice testifies that Tyner repeatedly raped and intimidated her. After she got pregnant, he used her daughter to manipulate her into silence. Alice had to protect her daughter so she hired Pacheco to kill Tyner. Carmichael tries to convince the jury that Alice was sleeping with Tyner in exchange for gifts and privileges. She points out that Alice joined a prison gang for protection yet never asked them to do anything about Tyner. Alice breaks down and says all she wanted was to go home to her daughter, but Tyner wouldn't leave her alone. She asks if Carmichael has ever been raped.
The jury takes days to deliberate and McCoy eventually convinces Alice to accept a plea. Carmichael later privately confesses that the case deeply affected her because she was raped in college.
This episode contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Alice poses one to Carmichael while being cross-examined; it isn't until the end of the episode that we find out exactly why the question was so piercing."Have you ever been raped, Ms. Carmichael? Don't you think I felt stupid for being where Charlie Tyner could rapе me?"
- Artistic License – Law: Simonelli, as well as a fellow prisoner who testifies in her trial, wear their prison uniforms during the trial. While technically possible, it is highly unlikely. In the U.S., no defendant or witness can be forced to attend their trial in prison garb, as it can prejudice the jury. If the prisoners don't have access to or money to purchase dress clothing, they will have it provided for them at no cost. It's certainly possible Simonelli and her friend chose to appear in their prison outfits, but it's unlikely an attorney as skilled as Danielle Melnick would allow this.
- Asshole Victim: It is hard to sympathize with a victim who was using his authority as a corrections officer to coerce a prisoner into having sex, and who was willing to threaten her young daughter to keep things quiet.
- Convenient Miscarriage: ZigZagged. Alice's miscarriage serves as proof that she and Tyner had sex. Since she is legally unable to consent to sex with a guard, it qualified as Prison Rape. This is used by the defense.
- Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: Alice Simonelli was a student teacher who refused to flip on her accomplice on a routine drug case and ended up in prison. She joins a prison gang when another inmate bothers her and arranges to for the murder of the guard who was raping her.
- Honey Trap: Ricky Crimmins used his wife in a plot to seduce Tyner and get blackmail material on him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When a hung jury starts looking likely in the Alice Simonelli case, the prosecution debates how to handle it...and Carmichael suggests that they offer a plea bargain. McCoy and Schiff both stare at her in shock.
- Prison Rape: The reason why Alice Simonelli has Tyner murdered; he kept raping her repeatedly and she saw no way out. The DAs bring up that it might have been a simple case of trading sexual favors for privileges, but Melnick reminds that according to the Penal Code, a prisoner cannot consent to sex with a guard.
- Rape as Backstory: At the end of the episode, Carmichael reveals that she was date-raped as a college freshman by a law student and she never told anybody, blaming herself instead.
