LAW & ORDER {LAW AND ORDER}: CAN I GET A WITNESS? (TV)

Summary

The second of two programs found on B:88563. One in this series of dramas that deals with the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of criminals. The first half of each episode concerns the police procedure that leads to the arrest of a suspect, while the second half covers the efforts of the district attorney to prosecute the case. In this episode, nineteen-year-old Henry, known as "Big Boy," is shot by a one-eyed man on a bicycle, and witnesses report that the killer told him to "keep his hands off the goods." Green and Briscoe find cocaine with the body and guess that the murder was drug-related, and a visit to the eye doctor leads them to the home of one Foster Keyes, where they meet Keyes' cousin, Ronald Duggan. They soon find Keyes himself hiding at the home of his girlfriend, Jannette Richards, and the two young witnesses, Shayna Rosario and Jimmy Gordon, quickly pick him out of a lineup. Keyes denies being the killer, though Briscoe and Green inform him that his bicycle can be definitively matched to the scene before they are interrupted by Keyes' lawyer, Gerald Wills, who smugly notes that they have no other evidence beyond the eyewitnesses' testimonies. Jimmy's mother explains that her son has received threatening calls, presumably from Keyes, but Jimmy remains determined to testify against his friend's killer and opts to stay with his aunt in Brooklyn for the duration of the trial.

Shayna soon retracts her statement, clearly afraid of retribution, but Jimmy stands firm and explains that Big Boy struck Jannette during an argument, thus giving Keyes motive to harm him. McCoy declares his intentions to prosecute Keyes for witness intimidation on top of murder, but he and the others are soon upset to learn that Jimmy too has been shot dead. Aware that they have nothing without Shayna, McCoy attempts to use Jimmy's grand jury testimony as evidence, but the judge quickly dismisses the case. With double jeopardy attached for Big Boy's death, the detectives turn their attention to Jimmy's murder, determined to link Keyes to his death. They find a "Mr. X" on his prison visitor sign-in sheet and trace it to Duggan, though he swiftly provides an alibi for the time of Jimmy's death. Further digging leads the detectives to Calvin Jacob Rivers, Duggan's former partner-in-crime, and when the murder weapon and a quantity of cash are found at his home, Green and Briscoe conclude that Keyes and Duggan hired Rivers as the triggerman.

McCoy and Southerlyn return to Shayna and convince her to testify after all, promising that they will protect her, and they are soon able to re-arrest Keyes and Duggan. McCoy tells the jury about Keyes' long history of witness intimidation and murder, though Shayna panics on the stand and declines to name the killers directly. In the judge's chambers, she explains that Duggan took her to see Wills as part of his attempt to "convince" her not to talk, thus making Wills complicit in the illegal intimidation. Back on the stand, she admits that Duggan did not openly threaten her, but slipped her money and made pointed comments about Big Boy's death, making her feel as though she was "dead already." The jury finds Rivers guilty of Jimmy's murder, but Keyes and Duggan are found not guilty on all charges, much to the prosecutors' dismay. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: NBC
• DATE: 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:42:53
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: 127077
• GENRE: Drama, police/detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Drama, legal
• SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1990-2010
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Peter Jankowski … Executive Producer
• Jeffrey Hayes … Executive Producer
• Matthew Penn … Executive Producer
• Dick Wolf … Executive Producer, Created by
• Arthur W. Forney … Co-Executive Producer
• Richard Sweren … Co-Executive Producer
• Wendy Battles … Co-Executive Producer
• Eric Overmyer … Co-Executive Producer
• Roz Weinman … Co-Executive Producer
• William N. Fordes … Supervising Producer
• Gary Karr … Supervising Producer
• Kati Johnston … Producer
• Mark Guggenheim … Producer
• Lorenzo Carcaterra … Producer
• Aaron Zelman … Producer, Writer
• Kathy O'Connell … Associate Producer
• Janis Diamond … Consulting Producer
• Don Scardino … Director
• Mike Post … Music by
• Jerry Orbach … Cast, Detective Lennie Briscoe
• Jesse L. Martin … Cast, Detective Ed Green
• S. Epatha Merkerson … Cast, Lt. Anita Van Buren
• Sam Waterston … Cast, Jack McCoy
• Elisabeth Röhm … Cast, A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn
• Fred Dalton Thompson … Cast, Arthur Branch
• Gerry Becker … Cast, Gerard Wills
• Hazelle Goodman … Cast, Mrs. Gordon
• Dorian Missick … Cast, Ronald "Slug" Duggan
• April L. Hernandez … Cast, Shayna Rosario
• Mark Zimmerman … Cast, Judge Nathan Murphy
• Karen Shallo … Cast, Judge Anna Shiro
• Michael Louis Wells … Cast, Matthew Clemens
• Kate Rigg … Cast, Sally Xiao
• Collins Pennie … Cast, Jimmy Gordon
• Chadwick Boseman … Cast, Foster Keyes
• Jacques Cowart II … Cast, Calvin Jacob Rivers
• Dequan Henderson … Cast, Cox
• David Little … Cast, Judge Michael Schneider
• Susan Kelechi Watson … Cast, Tanya Ware
• Victoria Haas … Cast, Jeanne Hobbs
• Diego López … Cast, Eduardo Gomez
• Ben Van Bergen … Cast, Mike
• Alberto Vasquez … Cast, Roberto Rosario
• Marcus Carl Franklin … Cast, Tate
• Yves Michel-Beneche … Cast, Jack
• Bruce Ward … Cast, Ed Connolly
• Joe Gonzalez … Cast, Sergeant Martinez
• Jared Miller … Cast, Technician Dino Renzetti
• Bill Quigley … Cast, Court Officer
• John Henry … Cast, Jury Foreperson
• Christopher Benson Reed … Cast, Uniform Sergeant #2
• Sharifa Laguerre … Cast, Jannette Richards
• Keisha Trim … Cast, Chantal
• Dominique Deverau … Cast, Julie
• Ta'rea Campbell … Cast, Young Woman
• Jesse Shafer … Cast, Uniform Officer
• Anita Flanagan … Cast, CSU Technician
• Kevin Scullin … Cast, Court Clerk