Law & Order Special Victims Unit s13e17 Episode Script

Justice Denied

In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
You get your confession? Nine hours.
Guy held out for nine hours.
Well, the desk sergeant asked me to bring this up.
You want a cup of coffee? Yeah, and two eggs over easy, some hashbrowns, and toast.
Coffee's fine.
Matlock, judgment day.
Don't get your hopes up, son.
Welcome back, Mr.
Pena.
I understand you're representing yourself.
Yes, your honor.
Motion to vacate conviction based on new evidence.
What new evidence? The evidence would be pending a retesting of the DNA at the crime scene.
There was no DNA found at the scene.
None found based on the technology at the time, but with new techniques, DNA can be recovered from much smaller amounts of trace evidence.
You're asking the court to overturn your conviction based on evidence you don't have.
The state has the means at their disposal to prove that I'm not the man who committed this horrible crime.
By that you mean the crime you confessed to? The rape and torture of Ariel Baskins.
You tied her up, stabbed her, and tried to blind her with ammonia.
As I have maintained for eight years, that confession was elicited under extreme duress.
Your honor, I recanted it as soon as-- After pleading guilty.
After the victim ID'd you.
You have failed to meet the standard to overturn your conviction.
The motion is denied.
I'm sorry.
Mmm.
Oh, we're going dancing.
You want to come? I think I'll pass.
Oh, come on.
You'll meet someone there.
- No, I'm fine.
- Fine.
Call me tomorrow.
Not too early! David.
Uh, sorry to sneak out on you like that.
I-I would've woken you, but then I probably never would have left.
The victim is Gina Logan, 23.
Unis responded to her 911 call, found her tied to the bed.
Now she told them the attacker forced her inside and wore a sailor's uniform.
Right, it's Pan American Fleet Week.
All those Navy boys in town.
EMS took her over to Mercy.
She's out of ICU but still in serious condition.
They said he poured ammonia in her eyes, trying to blind her.
Neighbors didn't hear anything.
- Was she gagged? - Yeah.
Hold on.
Did he cut her below the chest? Yeah, three slashes.
Son of a bitch.
What, you know this guy? Yeah.
We put him away for life eight years ago.
But this is him.
Are you sure? Omar Pena? I spoke to the warden myself.
Pena was in his cell at Green Haven as of ten minutes ago.
This is his exact M.
O.
The Navy uniform, Fleet Week, the torture, the ammonia.
If you told me that somebody took his place in prison, I would believe it.
You know what? It's possible.
I mean, Pena had a hearing in the city a week ago to get his conviction overturned.
He lost, but maybe he staged a flip.
Okay, let's just back up.
Are we talking about last night's attack? - Yeah.
- How's the victim? Gina Logan.
Chemical burns to the eyes and throat, slash wounds.
He did a number on her.
- Any leads? - No, not yet.
No witnesses.
CSU is still checking for prints, running the rape kit.
But you think you know this guy? We put Omar Pena away in 2004.
He confessed.
The victim, Ariel Baskins, ID'd him.
He spent the last eight years recanting.
Did he have an accomplice? No, I remember this one.
The victim was alone with him for ten hours in hell, gagged with her own scarf, bound in rope.
The guy never said a word.
There was no partner.
Okay, so what did Pena do? Switch places with a doppelganger while he was being transferred after the hearing? Maybe he got somebody on the outside to mimic his M.
O.
A copycat.
Throw suspicion on his conviction.
Either way, you two head up to Green Haven, talk to whoever's in Pena's cell.
Fin, Rollins, go to the hospital.
See if the doctors will let you interview Gina.
Gina, I'm detective Rollins.
Can you talk, honey? A little.
Okay.
Just a few questions.
That man that attacked you-- had you seen him before? No.
Was he white? Hispanic.
In a white Navy uniform.
Did he have an accent? He never spoke.
Detective, the doctor told you to come back tomorrow.
Courtney, where was this bar you two were hanging out in? A Dive.
I always go there when the ships are in.
Talked Gina into coming with me.
Hey, did any hispanic sailors talk to the two of you? It's Pan Am Fleet Week.
It was like the UN in there.
When's the last time that you saw Gina? Outside the bar around midnight.
I'd hooked up with this officer.
We were headed to a club.
Gina felt like the third wheel, so she walked home.
Mm.
She was drunk.
Never should've left her alone.
My rope guy from CSU has got something.
- You got a rope guy? - Yeah.
Guess I've been on this job too long.
The rope your rapist used is a triple-braided nylon polyester.
Sorry, but that doesn't narrow it down much.
I'm more interested in the knot.
Now for a binding victim, we usually find a simple overhand knot.
This guy used a clove hitch on the wrist and bowline to tie to the bed.
Okay, well, he wore a Navy uniform.
These are sailor's knots, right? Well, it's definitely something they teach in Navy training.
There's one more thing.
You see how I wrap the working end around and finish on the inside? Now whoever tied these finished on the outside.
It means he's left-handed.
I'm in prison two hours away, and you think I somehow raped someone again? You her new partner? She's had a hard-on for me for eight years.
- Watch it, Omar.
- What, me? She put me away for a crime that I didn't commit.
A crime that you confessed to.
I was in there all night, okay? No food, no water.
I wanted to get outght, of there.
The victim ID'd you.
You had her credit cards when we arrested you.
I told you that I found them in a dumpster.
Well, you didn't have an alibi, did you? I partied all night.
I smoked a couple of joints.
I already had two priors.
- I couldn't tell you that.
- That makes sense.
You're sorry you confessed.
So what'd you do? Get one of your boys on the outside to copycat your crime, prove it wasn't you? No, man.
No.
Who was it, Omar? One of your prison cellmates? Just give us his name.
We won't even charge you.
Charge me? I'm in jail for 300 years.
And you earned every single one of them.
Now you put another woman through this horror to maintain your lies? I don't know anything about it.
No? A week after your final hearing was denied, the exact same details? Yeah, and what does that tell you, huh? It isn't me this time.
It wasn't me then.
You got some sick prick still out there, and instead of looking for him, you're wasting your time on me.
You're not a waste of time.
You're a waste of a life.
You confessed because you knew what you had done.
All right, Liv, we're done here.
Come on.
Detective Amaro.
About that confession, I took it back the first chance I got.
She tell you that? Yeah? When was that? Before or after you got sentenced? Happens all the time, Omar.
Yeah, she didn't care.
Nobody did! Right? Once you confess, everybody stops listening! Pena's been buried in law books ever since he got here.
Sending letters.
Guys in his cell block call him Matlock.
We'll need a list of everyone he was in contact with on the outside.
Short list.
He doesn't get any visitors.
There's no family? His mother died a year after he got sent away.
She's the only one that came.
That when he started his letter-writing campaign? More like he became obsessed.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right, look, if Pena has someone on the outside, he didn't write to them.
All these letters are to lawyers, ministers, journalists, congressmen, the President.
Okay, did anyone write him back? Yeah, your pal Ellis about a month ago.
Told Pena he'd look into it.
Look, you should see Ellis' office.
He gets 100 letters like this a month.
I'll pass.
Hey.
Any luck at the bar? Bras and thongs on the ceiling, no security cameras.
Nobody even remembers seeing Gina.
Yeah, well, Fleet Week doesn't produce - the most reliable witnesses.
- Mm.
As of now, all we've got on the Saturday night attacker is he was left-handed, Latino, and was wearing a white sailor's uniform.
- A lefty? - Yeah, from the knots.
CSU is checking the rope from eight years ago to see if there's a match.
I got a list of inmates released from Green Haven since Pena's been there.
Cross-checked with a Navy database, got one hit.
Mike Martinez.
He's ex-Navy, dishonorable discharge.
How did he wind up in Green Haven? He was charged with attempted rape, but he pled down to a five-year stretch for assault.
He made parole three months ago.
Get this.
The lawyer that prepped him-- Omar Pena.
Omar Pena got Martinez out.
- Do you have his parole officer? - Yeah.
Let's see if Martinez paid back the favor.
Gladys Martinez.
Open up.
It's the police.
Gladys isn't here.
Uh, we're looking for her son Mike.
He's not here either.
He's at work.
How old are you, hon? Martinez, freeze! I'm not going to chase you.
I will shoot your ass from right here.
Okay, so Saturday you were at work.
Till 5:00, like I told you.
- Then Saturday night? - Out with friends.
Who were you with? No names? Suit yourself.
What time did you get home? - No me digas mentiras.
- I was out all night.
Was that when you hurt your arm? That happened at work.
Well, your boss said it didn't, so why don't we cut the crap? Saturday night, midnight, where were you? If I tell you I was getting high Ah, Pena even gave him his alibi.
Then there goes my parole, right? Well, you got bigger problems than that.
You know where I think you were? Raping and torturing a 23-year-old girl.
No, no! - I am not a rapist.
- Well, you got convicted once.
No, I did my bid, and I g-- I made parole.
That's right, with the help of your jailhouse lawyer Omar Pena.
Matlock, yeah.
He helped me get out.
And then he told you you owed him.
- No! - He give you the details? He tell you how to commit the crime? What? You see, Mike, we can put you back in prison right now.
You had coke and weed in your system.
You had sex with an underage girl who answered the door.
- I don't want to go back.
- You don't want to go back? Then why don't we help each other out? Did Pena ever talk to you about the crime that he committed eight years ago? Yeah, he kept saying he didn't do it.
Wouldn't give it a rest.
And you were in the Navy, right? Dishonorably discharged.
- You remember how to tie knots? - I guess.
- Still have a uniform? - At my mom's.
Mike, here's the thing.
We're looking for a Latino guy wearing a Navy uniform who knows how to tie a bowline, who knew the details of Pena's crime, who also owed Pena a favor.
Now you see our problem, don't you, Mike? All of those things fit you.
- Yeah, but I-I-- - So you have two choices.
You can be straight with us about what happened on Saturday night, about what Pena told you to do, and we talk to the DA.
Or, you can sit here, and you can protect somebody that doesn't give a damn about you.
So what's it going to be? I know why you think I did this.
And the jury is gonna think so too.
Do you know how long Pena was sentenced for? And with your previous rape, the exact same crime, you're gonna get the exact time.
Just let me think.
Then we tell the DA the truth.
That you were scared, maybe he threatened your family.
Okay, okay, okay.
That's probably the DA now.
And once they get involved, it's out of my hands.
You tell him I'm thinking.
You don't have time to think.
You're at a crossroads right now.
- You gotta make a decision! - Okay, okay.
And if you make the right decision, I will go to bat for you.
Liv.
We're getting somewhere.
Mike is thinking straight.
But before he does, there's something you should know.
Nick, I will be right there.
You need to take a minute.
You think hard.
What are you doing, pulling me out? - I had him.
- He didn't do it.
He's good for this.
Liv, DNA results are back from the rape kit.
The lab found skin cells under Gina's fingernails but no hits on CODIS.
Mike's DNA is in the system.
If it was him, we'd have a match.
He was about to confess.
Doesn't mean he did it.
Mike Martinez goes back to Green Haven for the statutory rape of his 15-year-old girlfriend, but he is not good for the rape of Gina Logan.
But he did tell us how Pena kept talking about how he's being framed.
He must have gotten somebody up there to do it.
If Gina's rapist is really in the Navy, then his DNA would be on file with them.
Great.
So we're back to square one.
- How's the victim doing? - I spoke to her doctor.
She's stable and lucky.
Her eyesight is coming back.
See if she's up to working with a sketch artist.
We're dropping Pena just like that? Captain, he's got to be behind this.
Look at the crime scenes.
I mean, the slashings.
There is one other possibility.
The two rapes could be the same perp, and maybe it's not Pena.
Let's not go down a rabbit hole here, Nick.
Pena is good for the 2004 rape.
If he did set this one up, he's not gonna walk us through it.
We need to find whoever it was who did attack her and walk it back.
Detectives.
Bayard.
Have I come at a bad time? Omar Pena asked me to look into his conviction.
He believes the real rapist was never caught and just struck again.
He doesn't believe that.
He set up the second rape, so someone would fall for his story.
That still your working theory? What's yours? I've heard about your old partner.
IAB had a deep file on him.
He wasn't a stranger to threats, coercion-- This wasn't my old partner's interrogation.
Munch and Fin took the first shift, and I took the last nine hours.
Nine straight hours? I gave him breaks.
He knew his rights.
Well, even so, nine hours takes a toll on the detective as well as the defendant.
Bayard, Pena is playing you.
He's written That doesn't mean he's innocent.
You're aware that Bayard Ellis is now representing Omar Pena? So I've heard.
Well, don't let him take advantage of your relationship.
He has an agenda.
He's challenging police methods, claiming confessions are coerced.
Well, this one wasn't.
- How sure are you about that? - Very.
Omar Pena was a washout from the Navy wearing his old uniform for Fleet Week.
He knew details of the crime that were never made public down to the color of the scarf that the victim was gagged with.
That's what I needed to hear.
Now that there's a copycat rapist, Ellis wants us to retest the old evidence for the new rapist's DNA.
I'll be denying his request.
So we're good? Yeah.
Thanks for coming in, detective.
Give my best to your captain.
Any hits on the sketch? No, looks like half the sailors in town for Fleet Week.
Yeah, plus most of the possible witnesses were drunk.
Okay, what about Gina? She able to give us any more details? Not many, but she's sure it was a Navy uniform.
Just like Pena.
Yeah, but we know it's not him.
Yeah, I realize that.
He could've slipped that detail to his copycat.
Nick, if you have something to say, just say it.
Okay.
Look, I'm noticing inconsistencies.
Your rope guy said the knots from '04 were made by a lefty.
Yeah, and he's positive.
Well, Pena's letters-- from the handwriting, looks like he's right-handed.
So you're a handwriting expert? Liv, that's easy to confirm.
Look, we should be focusing on Gina's rapist.
We are dead-ended on leads from Gina's attack.
All right, maybe it's time for us to go back, see if maybe we missed anything eight years ago.
Okay? Now that case had witnesses who put Pena in the bar with the victim? Yes, half a dozen of them.
Okay, well, the ships are back in town.
Maybe some of the witnesses are too.
See if you can shake the old ID.
You two, go back, reinterview the victim, Ariel Baskins, and show her this new sketch.
She picked Pena.
Show her this new sketch.
There's a possibility that we're looking at one perp here, not a copycat.
I've gone over the case.
I get why you're sure Pena's guilty.
- Don't work me, Nick.
- That confession-- is there any chance he caved under pressure and just wanted it to stop? Look, we had our guy, so yes, I pushed hard.
Oh, like you did with Mike Martinez? He wasn't good for Gina's rape, but he was about to cop to being set up by Pena.
Hey, I've been right where you are.
I've gotten so involved in a case, I've lost perspective and taken down a guy who I knew was guilty of something.
I trust my instincts.
If I don't have that, I shouldn't be here.
Looks like every other guy on my ship.
Javier, you're the third witness to tell us the same thing.
Well, it's not the man from eight years ago, Pena.
I testified at the grand jury.
I remember it very well.
So you saw Pena in the bar? Uh, my first time in the country, my shipmates--they told me and Marco to go down to the Bulkhead Tavern.
- All the cute girls were there.
- And he was with the victim? He had his hands on her.
She didn't like it.
Had you been drinking? Of course.
What do you think? You're asking me if this guy was in the bar eight years ago? - How would I know that? - Come on, Marco.
When you ID'd Omar Pena, how did it go down? I picked him out of a lineup.
I knew the guy right away.
Um, I remember because he bummed a cigarette off of me earlier.
- Something else I remember.
- Mm-hmm.
He was just staring at her, you know? And he tapped her on the shoulder.
She blew him off.
That poor girl.
What he did to her-- horrible.
I'll never forget it.
- Thank you.
- Uh-huh.
It was eight years ago.
I've really tried to put this behind me.
I don't want to have to remember anything about that night.
And we wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important, okay? We just want to make sure that the man who did this to you stays in prison.
So we're asking for your help, Ariel.
He's getting out? He has a lawyer who's trying to reopen the case.
And that's why we need to go over every single detail to make sure, okay? Okay, what do you need to know? Do you recognize this man? Um, I recognize the uniform.
What about his face? Do you remember seeing him or talking to him in that bar eight years ago? No, the man in the bar was Omar Pena.
He followed me.
He raped me.
Ariel, did you see his face while he was attacking you? I saw his uniform.
I was trying to remember details, and he--he must have seen me looking, and so he splashed me in the face.
Right, so you recognize him from the bar, not from the attack? It was him.
I don't know why you're asking me all of this.
You told me yourself he knew all those details.
He knew about the scarf that he used to gag me with.
I haven't worn red since.
What did you say? You said, "red"? Are you sure that the scarf was red? Yes, it was a birthday present from my mother.
Said it was supposed to bring me luck.
Tell me he's not getting out.
Hey, Liv, slow down.
What's going on? One of the details that only the rapist would know.
There's the paperwork.
When Omar confessed, he said that he used a green scarf to gag Ariel.
You sure? I've gone over my notes on this case every single night since Gina was raped.
It was the one detail that convinced us that Omar was guilty.
And just now Ariel said the scarf was red.
Did you find it on the worksheet? Yeah, here we go.
The officer who vouchered it listed it as green.
Does that look green to you? And you weren't at the crime scene? I was at the hospital with Ariel.
So you questioned Pena off an evidence log that you didn't know was wrong.
At some point, I must have mentioned the green scarf.
And then when he was tired and exhausted and confused, he must have repeated it back to me.
Put himself away for 300 years.
He recanted.
He kept telling me that he was innocent.
The officer was color blind.
Are you kidding me? How did he get on the force? He was fine when he came out of the academy, but by 2004, he had early stage MS.
- And one of the symptoms-- - Color blindness.
So he logs in a red scarf as green? Anything that can go wrong-- I must have mentioned that detail to him, and then hours later, he repeated it back to me.
It could've been a detective who interrogated Pena earlier.
Doesn't matter.
The confession's no good.
I take full responsibility.
We're not pointing fingers here.
If Pena's confession was compromised, and he's petitioning for a DNA test, he deserves one.
A couple of days ago, your detective assured me that I had a good confession.
I took her word on that.
We're all out on a limb here.
People make mistakes.
Detective Benson has stepped forward.
I am not arguing character.
This is about perception.
Ellis is gonna turn this into an indictment of both of our offices.
Okay, let me talk to Ellis and tell him that this was entirely my mistake.
Don't bare your neck to a wolf.
Just tell him that the DA's office will move to get the DNA test approved.
We found matching touch DNA on the ropes at both crime scenes.
That means it wasn't you, Omar.
They're reopening the case.
At the very least, if it has to go to retrial, there will be reasonable doubt.
Omar.
What? A reinvestigation? A retrial? You want a gold medal now? Huh? You're telling me something that I told you eight years ago.
Take it easy, Omar.
I'm innocent.
I don't want a retrial.
I want them to vacate my conviction.
There is light at the end of this tunnel.
I'll believe that when I'm out.
The confession was all my fault.
I worked him hard.
I told him that we had all kinds of evidence.
I told him that he was going away no matter what.
I broke him.
You were doing your job.
I forced a false confession.
Are there others? I look in the mirror, I don't like what I see.
Olivia.
I've seen good old boy detectives pull this.
And I took pride in knowing that I wasn't one of them.
Because you're not.
You stepped forward.
How did it go at Green Haven yesterday? How do you think? You know, munch and I had Pena first.
It could've been one of us who slipped up on that scarf.
Doesn't matter.
So where are we on catching the real rapist? Nowhere but somewhere.
It turns out that there are more than the two rapes that happened here.
We got three other DNA hits from Interpol.
What are we looking at? Three sexual assaults-- one in Buenos Aires in 2006, another in Naples, Italy, '08, and then Rota, Spain, So our serial rapist starts here in 2004 with Ariel, then moves on to other ports.
Until he comes back, rapes Gina Logan.
- Same M.
O.
? - Yep.
Uniform, ammonia, all committed by a single unknown suspect.
So these are all port cities, so, you know, I checked the specific dates.
They all match up with International Fleet Week events.
We know the rapist isn't US Navy.
They'd have his DNA on file.
So these naval uniforms-- how different are they from one country to the next? My client has been wrongfully imprisoned for eight years.
How much longer does he have to wait? Can't let Pena out until we complete our investigation.
The DNA results alone aren't exculpatory.
Paired with a false confession, - the hell they aren't.
- Hang on a minute.
There's plenty of other evidence besides Pena's confession.
Victim picked him out of a lineup.
Six witnesses ID'd him in a bar harassing her.
He gets arrested with the victim's credit cards.
It's, uh, not a slam dunk for a dismissal.
Circumstantial.
Bad IDs.
There's no malice here.
Not from the DA's office, not from NYPD.
Detective Benson is killing herself trying to make this thing right.
- You saw her with Pena.
- Yes, I know.
She's taking this personally.
She's not one of those good ol' boy detectives.
This is a point of pride with her.
May I ask when detective Benson told you about our visit to Pena? Excuse me? Yesterday afternoon? I was with her on the train, so it must have been last night.
What are you asking me? I'm curious.
What exactly is the nature of your relationship? I think we're done here.
Does the District Attorney know? I've got an innocent man in prison, and appearances suggest that the detective who coerced the confession is involved with the ADA whose office is reinvestigating the case.
You know us both better than that.
Then I know you'll both do the right thing here.
I don't get it.
Ellis knows that our relationship has nothing to do with this case.
He does, but it gives him a grenade.
Okay, so we have no choice.
- We have to disclose.
- No, it's too late.
This comes out now, after I vouched for you, we lose our careers.
Well, I don't understand why the DA won't release Pena.
It doesn't work that way, Olivia.
Overturning a guilty plea with that much evidence-- it has to go through a process.
Okay, so how do we speed it up? How do we get Omar out of prison? If you find the real rapist, tie him to both cases, that exonerates Pena completely.
And if we don't? Ellis has to play his hand.
Can I drop you somewhere? I'll get home on my own.
Bayard? Can I talk to you? Sure.
Come in.
Thank you.
Uh, what can I do for you? David Haden and I it's not some conspiracy.
No, I didn't think it was.
What you're doing I know that it's for Omar, and I hope that you know me well enough to believe that we want the same thing.
I do.
But how do I tell Omar I have a way for him to get out today, but I can't use it because two people might lose their jobs.
I understand that.
I do, but I'm not here to plead for my career or for David's I would expect, if David Haden had something to say to me, he'd say it himself.
That's not what I meant.
Is there any part of this that's about him? And you, and me? Um, I would hope you know me well enough not to have to ask that question.
Okay.
Point taken.
So what can I do for you? Give me time.
If we arrest the real rapist, then Omar gets out.
How long? A week.
Or I will go to the DA myself and tell him everything.
So where are we with foreign military? Well, the State Department was able to get access to a database of international ship logs.
Okay, so three foreign vessels made port stops that match all of the attacks.
Yeah, a Canadian destroyer, Colombian marine cruiser, and a Brazilian frigate.
Gina and Ariel both said that the rapist never spoke.
It could be because he had an identifiable accent.
But you were right about the uniform.
Look at this.
Canadian Navy and Colombian Marines wear different colors and different type shirts, but check this out.
Brazilian Navy-- that uni looks very similar to ours.
Yeah, it's easy for a witness or a victim to confuse.
Okay, so the Brazilian ship that matched--the Maranhao-- it's leaving tomorrow, but right now it's docked at pier 88.
So we've narrowed it down to 3,000 suspects.
We already know a few of them.
I mean, Javier, Marco-- they were witnesses at the bar.
We reinterviewed them the other day right by their ship.
Javier pointed the finger at Omar eight years ago.
If he's the rapist, he had motive to set him up.
All right, before we start an international incident, let's get photos out to the victims.
Oh, my God.
That's him.
What did I do? What did I do? That's the man who raped me.
I'm positive.
Where is he? Did you find him? We're working on it, Gina.
He's been doing this for eight years? So if you hadn't put away the wrong man, this never would have happened to me! I'm sorry, Gina.
- That's two for two.
- Right, thanks.
- Ariel also ID'd Javier.
- We gotta pick him up.
We may be too late.
That was Fin.
Javier's buddy Marco is still onshore, but Javier's already boarded the ship.
Yeah, but they're docked in our jurisdiction.
What's to stop us from just going on board and arresting him? Only about a dozen international treaties.
I spoke to Haden.
No way Brazilian authorities will turn over a sailor to US Law Enforcement.
Well, what about State? Well, it could take days to go through the proper diplomatic channels.
We don't have days.
They sail tomorrow.
Yeah, but Javier doesn't know that we're looking for him yet, right? I mean, it can't be too hard to get a sailor to go on shore leave.
Classy place.
Owner's a retired cop.
Doing us a solid.
Think he misses the action.
Javier just landed.
Marco.
Didn't think, uh, my friend could handle another night of partying.
Not too many girls.
Ainda e cedo, caro.
So last night-- what is this? Your going away party.
Well, I guess you're a lefty, huh, Javier? Therefore, we believe the people no longer meet the burden of proof, and we move to vacate the judgment.
Mr.
Haden? The DA's office has no objection, your honor.
We fully support this request.
Mr.
Pena given the new evidence presented here today and the grave miscarriage of justice, this court sincerely apologizes and will not allow you to be incarcerated for one minute longer.
Pursuant to the New York Code of Criminal Procedure, article 440.
10, I hereby vacate the judgment against you.
You're a free man, sir.
So I just got off the phone with the lab, and they've confirmed that Javier's DNA is a match to all five crime scenes.
At the end of the day, you got your guy.
Liv, I want to give you a heads-up.
The DA has decided to start up a Conviction Integrity Unit on past cases.
- Okay.
- And they're gonna start by taking a look at sex crimes.
So two days ago, the DA was content to let Pena rot in prison, and now he wants to play the hero? Welcome to my world.
By the way, uh, David Haden will be in charge of the unit.
Good to know.
Night.
You too.
- Nick.
- Yeah.
You're a good partner.
So Chief Haden.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
It's a big undertaking.
I asked Bayard Ellis to be a member of my outside advisory panel.
I'm not so sure that he's a joiner.
Guess we'll see.
So where does that leave us? In conflict.
I'm gonna be looking into cases that you handled.
And we never disclosed.
It's not too late.
But that means I'd have to resign.
Well, that's ridiculous.
You can't do that.
It's what you live for.
- Says who? - Says you.
The first time you walked into our squad room.
I'd be assigned to your cases.
You know, that-- that means we-- I know.
Us this never happened.

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