Law & Order: Los Angeles Episode 1.02 Echo Park

On Venice Beach, the camera finds weathered Jane Lee Rayburn at surf's edge, pulling on a bottle of wine. A beach cop asks for her ID and warns there's no drinking on the beach. She mumbles that she's been away, pours out the wine, then violently stabs the sand with the empty bottle. After checking her ID, the beach cop tells Jane she has to follow the rules - she's around decent people now. Jane hears a strange whistling. Panicked, she grabs her stuff and runs. An hour later, TJ and Winters are examining her bloody corpse in a nearby culvert. They notice a mastectomy scar, a book on serenity, and a bottle of Tamoxifen - she had breast cancer. The beach cop IDs "Baby Jane" as a member of the Echo Park Tribe - a cult renowned for killing several families in the '70s. She'd just been released from prison after a 30-year stretch.

Back at RHD, TJ and Winters review the coroner's report with Lieutenant Gonzales. Jane bled out on the spot, and the murderer used a knife with a short, curved blade. In 1979, 17-year-old runaway Jane participated in the Echo Park Tribe's celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Manson murders by killing 11 people over two nights. Tribe leader Denis Alan Watson was jailed without parole, but Jane was paroled on compassionate grounds because of her breast cancer. Noticing the word "germ" scrawled on the wall of the culvert, Gonzales brings up photos from the 1979 murders, which feature the same scrawl. Did someone wait 30 years for revenge?

TJ and Winters visit the office of Jane's lawyer, Heather Benedict, who inherited the case from her father. She expected Jane to live up to her reputation as a manipulative sadist, but instead found a sad woman full of remorse. Heather warned Jane to be careful, since she received several threats herself, one of which is still on her voicemail, left by a man who's obviously been stalking Jane. It's not long before TJ and Winters have a warrant to knock down the door of Henry Franklin, the only survivor of the Echo Park Tribe killings. The apartment walls are lined with newspaper clippings. TJ and Winters find Franklin and his masseuse chair on the Third Street Promenade. Franklin already knows why they've come and makes a scene, claiming he finally got payback.

During the interrogation, Franklin claims to have used a kitchen steak knife to kill Baby Jane, so it's back to square one. TJ and Winters visit Jane's doctor. Apparently Jane asked him if her meds could cause hallucinations, claiming that she started to hear a whistling noise weeks ago. The detectives review video taken at the scene, which does include the whistling noise. Thinking it might relate to the Echo Park Tribe, TJ and Winters visit cult member Sally at Chowchilla Women's Facility. When they mention the whistling, Sally admits the tribe whistled to each other like that when running in the dark. Spooked, Sally claims cult leader Watson must have got Jane, and screams for the guard, ending the interview.

TJ and Winters visit the Vacaville psych ward. Watson does seem crazy, claiming it's nice that someone killed Baby Jane to impress him. Even so, it doesn't make him responsible. When Winters threatens that Watson will get kicked out of the "ding wing" if they learn he put a contract on Jane, Watson laughs and leaves. The detectives proceed to the mailroom to meet with the prison warden. Watson still receives a ton of fan mail, even though he's not allowed to read it. Winters asks for copies, which he and TJ pore over after dinner. TJ finds a likely letter, full of prison lingo, urging Watson to have Baby Jane killed. Strangely, it has a Westwood postmark. Figuring someone on the inside had someone on the outside post it, Winters sends the envelope to be fingerprinted.

The fingerprints lead the detectives to Rachel Forester, an employee of the Innocence Coalition, a legal service for inmates who believe they're wrongfully incarcerated. Rachel's boss, the Innocence Coalition's lawyer of record Eddie Roman steps in. He tells Rachel not to answer the cop's questions. If they want to find out who Rachel mailed a letter for, they're going to have to go through the DOC's records themselves. After a long search, Winters gets a hit on Maura Dillon, who was in Chowchilla at the same time as Jane for arson - a fire that killed her two children. The Innocence Coalition got her conviction overturned for prosecutorial misconduct, and she's been living 10 minutes away from Venice Beach, awaiting a new trial.

TJ and Winters catch Maura on her way to work. She claims Jane was like a mother to her in prison, but refuses to talk further without her lawyer, since she already spent six years in jail for a crime she didn't commit. She claims the burn marks on her arm are from trying to save her daughters from the fire, but TJ recognizes them as a prison brand. Chowchilla's warden confirms TJ's suspicion, adding that Maura was actually Jane's cellmate for three years. After five months, Maura filed paper on Jane for repeated extreme physical and sexual assault, but withdrew her complaint and refused transfer a week later. The detectives compare Maura's letter to Watson with the complaint to find matching handwriting, conclude Maura had probable cause to murder Jane, and get a warrant to search her house.

After finding a recent photo depicting Maura with a short, curved pruning knife, the detectives bring her in for questioning. Claiming her innocence, Maura's can't believe she's treading the same path she did six years ago. When her lawyer Roman invokes the Fifth, TJ arrests her, and perp-walks her to Winters desk. Maura reacts to a photo of Winters' wife Casey on his desk - Casey was one of the cops that framed Maura and coerced her confession! That night, Winters discusses the matter with Casey. Maura was granted a new trial because one of the DDAs on the case was sleeping with the judge - didn't Casey hear about it? Claiming she hasn't watched the news since the baby's birth, Casey insists Maura killed her kids because they were keeping her away from a rich boyfriend, end of story.

At the Lynwood County Jail, DDAs Jonah "Joe" Dekker and Lauren Stanton meet with Maura and Roman. When Roman cites his client's injuries, Dekker promises they'll prosecute Maura by the book. They've got a statement from Roman's employee Rachel that Maura asked her to mail the letter to Watson, and hair found on Jane's corpse matches Maura's. When Dekker invites Roman to plea, he counters: what if Maura and Jane did meet that day, transferring the hair during a hug? Furthermore, how's a jury going to react to the incalculable torture innocent Maura had to endure while locked up with Jane? Dekker insists the jury will never accept that California turned Maura into a killer, so Roman promises to tear the system apart.

Knowing it'll be hard for a jury to care about Jane's murder, Dekker pulls Winters off the case, sending TJ and Stanton to confirm Maura committed the arson that killed her children. Instead they learn she couldn't have set the fire. Not only that, senior detectives on the case are covering, suggesting that rookie Casey may have coached Maura's confession. Dekker takes this news to DA Jerry Hardin, who accuses Dekker of poking a hornet's nest. Now he's got to make it go away by offering 12 years for manslaughter. When Dekker insists the DA's office should apologize for Maura's wrongful arson conviction, Hardin refuses. The official position? They're re-filing the arson case. He's worked too hard to clean out the bad apples, and wants the continued support of the PD. It may not sound like good law to Dekker, but it is good politics.

Knowing it'll be hard for a jury to care about Jane's murder, Dekker pulls Winters off the case, sending TJ and Stanton to confirm Maura committed the arson that killed her children. Instead they learn she couldn't have set the fire. Not only that, senior detectives on the case are covering, suggesting that rookie Casey may have coached Maura's confession. Dekker takes this news to DA Jerry Hardin, who accuses Dekker of poking a hornet's nest. Now he's got to make it go away by offering 12 years for manslaughter. When Dekker insists the DA's office should apologize for Maura's wrongful arson conviction, Hardin refuses. The official position? They're re-filing the arson case. He's worked too hard to clean out the bad apples, and wants the continued support of the PD. It may not sound like good law to Dekker, but it is good politics.

At home, Casey tells Winters she's been subpoenaed to testify for the defense, which means Dekker won't be able to stop Roman from questioning her about Maura's confession. Casey claims she knows shat she has to do; she lives in the real world. Winters translates - they could lose everything. The trial begins. Dekker promises that Maura killed Jane in coldblooded revenge, while Roman claims she believed her life was in mortal danger, and killed as an act of reasonable self-defense. After opening statements, Winters meets with Dekker. Casey was a good cop, and she's being hung out to dry. Minutes later, the defense calls Casey as their first witness. Dekker asks for a sidebar with the judge, claiming Casey has nothing to do with Jane's murder.

When the judge decides to allow Casey as a witness, Dekker stipulates that as a result of evidentiary mistakes and professional misconduct, Maura was wrongly convicted of arson. She didn't kill her children. If not for that conviction, she would never have been imprisoned with Baby Jane Rayburn. Surprised, the judge accepts the stipulation and dismisses Casey, since her testimony is no longer relevant. After a recess, the defense calls a psychologist to the stand to explain the effects of Maura's severe abuse. Along with depression and PTSD, Maura concluded she had only herself to rely on since the system failed her so badly. Many such abuse victims never break the cycle, and believe their life is in danger years after the abuse has stopped.

Roman puts Maura on the stand. In prison, when Jane found out Maura lodged a complaint against her, she went into a complete rage, and promised to have her killed no matter what. When Jane was released, Maura decided she couldn't sit and wait. She had to protect herself, so she followed Jane and killed her. Dekker to Maura for her ordeal, then slowly takes her through an evaluation of Jane's physical condition, establishing that she was very sick, possibly harmless. Didn't Maura use the Echo Park Tribe whistle as a way of frightening Jane? And didn't Maura want to make Jane feel afraid as payback for everything that happened in prison? Maura admits she wasn't afraid for her life, but really angry. She just wanted somebody to pay for what happened to her.

Dekker, Stanton, Maura and Roman convene in the conference room. Considering Dekker's original offer of 12 years, Roman's ready to take his chances with the jury, since Maura's already served six years for a crime she didn't commit. Dekker will accept a plea of voluntary manslaughter with credit for time served - a full six years with no parole or early release. Maura nods her acceptance; at least everyone now knows her truth. After the deal is struck, Hardin registers his displeasure to Dekker; now he has to smooth the police chief's feathers. Both men trust each other to spin the situation to their own particular advantage. At home with Casey, Winters asks what she would have said on the stand. When Casey evades the question - "What do you think?" - Winters assumes she'd tell the truth... one way or another.