Law & Order season 6

Briscoe and his new partner, Det. Reynaldo Curtis, investigate the murder of Jody Gaines, a young girl who disappeared between school and her music lesson, with a blurry film from an ATM as their clue.

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Cast : First appearance of Benjamin Bratt as Junior Detective Rey Curtis. Note: Based on the Ellie Nesler case.^[2]

Briscoe and Curtis have a hard time finding cooperative witnesses when investigating the murder of Thomas Bell, a college student, at a rough biker bar.

McCoy and Kincaid clash over the death penalty as McCoy prosecutes Paul Sandig, a man who murdered Bobby Croft, an undercover cop, during a drug bust.

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Guest starring : Victor Garber as Paul Sandig

A dead editor, Eddie Nicodos, reveals a family dispute over the family business. Detectives find out that the victim's brother Peter tried to sabotage the victim's reputation and business to gain new clients for his own competing business, but when forensic evidence is ruled inadmissible, McCoy and Kincaid must refocus their case, leading to a case of sibling rivalry, a protective matriarch, and corrupt judge Edgar Hynes.

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Guest starring : Louis Zorich as Edgar Hynes

When the detectives solve a series of murders committed by a male and female holdup team in ski masks, McCoy must determine whether Leslie Harlan, the female member, is an unwilling hostage or an active participant in the crimes.

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Guest starring : Amanda Peet as Leslie Harlan

Briscoe and Curtis try to solve a young woman's murder after a graphic description appears online, while McCoy finds himself up against a lawyer who is reluctant to reveal elements of her client's past.

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Note: Based on the Dunster House murder–suicide and the Gina Grant case, both occurring at Harvard University.^[8]

The investigation into the murder of Gwen George, a prostitute, leads to a married plastic surgeon as the obvious suspect, but Kincaid has a hunch that an elaborate frame-up is in play.

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Guest starring : Bob Dishy as Defense Attorney Lawrence "Larry" Weaver.

A mother, Leah Coleman, claiming that her baby was kidnapped while she was at confession, retraces her steps and actions with Curtis, raising legal questions later when her attorney introduces an unusual defense.

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Note: Based on the Susan Smith case.^[11]

A hidden anti-Semitic message in a high school yearbook offers a clue to art teacher Sarah Aronson's murder and leads to a case that matches McCoy against "Klan lawyer" Roy Payne. Payne nefariously involves Detective Briscoe in his defense strategy.

The victim in a 30-year-old rape and stabbing case is fearful when information received by Briscoe and Curtis could provide grounds for a new trial for the perpetrator.

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Note: Based on the Kitty Genovese case.^[14]

The death of a show horse leads to a trial involving insurance fraud, a sting operation, and a wealthy woman's disappearance, with Lyle Christopher as the defendant.

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Guest starring : Frank Converse as Lyle Christopher. Note: Based on the Helen Brach case.^[16]

McCoy finds that his career is on the line when his former assistant and ex-lover accuses him of concealing evidence that helped put an innocent man in prison.

A subway station gas attack, similar to one that took place in a Baltimore church five years earlier, brings Baltimore homicide detectives Tim Bayliss and Frank Pembleton to New York to assist Briscoe and Curtis in apprehending the prime suspect in both incidents.

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Note : This episode begins a crossover event that concludes on Homicide: Life on the Street season 4 episode 11 "For God and Country". It is included on the third disc of the Season Six DVD set.^[19][20] Cast : Special appearances are made by Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch, Kyle Secor as Detective Tim Bayliss, and Andre Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton.

Paul Robinette places the system on trial when he defends a young black woman accused of kidnapping her biological baby from his white, adoptive parents.

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Cast : Richard Brooks reprises his role as former Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette.

After events in "Coma", A jogger killed in Central Park turns out to be the second wife of former comedy club owner Michael Dobson, who was acquitted of killing his first wife. Convicting him this time may hinge on tracing the path of a Colombian coin used as a subway token slug and a mobster that may be involved.

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Guest starring : Larry Miller as Michael Dobson

A down-on-his-luck ad executive Ron Weber becomes the prime suspect when his wife Joyce and son Billy are killed and his daughter Jenna wounded on a night that he claims was spent drinking.

When Eliot Wells, a young attorney, is murdered shortly after he decides to file a sexual harassment claim against his employer, Briscoe and Curtis discover that the alleged harasser and the harasser's wife each have an excellent motive for murder.

The investigation into the murder of Sharon Lasko, a cocaine-abusing model, focuses on a nightclub owner, a basketball player, a photographer, and a limousine driver.

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Guest starring : Michael Imperioli as Johnny Stivers. Note: Imperioli reappears in season 15 in the recurring role of Junior Detective Nick Falco.

A woman is shot while sleeping and the investigation leads the police to a boy whose crack-addicted mother has entrusted him to a drug dealer's care.

After the body of college student Bridget Kaylin is found, the detectives look for a campus rapist, but the medical examiner's report puts them on a different path involving prostitution.

The investigation into multiple homicides at a clothing store leads to the arrest of a schizophrenic man, James Smith, who presents McCoy with a formidable opponent when he decides to represent himself.

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Guest starring : Denis O'Hare as James Smith

After a baby boy found dead in his crib is found to have been poisoned, all evidence points to his English au pair. Defense Attorney Ruth Miller questions the parenting ethic of his mother Wendy Karmel.

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Guest starring : Patti Lupone as Ruth Miller, and Kim Raver as Wendy Karmel. Note: Based on the Kristie Fischer case.

After Briscoe, Curtis, McCoy, and Kincaid witness the execution of a criminal they brought to justice, their individual reactions to the event culminate in personal misfortune for each of them.

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Cast : Final appearance of Jill Hennessy as Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid.