In 2003, brother and sister teenage met-heads Beau and Monique Maestas set out to take revenge on a duplicitous drug dealer. Armed with knives, they attacked the woman's two young daughters, killing one and leaving the other paralyzed for life. Beau pled guilty in hope of saving his sister from the most serious charges. Three years later, Beau's penalty hearing is about to begin, and Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz and District Attorney David Roger are seeking the death penalty.
In the second episode, the jury deciding the fate of murderer Beau Maestas pronounces their sentence on the day that the trial of Beau's sister Monique commences. While the district attorney is open to a plea bargain, his conditions may be more than Monique is willing to accept. Remy Burkel directs. The jury pronounces sentence on Beau Maestas on the very day that jury selection is to begin for his sister Monique's trial. As she works on one of the most troubling cases of her career, Jackson counsels Monique as she would one of her daughters. A plea bargain will save the young woman from life without the possibility of parole, but the conditions demanded by District Attorney roger may be more than Monique is willing to accept.
In 2002, 5 members of the Crips street gang were riving around North Las Vegas when they spotted a rival gang member and went after him. As the ensuing chase spilled into an apartment courtyard, shots were fired and 9-year-old Genesis Gonzales was killed. Pascual Lozano, the sole Hispanic in the Crips crew, was charged, convicted and sentenced to death. An automatic repeal has resulted in a new trial, in which Lozano will be represented by defense attorney Bret Whipple and Special Public Defender Ivette Maningo. Lozano steadfastly maintains his innocence, but will not implicate any of his "honeys" who were with him that day. Adding to the layers of complication, Lozano grew up as a de facto family member of the intended victim, Robert "Chucky B." Valentine.
The public defenders in the retrial of Pascual Lozano, a gang member accused of firing a stray bullet that killed a 9-year-old girl, investigate whether a left-handed man can effectively fire a pistol with his right hand. Later, the case goes to the jury. Remy Burkel directs. Special Public Defender Ivette Maningo and SPD Investigator James Aleman travel to Los Angeles in search of two eyewitnesses to the 2002 shooting. Defense attorney Whipple consults with firearms experts as he follows up on potentially exculpatory testimony given by the victim's sister.
De Rac Hanley, a 71-year-old with a tenuous grasp on reality, is charged with murdering a fellow resident at an assisted living facility. As the D.A.'s office prepares to try this as a standard murder case, Hanley's public defenders work to piece together what occurred. Remy Burkel directs. On the night of January 27, 2006, a distraught 71-year-old man named De Rac Hanley phoned 911 to report that he had murdered someone in his apartment. Though Hanley remembered little at the time, it emerged that the victim was one of Hanley's elderly neigbors, Earl Spangenberg.
This episode continues the case of De Rac Hanley, an elderly alcoholic on trial for murdering a fellow resident at an assisted living facility. As the state presents a tight case, Hanley's public defenders search for potential witnesses and interview some of his drinking buddies. Remy Burkel directs. Hanley's trial gets underway, with the likeable Judge Jackie Glass presiding. Hanley's ex-wife and adult daughter attend his trial, a reminder of a happier chapter in his life.
In the early morning hours of July 23, 2005, a young Asian American man named Wei Liu was shot and killed in a parking lot outside a Las Vegas strip club,; also injured was Kristian Wong Wui, Liu's fellow passenger in an SUV driven by Amir Mogadam, who was not injured. The next day, Jesus "Zeus" Vega turned himself in as the shooter, accompanied by his friend Brian baker, a witness to the event. Vega and Baker, a witness to the event. Vega and Baker were both charged with murder, and both assert that Vega, a former Marine, fired in self-defense. The shooting was caught on surveillance videotape, but there is plenty of ambiguity in the grainy black-and-White images of the encounter between three pedestrians (Vega, Baker, and a female companion) and Mogadam's SUV.
In the concluding episode, the trial of Jesus "Zeus" Vega and Brian Baker continues with some revealing testimony from a police detective regarding the criminal past of the deceased. Later, both defendants take the witness stand, but the effectiveness of their testimony is dubious. The Vega/Baker trial proceeds, but Mogadam's absence has raised the possibility of a mistrial. Dominic Gentile begins his presentation of Vega's defense with an appearance by a California police officer who had investigated the late Wei Liu several years earlier. Baker and Vega give emotional testimony as they take the stand in their own defense? With families on both sides of the aisle looking on, closing arguments are presented by defense and prosecuting teams.
A little girl's body is found in a garbage dump in Las Vegas. After 5 weeks of being on the run, Gladys, the girl's mother, turns herself into the police and confesses that her boyfriend Marc Anthony accidentally killed her daughter. Gladys is expecting a child with Marc Anthony. The charge is murder. The prosecution presents her with an impossible dilemma: to testify against the father of her unborn child , or to stay silent and possibly risk prison time herself.
After two years of preparation, the defense is faced with an unexpected problem when an explosive document surfaces during the trial.