Law & Order (season 16)

The following is a list of Law & Order episodes from the series' sixteenth season (2005–2006):^[1]

Cast

Law

• Dennis Farina – Det. Joe Fontana
• Jesse L. Martin – Det. Ed Green
• S. Epatha Merkerson – Lt. Anita Van Buren

Order

• Sam Waterston – Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy
• Annie Parisse – A.D.A. Alexandra Borgia
• Fred Thompson – D.A. Arthur Branch

Episodes

№	Ep.	Title	Directed by:	Written by:	Original airdate
350	1	"Red Ball"	Matthew Penn	David Wilcox	21 September 2005
A young girl is abducted in broad daylight, and the only link to the girl is an ex-convict who wants a deal before he's willing to talk. Jesse L. Martin rejoins the cast as Det. Ed Green.
351	2	"Flaw"	Jean de Segonzac	Chris Levinson	28 September 2005
When the body of Patrick Sullivan is found with one of Olivia Benson's business cards in his pocket, Green and Fontana call on SVU to help them with their case. Although not initially clear, the detectives soon realise that Patrick Sullivan is connected to Lorraine Dillon and April Troost, career criminals that Benson had previously been unable to catch. Lorraine confesses to the crime and claims she did it to protect her daughter, but when April ends up on the stand she tells a different story, and McCoy and Benson disagree on which of the two is telling the truth. Second half of a crossover with the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit seventh-season episode "Design."
352	3	"Ghosts"	Constantine Makris	Rick Eid	5 October 2005
Fontana and McCoy pursue a man believed to have murdered a young girl ten years earlier despite numerous obstacles.
353	4	"Age of Innocence"	David Platt	Davey Holmes	12 October 2005
The murder of a man shortly before he was due to take his wife off life support sparks controversy when both suspects have iron-clad alibis.
354	5	"Life Line"	Rosemary Rodriguez	Greg Plageman	19 October 2005
When the body of undercover reporter Teresa Richter is discovered, police soon realize her death is connected to the story she was working on about a Latin gang, L-12. Their investigation leads them to Kevin Drucker, a businessman who reported his car stolen but who was really paying off members of L-12 not to hurt his son Patterson, who was imprisoned on the same cell block with many of the gang members. McCoy and Borgia realize that the only way they can get to L-12, who ordered the hit on Richter, is to get Drucker to testify. Drucker is reluctant to do so, however, unless his son's safety can be guaranteed.
355	6	"Birthright"	Constantine Makris	David Slack	2 November 2005
Teenage suspect Traci Sands dies in police custody after being arrested for the murder of the man who reported her to child protective services. Rodgers reveals that she died because someone outfitted her with a benecrine I.U.D. that reacted with Sands' sickle system and ended up killing her. Fontana and Green follow the trail to a charitable clinic and nurse Gloria Rhodes, who believes she is saving the world by sterilizing women that she does not believe are worthy of having children. McCoy faces former assistant district attorney Paul Robinette in court as Robinette defends Rhodes. Richard Brooks reprises his role as Paul Robinette.
356	7	"House of Cards"	Michael Pressman	Wendy Battles	9 November 2005
Fontana and Green investigate when the body of a young mother who had recently cleaned her life up is found in her apartment, with her five-day-old infant son Nicholas missing. Detectives soon track down Arlene Tarrington and ascertain that the infant she is claiming is hers is really baby Nicholas, but after her lawyers make a claim of post-partum psychosis and another man comes forward claiming to be the child's father, McCoy and Borgia are forced to decide which of the two they would rather lock up for the crime. Guest star: Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet.
357	8	"New York Minute"	Don Scardino	Nicholas Wootton	16 November 2005
Detectives discover that the owner of a trucking company has been smuggling illegal aliens and suspect that a citizens' border patrol member has killed him.
358	9	"Criminal Law"	Ed Sherin	David Wilcox	23 November 2005
The deaths of three women with the same name lead Fontana and Green to the nine-year-old conviction of Leland Barnes, who had shot and killed his wife in an office full of people. With two of the three witnesses against him dead and Jack McCoy on the hit list, the detectives struggle to determine how Barnes, who has been in prison the entire time, got someone on the outside to kill the only people who could keep him in jail. The investigation leads them to Leland's two sons, with surprising results.
359	10	"Acid"	Michael Pressman	Richard Sweren	30 November 2005
After the daughter of one of Van Buren's college friends is found dead in her room, a suicide, Van Buren joins Green and Fontana in hunting down the man who burned her face with acid months earlier, ultimately leading to her suicide. Van Buren is unsuccessful in getting a lot of help from her friend, who is terrified that the man who destroyed her elder daughter's life with destroy her younger daughter as well. McCoy and Borgia's case hits a snag when Van Buren takes the stand and comes close to committing perjury to keep Jason Corley behind bars.
360	11	"Bible Story"	Rick Wallace	Richard Sweren	7 December 2005
Jeffrey Kilgore is found murdered after destroying the Speicher Chumash, which had been brought to America from Poland years earlier. Green and Fontana follow the trail of evidence to Barry Speicher, who confesses to the murder, but it's his cousin Eric that McCoy has his eye on after Barry's wife tells them that Eric had everything to gain by Barry going to prison. McCoy and Borgia pursue the matter to trial, but their star witness turns on them.
361	12	"Family Friend"	Jean de Segonzac	Philippe Browning	11 January 2006
After Philip and Valerie Messick are attacked in their home, Green and Fontana follow the trail to a small-time thug named Jay Fleckner. After Valerie's testimony unintentionally helps free Fleckner, he is found dead, and detectives soon realize that Bob Cerullo, a family friend of Valerie and her late husband, was the triggerman. Unfortunately, when McCoy attempts to prosecute Cerullo, a retired cop, he threatens to claim that he deliberately planted evidence in his past cases in an attempt to get McCoy to drop all the charges.
362	13	"Heart of Darkness"	Richard Dobbs	Carter Harris	18 January 2006
A journalist's suicide becomes suspect after Green and Fontana find evidence at the scene suggesting that it was not a suicide after all. Their suspicions turn to the reporter's girlfriend after learning that he was still sleeping with his ex, but their investigation soon leads them in a different direction.
363	14	"Magnet"	Adam Bernstein	David Black	8 February 2006
Fontana and Green arrest a fellow student after a young man is murdered, but McCoy faces a tough adversary when he tries to prosecute the crime. Guest star: Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet.
364	15	"Choice of Evils"	Michael Pressman	David Wilcox	1 March 2006
After the body of a teenage boy is found dead in a warehouse, detectives use DNA to connect the boy to a convicted rapist and serial killer, then to the boy's mother, Allison Ashburn, the convict's ex-wife. While trying to solve Danny's murder, Fontana and Green learn that he recently got his girlfriend Tina pregnant, and his mother had seen him recently when she had given him money despite having claimed she had not seen him for months. Allison finally admits that she murdered her son after the police arrest her new husband John, but claims she did it to save the world from her son, whom she was convinced would become a monster just like his biological father. Borgia and McCoy face an uphill battle trying to convict the perfect soccer mom. Guest star: Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet.
365	16	"Cost of Capital"	Michael W. Watkins	Tom Smuts, Rick Eid	8 March 2006
The case against a high-powered executive accused of killing her lover rests on the executive's estranged husband and unstable teenage daughter.
366	17	"America, Inc."	Jean de Segonzac	Richard Sweren	22 March 2006
After Jeffrey Pope, a private military contractor, is found dead, suspicion eventually leads Green and Fontana to Robbie Howell, the younger brother of a man who died because of Pope's incompetence, and Kevin Boatman, Nick Howell's former co-worker who had witnessed the tragic events in Iraq. Danielle Melnick returns to defend Robbie and Kevin, and in the courtroom Kevin drops the bombshell that he knows where Pope and his men were keeping an Iraqi prisoner of war, a wanted terrorist. McCoy and Branch butt heads over whether or not to let Kevin Boatman get away with murder in order to get their hands on the prisoner.
367	18	"Thinking Makes It So"	Tony Goldwyn	Michael S. Chernuchin	29 March 2006
Fontana and Green investigate when a bank manager is involved in the robbing of his own bank and learn that his daughter is being held hostage and that he had to go along with the robbery or risk losing his daughter. One man is killed in the robbery, but the two detectives track down his accomplice and, while alone with Mitchell Lowell, Fontana uses extreme force to get the answers he needs, prompting Lowell's lawyer to claim that all the information Fontana obtained is fruit of the poison tree. McCoy works to fight the claim of police brutality while also trying to find a way to get around Fontana's actions.
368	19	"Positive"	Richard Dobbs	Sonny Postiglione	5 April 2006
When a teenage boy commits suicide after firing on a doctor and hitting an innocent party, Fontana and Green investigate why he was after the doctor to begin with and learn that Jeremy Miller's younger sister had recently died of AIDS. Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives are led to Dr. Andrew Copelan, the doctor in charge of Emily Miller's care, who had been giving her an experimental AIDS drug not yet approved for usage on humans, ostensibly to find a cure for his own AIDS.
369	20	"Kingmaker"	Don Scardino	David Slack	3 May 2006
After undercover cop Dana Baker is murdered, Fontana and Green learn that the man who killed her had discovered her identity after seeing a photograph of her in the paper revealing her as an undercover police officer, not the heroin dealer she was posing as. Investigating the story leads detectives to Eric Lund, one of the workers in Congressman Prescott's office, but Lund seems to have an ironclad alibi after an e-mail he sent comes to light.
370	21	"Hindsight"	Jean de Segonzac	Chris Levinson	10 May 2006
Fontana and Green are called in to investigate when Green's former replacement, Nick Falco, is suspected of murdering a young woman he had spent the night with. Michael Imperioli reprises his role as Det. Nick Falco.
371	22	"Invaders"	Matthew Penn	David Wilcox, Richard Sweren	17 May 2006
The family of a man who once turned in his customers to the police is slain, and the ensuing fracas pits McCoy against a corrupt D.E.A. agent. Final appearance of Annie Parisse as ADA Alexandra Borgia and Dennis Farina as Det. Joe Fontana.

Notes and references

1. ^ CNET Networks, Inc. (2007). TV.com episode summary for Season 16. Retrieved February 18, 2007.

• This is the final season to feature Annie Parisse as Alexandra Borgia and Dennis Farina as Det. Joe Fontana.
• In the episode "Flaw", the actress who plays a bartender (Milena Govich) would replace Det. Joe Fontana the following season as Det. Nina Cassady.

External links

• Episode guide from NBC.com
• L&O Season 16 on the Law & Order Wiki

Preceded by Season Fifteen (2003-2004)

List of Law & Order seasons (1990-2010)

Succeeded by Season Seventeen (2006-2007)