Tonight on NBC Law & Order returns with an all-new Thursday, March 23, 2023 episode and we have your Law & Order recap below. In tonight’s Law & Order season 22 episode 16 “Deadline,” as per the NBC synopsis, “When a celebrated journalist is killed, Cosgrove and Shaw explore an unpublished report involving a prominent politician. Price and Maroun fight an uphill battle when their only credible witness is currently awaiting trial for another heinous crime.”
Tonight’s Law & Order season 22 episode 15 looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it. So make sure to bookmark this spot and come back from 8 PM – 9 PM ET for our Law & Order recap. While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our Law & Order SVU recaps, spoilers, news & more!
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Tonight’s episode begins with a man puring himself a coffee when he notices something outside. He opens the door to find a can of spray paint and outside his home someone has painted JEW on the brick. He goes back inside to get his phone, then he hears something. All of a sudden, he is attacked by someone all erased in black.
Frank and Dalen are on the scene, the man is dead on the floor. Dalen tells Frank he is glad to be back, for the most part. There are two wounds on the victim’s side. The killer didn’t leave unscathed. The victims name is Jacob Ackerman. They find the victim’s phone, he dialled 911 but didn’t complete the call.
They go outside and see the vandalism, the victim was a legend, a writer, now he is a headline.
They interview a neighbour, he saw the perp run out of the house, he can’t tell if it was a man or a woman, just that they were wearing a black puffy jacket.
A man arrives at the house, it is Jacob’s house, it is his son and he says he knows who did it, Lamar Cordell, the podcaster, he says he is hateful, he was pushing on his show that Jews were responsible for the oppression of black people. Jacob write about it and Cordell didn’t take it to well. Cordell Dmd Jacob and said he was going to do to him what the Jews did to Jesus.
Podcast studio, Frank and Dalen go to speak to Cordell who says he is the victim here. Frank tells him Ackerman has him beat as a victim, he is dead. Cordell says he wasn’t going to kill him, he was going to make him a matar for the cause. Cordell admits he was at work at the time of the murder, and it is verified.
The knife that killed Ackerman was a hunting knife. Two days ago, Ackerman was targeted on a Reddit anti-semitic thread. Forensics didn’t find any other blood on the scene, but they did find a partial print on the spray can, it belongs to Lucas Hobbs, 25 years old. He has plenty of priors and known association with the Wolves of Vanguard, a white supremacist group.
Frank and Dalen find Hobbs, but not before he makes a run for it. They catch up to him and Frank tells him that he is under arrest.
In custody, Frank tells Hobbs that they have his print on the can. Hobbs turns over to Frank and says never trust one of them, meaning Dalen, with gun. Dalen says he is about this close to letting him free, finding him in the street and finishing the conversation just the two of them. Hobbs says he didn’t kill him, he just tagged his house, he never saw him.
There is a video of Hobbs boarding the subway and he wasn’t wearing a jacket like the witness said, he didn’t do it.
Endnote office, Ackerman used to work there and started the company. They meet with Ackermans previous business partner. Dalen says he read some his text messages last week where he called Ackerman and arrogant boomer. He says he shot of some angry text messages, so what. He says he was home with his son when Ackerman was killed. But, he he seemed preoccupied lately, he was spending time with a younger woman.
They go meet with her, she says that Ackerman and she were working on an article, strictly professional. It was about a story about a housing project that went on fire, and Ackerman found out that the fire doors were supposed to be serviced two months before a fire broke out. The contractor the city paid to do the work, doesn’t exist. Phone address, five million dollars was paid to a shell corporation. Maybe Ackerman was getting closer to who was embellezing. Ackerman actually traced it back to Patricia Simonian’s office, but there is no proof that she was involved. Patricia is the deputy mayor.
They head to Patricia’s apartment, nobody answer, to they get let in by building maintenance and find her body on the floor in the living room, she was murdered as well. Neighbours didn’t hear or see anything. No sign of a breaking, there is a chance she knew her killer. She has multiple blows to the head and she has been dead a few days ago, maybe before Ackerman, so rules her out as Ackerman’s killer.
Video from her lobby, she let him in. The guy matches the description of the guy who killed Ackerman. This confirms they are looking for one killer for both homocides. Julia McCallister was working on the article with Ackerman, and if the killer knows that she could be in danger.
Safe house, Julia is put inside, Dalen says she has to stay there until they find the murderer, she is in danger. She wants to check in with someone who came through for her before with this article, they are an anonymous source, she just wants to make a cal.
Home of David Costa, Frank and Dalen are outside, they follow him when he gets in his car to leave. They put the sirens on and pull him over. Frank sees him, he has a huge black eye, Frank demands he get out of the vehicle. They cuff him and bring him in,
At the station, they have Costa and tell him that they know he was behind the company that was responsible for that fire. Costa refuses to speak until his attorney arrives. They get a search warrant for Costa’s pace. Inside, they find hunting knives and one has a serrated edge. They pass it under a camera and there is blood on it. DNA test proves it is Ackerman’s knife. Also, they find a photo on social media of Costa with the jacket on. Costa’s attorney just filed a motion, they want to suppress the murder weapon because they say there was not probably cause to pull him over in the beginning. The judge grants the motion.
In court, Ms. McCallister says the deaths could have been avoided, the five million dollars of work was never done on the building that would have avoided the fire. The only evidence the DA has is McCallisters source but she won’t reveal it.
Back to court, the neighbour confirms that Costa’s jacket is the same of the person who came running out of Ackerman’s home. Costa says he donated the jacket a week before the murder, and he never heard of Ackerman before the murder.
At Rikers Island, Hobbs says that he recognized Costa the morning he tagged Ackerman’s house, he bumped into him on the subway. He shoved him and told him to watch where he was going. And, he pulled a knife on him, told him that he better watch himself. The knife’s edge was seated. He says he didnt mention it because he doesn’t for free. He is in jail of attacking a Jewish woman, he wants out. If they don’t make a deal, he doesn’t testify.
Hobbs described the knife spot on but Nolan doest like that he can walk away Scott fee. Jack tells him this is about getting justice for Ackerman, what happened to the woman Hobbs attacked is horrific, but she is still alive. Jack says he doesn’t like hate crimes either, but this is about a murder. Jack says he would take the deal, but Nolan has to live with his choices.
In court, Hobbs is on the witness stand. He says he knew Costa was willing to use the knife the way he got into his face.
The jury has reached a verdict, David Costa is guilty.
Outside the courtroom, Hobbs tells Nolan that he appreciates him keeping his side of the deal. Nolan says it is a one time deal.
THE END!