Detectives Briscoe and Curtis investigate the disappearance of Paul and Donna Ericson. Their absence isn't noted until their 8-year-old son returns home on a Sunday after spending the weekend away. The Ericsons had been having a dispute with their condo developer Nathan Faber, regarding a coffee shop, whose owner also disappears. The police are convinced that the three are the victims of kidnapping, and an anonymous note to a newspaper seems to confirm this theory. A Ben O'Dell contacts the police to say that his brother Matt, who is mentally ill, is responsible. He turns him in on the condition that his brother Matt will not face the death penalty. Carrie agrees to take his mental health status into consideration. Matt, however, flatly refuses to be examined by a psychiatrist, and his lawyer, Danielle Melnick, manages to get much of the evidence thrown out. When Matt O'Dell is found guilty, the question becomes whether the death penalty should be used for someone who may want to die.
—garykmcd