Release (Law & Order) - Episodes

Green and Cassady investigate the death of a cop accidentally killed during a botched robbery which leads them to stolen photographs of a celebrity mother married to a player.

• First appearance of Det. Nina Cassady and ADA Connie Rubirosa.
• Det. Ed Green is promoted to Senior Detective.

After Eric Khabaly is seen being murdered on tape in what appears to be an American movement against Islam, Green and Cassady investigate the case which leads them to Khabaly's cousin, Ben Faoud, who appears to be connected to a terrorist cell functioning inside New York. Unfortunately, the best link to Faoud appears to surround a recent shipment of uranium, which McCoy and Rubirosa are forbidden to mention by the federal government. When news of the uranium leaks out, McCoy and Rubirosa find themselves the victims of intense federal scrutiny, and Paul Robinette's vigorous defense of young Faoud does not help matters.

• Richard Brooks reprises his role of Paul Robinette for the defense. This is his final appearance on the series as well as the final appearance of any original cast member.

The shooting of a local businessman is linked to a killing in Iraq, and McCoy and Rubirosa refuse to allow the killer to plead out.

• Guest star: Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet.

A has-been actor wearing bloodstained clothing arrested for drunken driving reveals religious prejudices during his rantings.

• Guest star: Chevy Chase.

After Michael Jones dies in his mother's hospital room with no immediate explanation, his mother Ashley accuses her former husband's adult children, Miles and Hillary Foster, who are fighting her for control of their father's substantial fortune. The autopsy rules out the Fosters, and points Green and Cassady in the direction of illegally harvested donor bones, which Jones had received in a transplant eighteen months prior. McCoy and Rubirosa struggle to prosecute the case after it becomes clear the only way they will get the evidence they need is to test another young man who received bone grafts from the same woman who had given Michael Jones his legs.

• Guest stars: Mariel Hemingway and Michael Boatman.

Green and Cassady investigate after Sean Archer, a producer who had recently adopted a child from Africa with his wife, well-known actress Sofia, is gunned down outside an ice cream shop while holding baby Christopher. The shooting is soon linked to the recent adoption of Christopher, which had received international scrutiny because it appeared to have been pushed through based on the couple's celebrity status. McCoy and Rubirosa initially investigate the murder of Sean Archer, which soon turns into an investigation of a child's death when the identity of baby Christopher comes under question.

• Guest stars: Jennifer Beals as Sophia Archer.

The shooting of university student Jason Miles at a political rally hosted by controversial speaker Judith Barlow leaves any number of suspects, but after Green and Cassady prove that two of the people they've questioned are lying about their alibis, they turn their attention to Malcom Yates, a grad student who claimed to be with Jason's girlfriend at the time of his death. McCoy and Rubirosa realize that Yates went after Barlow because of her open criticism of stem-cell research, something that Yates had high hopes could help find a cure for his own Parkinsons.

• Guest Star: Louis Cancelmi, whose sister Annie Parisse played A.D.A. Alexandra Borgia on Seasons 15 and 16.

After an actress is found dead in her apartment, Green and Cassady attempt to prove that her death was not a suicide.

• Inspired by the murder of actress Adrienne Shelly, who herself guest starred in the episode of Law & Order entitled "High & Low" (Season 10).

After publisher Serena Darby is found murdered in her apartment, suspicion turns to J.P. Lange, a former professional baseball player acquitted of his wife's murder who had written a book hypothesizing how he would have committed the murder. Green and Cassady follow the trail of evidence from Lange to Gerald Stockwell, a former ghostwriter on the book, but Stockwell tries to clear himself by offering McCoy and Rubirosa proof that one of the jurors in Lange's trial was paid off to force an acquittal.

• Guest star: Mario Van Peebles

Green and Cassady investigate an arson turned homicide when a body found in a burned church turns out to have been murdered before the fire started.

• Guest star: Jeffrey Donovan

Green and Cassady get mixed up with the Russian consulate after Peter Rostov dies of ricin poisoning. Their investigation leads them first to his work, where they learn he spent a great deal of time traveling back and forth between Russia, and secondly to his brother, Karl. It is not long before they link the Rostov brothers to an illegal prostitution ring trafficking in young Russian woman, but McCoy is faced with trying to get the remaining Rostov brother to testify so he can prosecute Brezin, the father of one of the trafficked girls.

• Jack McCoy's daughter, Rebecca, is seen at the end of the episode.

When Nicole Bailey, the ex-wife of a respected former senator, is found murdered and brutalized in her home, Green and Cassady look first at the senator, but follow the trail of clues to a dysfunctional family with a number of potentially embarrassing secrets. McCoy finds himself in the hot seat when he is forced to argue the case in front of a judge more interested in public relations than justice.

• Last appearances by Fred Thompson as Arthur Branch and Milena Govich as Nina Cassady.