The Whole Truth

Jimmy Brogan, born and raised in Hell's Kitchen and one of New York's rising criminal defense attorney stars. Kathryn Peale, the product of a New England background and a sheriff father, is a Deputy Bureau Chief in the Manhattan District Attorney's office. These two have been friends (but enemies in the courtroom) since their days at Yale Law School, and face off in this episode about a high school history teacher and family man who's arrested for the rape and murder of a female student.

When a man in a wheelchair is found dead in New York Harbor, Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Peale brings a charge of Murder Two against the man's daughter. Jimmy Brogan defends the young woman against the charge.

Judd Hirsch stars as Judge Ruben Wright, a much-loved jurist accused of murder. Of all the lawyers who've come through his courtroom, Wright chooses Jimmy to represent him - and Kathryn Peale must prosecute, despite severe misgivings. Jimmy, Kathryn and Judge Wright have often shared a courtroom, but when they did, Judge Wright was at the bench; now he's at the defense table.

When a prosperous couple is found lying in a pool of blood in their Upper West Side brownstone - the wife dead, the husband barely hanging on - Kathryn charges their 16-year-old son with the crime. A night of intense interrogation elicits a confession from the obviously shaken teenager. Now Jimmy must prove that the boy was bullied into a false confession by an aggressive detective.

For the second time in three years, a renowned 45-year-old fashion designer is accused of murdering a much younger male model boyfriend. Her murder trial is a rematch -- pitting Jimmy Brogan against Terrence "Edge" Edgecomb for the second time. The last time, Jimmy won an acquittal. Edge is determined not to let that happen again.

Nothing is as it seems when a dentist is murdered in his own chair - and his "Stepford wife" is accused of the crime. After Jimmy and Kathryn learn that the dentist was doing more than just fixing teeth, they become entangled in lies of their own with Kathryn's mother and Jimmy's ex-wife.

It's hard to know which end is up when Harold Perrineau guest stars as Paul Braun, a psychic arrested when he displays too much knowledge about a murder. Is Braun gifted with psychic visions, or does he know what he knows because he's the killer himself? Kathryn doesn't believe in psychics; Jimmy believes whatever will win his client an acquittal. Along the way, all are stunned by Braun's insights into their private lives. Wayne Knight plays the Judge determining whether this self-proclaimed psychic is a murderer or a beneficent super sleuth.

Past sins resurface when Kathryn revisits a decade-old case after its shooting victim dies of her injuries. Attorney Lloyd Perlman convinced Ronnie Sotto to plead guilty and serve time for the shooting years ago, but the moment the victim died, Sotto's assault charge became murder. Kathryn now struggles with trying a man the system has already reformed. Jimmy takes the case as a favor to Perlman, but soon starts to question Perlman's competence and whether Sotto was guilty at all.

It's Jimmy vs. Alejo (and Kathryn) in the case of two babysitters---an engaged couple---charged with manslaughter when the infant in their care dies of shaken-baby syndrome. Jimmy represents one and Alejo the other, and neither takes responsibility for the baby's death, leading to friction at Brogan & Associates.

Jimmy represents an accused killer from his old "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood, while Kathryn's entire case relies on the testimony of a 12-year-old, special-needs kid with a memory like a camera.

Jimmy helps a friend from law school who's been charged with arson and murder, but the case also involves a Chinese gang and an Italian mobster.

Jimmy defends an ex-con implicated in a drive-by shooting of a defense attorney, but it turns out that Kathryn may have been the target.

In the series finale, Kathryn and Jimmy recall their first case against each other. Meanwhile, a retiring judge offers Kathryn an opportunity of a lifetime.