CSI: Miami

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Payback

Teleplay by Marc Dube
Story by Marc Dube, Ildy Modrovich, Marc Guggenheim
Directed by Sam Hill

Brian Lexington was convicted of raping Valerie Naff and spent six years in prison for the crime he claimed he did not commit; through modern technology the lab proved Lexington to be right.  Horatio assures Valerie he’ll do all he can to find the real rapist.  Lexington confronts Horatio and tells him he’s hired attorney George Hammett and they’re filing a lawsuit against the department.  Calleigh and Wolfe begin to re-examine all the evidence in the case.  Lexington was one of Valerie’s movers on the day she was raped.  He admitted he stole some underwear from her drawer that day but claimed he didn’t rape her.

 Foster asks Alexx to investigate Kelly Gerber’s body, he’s not certain she died from the impact of the car accident in which she was involved.  Alexx determines that Kelly died of toxic shock from an infected surgical sponge left inside her body after her appendectomy.   Wolfe discovers graphite powder on Valerie’s silk pajamas which is linked to a locksmith.  Calleigh questions Phil Cobb, Valerie’s locksmith.  Delko approaches Dr. Kessler, who performed Kelley’s appendectomy, and gets a DNA sample.  Natalia determines there is a key missing from the three keys Cobb cut that day.  She swabs the two remaining keys and finds a match to the pubic hair that was found in the initial evidence packet.   Horatio talks with Valerie to see if he can jog her memory about the missing key.  Calleigh and Wolfe question Valerie’s realtor, Jeff Colson.  Colson tells Horatio he’ll require a warrant before submitting to any DNA test.  Horatio is on his way to serve Colson with a warrant; when he arrives at Colson’s Open House, he discovers Colson … murdered.  Alexx swabs Colson’s mouth for a DNA sample and determines that the murder was fueled by rage.   Natalia’s tests confirm that Colson was the rapist.

 Horatio’s sympathetic to Valerie’s case, but also has to question her as a suspect in Colson’s murder.  Calleigh questions Doug Stets, Valerie’s boyfriend, and notices he has bruised knuckles.  Delko and Alexx suspect Dr. Kessler may be hiding a serious illness.  Valerie calls a press conference to publicly apologize to Lexington.  Alexx determines that Colson was murdered by a several blows to the head, resulting in a skull fracture.  While Horatio questions Lexington with Hammett present, he learns that Lexington got confirmation that Colson was the rapist from a leak.  Tripp discovers the leak between the courthouse messenger and Hammett, whose law career is now finished.  Alexx confronts Dr. Kessler about his Parkinson’s disease and informs him he must give up surgery or she will be forced to report him.  Valerie breaks down and confesses to Horatio that she killed Colson.  Horatio comforts her and tells her he’ll stand by her and help her through what is to come.