Season 5, Episode 9: Mea Culpa, part 2

Synopsis:

While giving testimony at the retrial of Jason Garbett, who was convicted of murdering Max Larson, Grissom notices a bloody fingerprint on a key piece of evidence--a matchbook--which he doesn't recall from the initial investigation. He asks the prosecutor to call for a recess so that he can consult his notes, and discovers that the defendant's fingerprints are loop patterns, while the ones on the matchbook are arches. They don't match. The prosecutor isn't happy—Grissom has given them reasonable doubt.

Conrad Ecklie wastes no time taking Grissom to task for missing the print. Grissom can't account for it, but he's determined to get to the bottom of it.

Catherine recalls the Garbett case: Grissom decides to let Catherine handle the reexamination of the case.

For his part, Grissom is testing prints on matchbooks, trying to recreate the conditions of the original print and learn how it didn't show up in the initial analysis. Ecklie is concerned about how this will make the lab look. The prosecutor asks Grissom point blank if they arrested the wrong man, and Grissom doesn't have an answer for him.

Brass tells Grissom that the entire police department knows about the inquiry. He cautions Grissom that Sofia will follow Ecklie's lead, and that Ecklie is looking into the entire night shift team. Ecklie plays politics better than Grissom does, Brass notes.

Warrick admits that he should have checked the hair five years ago, but doesn't blame Grissom for his mistake, despite Ecklie's leading questions. Ecklie brings up Warrick's excellent work as a CSI, but he also notes his gambling problem, a problem that is in the past, Warrick reminds him. When Ecklie asks if Grissom used departmental resources to help him kick the problem, Warrick counters that Grissom helped him with his problem by being a friend.

Catherine stops by Sofia's work space to assure that the woman will support her findings in Grissom's inquiry with actual data. Sofia coolly tells her that she'll reserve her findings for the assistant director. Meanwhile, Grissom is puzzling over the print. He talks to Neil Derringer in the Print Lab, and the two conclude that if the matchbook was placed directly in the evidence bag, the bag could have acted as a humidifier, preventing the print from showing up for as long as years. Essentially, the print was being processed in slow motion.

Ecklie asks Catherine about the case and Grissom's part in it. She says he held a supervisory meeting, but that micromanaging isn't his style. She asks him if he's trying to indict Grissom, and he dodges the question by mentioning the number of candidates that are qualified to supervise the dayshift. He mentions the raise that would come with the promotion, but Catherine doesn't take his bait.

Ecklie meets with Grissom and Sofia. He asks Sofia if Grissom mishandled the case, but she says her findings indicate that Grissom did nothing wrong. Ecklie is clearly thrown, but Grissom isn't off the hook. He questions Grissom's ability to supervise, and even though Grissom says that that is beyond the scope of Ecklie's investigation, Ecklie proceeds to break up the team. He moves Catherine to swing shift supervisor and has Nick and Warrick report to her. Sara, Greg, and Sofia will report to Grissom, an announcement that shocks Sofia, since it is essentially a demotion. Ecklie tells Grissom that his people have been covering for him.

Grissom, Nick and Warrick meet for coffee at a diner. Warrick feels like Ecklie ambushed the entire team, and its clear that he and Nick aren't comfortable with Ecklie's manipulations. Grissom tries to reassure them, calmly accepting the change and trying to put a positive spin on it. Warrick thanks Grissom for all of his help, but his cell phone rings--his new boss, Catherine, is calling with a case.

Review provided by CSI Files.