Daniel "Danny" Otum was a gangster, drug dealer, and suspect in the murder of Lucy Dolan.
History[]
Otum was a drug dealer doing business with Lucy Dolan, a struggling actress, musician, and exotic dancer who moonlighted as a drug dealer herself. At one point in his life, he was convicted for assault and served three years. At a certain point, Lucy owed money to Otum, who requested her plasma TV as lien for his debts. Coincidentally, Ernest Borges, another drug dealer, shot and killed Dolan inside her apartment soon after Danny and two accomplices, petty crooks Harry Johnson and Matthew Carton, left with the screen. To make matters worse, they were casually filmed by a tourist couple, and the footage showed Otum apparently carrying a gun with him. The three were immediately considered the prime suspects in Dolan's murder and were all arrested shortly thereafter by Detectives Green and Briscoe.
Otum's attorney, Andrew Maynard, sued the police department and the city for violation of his client's civil rights due to the beatings he had suffered during his arrest when Green had assaulted him mistaking his cellphone for a gun. In response, DA Branch publicly announced his intention to seek the death penalty in the Dolan case. The civil rights case was later dismissed when a witness confirmed Green and Briscoe acted by the book during Otum's arrest. Nonetheless, and despite ADA Southerlyn's reluctance, Branch decided to abide by his statement, and Otum, Johnson, and Carton were all found guilty of capital murder. Eventually, EADA McCoy determined Borges was the real killer, and Otum and his accomplices were released. (L&O: "Tragedy on Rye")