Ezra Nichols is a professor at Hudson University, who was the prime suspect in the murder of James Pell.
History[]
When Ezra was brought up in the investigation, Cosgrove and Shaw questioned Ezra about his relationship with James. Shaw then asked Ezra if he was intimate with James which Ezra angrily denied. Ezra then told the detectives to leave his office which caused Cosgrove and Shaw to become suspicious of him.
At the precinct, Yee tells the squad that he doesn't think Ezra and James were having an affair and says that the emails from James' computer sounded threatening towards Ezra. They then found video footage of Ezra making an anti-gay statement at the dinner honouring the first gay nominee to Supreme Court.
Cosgrove and Shaw confront Ezra and his lawyer and tell him that they know James was blackmailing him and they understand the stress he was under. Ezra then denied killing James and kicks them out of his office. Shaw then becomes disappointed since Ezra was his hero. When Cosgrove and Shaw interrogate the nanny, she claims that Ezra was at home at the time of James' death but Michele was out.
Cosgrove and Shaw then arrested Michele after she finished having dinner with Ezra. Ezra demanded that she would yell out that she wanted a lawyer. Later, in order to protect Michele, Ezra took the stand and confessed to murdering James which harmed Price and Maroun's case. In the end, Price and Maroun discovered that Cyrus murdered James.
Price confronted Ezra and Michele about Cyrus killing James and they both tried to defend their son. Price then told Judge Boyd that he would like to drop the murder charges against Michele and the perjury charges against Ezra. He also requested that Cyrus would be charged with murder in family court. Ezra and Michele watched as Cyrus was taken away in handcuffs. (L&O: "12 Seconds")