Pastor Mike Butler is the pastor of a church who ordered the murder of a graduate student, Emily Wade.
History[]
After Henry Sherman gets arrested for Emily's murder, Butler gets questioned by Cosgrove and Shaw about why Sherman paid Emily 50 grand on the day of the murder. Butler refuses to talk to them about what happened. At the courthouse, Price and Maroun claim that Butler ordered Sherman to kill Emily and they want Sherman to turn on Butler. However, Sherman seems uninterested in snitching but changes his mind at the last second. Sherman confesses that Butler paid him to kill Emily because she was going to call the cops if he didn't return Lonnie's donation.
When Lonnie gets questioned, Lonnie becomes shocked to hear that Butler ordered Emily's murder, he believed that he was a healer who helped him with his heroin addiction. At the church, Cosgrove and Shaw appear while Butler is in the middle of a service and they arrest him in front of the congregation. Butler claims that Sherman made the whole thing up and asks for a lawyer. On the stand, Sherman says that he lied about Butler's involvement and was lying to get a deal.
After they discovered Butler's attorney had questioned Sherman in prison, Maroun finds out that Butler called a senior pastor after talking to Sherman. The senior pastor refuses to talk due to confidentiality and he won't give into pressure by the cops. McCoy tells Price and Maroun that the pastor is correct and he doesn't want Price to attack the church. Price tells McCoy that he has to do this, so he tries to remove the clergy privilege by demonstrating fraud. On the stand, a man testifies that he lost everything because of Butler and that he used his donations to line his pockets.
When Butler's attorney cross-examines him, the man testifies that Butler stole from him. Lonnie then testifies for the defense and claims that Butler helped him with getting clean. Price then points out that Lonnie is broke before Lonnie claimed that he owed Butler. Later, when Pastor Brian testifies, he claims that Butler said he wanted to pray because he transgressed and that it is not right for him to break confidentiality. The judge then orders Brian to answer the questions otherwise he will be held in contempt.
Brian then finally admitted that Butler told him that he told Sherman to kill Emily. Butler then pled guilty for the murder and imprisoned. (L&O: "Mammon")