The nineteenth season of Law & Order premiered on NBC on November 5, 2008, and concluded on June 3, 2009. This was the third time in the series where there were no changes in the cast from the previous season and the last season to air on Wednesday nights at 10PM/9c, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has claimed the slot off-and-on (SVU often placed at 9PM/8c to lead other programming that later gets moved or taken off schedule) from Fall 2009 to present[as of?].
The series declined in the ratings due to competition from CBS'sCSI: NY, although some episodes spiked when CSI: NY episodes were repeats (or replaced with other programming).[1][2][3][4]
A stockbroker Todd Hauser is beaten to death and the investigation leads to an illegal street-fighting ring. Issues around misuse of terrorism statutes are explored.
The detectives hope that a mentally challenged patient can help them solve the case of Rick Devon a man found murdered in a park, but the patient's family may be responsible for the crime.
A tourist Will Timmons is murdered and the detectives suspect that corrupt law enforcement officers from a small town are involved. Meanwhile, the governor threatens to nominate a new District Attorney for the upcoming election.
A well-known memoir writer who wrote a book about his early life as Dale Marx a male prostitute is found dead, but as the detectives investigate they discover that the book was based on the life of another person.
A woman's body is found in a city garden, leaving Bernard and Lupo to sort through her contradictory life and her ties to a cop's death in New Jersey. Then Cutter's case is jeopardized by a law clerk with a crush whose judge requires an unusual amount of assistance.
A pair of divorce lawyers Liz and Fred Bellamy are murdered in their home and the investigation leads to a possible cover-up involving the abuse of adopted Haitian children.
A plaintiff in a class-action suit against an airline is murdered and the murder may have been committed by a lawyer linked to many other murders in the past.
Harold Foley and his wife Joyce, both biologists at a local university, come home to find their son Eric (played by Timothée Chalamet in one of his first television roles) and their housekeeper Grazinya murdered. The case leads to a man obsessed with a certain sorority.
A police officer Scott Waylon who has been having financial problems takes hostages at gunpoint and is then killed by fellow officers. He has the keys to an apartment that is not his primary residence; detectives Lupo and Bernard search the apartment and find a dead body and valuable stolen documents that have been stolen by a man who needs them to prove that he is the illegitimate son of John F. Kennedy.
After an Army recruitment center is bombed an unconscious woman and her dead baby who were sleeping at the place are found in the wreckage. The case gets even more complicated after a group of voluntary vigilantes interfere in the investigation and both of the prime suspects, including the baby's own mother, have equal motives for the crime.
The creator of a religious website is murdered and the trail leads to a corrupt charitable organization who was stealing from his clients. When the detectives are ready to arrest him the suspect seeks asylum in the Embassy of Iran claiming to be victim of a Zionist conspiracy.
Firefighter Thomas Cooper and his wife Linda are tortured and murdered in their new townhouse. The murders are thought to be linked to an old unsolved drug case, but then the detectives learn about a firefighter named Nick Spence, who had just joined Cooper's company and was being severely hazed. The investigation suffers a setback when Spence dies in a fire under suspicious circumstances.
Two engaged scientists Colin and Geraldine die in a fire and their mentally challenged neighbor is injured while trying to help them. The detectives discover that the couple was stabbed before the fire and this leads them to a disturbed and extremely jealous woman.
Detectives Lupo and Bernard investigate a serial killer who targets homeless men and discover that a copycat may be at work, but to arrest the murderers they need the testimony of a bipolarskater who is having a psychotic attack.
A prominent charity executive is murdered and claims of stalking and blackmail surface during the investigation. The case then leads to Rita Shalvoy, the wife of governor Donald Shalvoy, and once again Jack McCoy must know if he is willing to prosecute his old friend.
