On his way home from work, Togusa becomes involved in a domestic dispute between a woman and her boyfriend when the woman runs in front of Togusa's car and screams for help. Trying to protect the woman, Togusa fires several rounds into her assailant's prosthetic limbs in an effort to disable him; despite this, Togusa fails to prevent the woman's death. Since Togusa carried out the shooting while off-duty, a preliminary hearing is convened to ascertain the facts in the case. The suspect's parents hire a well-known lawyer to defend their son, who wastes no time attempting to make Togusa look bad, first by criticizing his choice of handgun and then by claiming that Togusa acted out of a subconscious hatred for cyborgs while making the excuse that the defendant suffered from defective prosthetic parts...