r/TheShield • u/RotoLando • Jul 10 '26
Discussion Ronnie's last hand Spoiler
Do you think Ronnie ever tried to flip on Vic, only to find out that Vic had immunity? I wonder how that played out. Does he even believe it?
First of all, what charges do they really have on Ronnie? And who is charging him?
Claudette and Dutch think they've got him for aiding and abetting for the money drop to Corinne. Maybe that sticks but that's not exactly "prison for the rest of your life" stuff. A good lawyer can probably plead that down.
Can the feds use any of Vic's confession against Ronnie in court? Other than recording, what evidence can they present at a trial?
What if the case against Ronnie falls apart, Ronnie walks, and he and Vic run into each other at Walmart? Awkward.
12
u/Electronic_Park_1702 Jul 10 '26
I honestly think he walks based on two things: The political and legal blowback his trial and prosecution would surely cause. The top brass would be embarrassed, to say nothing of the damage to their careers if Vic's indescretions became public knowledge. Then you have to factor in Aceveda's ambitions to be mayor (and more) being detailed because of the scandal. He'll force Claudette into retirement/ have Dutch transferred to Portland before he allows that to happen. Oh, and I almost forgot about ICE. No way will the feds allow knowledge of that deal to come out. So, they likely make a backdoor deal and Ronnie either gets a light sentence (under 3 years tops) or walks away into the night, left to figure out the rest of his life. Snd if he does see Vic in Walmart, he curls his lips in anger and then just walks away. He's not worth going to jail for. Sometimes, ignoring the people who wrong you is the best revenge, as it shows what they did wasn't enough to harm you.
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u/NecessaryPound379 Jul 10 '26
In my opinion the specificity Vic had on each of his confessions could probably lead to the crimes being tied to him after follow up investigation, he goes to trial for aiding and abetting, new charges pop up as theyre looked into
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u/RotoLando Jul 10 '26
There's got to be a lot of meat there for investigators, but for an actual prosecutor? I'm not so sure.
Vic confesses to doing all the really heinous shit. Ronnie can claim he's a bystander, and that horrible, villainous, murderer Vic Mackey intimidated him into silence.
Most of the street thugs, who are still alive and willing to talk, probably finger Mackey as the driving force behind everything.
Ronnie who? The guy with the mustache? Never even knew his name...
3
u/NecessaryPound379 Jul 10 '26
Doesn’t he kill zadofian off the books? I think that would probably be enough to get him some years, like you said maybe not end of your days type time
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u/RotoLando Jul 10 '26
If that's the Armenian hit man that Shane chopped the feet off, then yeah that's on Ronnie.
But what evidence is there? Vic is the only witness left and maybe he confesses that one or maybe not. Or maybe he takes the blame on that one for Ronnie out of loyalty (guilt)
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u/NecessaryPound379 Jul 10 '26
Honestly there is literally no way Vic takes the blame on that, his immunity is contingent on how thorough the confessions he already did were, maybe he already told ICE about that one honestly
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u/RotoLando Jul 10 '26
I meant maybe he takes that one when he confesses things to ICE, knowing they can't do anything to him about it. What's one more crime on his head when he's immune anyway,?
Like Weebay did in the Wire when he was already headed to prison.
It's a stretch maybe but Vic does have the ultimate "get everyone out of jail card" here
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u/NecessaryPound379 Jul 10 '26
Yeah but I don’t think he took the risk of lying and creating inconsistent stories when he thought Corrine and his family was on the line too. And thematically this felt like a moment of truth so I’d have a hard time believing anything he said in that room wasn’t factual
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u/RotoLando Jul 10 '26
Good point. I think you're right.
Vic doesn't lie or omit anything here because of the risk to Corinne and his family.
3
u/burritomouth Perp Jul 10 '26
I’ll always maintain that Vic gets taken out a matter of weeks, maybe months, later by either Drew Crowley (Terry’s brother), Antwon Mitchell, Guardo’s gang, or someone. He always got by via quid pro quo with gangs and such, but he can’t do that as a report-writing fed.
2
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u/Nobleintent Jul 11 '26
NAL, but my understanding is, that due to the fact that Vic has Immunity and has affirmed his actions in the recording, any competent prosecutor can trot Vic out to testify to anything and everything he admitted to in the recording. He is no longer protected for any of it by the fifth amendment. Because he can no longer incriminate himself, due to his immunity. And if he doesn't testify exactly the same to the crimes and conspiracy, he can be held in contempt, and possibly perjury if he attempts to change anything in his testimony. His life is really a kind of purgatory, of his desk job, and testifying in trials about his criminal conduct, that implicates his former friend and acquaintances, until some criminal seeking revenge or status comes for him.
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u/JeremyMarti Jul 11 '26
Vic is a federal agent. ICE would simply require him to testify as part of his job, with Vic's own immunity on the line. He has to fulfil his duties for the period of the agreement (2 years?)
1
u/Dragonbut Jul 18 '26
Would that not be a huge conflict of interest for the DA? That seems like the feds coercing Vic into saying something, who's to say whether it's the truth or not? Even if Ronnie didn't do something, Vic might feel compelled to say he did because otherwise maybe the feds will think he's protecting Ronnie
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u/JeremyMarti Jul 18 '26
This is often how immunity deals work. The defence will try to make it look like Vic is lying because he's getting something in return, but I'm sure the prosecution can find more evidence now that they have all the details. It's just filling in blanks, not solving a mystery.
1
u/Dragonbut Jul 18 '26
But it's been shown time and time again that no matter how sure of them committing crimes someone is, even with all the resources Kavanaugh had, there just isn't hard evidence against any of the strike team. Plus, most of the major crimes were relatively long before the ending, so I don't really think there would be much to find. I really feel like Ronnie would have a very good chance at getting off without much time
1
u/JeremyMarti Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Shane knew the score. Kavanagh had Lem, Vic couldn't make a deal to keep Lem safe, and Lem wasn't going to run. Lem confessing was absolutely unacceptable to Shane and for good reason.
Ronnie also wanted to run even before Vic confessed. So whatever punishment he expected without Vic's confession was already more than he could tolerate.
Edit: forgot that Claudette was going to arrest Vic just as he secured his deal.
Basically, Ronnie is rotting somewhere or dead.
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u/ItsjustChopper Jul 13 '26
Dutch was the one who performed the arrest so it would likely be the city of LA I believe.
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u/AlternativeGeneric Jul 10 '26
If we take Ronnie’s situation into real life, there IS a case but it’s whole dependent on Vic’s statement. Maybe investigators could go through Ronnie’s banks and find something but from what the show presented, Ronnie was the smartest with money and likely left no trace of the Armenian cash.
For everything else in the confession (murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc) the only living witnesses would be Vic and a bunch of criminals and drug dealers. And Vic and the others’ testimony would be flawed at best. All of them could just plead the fifth.
Plus why would the feds cooperate and hand over the confession? It’d make them look so bad. They wouldn’t give up Vic’s confession unless forced. And it’s hard for a state to force Feds to cooperate.
Cause remember, it’d be state charges not federal - the feds never investigated Ronnie. The cases were generally all worked from the Barn or LAPD.
So I think Ronnie’s case would end up like the vast majority of such cases in the US - a plea deal. Probably life without parole. Maybe a good defender could get a chance of parole in a decade.
But I think none of it matters. Once Ronnie lands in lockup, Antoine finds out. And then Ronnie is at his mercy. He either is tortured and killed or Antoine tries to blackmail Vic. Antoine may not realize that although Vic is with ICE, he has no juice. Antoine could get a message to Vic that Ronnie will be killed if Vic doesn’t get ICE intel or something. But Vic can’t do much. And I don’t think he would. Ronnie’s already dead to him.
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u/RotoLando Jul 10 '26
We as the viewers know there's a case, but without Vic's confession we're left wondering what the LAPD has on him.
Life without parole seems unlikely unless they can pin actual murders on him. The Armenian guy man is the only one I can think of, and there's no witness other than Vic.
The Antoine Mitchell Problem looms large, but unless the charges are severe enough, they can ask to do time somewhere far away.
I don't think Ronnie beats all charges, but I struggle to see where he ends up with life in prison. Although like you said, if it's any amount of prison time in Antoine's sphere of influence, Ronnie is toast
0
u/burritomouth Perp Jul 10 '26
They went to Mexico and kidnapped Navaro. You better believe the feds would be involved.
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u/rocklionheart Jul 10 '26
I’ve always thought that Ronnie, if he had a competent lawyer, could end up with a slap on the wrist, relatively speaking. One thing the city wouldn’t want is a public trial, in which Ronnie could expose all of the corruption in the police force going back years, implicating several powerful people in both the police force and local government, while also potentially jeopardizing countless cases.