Julio Sanchez (The Closer)

Julio Sanchez
First appearance	Pilot episode
Created by	James Duff
Portrayed by	Raymond Cruz
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	LAPD Detective
Family	Ramona Sanchez (mother) Oscar Sanchez (brother, deceased) Maria Sanchez (wife, deceased)

Detective II Julio Sanchez is a fictional character featured in TNT's The Closer, portrayed by Raymond Cruz. Julio is a Detective on the Los Angeles Police Department's Major Crimes Division.

Personal information

Fluent in both Spanish and English, Sanchez is an expert on Latino gangs. He has a quick temper and often yells at suspects in the interrogation room. He also can be crude and chauvinistic. Though constantly flirting with the younger women detectives, Sanchez wears a wedding band. He has one brother who is dead and another in prison after getting involved with gangs.

In The Closer

It seems at first that he is married, but in Brenda and Fritz's wedding video (season 4 episode "Double Blind"), he reveals that he has been a widower for six years.

In season four episode "Sudden Death", Julio Sanchez's brother is shot to death by a gang member on the sidewalk near his home because he was believed to be part of a rival gang. Once the case is closed, Julio confesses to Provenza that he had given his brother the hat that the killers mistook for a symbol of a rival gang affiliation, which led to Sanchez's brother's death. Later in the season ("Time Bomb"), Sanchez is shot three times by bullets intended for Provenza. Sanchez survives, after five surgeries and shoulder reconstruction, and is back on the force via Chief Johnson's recommendation in that season's "Good Faith".

In Major Crimes

Julio Sanchez continues as a main/regular character on Major Crimes.

Having previously been shot in an episode of The Closer (see section above), Sanchez was shot again in "Two Options".

In "Risk Assessment", Julio explains to Rusty Beck that he wanted to become a cop after his cat got murdered and he wanted to catch the killers. Julio tells Rusty he did eventually put the men away for attempted murder and rape and they got life in prison as they were on their third strike and shows great satisfaction at the result.

Sanchez is shown to get emotional at times in cases regarding children. In "Flight Risk", Sanchez was completely devastated when two young children were found murdered and was one of the most affected of the squad. When they interrogate the killer, Sanchez attacks him but is in tears as he does so.

In season three's "Personal Day", a young man Julio put in prison for murder in 1997 gets released after seventeen years in prison and insists to Julio he's innocent despite overwhelming evidence and a confession. Julio refuses to believe the man and only reports his claims due to procedure. The man is later murdered and Julio is shocked to learn the man was innocent as he'd claimed, having confessed to murder rather than an armed robbery to protect his best friend. The squad are able to catch the true killer and Julio informs the man's ill grandmother of his innocence. To help make up for his mistake, Julio reopens the investigations into the murders of the man's father and uncle which had been unsolved for over twenty years.

In season three's "Party Foul", a young man the squad suspects of murdering a young man and badly injuring her boyfriend faces off with Sanchez who makes fun of his No Romeo license plate. The young man tells him that what it means is that before meeting Juliet, Romeo was in love with another girl but let go of his love for when he saw Juliet. The young man is no Romeo as he would never do that to the girl he loves. Upon hearing that, Sanchez softens towards the man and twists his wedding ring, showing he feels the same about his deceased wife.

In season three episode "Internal Affairs", Sanchez is ordered to attend anger management classes after beating up his mother's caretaker who had robbed her in order to remain on active duty after his violent tendencies come to light. He was briefly framed for the murder of said caretaker, but was cleared of those charges after which he moved back in with his mother to take care of her himself. However, he brutally beat a serial killer shortly afterwards in "Special Master, Part Two" and is suspended without pay for five months afterwards.

In season four episode "Sorry I Missed You", Sanchez explains the source of his constant anger problems: several years before he was married and his wife had a seizure disorder. She was told it was safe to go off her medications and later she is able to become pregnant. Five months pregnant with their first child, a baby girl, his wife had a seizure while driving and crashed her car, dying four days later. Sanchez blames the doctors and can't get over his anger at the unfairness of it all—though since his return from his suspension he seems to have his anger in better check. In "Hindsight, Part 4", Julio visits Maria's doctor to learn why he took Maria off of her seizure medicine. To Julio's shock, he learns the doctor didn't take her off of her medicine, Maria took herself off of it. The doctor had advised against Maria doing so and even had her sign a form he shows Julio that proves his story. Julio is left upset by the news and the fact that Maria had lied to him about it.

In season five, Julio begins applying to be a foster parent after seeing the effects of the system in "Present Tense". In "Cashed Out", Rusty's former social worker Cynthia does a surprise home study on Julio and investigates his actions in solving a brutal murder that ended with Julio risking his life to successfully talk a dangerous suspect down rather than shooting him or resorting to other forms of violence as Julio would in the past. Julio spends a week under review as a result on possibly getting the Medal of Valor for how he handled the situation while the rest of the squad are shown to have various responses to Julio's risky actions. Julio assures Cynthia of his putting that same dedication into raising a child if he's allowed to foster while Rusty adds his own support to Julio from his own perspective of knowing Julio when he first came off the streets and into foster care. In "Family Law", Julio is approved to be a foster parent and takes emergency placement of an eight year old boy named Mark who is racist with an attitude problem. At the end of the episode, its discovered that Mark's mother has been murdered and he has nowhere to go.

Awards and decorations

The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Detective Sanchez.

	LAPD Police Life-Saving Medal
	LAPD Human Relations Medal
	LAPD Police Meritorious Service Medal