December 31, 2003
Bronx Cheer
In this episode (11.16), Briscoe and Green discover that their suspect in a Manhattan murder may have committed a murder in the Bronx of which another man has already been convicted. The also uncover evidence that the defendant in the Bronx case may have been railroaded by the detectives and the Bronx DA's office. They convince McCoy and Carmichael of this, but the Manhattan's DA office lacks jurisdiction over the original murder, and of course they can't just vacate the conviction. Eventually, they compile a mountain of evidence proving the convicted man's innocence, but the Bronx DA (well-played by Keith David) still won't budge. McCoy and his boss, Manhattan DA Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest) pressure the DA but to no avail. Eventually, the case winds up at the NY state Court of Appeals, and McCoy (who filed a writ of habeus corpus on behalf of the wrongly-convicted man) argues against the Bronx DA, who suggests the convict has no grounds for appeal.
The actual murderer is played with gusto by the terrifying Peter Greene, an actor probably best remembered for his role as "Redfoot," the fence in The Usual Suspects. Greene has a naturally menacing quality and a intense presence that is rare on Law & Order. His defense attorney has appeared a million times on the show, and his own slightly menacing appearance matches Greene's. To get him to plea to the two murders, McCoy, at the urging of Lewin, offers him a very light sentence. In my opinion, this is yet another case of Lewin being too soft on defendants. Oh, she drives me crazy with her wishy-washy approach to crime in the city! Every time she does something like this, it makes me long for the good old days of Adam Schiff who had a more courageous view of justice than Lewin, and certainly was willing to risk more to achieve it.
Posted by adm at December 31, 2003 07:29 PM