The Ledger

13.11 Chosen

In this episode (13.11), a man who runs a semi-legitimate gambling operation is murdered, apparently by a business partner who had ulterior motives for the murder. The episode introduces Randy Dworkin, an unconventional defense attorney who confounds McCoy and breathes life into every scene he's in.

The episode begins with two yuppies attempting to play a prank on one of their friends outside a bar. They try to mess with his Lexus, but they pop the trunk (somehow) on the wrong car, and discover a man's body. Green and Briscoe investigate.

The victim's apartment contains $100,000, giving the detectives the idea that the man was not completely lawful. They find a financial connection to a doctor, whom they visit. As they walk in, the doctor assumes the detectives are their to collect a debt, and he talks to them as if they are bookies. This leads them to believe that the victim is a bookie. This suspicion turns out to be true. The doctor tells them that the victim was involved in an internet-based gambling operation.

From here, they track down the vic's partner Stevie, a mild-mannered man who doesn't seem much like a criminal or a murderer. Not much going on with him, so they explore other possibilities: a mistress with a black eye, the mistress's husband, the ex-girlfriend, etc. They talk to the gambling company's accountant who reluctantly reveals that Stevie was stealing money from the company, and that Stevie and the victim were scheduled to have dinner the night of the murder. They arrest Stevie 19 minutes in to the episode.

And then we meet Randy Dworkin, brillaintly played by Peter Jacobson. He makes a scene at his client's arraignment, alleging bias and disputing the concept of "the people of New York versus," arguing that it's not really about the people versus his client, it's about the DA's office. Dworkin meets with his client, McCoy, and Southerlyn at Rikers. He enters the room, and effusively praises McCoy and mentions "the Gelfant case," which impressed him. Dworkin's manner is distracted and jumpy, and he comes off as being incompetent and irreverend, but McCoy doesn't know what to make of him. Dworkin says there is a second set of books that he is willing to turn over. After the meeting, Southerlyn says she checked out Dworkin and learned that he clerked for a federal judge and turned down partnership at a prestigious law firm.

Soon after, we see McCoy and Dworkin doing jury selection. McCoy asks very careful questions of each juror, making sure each juror will be able to render a fair and impartial verdict. Dworkin, meanwhile, asks questions like, "Where'd you get that tie?" and follows up with "I love this guy." McCoy is confused, but can't really object.

Once the trial begins, Dworkin objects to practically everything in a humorous manner that frustrates McCoy but gets the jury laughing. And then midway through the trial, we finally learn the defendant's true motive for his crimes: he was embezzling money to give to the defense of Jewish people in Israel. McCoy objects, saying that this explanation amounts to a justification defense, but Dworkin says "I didn't hear the word justification," and then turns to the judge and asks, "Did you?" It turns out that during jury selection, Dworkin was focused only on one thing: was the prospective juror Jewish. This explains his casual approach, and why all the jurors have last names like Ruben, Nathan, Schwartz, Finkel, and Cohen. The judge, too, is Jewish, and gives Dworkin a lot of latitude. McCoy feels like he's been sandbagged, and Branch tells him stories about how he once one a case by making a judge laugh. McCoy attempts to get the judge recused and says a lot of stuff about how he doesn't think the jury will be able to render a fair verdict because of their sympathy for the cause of the defendant, who still insists he's innocent of the murder. McCoy offers a plea, but Dworkin refuses, so you know the case is going to come down to McCoy's closing arguments. He tells the jurors they have to decide if they are going to be Jews first and citizens second.

The verdict comes back: guilty. Dworkin's unconventional strategy failed him.

The episode is notable for the appearance of Dworkin, who has appeared in another episode and whose unusual personality and approach to the law make him a worthy adversary to McCoy.

Posted by adm at March 27, 2004 03:27 PM

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