The Ledger

6.12 Trophy: Battle of McCoy's Lovers!

In this terrific, densely packed episode (6.12), a serial killer is killing black boys and leaving behind ominous notes. The crimes closely parallel the work of a previous serial killer who was caught and convicted 5 years eaerli...or was he? Evidence begins to suggest that McCoy convicted the wrong man, and his assistant and girlfriend from that time period, Diana Hawthorne, may be to blame for the miscarriage of justice. Briscoe and Curtis investigate the killings, and McCoy and Kincaid figure out to do with their suspects and Hawthorne

The episode begins with two city workers picking up garbage in the park, discussing the Mets. One of them discovers the body of a young black boy, found alongside his school books. They find a note on his body, in block letters: "They must be destroyed." The note is immediately recognized by Briscoe: 5 years ago, a serial killer named Andrew Dillar used a similar MO to kill several black boys.

Now they think they have a copycat on their hands. They talk to the victim's mom, who has no information. She says her son was a good boy. The detectives visit McCoy to get details about the original case, to help give them some ideas of what to look for this time around. They trace the boy's steps to a grocery store, where they are told by a cashier the boy talked only to a security guard inside the store. They visit the security guard at home, a kind, quiet man with a crucifix displayed in his doorway. He says he saw him leave and head north. They talk to the victim's basketball teammate, Carlos, who says that the victim may have visited a guy named Ernie who is an unofficial basketball scout.

They talk to Ernie, and for a while he seems like a pretty good suspect. He had the victim in his apartment that afternoon, and his alibi seems inconsistent. They get a call, though, that the harbor unit has found another kid. They go to the crime scene. The knew victim is Sean Monroe. They talk to his parents, who tell them that Sean was a bit of a handful, and got into trouble sometimes. The mom indicates that the boy should have been wearing a crucific when he was found -- but he wasn't. Hm. Back at the precinct, they look at a chalkboard containing the details of the crimes. They talk to the headmaster of Sean's private school, and learn that he cut classes on the last day with a girl named Vanessa. They talk to Vanessa, a mousy little thing who admits under pressure that she and Sean parted ways when Sean went to hang out with his bad-kid friends, Felix and Damien. Felix and Damien are brought in for questioning. They have a bad attitude and are wise-asses. They finally admit that at the time of the killing, they were over on Broadway and 96th shoplifting. They say that Sean got caught shoplifting, and last they knew, he was talking to a police officer.

Now they're getting somewhere. They head over to that neighborhood and talk to the police man who walks the beat there. He recognizes Sean, but says he did not question him that day, and no other cop probably would have, either. They theorize that perhaps from a distance, and given the situation, the kids may have mistaken a store security guard as a real cop. Where have we seen a security guard before? That's right -- they head back over to that nice guy's apartment, and question him. Curtis gets a little aggressive with him, and he refuses to swear on a bible that he didn't kill the kids. Looks like they got themselves a suspect.

We come back from the commercial break, and the suspect, Simon, is being videotaped as he confesses. He says he did it because they were sinners wearing signs of the lord (a crucifix and an image of St Justin on a ball cap) and that God put them in his way. He says, "They had to be destroyed." That's what the notes said, remember? They ask him if he got the idea from the note from Andrew Dillard, the convicted serial killer. He says Dillard had nothing to do with it. And then, get ready for this: He says Dillard had nothing to do with any of the killings....Simon says committed all the murders himself! Uh-oh.

Curtis and Briscoe investigate his claims (off camera) and meet with McCoy, telling him it all adds up. Simon has trophies from each victim, and knows the details of each crime. They say that after Dillard was arrested, Simon confessed to his mom, who didn't turn him in but hooked him up with therapy and medication, so the killings stopped. But his mom died recently, and that's why the killings started again. McCoy is stunned as he realizes he convicted the wrong man.

McCoy tries to figure out what went wrong. Schiff can't believe it either and mentions that he and Diana Hawthorne -- McCoy's assistant -- were "two of his best" people and they somehow managed to convict the wrong man. Dillard calls a meeting with McCoy, and informs him of his intention to sue him for wrongful prosecution, and he's seeking $50 million. Dillard's lawyer hands a piece of paper to McCoy and says McCoy intentionally buried exculpatory evidence. The paper is a statement from a witness to a detective saying she saw one of the victims talking to a man in the park after the victim was seen with Dillard. The man she saw? Simon. McCoy says he never saw the statement, but Dillard and his lawyer don't believe him.

McCoy and Kincaid sit at a formal restaurant -- it looks a little like a date -- and discuss the case. Kincaid doesn't seem to be backing McCoy as strongly as he wants her to/ They wonder if maybe the detective who took the statement never turned it over. Kincaid talks to the original detective -- who dialogue indicates is very detail oriented -- and he says he didn't give the statement to McCoy, he gave it to the other DA, "the pretty one -- like you," by which he means Hawthorne. Hm! Did Hawthorne bury it on purpose?

Kincaid goes to talk to Hawthorne, now in private practive. Both of them are smiling at each other, almost inexplicably, but the scene is quite tense. Kincaid is implicitly blaming Hawthorne for burying the statement, and Hawthorne is implicitly blaming McCoy, saying things like, "You know how Jack operates." Hawthorne says of McCoy she "worked with him for 4 years, and slept with him for 3." Kincaid says she knows this, and she wonders if perhaps it's clouding Hawthorne's judgement. Hawthorne blithely retorts that perhaps it's affecting Kincaid's judgement, and adds, "You are sleeping with him, aren't you?" Spicy! Kincaid's look is priceless (and brilliantly acted) -- she does not answer verbally, but sort of tilts her head and slight tweaks her half-smile. A non-denial denial!

But enough cat fighting: back at the office, Schiff is pissed with McCoy and takes dramatic action: he suspends McCoy pending resolution of the matter. But he allows McCoy to continue working on his own defense in the building.

Kincaid and McCoy meet and they discuss Kincaid's upcoming deposition for Dillard. Her testimony is considered important because it could establish McCoy's pattern of behavior. They rehearse her deposition, during which McCoy asks her mock questions, such as "Have you ever seen Jack McCoy withhold exculpatory evidence?" Kincaid hesitates, and McCoy is again peeved with her for not supporting him unquestioningly. They discuss "the Roland case" in which McCoy suppressed a statement from a "retarded girl." McCoy explains that the statement went to motive, which is not an element of the crime. He says he didn't believe he had an obligation to turn over the case.

Then they discuss an inconsistency in a handwriting expert's report from the original Dillard case: initially, his report said he couldn't make a determination as to whether the notes left behind were in Dillard's handwriting, but later, his report said it was an exact match. This triggers something in McCoy's memory: the expert was "Diana's witness." It looks like Hawthorne may have been so eager to get Dillard convicted, she suppressed the witness statement and told the handwriting expert to lie! Kincaid talks to the handwriting expert, and he says Hawthorne told him Dillard might go free if he didn't change his report to reflect more certainty.

McCoy confronts Hawthorne outside. She looks at that green coat he always wears and says, "I begged you to get rid of that coat 8 years ago." He tells her he can't figure out why she did what she did, and she says (a) you do that kind of stuff all the time, and (b) I did what you wanted me to do. And then she marches off. It's not a very friendly meeting.

The prosecutors all meet. Schiff says the city settled with Dillard for $3 million, and that Hawthorne is catching all the blame. McCoy is reinstated, but he's not done yet: he wants to prosecute Hawthorne, his ex-girlfriend, for deliberately convicting Dillard falsely. He says she created the opportunity for Simon to remain free and kill again. Schiff says he's crazy if he wants to get involved in that "put of snakes and scorpions." But McCoy is insistent, and he has Hawthorne arrested (47').

Hawthorne retains a defense lawyer, Mr Fox, and they discuss the merits of the case before a judge. McCoy will be called as a witness, which means Kincaid has to prosecute the case.

At trial (52'), McCoy takes the stand. He is asked by the Mr Fox if he remembers a man named Hank Chapel (sp?). McCoy convicted Chapel, even though it turned out Chapel was innocent. He also is asked about his relationship with Hawthorne, and he confirms they were lovers. He also has to read a note he wrote to Hawthorne in which he says, "Thanks for a wonderful evening...it's time to nail Andrew Dillard." (There appears to be a pun/parallelism suggested with his use of the word "nail," and the lawyer brings that up, too.) We also learn that McCoy was promoted 3 weeks after he got Dillard convicted. (Promoted to what? If he was Hawthorne's boss, wasn't he already an Executive District Attorney? And if he was prosecuting a serial killer, wasn't he already working Major Felonies?) Anyway, yes, he got promoted, but he denies it was because of the Dillard case. He also says he took Hawthorne to Ireland to celebrate their victory on the case and his promotion.

Hawthorne testifies and says she got her job in the private sector a year after the Dillard conviction, saying she wasn't comfortable working with McCoy after they broke up. Kincaid cross-examines Hawthorne and cleverly gets her to essentially admit that she consciously or sub-consciously wanted to please McCoy and get his gratitude, as both his employee and his lover.

Break in the trial, and Hawthorne shows up in McCoy's office. She tries to bait him into admitting that Kincaid is his lover, but he doesn't bite, and instead excoriates her for breaking the law. She says Kincaid is smart and she didn't realize until Kincaid said it that indeed she had been aiming to please McCoy when she suppressed/tainted the evidence. Off camera, Kincaid makes a deal with her: criminal facilitation in the 4th degree, 6 months in jail, and she loses her license to practice law.

McCoy tells Kincaid she didn't have to offer the deal, that she would have won the case. She jokingly replies, "I know...but I thought that's what you wanted." Very funny.

This episode features a ton of background information on the characters. First off, it is strongly and repeatedly suggested that Kincaid and McCoy are lovers. Her non-denial, the dinner at the restaurant, her ability to identify with Hawthorne, and her joke at the end are all indicators. (The writers of the show confirmed in interviews after Kincaid left that in their minds, Kincaid and McCoy were romantically involved.) We also learn about some prior McCoy cases (though I think both the "retarded girl" case and the Chapel case are shown in other eps), and we learn a bit about his career trajectory. So here's your timeline, if I have my math right:

This episode takes place in Season 6. That means the Dillard case occurred in Season 1, McCoy got that promotion in Season 1, Hawthorne left in Season 2, they started dating in Season -1, and she started working there in season -2.

The episode's title seems to refer both to the trophies the killer took from the boys, and also conviction of Dillard, which was essentially a trophy for McCoy, delivered to him by Hawthorne.

Here are some screen caps from the episode, including McCoy on the stand, Kincaid's reaction to being asked whether she's sleeping with McCoy, and Laila Robins as Diana Hawthorne. Hawthorne looks somewhat mannish (Robins looked much better in the episode Venom and in real life), but Kincaid looks fantastic throughout the ep.

As far as "ripped from the headlines" goes, the serial killer story line is drawn from the Atlanta child killings a while back.

Posted by adm at June 14, 2004 11:40 PM

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