The Ledger

10.3 DNR

In this episode (10.3), a civil court judge is shot and badly injured in her building's garage, and her Jaguar is stolen. It looks like a botched murder-for-hire, but it's unclear who did the hiring. After Briscoe and Green's investigation, it appears that the husband set up the hit, but McCoy and Carmichael have trouble building a prosecution because the victim refuses to testify against her husband. On top of all this, the victim tries to get legal permission to end her own life, a move which McCoy resists.

The episode begins with Mr Grobman returning from a trip to Long Island, talking to his doorman. They hear gun shots coming from the garage, and they run down there, only to discover his badly injured wife. She's taken to the hospital, and Briscoe and Green arrive. They hear that her Jaguar was stolen, and an APB went out for the car. They also discover that the victim, Judge Grobman, returned fire, and may have hit her assailant twice.

They talk to Mr Grobman at the hospital. Not much info there. They continue the investigation by trying to track down the car. They go over to the auto theft squad and get a list of known fences for stolen, high-end cars. They track down newly-registered Jaguars, some of which they figure have been registered with the wrong VINs to conceal their origin. They find the Jaguar. It's owned by a young doctor, who under pressure, admits he bought it from a shady car dealer for $20K. (He identifies the dealer from a photo array.) They visit the car dealer, and he identifies the person who sold him the car, Bobby Ward. He says he paid Ward $3K for it. Not a bad profit.

They raid Ward's apartment, and find a man on his couch, shot twice in the gut and barely breathing. It's Ward's cousin -- he apparently committed the murder attempt and got shot by the judge in the process. They find a receipt in the apartment that points them to Arlene Polaski, Ward's girlfriend. They raid her apartment and find $17K on Ward, as well as a weapon. Under pressure, Ward reveals that his cousin told him about the deal: steal the car, and do something else, and get $30K. He didn't know what the something else was, however, just that it was "big." They want to confirm this story with cousin Danny, but AVB informs them that Danny died on the operating table.

They review the judge's records to determine whether someone would have had a grudge against her. They learn that the judge/victim recently received a promotion and was going to become the assistant attorney general for civil rights. But they still can't figure out the connection between her and Ward/Danny. They talk to the judge in the hospital. She picks the shooter out a line-up. They suggest to her that perhaps her husband could be responsible, since he was one of only two people who knew what time they would be returning from Long Island. She vehemently denies this could be possible, and complains about the pain she is in.

They talk to her court clerk, who also knew they were coming back from LI. They reveal that the judge was personally involved in a civil litigation case against a real estate developer named Torrino, who wasn't a nice guy. They learn that Ward worked for him on a mini-mall project. Then they learn that the doorman knew about the victim's return from LI, and that he may have notified Torrino, whose company did maintenance work on the building. As they investigate Torrino, the find another connection: Mr Grobman (an architect) worked on the mini-mall project with cousin Danny Ward. Grobman had previously denied knowing Ward.

They requestion him about this, and then -- somewhat unexpectedly -- arrest him. (21 mins) At arraignment, he presents an alibi statement...from his wife, the victim. Carmichael talks to the victim and her adult daughter and tries to get her to roll on her husband, but she gets very angry and refuses to co-operate and asks to be left alone. McCoy, Carmichael, and AVB discuss the alibi statement, and McCoy wants to know why the police didn't discover it sooner, and he takes out the weakness of his case on AVB. She tells him it's his job to work it out, and he says bring me a better a case.

The detectives talk to Carmichael. They have found a record of a phone call from the Grobman's LI home to Dee Van Horn the morning of the murder, after the judge had received a call from her clerk indicating she had to come back to the city. They talk to Ms Van Horn who says there was some tension in the Grobman's marriage because the judge was so successful and Mr Grobman was less so (recently) and that he had taken a back seat to his wife's career. This is buttressed by AC's conversation with Mr Grobman's soon-to-be-former business partner, who says Grobman was a promising architect but has falled out of favor in recent years and was very stubborn. He also says Grobman was designing a new dream home in the country, but the judge's promotion ended the possibility of that home. They develop a new theory: Grobman, upset at always taking a back seat to his wife, killed her.

McCoy still can't understand why Judge Grobman is in denial about the apparent fact that her husband tried to kill her. He visits her in the hospital and tells her that evidence suggests that Grobman made a call to her killers from a pay phone near their LI cottage after getting the call about returning to the city. She gets upset again and refuses to believe her husband was involved. Furthermore, she soon after files an request to stop her dialysis treatment, a move which would result in her death. Since this would take away her ability to be an alibi witness for her husband, her husband objects and seeks something called a TRO to stop it.

They have a hearing about the TRO, and McCoy says he will agree to having Mrs Grobman testify on video tape in the hospital, so he can cross-examine her. She testifies (40'), and McCoy presents her with evidence of her husband's involvement, but she still refuses to acknowledge it. MCoy still can't figure out why. AC talks to her daughter, and her daughter somewhat surprisingly acknowledges that "we both know" that the dad was involved in the murder, but Judge Grobman feels guilty because she always put her career in front of her husband, and ignored his feelings. She says her mom is so depressed "she can't think straight." McCoy asks her to swear to this, so perhaps he can get her to lose standing in her ability to testify as an alibi witness for her husband.

Skoda talks to her and establishes that she's so depressed, she's not competent. They have a hearing about the motion to declare her incompetent, which could also affect her ability to legally stop her own dialysis treatment. Skoda testifies at the hearing, which is overseen by recurring character Judge Lisa Pongracic, who admits she is friends with Judge Grobman but for some inexplicable reason does not recuse herself. Anyway, McCoy once again cross-examines Grobman, and she still insists her husband didn't do it, pretty much, but then she says, "It's my fault," because she treated her husband without care. She feels guilty. She then turns to her friend Judge Pongracic and says, "Let me die."

Judge Pongracic decides that her friend is not competent to give testimony, though. McCoy has a meeting with Grobman and his attorney, at which the attorney seeks a deal. ("Toss us a bone," he says.) McCoy's idea of a deal is that the DA's office won't oppose parole in 25 years. Grobman, who spontaneously confesses to McCoy over his lawyer's objections, says he "wants it over" and accepts the deal. As the episode ends, Schiff tells McCoy and AC that Judge Grobman "died an hour ago." McCoy learns that Mr Grobman was there, and says he hopes that image haunts him in prison.

The episode has a lot of improbabilities: why didn't Grobman simply divorce his wife? McCoy's explanation -- that his ego was "damaged" doesn't wash. Why did the killers complicate matters by stealing the Jaguar? For $3K on top of a $30K hit? Doesn't make sense. Why does Grobman really decide to die? Why not just divorce her husband and live with her loving daughter? I guess she's upset, but c'mon!

Casting notes: Lindsay Crouse (the werewolf hunting professor on Buffy) plays Judge Grobman, and John Heard, best known for his work on The Sopranos, plays Mr Grobman.

The episode is interesting for the first 30 minutes or so, but eventually descends into the maudlin as the victim refuses to accept her husband's involvement and keeps begging to die.

Posted by adm at June 17, 2004 01:27 AM

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