The Ledger

5.23 Pride: Mike Logan's Last Episode

In this episode (5.23), a conservative city councilor apparently murders another city councilor, get acquited, and then is punched in the face by Mike Logan during a fracas on the courthouse steps immediately after the trial.

The episode begins with a heated debate at a public meeting. A man is shouting down an official calling for compromise. They seem to be debating gay rights and benefits for domestic partners. The meeting ends, and the man who was shouting exits with another man amidst a bit of commotion. They hear gun shots and run to see what happens: the man he was yelling at, who we learn is a city councilor named Richard Durban, is dead. Witnesses say they saw a man in a green rain coat run off. Briscoe and Logan arrive and are lead to the green raincoat, which has been dumped in a trash can along with the murder weapon.

A member of the NYPD brass tells Van Buren and the detectives he wants this case solved soon. They talk to the victim's co-workers and then to his chief political opponent, Councilor Kevin Crossley. Crossley scoffs at the idea that he murdered Durban, and says he liked him, even if he didn't agree with his politics. They talk to his ex-wife, who suggests he had a younger boyfriend living with him. They go to Durban's apartment (why didn't they go there before?) and can't find the boyfriend, and many things, such as paintings and clothes, are missing. They have to track down this person, who they learn from the super is named Joe. They check his phone records and call the same pager numbers he called, but everytime someone calls back, they hang up as soon as the dets mention Joe Gibbs. Finally, they get lucky, and a kid who is a male prostitute arranges a meeting with Briscoe. They meet at a restaurant, as Logan watches. The kid and Briscoe talk for a minute, close a deal, and Logan moves in. They learn that Joe is staying at a place called the Royale on Lexington, which appears to be a cheap hotel. They bust in on him, guns drawn, and take him into custody. He denies murdering Durban, and there is some tension between him and Logan. Logan calls him "pretty boy," etc. Gibbs says Crossley came to the apartment the night of the murder, but he didn't let him in. Durban was at that meeting at the time. He says Crossley looked angry and stalked off. Gibbs' alibit is a guy named Leo Burnett, with whom he was having an interlude at the time. (It seems that Gibbs is a pimp/hooker and had people in and out of the apartment all the time, without Durban's knowledge, which seems unlikely).

They talk to Burnett who works for the city's transportation department. He nervously confirms Gibbs' alibi, but the detectives are still considering Gibbs a suspect at this time. The coat doesn't fit Gibbs, though, and the hairs found in it are inconsistent with his.

Van Buren shows the detectives a videotape of a heated debate between Crossley and Durban, and Durban says some gay-baiting stuff that is pretty offensive. Perhaps he needs to be looked at more closely. They talk to the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader, who says that Crossley came in due to a conservative sweep the previous year, but due to redistricting, he was likely to be dumped from city council. Durban was semi-responsible for this redistricting, so there's a motive. Then they learn that the gun was reported stolen in Canarsie, Brooklyn in 1985 -- in the same area was Crossley used to be a cop.

They talk to Crossley, and tell him that he busted the guy responsible for stealing the gun, and suggest that he didn't turn it into the evidence room and instead kept it as a "drop piece." (A "drop piece" is a gun that corrupt police officers would carry with them and drop on someone they shot, so they could justify the shooting. See this episode.) Crossley denies all this and is stern with Logan.

Van Buren and the DAs discuss the evidence and strategy. Schiff says he'll arrange to have Crossley turn himself in. He does, and he's represented by recurring character Mr Powell (played by Homicide: Life on the Street's Peter Gerety). Kincaid goes to talk to a gay Republican staffer, who says that Crossley and Durban had a relationship that was mainly for show: they helped each other appeal to the other's constituents.

At Crossley's trial (34'), Powell does a good job and makes Gibbs look like the suspect. During a break, the DAs eat Chinese food and stretegize. Back at trial, Barnett (the closeted gay guy who Logan and Briscoe tried to get to say what time he left Burnett's apartment) testifies that he is unsure of what time he left Gibb's apartment, but he does so only after Powell implies, very indirectly, that he has evidence that Burnett cruised gay strips looking for male prostitutes. Sensing the revelation that Powell is about to make, Burnett backs off his assertion he left Gibb after 10 pm. McCoy realizes what Powell did to Burnett, and berates him outside the courtroom. McC also realizes that Logan and Briscoe must have done the same thing to Burnett, and he calls them in and scolds them, since they're behavior has put the case in jeopardy. They had initially co-erced Burnett by making it look like they were going to tell his wife he was gay if he didn't tell them he couldn't cover for Gibb, who at that time was their suspect. McCoy makes Logan take the stand and explain all this. Logan remains calm despite a difficult cross-examination by Powell, even when Powell implies Logan should be charged with Coercion, a class A misdemeanor.

Crossley testifies on his own behalf, but his gay-baiting commentary is interrupted by the same activist from the episode's opening scene who starts screaming at him. Pandemonium erupts in the courttroom, and Crossley starts yelling about "people like that" and "scum."

Despite all this, closing arguments are made, but after a long time, the jury is unable to reach a verdict and tells the judge they are deadlocked. Crossley is excited, and the camera follows everyone outside the courthouse, where there is more pandemonium, and gay activists are screaming, and people are getting shoved. Logan jumps into the fray and starts pushing back. We see Powell and Crossley's wife enter their car, but can't see Crossley. The shaky camera picks up Logan pushing some people, and then -- apparently -- he comes across Crossley is about to punch him. Unfortunately, my Tivo stopped recording at this exact moment, and so I didn't actually see the punch. However, I know from other reports that this is what happens.

This incident, it seems, leads to Logan's demotion, and we learn in the Law & Order TV movie Exiled that Logan gets re-assigned to walking a beat in Staten Island. Ironically, Crossley had said on the stand that he was considering moving to Staten Island because of all the "scum" in the other boroughs.

The episode is notable, of course, because it is Logan's last. I think Logan is many, many people's favorite or second-favorite detective of all time, so this is a major event for them. I guess those who love Logan also love that he went out by punching an obnoxious city councilor.

This is one of three episodes that I am aware of in which a city councilman is killed. (See also the episodes City Hall and "Silence.") "City Hall" is based on a real-life incident, and this one isn't. In fact, this one greatly pre-dates the incident that "City Hall" is based on, but that incident in some ways closely mirrors this episode: it comes down to a political rivalry.

Posted by adm at June 24, 2004 03:22 AM

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