The Ledger

2.21 Silence

In this episode (2.21), a secretly-gay city councilor is blackmailed and then murdered by some unsavory types. The prosecution of the case is made more difficult because the victim's father, an old political supporter of Adam Schiff, is ashamed of his son's sexual identity, and essentially protects his murderers as a result. Cerreta and Logan investigate, and Stone and Robinette attempt to prosecute.

The episode begins with a couple riding in a Checker cab discussing marital issues. The cab screeches to a halt, and the cabbie gets out and sees a body in the street, which he nearly ran over. It appears that the victim may have jumped from a bridge overhead. Cerreta and Logan arrive, and ID the victim as James Vogel, a city councilor. He didn't jump, however: he's been beaten and stabbed.

They visit ME Rodgers who has various pictures of the victim's body. They visit his office and review his financial records. They see he recently made a deposit of $50,000. They talk to his dad (played by the actor from the episode Sundown), who denies knowing anything substantive. They also notice payments to a place called "Mullin's," which appears to be some kind of upscale club for gay people. Why a closeted, high-profile city councilor would visit such a place is beyond me, but whatever. The host there says Vogel was gay and planning to come out. They learn that Outworld magazine was planning to out him anyway.

They talk to the editor of Outworld, Mr Barkley, who says he has information that confirms Vogel was gay. They begin to believe that Vogel was being blackmailed by someone who knew he was gay. They talk to his dad again who denies knowing anything about this. They learn that Vogel had an apparent boyfriend named Harold whom he has several letters from. They learn that Harold is Harold Dwyer, a convict just released from a state penitentiary. Sounds like a suspect!

They visit Dwyer's other prison penpals, who are also gay. One of them was threatened by a third party: pay up or I'll release your letters, and everyone will know you're gay. They check the prison phone logs to see who Dwyer was in touch with. Mostly, it was his lawyer, Mr Colson. They talk to Colson, who denies everything, of course, but Logan sweettalks his mail clerk (in a really extraordinary scene), and gets learns the name of the courier service Colson apparently used to pick up payments from the other blackmailed parties.

Meanwhile, the NYPD brass is trying to cover up the fact that Vogel was gay. But the investigation continues, and they intercept a package the courier was delivering to Colson. It contained a lot of money. The question Colson, and he gets an attorney of his own, recurring character Carla Bowman.

The ADAs meet with Barkley to get him to incriminate Colson and Dwyer. He refuses, but they threaten to connect him to the murder and blackmail charges. They obtain the letters. We learn that Vogel's father was powerful back in the day, and supported Schiff in his first campaign for DA.

They talk to another blackmailed penpal. Luckily, he taped the exortion phone calls. Colson can clearly be heard on the tapes, we learn. Colson and Dwyer are arraigned. (36')

Judge Strelzick agrees to seal the court so that the identity of a witness will not be known. This person, a former baseball player, tells the judge his story. Barkley gets a lawyer, too, Helen Barkley, a big first amendment advocate. She wants the court opened to the press. The judge says OK.

The baseball player doesn't want to testify. At Stone's silent urging, he leaves the state, and this allows the tapes he made to be admissible evidence. They make a deal with Colson to roll on Dwyer. He says Vogel's dad knew about the extortion.

They talk to Vogel's dad to get him to testify, but he refuses. Stone points out that he is essentially protecting his own son's killers. Schiff and Vogel meet to discuss this. Vogel says that 16 years ago, he essentially made Schiff DA. Schiff says, "Your shame put the knife into Dwyer's hand."

At trial (56'), Vogel's dad testifies, reluctantly. He fingers Dwyer. The verdict comes back: Dwyer is guilty. Keep in mind, however, that there was absolutely no physical evidence whatsoever connecting Dywer to the murder.

Character background: we learn Schiff was helped along in his quest to become DA 16 years earlier by Vogel. Schiff also says that at one point his father wanted him to be a doctor.

Posted by adm at July 13, 2004 09:24 PM

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