The Ledger

4.13 Breeder

In this episode (4.13), a young woman blackmails would-be adoptive parents by threatening to abort the babies she agreed to turn over to them. Logan and Briscoe investigate, and Stone and Kincaid figure out what to prosecute her for.

The episode begins in a hospital waiting room, where someone comes across a woman who appears to be dead. It turns out she isn't dead, juts very sick. Her name is Deborah Elkins, 22. She gave birth very recently, the doctors say, but the baby is nowhere to be found. She says she gave birth in a taxi cab, and that's all she remembers. Van Buren is skeptical. They track down the cabbie, and he says she was sick, but doesn't know anything about her having a baby.

Logan and Briscoe discuss baby matters, and Logan mentions he had a girlfriend who had an abortion.

They track her back to the hotel room where she was staying. There's blood all over the bed. They then learn about the woman's boyfriend, Steven Shaw, who was present at the birth, but they can't find him. They talk to Elkins and confront her about lying to them about giving birth in the cab. She remains evasive.

They hear from an attorney, Wendell, who is representing a married couple who had an arrangment to adopt this baby. Keep in mind the baby is still missing. They talk to the parents, who say they gave Elkins, who said she was a student at Hudson University, some money to take care of herself during her pregnancy. They finally find Shaw at the Lowry Hotel, where he is staying with the baby.

The dets talk to Debbie and again mention their anger with her. She mentions something about "the last time" she was pregnant, and you get the sense something is very wrong with this girl. But AVB says there's no crime here, so they have to move on.

And then: the baby really is kidnapped, this time from the foundling hospital where it was staying. The nurse on duty says the kidnapper had very official looking papers. They track down this woman: her name is Dorothy Hemrich aka Dorothy Baxter, and she's a nurse.

The detectives talk to Deborah, who leads them to Hemrich and her husband, Mr Baxter. They find the baby at Baxter's sister's house. During interrogation, Dorothy's lawyer, Hoffman, announces that Dorothy had a contract with Elkins for the baby, too. This means Elkins had promised the baby to at least two couples.

Mr Baxter says they were pretty desperate, having tried four times in six years to get a baby this way. Olivet examines Mrs Baxter and determines she is obsessed with babies and family. (Olivet reveals during this conversation she's never been married.) Baxter is upset because she's had several miscarriages.

The ADAs talk the case over with Schiff. Schiff says his son, Josh, had troubles adopting a child. Shortly thereafter, Baxter pleads guilty to a minor charge of custodial interference. But Kinciad is not satisfied: she still wants to go after Elkins for conning everybody.

She investigates the case by talking to the prospective parents and learns that many of them gave a lot of money to Elkins. Schiff says there is no law against selling your baby. Stone says that she conned them, though, so maybe they can get a charge of Grand Larceny 2.

Elkins lawyers up, getting a woman named Jane to represent her. She reveals that one of the couples, the Savits, have adopted the baby now. It looks like Elkins may have made this arrangement to keep the Savits from testifying against her. Stone and Kincaid discuss the case while Stone buys a copy of the New York Review of Books. Stone thinks they might be able to charge Elkins with extortion, since she told the prospective parents she would abort the baby if they didn't give her money. Judge Sanderson allows this charge to stand.

At trial (44'), Mr Savits gets some courage and testifies against Elkins, saying she extorted money from them. Elkins under pressure cuts a deal with Stone: Grand Larceny 2, 4-12 years.

Character background: Olivet reveals she never married; Schiff says he has a son named Josh; and Stone buys the New York Review of Books.

Posted by adm at September 7, 2004 12:42 AM

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