The death penalty has just been passed in New York and prosecutors must decide whether or not it is appropriate after an unlikely suspect murders an undercover police officer.The death penalty has just been passed in New York and prosecutors must decide whether or not it is appropriate after an unlikely suspect murders an undercover police officer.The death penalty has just been passed in New York and prosecutors must decide whether or not it is appropriate after an unlikely suspect murders an undercover police officer.
Photos
- Sarah Tabor
- (as Angelica Torn)
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsThe date of the sentencing hearing is February 11. The date the sentence is handed down is February 17. However, everyone from Jack, Claire, the defense, and even the jury forewoman is wearing the exact same clothes, right down to the jewelry, from six days previously. It's clear both scenes were shot the same day, then just had different dates added in. In addition, it states that February 17 is a Monday. That would make it President's Day, a Federal holiday, and court would not be in session.
- Quotes
Claire Kincaid: They strap you down. They stick a needle in your arm and run poison through your veins. It's barbaric.
Jack McCoy: I wouldn't weep for Paul Sandig.
Claire Kincaid: Revenge is sweet, huh?
Jack McCoy: Yes, it is. It's a natural human instinct and there's no need to apologize for it.
Claire Kincaid: No, except for the fact that it's illegal.
Jack McCoy: That's exactly my point. There is no private right of action under the criminal justice system and so the state has obligation to mete out fitting punishment.
Claire Kincaid: And that's why we have prisons. Because life without parole is fitting enough.
Jack McCoy: Let me ask you, Claire: Why do you suppose 38 states, and the federal government, and the military have all of a sudden adopted or readopted the death penalty?
Claire Kincaid: Like you said, people are sick of crime.
Jack McCoy: And the death penalty gives the feeling of control demanded by society. People are frustrated by the uncertainty of the system. They want to know for sure that Charles Manson won't ever be walking the streets again.
Claire Kincaid: You don't think there are less Draconian ways to gain the public's confidence?
Jack McCoy: No. I don't. And, believe me, if the state doesn't seek retribution then, the people will. There'll be more Ellie Nessler's walking into courtrooms with loaded pistols. You kill a cop; how long do you think it will be before the cops kill you? Legal execution is a means to prevent street justice.
- ConnectionsReferences First Blood (1982)
The cops quickly find damning evidence that a white guy did it (3 for 3 on the season so far) and even though there's the nearly obligatory throwing-out-of-the-damning-evidence-on-a-technicality, McCoy cannily sidesteps that and all we see of the trial is the guilty verdict being delivered.
This all makes for a boring whodunit but the legal story makes this one worthwhile. This episode is all about the moral and legal argument over the death penalty. We get a genuinely good scene where Schiff has a soul-searching session with a retired judge friend, and a legal challenge of the state's right to take a life, which has surprising legal depth to find on a network TV show but I'm not sure how much I could take away from it.
It's okay as a legal drama. Not a lot of suspense, unfortunately, but the legal and moral questions raised are surprisingly decent for network television. Season 6 is, if nothing else, striving to be different and innovative at the cop show format.
- knucklebreather
- Jun 1, 2011