Two ad men are found murdered in a rooftop parking garage, and the investigation leads to a potential third victim and a conspiracy between a hit-man, a defendant in a major Federal case, and the attorney in the middle. This is a marvelously intricate episode -- heavy on the law, but extremely well-thought out -- focusing on conspiracies, legal principles of severance and joinder, and a grudge match between Stone (Moriarty) and renowned genius attorney Arthur Gold, played by the late, great George Grizzard in a delightful performance.
This episode is presented as one in which Stone's hubris comes home to roost with a stupid mistake, but what is truly ironic is that the stupid mistake comes from Gold, not Stone. The key piece of evidence in the case involving all three key players is a tape that is suppressed (due to the failure to honor the middleman's right to counsel); when Gold tries to manipulate Stone to sever the defendants (by implying that Stone has a conflict of interest with the middleman -- one which is dubious from an legally ethical standpoint, but works dramatically), it backfires since New York allows suppressed evidence against one member in a conspiracy to be admitted in a severed trial against another defendant who is not party to the severed case. How Gold misses this from a legal standpoint is unfathomable, but it makes for a very satisfying ending.
The cast here is fantastic. Moriarty is superb fencing opposing Grizzard, Sam Groom (as the middleman) is wonderfully slick, and Ralph Bell as the judge hearing the cases is hilarious as his limited patience for Stone's and Gold's pissing contest becomes obvious. One of my favorite episodes, despite its flaws.
This episode is presented as one in which Stone's hubris comes home to roost with a stupid mistake, but what is truly ironic is that the stupid mistake comes from Gold, not Stone. The key piece of evidence in the case involving all three key players is a tape that is suppressed (due to the failure to honor the middleman's right to counsel); when Gold tries to manipulate Stone to sever the defendants (by implying that Stone has a conflict of interest with the middleman -- one which is dubious from an legally ethical standpoint, but works dramatically), it backfires since New York allows suppressed evidence against one member in a conspiracy to be admitted in a severed trial against another defendant who is not party to the severed case. How Gold misses this from a legal standpoint is unfathomable, but it makes for a very satisfying ending.
The cast here is fantastic. Moriarty is superb fencing opposing Grizzard, Sam Groom (as the middleman) is wonderfully slick, and Ralph Bell as the judge hearing the cases is hilarious as his limited patience for Stone's and Gold's pissing contest becomes obvious. One of my favorite episodes, despite its flaws.