White Rabbit (19 Oct. 1994)

A conservative suburban wife and mother turns out to be a fugitive student radical who was involved in an armored car heist and murder of a police officer 23 years earlier.

Director:

Steven Robman

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Ed Zuckerman,

Stars:

Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, S. Epatha Merkerson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Chris Noth	...	Detective Mike Logan
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Lt. Anita Van Buren
Sam Waterston	...	Jack McCoy
Jill Hennessy	...	A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
Steven Hill	...	D.A. Adam Schiff
Peter Friedman	...	Professor William Goodwin
Mary-Joan Negro	...	Rita Levitan / Susan Forrest
Peggy Roeder	...	Margaret Pauly
Dick Anthony Williams	...	Sam Burdette
Marilyn Chris	...	Mary Perella
William Kunstler	...	Himself
Norman Snow	...	Stuart Levitan
Philip LeStrange	...	Wick
Jonathan Teague Cook	...	Henry Maybrook

Storyline

Detectives Briscoe and Logan investigate the burglary of safe deposit boxes at a private vault where the thieves broke in through the floor. The case is quickly solved but in the course going through the stolen goods, they find a gym bag with a revolver that has had its serial number filed off and a large amount of cash. It turns out the money was taken by anti-Vietnam war radicals in an armored car robbery in the 1971 where a cop was killed. It leads them to Rita Levitan, real name Susan Forrest, who is now a married to an accountant and living in suburban New Jersey. ADA McCoy is prepared to accept a plea but the dead policeman's wife objects and McCoy finds himself at trial with little evidence to present. His only solution is to get some of her cohorts to testify against her.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 1994 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Kunstler is the only guest star to play himself in an episode.

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Goofs

At the first of this episode a hospital patient is shown receiving a blood transfusion and the size of the bag shown is the standard 1000ml bag. Blood transfusion is standardized everywhere as a 450ml volume "unit." Also, when transfusions are given, the bag typically has several stickers on it attesting to handling along its course to the patient. No stickers were seen on the unit of blood being given.

User Reviews

A very good hour of television based on the Katherine Ann Power case...

Considering this is a 15 year-old episode of TV, I don't really see how telling all of it is revealing spoilers, but I'm not taking any chances, lol. If you are familiar with the Katherine Ann Power case this episode of "Law & Order" should hold your interest. It's also very well written, acted and directed. I'm a much bigger fan of "SVU" than the original series, but this episode is probably as good as any episode of the spin- off. The episode starts out with a bank robbery and one of the items in the robbery is a gym bad with lots of cash and a gun. It is traced back to Billy Goodwin (Peter Friedman) and from there eventually to Rita Levitan (played by Mary Joan Negro). Rita Levitan turns out to be Susan Forest and she is wanted for the bank robbery and murder of a police officer from the early 1970s. Susan Forest has been on the run since the crime and along the way assumed the identity of Rita Levitan. How she is caught is interesting and uses a bit of coincidence to weave the tale. What was interesting to me is how Susan Forest became a conservative soccer-mom type to avoid capture. Everyone does a great acting job, even attorney William Kunstler. Susan Forest's friend Margaret Pauly, played by Peggy Roeder does a great acting job, especially when she realizes that her friend has betrayed her. There are a few twists and turns and some great writing. I'm not sure if this is available on DVD, but if you get the chance to see this episode, don't miss it.