The hunt for a racist serial killer is aided by personality profiling that the defense uses to their advantage in court.The hunt for a racist serial killer is aided by personality profiling that the defense uses to their advantage in court.The hunt for a racist serial killer is aided by personality profiling that the defense uses to their advantage in court.
Photos
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode appears to be based on the following incidents:
- The 1977-1980 Joseph Christopher (a.k.a. "The .22-Caliber Killer") case. Christopher was a serial killer who gained infamy for a series of murders in the early 1980s. He is believed to have killed at least twelve individuals and wounded numerous others.
- The 1991-1992 John Ausonius (a.k.a. "The Laser Man") case. Ausonius was a Swedish far-right extremist convicted of serial murder and 10 bank robberies. Between August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring the others. He first used a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence his nickname), and later switched to a revolver. He was arrested in June 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994. Additionally, in February 2018 he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the 1992 murder of Holocaust survivor Blanka Zmigrod.
- The Joseph Paul Franklin (a.k.a. "The Racist Killer") case. Franklin was a white supremacist and serial killer who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was eventually executed by lethal injection on November 20, 2013.
- The 1980-1993 James Swann (a.k.a. "The Shotgun Stalker") case. Swann is a mentally-ill serial killer who committed a string of random drive-by shotgun shootings that terrorized two neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. in 1993. The spree killed four people and injured ten others. Swann was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to Saint Elizabeths Hospital.
- Inspired by the 1993 controversy of Anthony P. Griffin, a black lawyer, defending Ku Klux Klan member Michael Lowe.
- GoofsLionel Jackson, the older African-American victim, explains to Logan and Briscoe in the hospital that he knew to duck and run for cover when he saw the shotgun due to his WWII service in the 761st Battalion at Omaha Beech on D-Day. The 761st Tank Battalion was a unit in World War II and was primarily manned by African-Americans (the U.S. Army did not desegregate until after the war) however it was not deployed for action until November 1944, five months after D-Day.
- Quotes
Lionel Jackson: [testifying against a racist killer] I remember the voice of the first white man that told me not to come in his store. I remember the voice of the doctor who told me I had a healthy son. And I remember the voice of the man who took out a gun and shot me!
- ConnectionsReferences Unforgiven (1992)
Featured review
Exciting and Shocking; a Law & Order Epic
This one is a thrilling watch. A racist spree killer puts a community on edge, making the "law" segment unusually tense as Briscoe and Logan pursue a variety of leads. There's a scene with a mother and her young son; the kid subscribes to a white power magazine, and he and his mom casually sling around the N-word like it's nothing.
Our lawfighters work a bit with the FBI on this episode, and the defense attorney later attempts to cast doubt on the accuracy of the FBI's profile, which is interesting. The judge also puts the public at risk by releasing the suspect during a pending hearing; Stone loses it with her, and she threatens to hold him in contempt before Kincaid steps in and defuses the situation. "Give her a raise, Ben," the judge says as he's leaving. "You were about to walk out of here in cuffs."
The icing on the cake is the great James Earl Jones as the unrepentant suspect's high-priced defense attorney - definitely a guest role to remember. He and Stone have a fascinating conversation about why a black man is defending a violent white racist. The ending is great too: no spoilers, but unlike many other episodes in this series, it does NOT end in a courtroom...
Check this one out.
Our lawfighters work a bit with the FBI on this episode, and the defense attorney later attempts to cast doubt on the accuracy of the FBI's profile, which is interesting. The judge also puts the public at risk by releasing the suspect during a pending hearing; Stone loses it with her, and she threatens to hold him in contempt before Kincaid steps in and defuses the situation. "Give her a raise, Ben," the judge says as he's leaving. "You were about to walk out of here in cuffs."
The icing on the cake is the great James Earl Jones as the unrepentant suspect's high-priced defense attorney - definitely a guest role to remember. He and Stone have a fascinating conversation about why a black man is defending a violent white racist. The ending is great too: no spoilers, but unlike many other episodes in this series, it does NOT end in a courtroom...
Check this one out.
helpful•110
- Better_TV
- Apr 2, 2018
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content