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Law & Order

1990-Present

Season 14

Table of Contents

Bodies

S14E01 2003
  1. This episode appears to be based on the following cases:
    • The 2003 Gary Ridgway (a.k.a. "The Green River Killer") case.
    • The 1973 Robert Garrow case and the related "Buried Bodies" legal ethics case.
  2. At approximately 11 minutes Lennie and Ed are having a conversation in front of the ventilation tower of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel located at 504 Battery Drive. This location was used in the movie, Men in Black (1997), as the entrance to MIB headquarters.
  3. When attorney Schwimmer is arrested a woman from the crowd yells "You're a s--". It was not cut from the episode.
  4. Thom Sesma has played four different characters over the course of the series:

Bounty

S14E02 2003
  1. This episode appears to be based on three separate cases/incidents:
    • The 2003 Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal. Blair, a black reporter was caught fabricating articles when he was employed by the New York Times.
    • The 2003 capture of Andrew Luster. Luster was heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, who was charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy and sexual assaults using date-rape drug GHB. He fled after posting $1 million bail and was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 124 years and a $1 million fine. He was apprehended in Mexico several months later. His sentence was reduced to 50 years; he is eligible for parole 2028.
    • The Criticism of the affirmative action policy.
  2. This episode was used in Resident Alien - main character (alien) used video of this episode to learn English. Classic line in Resident Alien is from about eight minutes into this episode: "I've got news for you, Cosette. There's no such thing as hooker-client privilege"...
  3. Peter Jacobson (Randolph J. 'Randy' Dworkin, Esq.) previously played the part of Dr. Karl Styne in episode 4.21, Doubles (1994).
  4. Mark Zimmerman has played five different characters over the course of the series:

Patient Zero

S14E03 2003
  1. The plot borrows a double twist from Witness for the Prosecution (1957), in which a devoted girlfriend realizes that she can help her guilty beau by (falsely) giving evidence against him and then letting herself be discredited under cross-examination.
  2. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
    • The 1998 Dr. Richard J. Schmidt case.
    • The 2002-2004 SARS outbreak.
  3. Detective Lennie Briscoe suggests that the carjacked vehicle is in a crate "on its way to Düsseldorf." Düsseldorf is the birthplace of Elisabeth Röhm, who plays Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn.
  4. Jack Gwaltney has played three different characters over the course of the series:
  5. P.J. Benjamin has played three different roles over the course of the series:
  6. Dr. Charles Blanchard says to ADA Serena Southerlyn, that SARS is not fatal, to which she replies, "I'm sure that will be a comfort to the 800 people worldwide who've already been buried". 17 years after this episode airs in 2003, COVID-19 has 7.1 million recorded deaths, but the World Health Organisation believe the true death toll from the global pandemic is closer to 15 - 20 million deaths.

Shrunk

S14E04 2003
  1. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
  2. John Shea (John David Myers) also plays the part of Dr. Isaac Waxman in episode 18.11, Betrayal (2008).
  3. David Pittu has played three different characters over the course of the series:
  4. Bill Walters played three different roles over the course of the series:

Blaze

S14E05 2003
  1. This episode appears to be based on the deadly nightclub fire during a Great White concert on February 20, 2003 in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
  2. The location where Dets. Briscoe and Green arrested Conner is the Angel Orensanz Foundation at 172 Orchard St.

Identity

S14E06 2003
  1. A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn mentions to E.A.D.A. Jack McCoy 'that case in Texas where the lawyer fell asleep during trial'. In 1983, Calvin J. Burdine received a death sentence for the murder of his former roommate, W.T. Wise. During trial both the jurors and the court clerk noticed Burdine's court-appointed lawyer, Joe Frank Cannon, falling asleep frequently. In 1999, a federal district judge ordered a new trial for Burdine, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals voted against it.
  2. The way that Lonnie Jackson learned the identity of the thief who targeted him is in itself an identity theft method called "Social Engineering" in which interaction with people using talents such as personal charm, are used to learn confidential information.
  3. Lorraine Toussaint reprised her role as Shambala Green in Justice (2016) 13 years later.
  4. Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Rogers says that the victim was killed with an antique gun, "something called a 7.63mm Mauser." The 7.63x25mm cartridge was one of the main cartridges the Mauser C96 was chambered for, the other being the 9x19mm Parabellum. The Mauser C96 (also known as a Mauser "Broomhandle") was the primary side-arm of the German army during both World Wars, it was designed in 1896 and was one of the first commercially successful semi-automatic pistols. In addition to being used by the German army it was also used by the Soviet Union, Austria, Hungary, Italy, North Vietnam and the Ottoman Empire among others.
  5. At the murder scene, Briscoe says to Ed, ....."and that's why I don't retire! " But in the final episode of this season, Briscoe does retire, as Jerry Orbach leaves the show.
  6. Lonnie Jackson's full name is Langford Louis Jackson.
  7. Ruben Santiago-Hudson has played four different roles over the course of the series:
  8. "Lonnie Jackson" is 79 years old and portrayed as being incompetent to stand trial due to old age and possible senility but Paul Benjamin the actor who portrayed him was only 65 when he played the role.
  9. Maddie Corman has played three different roles over the course of the series:

Floater

S14E07 2003
  1. While searching the shore of the Hudson River in order to find the scene of the murder Detective Ed Green asks Detective Lennie Briscoe if he's found anything. Briscoe replies "aside from a lifetime supply of Coney Island Whitefish not much." "Coney Island Whitefish" is a term used in New York City for a used condom that is either found floating in the water or lying on the beach.
  2. This episode appears to be based on the 2002 Justice Victor I. Barron case.
  3. A lawyer with the same first name and posessing other similarities to one of the lawyers in this episode brought a $15 million libel suit against the creators of "Law & Order."
  4. One of the few episodes that have no scenes in the courtroom other than a brief arraignment.
  5. Jan Maxwell has played four different roles over the course of the series:
  6. Jason Kolotouros has portrayed three different characters throughout the series:
  7. Sean Cullen has played three different characters over the course of the series:

Embedded

S14E08 2003
  1. This episode appears to be based on the 2003 Geraldo Rivera controversy during the Iraq War. Geraldo had drawn a diagram while reporting on Fox news, after which the Pentagon pulled his credentials and had him sent home, claiming that he had potentially given away the location of American troops.
  2. Michael Medeiros has portrayed six different characters over the course of the series:
  3. Kevin Elden has played five different roles over the course of the series:

Compassion

S14E09 2003
  1. Ann Dowd and Lawrence Arancio, who play married doctors, Beth and Mathew Allison, in this episode, are married in real life.
  2. Actress Ann Dowd (Dr. Beth Allison) has appeared in multiple episodes and played multiple characters throughout the Law & Order franchise. She appeared in four episodes of this series and three episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), playing a different character in each episode. She also appeared in one episode each of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).
  3. McCoy called a recess because he saw Dr. Allison was clearly suffering a psychotic break.
  4. Actor Lawrence Arancio (Dr. Matthew Allison) has appeared in four episodes of the Law & Order franchise, three of those episodes were of this series and the fourth was an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Three of the four characters he has played in the franchise were doctors.
  5. Madeleine Martin (Annie) also played the role of Emma Waxman in episode 18.11, Betrayal (2008).
  6. Dr. Alison's climactic lament on the witness stand echoes a scene from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's autobiography, "The Wheel of Life." A male oncologist suffered tremendously whenever he visited his hospital patients. He finally confided the tragic futility to a nurse: "They all die." The nurse and Dr. Kubler-Ross found psychiatric help for the physician.

Ill-Conceived

S14E10 2003
  1. When Briscoe and Green are interviewing somebody at the site of a labor protest, there is an 8-foot tall inflatable rat at the protest site. Inflatable rats are actually used by the labor unions at protest sites in New York City (NY, USA) when they want to show that the contractors and developers are rats for using non-union labor.The inflatable rat that the unions bring to their protests is none other than "Scabby the Rat"
  2. D.A. Arthur Branch buys his newspaper from a kiosk and its pink color reveals it to be the Financial Times, the U.S. edition of which had been available for about five years by the time of this episode.
  3. Merwin Goldsmith plays Judge Ian Feist in this, and ten other episodes. He previously played the part of Trial Judge Gollub in episode 1.17, Mushrooms (1991).
  4. Don Sparks has played three different characters over the course of the series:

Darwinian

S14E11 2004
  1. This episode appears to be partially based on the 2003 Murder of Gregory Glenn Biggs. On October 26, 2001, 25-year-old nursing assistant Chante Jawan Mallard struck 37-year-old Gregory Glenn Biggs, a homeless man, with her automobile, in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. The force of the crash lodged Biggs into the windshield. Mallard then drove home and left the man lodged in the windshield of her car, parked in her garage. He died a day or two later. Mallard was convicted and sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for her role in his death. The CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) episode Anatomy of a Lye (2002) is also based on the same case.
  2. If she hit a man and left him to die in her garage, she would not get probation, especially since she told the police she heard him moaning in her garage. She would be charged with vehicular manslaughter. The homeless guy would've been charged with assault causing severe bodily injury possibly attempted murder.
  3. Dylan Baker has portrayed three different characters throughout the series:
  4. Kate Burton plays Erica Gardner in this episode and three others, but she previously played the role of Sister Bettina in episode 2.17, Sisters of Mercy (1992).
  5. Sekou Laidlow (Prial) also played the role of Emerson Tyler in episode 16.19, Positive (2006).
  6. John C. Vennema played three different characters over the course of the series:
  7. Nance Williamson has played four different characters over the course of the series:

Payback

S14E12 2004
  1. Jerry Orbach, who plays Detective Lenny Briscoe, was present at the table of Joseph "Crazy" Gallo, the Mafia crime family Boss, when he was murdered at Umberto's Clam House. Orbach refused to cooperate with police, even though he was an eyewitness to the murder of Joseph 'Crazy Joey' Gallo, right up until his death.
  2. This episode appears to be based on the 2002 trial of Mafia Don Vincent Gigante.
  3. "Payback" is also the title of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) series premiere Payback (1999).
  4. In the opening scene Briscoe and Green are questioning two horse stable workers. When one confirmed there was no-one else around, just the horses, waiting to be fed, Briscoe replied 'I don't suppose any of them are named Mr Ed'. Mister Ed (1961) was a 1961 US comedy series about a talking horse.
  5. Jana Robbins (Assistant United States Attorney Jean Piccone) also played the role of Bella in episode 20.12, Blackmail (2010).
  6. Dan Ziskie has played six different roles over the course of the series:
  7. Gerry Bamman has played four different roles over the course of the series:
  8. Larry Gregory has played six different roles over the course of the series:

Married with Children

S14E13 2004
  1. Peter McRobbie plays Judge Walter Bradley in this, and 13 other episodes. Previously, he played the part of four other characters:

City Hall

S14E14 2004
  1. First appearance of Defense Attorney Danielle Melnick (Tovah Feldshuh ) since she was shot at the end of Open Season (2002).
  2. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
    • The 2003 assassination of James E. Davis.
    • Based on criticism of the FISA Court following the September 11 attacks.
  3. Julian Gamble has played four different roles over the course of the series:
  4. Sam Coppola (US Federal Judge Vance) previously played the part of a bartender in episode 2.9, Renunciation (1991).
  5. David Adkins (Williamson) previously played the part of Dr. Lesser in episode 9.3, Bait (1998).
  6. Radio Zone is clearly supposed to be a reference to RadioShack, a chain of stores selling electronic equipment that was popular until they declined in the 2010s and filed for bankruptcy when smartphones, gaming consoles, and social media took off.

Veteran's Day

S14E15 2004
  1. Allen v. United States (1896) was a United States Supreme Court case that first approved of a judge giving an instruction to a deadlocked jury for them to reconsider their votes in order to prevent a hung jury. It specifically is used when an overwhelming majority of the jury is in agreement and there are only one or two dissenters. While it isn't requiring the dissenting jurors to change their vote, it is encouraging them to be sure that their vote is based on the facts of the case and the law and not instead on their own personal feelings or beliefs. It also encourages them to consider that if their arguments are not convincing to the majority of their fellow jurors that they be absolutely sure that they truly are convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, of their vote.After that case such an instruction became known as an Allen charge and was used to prevent a hung jury due to a small minority disagreeing with the majority. Because it is used to dislodge jurors from entrenched positions, the Allen charge is sometimes referred to as the "dynamite charge" or the "hammer charge." Since the ruling was made in the federal Supreme Court, state courts are not required to abide by the ruling. In fact 23 states in the US have laws that prohibit the use of a Allen charge.

Can I Get a Witness?

S14E16 2004
  1. When the detectives interrupt "Slug" playing poker, he protests "Oh come on, I got aces over eights!" Briscoe replies "That's a Hickok. A dead man's hand!" This refers to the (possibly apocryphal) story that the last hand of poker which the gunfighter "Wild" Bill Hickok played before he was shot in the back of the head (on August 2, 1876), consisted of both black aces and both black eights.
  2. A young Chadwick Boseman plays defendant Foster Keyes. He appears to be wearing a contact lens in one eye to make it appear discolored.
  3. Dorian Missick (Ronald Duggan aka Slug) previously played the role of Henry Williams in episode 11.14, A Losing Season (2001).
  4. Mark Zimmerman has played five different characters over the course of the series:
  5. Aside from a young Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) appearing, this episode has another MCU connection. The character Simon Williams in episode 5 of the Marvel show Wonder Man (2026) specifically references this exact Law & Order episode as his point of reference for where he learned police "lingo".
  6. Susan Kelechi Watson and Dorian Missick both guest-starred in Pay to Play (2008).

Hands Free

S14E17 2004
  1. This episode appears to be based on the 2003 Robert Durst case in Galveston, Texas. Durst was an American real estate heir and convicted murderer. The eldest son of New York City real estate magnate Seymour Durst, he gained attention as a suspect in the unsolved 1982 disappearance of his first wife Kathleen McCormack (also known as Kathie Durst), the 2000 murder of his long-time friend Susan Berman, and the 2001 killing of his neighbor Morris Black. Acquitted of the latter most in 2003, Durst did not face further legal action until his participation in the documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015), led to him being charged with Berman's murder. Durst was convicted of the murder in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was charged with McCormack's disappearance shortly after his sentencing but died in 2022 before a trial could begin. Maledictus (2002) and Devil's Dissections (2015) are also based on the Durst case.
  2. Detective Lennie Briscoe says that it is a myth that hand sanitizer kills the influenza virus, this is actually both correct and incorrect. Non-alcohol based, antibacterial hand sanitizer such as Triclosan based sanitizer won't kill viruses, plus they cause bacteria to build up a tolerance to it, which is part of the reason for the epidemic of antibiotic resistant bacteria.However alcohol based sanitizer, with concentrations over 60% (70-90% are the best), kill 99.999% of bacteria and fungi within 30 seconds, are superior to hand washing with soap and water when no solid matter needs to be washed off and also kill a lot of common viruses, including the influenza virus. Plus alcohol based sanitizer doesn't have the issue of contributing to antibiotic resistant bacteria.So alcohol based hand sanitizer is superior to antibacterial non-alcohol sanitizer in every way, it kills bacteria and fungi more effectively, it also kills viruses and it doesn't cause the issue of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
  3. Eli and Caroline Madison were married on December 5, 1992 and divorced on July 14, 1996, two years after her disappearance.

Evil Breeds

S14E18 2004
  1. This was Al Freeman Jr.'s final acting role before his death on August 9, 2012 at the age of 78.
  2. This episode appears to be based on the 1970s-1990s John Demjanjuk (a.k.a. "Ivan the Terrible") case. John Demjanjuk (born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demianiuk) was a retired Ukrainian-American auto worker, a former soldier in the Soviet Red Army, and a POW during World War II. John Demjanjuk was accused of being Ivan the Terrible, the nickname given to a notorious guard Ivan Marchenko, at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust. In 2011, he was accused of war crimes as a different guard named Ivan Demjanjuk, who served at the Sobibor extermination camp. Already in 1944, a cruel guard named "Ivan", sharing the distinct duties and the extremely violent behavior with a guard named "Nicholas", is mentioned in survivor literature (Rok w Treblince by Jankiel Wiernik, translated into English as A Year in Treblinka in 1945); however, very little is known about Ivan Marchenko.
  3. Stefan Anders entered the United States on June 11, 1948.
  4. George Bartenieff (Stefan Anders) Born: January 24, 1933 in Berlin, Germany, the second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945. .
  5. William Atherton and Jordan Charney both appeared in Ghostbusters (1984).

Nowhere Man

S14E19 2004
  1. Michael Bloomberg: The mayor of New York City is holding press conferences near the beginning and end of the episode.
  2. This episode appears to be based on the 2003 murder of Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Luna.
  3. When Detective Lennie Briscoe and Detective Ed Green are looking through the victim's papers, Lennie talks about the length of time needed to graduate law school, and that he had considered it. Green said he would have made a heck of a shyster. When Jerry Orbach first appeared in The Wages of Love (1991), he played a defense attorney.
  4. When Briscoe and Green are questioning the newspaper shop steward, two vans are seen with the newspaper name "New York Ledger". It was an actual weekly story newspaper from 1855 to 1897, until a steady decline caused it to switch to monthly in 1898. It ceased publication in 1903.
  5. The title of this episode is Nowhere Man. A John Lennon song. He was killed in the Strawberry Fields next to the John Lennon Imagine memorial in New York Cities' Central Park.

Everybody Loves Raimondo's

S14E20 2004
  1. It has been well documented that Orbach was an outstanding pool player who did all of his own billiards shots when filming Law & Order.When Detective Lenny Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) is asked in this episode where he learned to play, he replies "Jersey Red, Captain Hook, Hundred Ball Blackie". These are all actual famous pool players. It is documented that Orbach was associated with at least Captain Hook and Hundred Ball Blackie.
  2. This episode appears to be based on the 2004 Louis Barone/Albert Circelli, Jr. murder case.
  3. The restaurant appears to be a takeoff on Rao's Restaurant, a famous Manhattan restaurant with a similar clientele and a months long waiting list for a table.
  4. Bo Dietl (Carmine 'Bumpy' Bustale) is one of three actors who were actually in law enforcement in the series. Arthur J. Nascarella (various guest stars) and Dennis Farina (Detective Joe Fontana) are the other two.
  5. Opening scene is filmed at Monte's which is a legendary Carrol Gardens Brooklyn restaurant. The story is based on an actual shooting at Rao's restaurant in Harlem.
  6. The title "Everybody Loves Raimondo's" is clearly a play on "Everybody Loves Raymond", the title of Ray Romano's popular sitcom which was in its eighth season on the air at the time this episode was first broadcast.
  7. Lenny Venito (Sonny King) previously played the role of Detective Wade in episode 12.7, Myth of Fingerprints (2001).
  8. Stephen DeRosa (Stan Loomis) previously played the role of Al Festov in episode 9.13, Hunters (1999).
  9. Damian Young has played five different characters over the course of the series:
  10. Bill Camp (Denny Rogis) previously played the part of Barney Rade In episode 9.15, Disciple (1999).

Vendetta

S14E21 2004
  1. The murder victim is based on notorious Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman. Bartman was vilified by many people after he interfered with Cubs outfielder Moises Alou, who was trying to catch a foul ball in game six of the 2003 National League Championship Series. The Cubs were winning the game at the time, but eventually lost. Many Cubs fans blame Bartman's actions for the Cubs losing the game and not reaching the World Series.
  2. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
    • The 1987 Fred Zain and Glen Woodall cases.
    • The 2003 Steve Bartman incident. While the initial event that sparks the story is based on the Steve Bartman incident in the 2003 Nation League Playoff Series, the rest of the episode is not. For the record, after failing to record an out on the foul ball, the Cubs fell apart and allowed the Marlins to score eight runs. This was game six of a seven game series, and the Cubs had the opportunity to win the next day, but they again squandered a lead (without Bartman) and lost the series to the Marlins, who went on to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
  3. Actor David Warshofsky (Walter Grimes) has made multiple appearances in the L&O franchise, appearing as six different characters in eight episodes. He appeared in three episodes of this series, Siren Call (2006), Father's Shadow (2012), and also played District Attorney Ira Reiner on Law & Order True Crime (2017).

Gaijin

S14E22 2004
  1. "Gaijin" (the episode's title) means "outsider" or "alien" in Japanese. It is a term, often used in a negative or pejorative context, for foreigners and non-Japanese. While some people maintain that it is a neutral term without any negative implications others prefer to use the term "Gaikokujin" (translates to "foreign-country person") as a formal neutral term for non-Japanese persons.
  2. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases:
    • The 1981 Kazuyoshi Miura case.
    • The 1989 Charles "Chuck" Stuart case. On October 23, 1989, Charles Stuart, a furrier, and his pregnant wife Carol , a lawyer, got into their car after attending childbirth classes at Brigham and Women's Hospital. According to police, Stuart shot his wife in the head and himself in the stomach, and then called 911 on his cell phone. Carol Stuart died that night, after their son, Christopher, was delivered by Cesarean section. He suffered seizures due to oxygen deprivation, and died 17 days later after his father discontinued his life support. Stuart blamed the crime on a black man. The Boston police aggressively pursued black men without probable cause. They suspected one Willie Bennett, and on December 28, Stuart fingered him out of a lineup. The case against Bennett came to an abrupt close when Stuart's brother, Matthew, identified Charles Stuart as the killer. Stuart had been involved in an affair, and was having financial difficulties. On January 4, 1990, Charles jumped from the Tobin Bridge to his death.
  3. During Stephen Olson's voir dire questioning, the cases of Susan Smith and Charles Stuart are mentioned. Both were accused of murder after accusing a black man (with vague physical descriptions) for the crimes. Smith was tried, convicted, and sentenced, but Stuart committed suicide before his trial.
  4. Chris Chalk (Thomas Walker) also plays a character by the same name (Corporal Thomas Walker) in the Showtime series Homeland (2011).
  5. Chris Chalk played a character named Tom Walker here and in Homeland.

Caviar Emptor

S14E23 2004
  1. The episode title is a pun on "caveat emptor", the Latin phrase meaning "Let the buyer beware".
  2. Frank Converse has played five different roles over the course of the series:
  3. One of two horse-themed episode to feature Frank Converse (the other being "Corpus Delecti").

C.O.D.

S14E24 2004
  1. Jerry Orbach left the show due to on-going treatment for prostate cancer. Rather than retire, he was offered a role on the new Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005), where his special investigator role would have a smaller profile in the new show and provide him more schedule flexibility so that Orbach could continue work. Sadly, he passed after filming only two episodes on December 28, 2004 at the age of 69.
  2. This episode appears to be based on the novel/movie Strangers on a Train (1951). District Attorney Arthur Branch even mentions this and says this story sounds like something "right out of Alfred Hitchcock." The story is that in which two strangers meet on a train, and one convinces the other to "exchange" murders for each other, so that neither would get caught.
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