| "Competence" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | L&O, Episode 5.06 | → |
| Production number: 69409 First aired: 2 November 1994 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Michael S. Chernuchin & Mark B. Perry Directed By Fred Gerber | ||
Summary[]
When Van Buren is the victim of an attempted holdup by two teens, she fires her gun and kills one of them, and the detectives are faced with the fact that she shot an unarmed child in the back.
Plot[]
On the way to dinner with her kids, Van Buren stops at an ATM for money and ends up shooting dead a mentally retarded young man named James Gordon. Van Buren claims that he was trying to rob her with another young man, but doubt is cast on her story as he was unarmed and shot in the back.
Despite being ordered not to, Logan and Briscoe investigate the supposed robbery while McCoy takes Van Buren to the grand jury with a murder indictment. Despite McCoy going after her aggressively and claiming she may have been frustrated that more non-white kids being arrested than white kids, the jury ultimately doesn't indict her, but McCoy believes it is because they want her on the streets stopping people committing crimes by any means necessary.
As a result of the shooting, Van Buren is ordered to see Doctor Olivet and she believes that killing James was a mistake, but is also angered that after all she has done in her 12 year career she is starting to lose everything. Briscoe and Logan come up with a theory based on Van Buren's story of what might've happened: the second kid, the one with the gun faces off with Van Buren who pulls her gun and shoots him in a non-fatal spot like the arm or the leg, but the bullet goes through the limb and kills James.
Briscoe and Logan check into hospital records and find a kid who got shot in the arm and took off before the cops could check it out. They find out that he used the alias of a dead gangbanger who was pretty popular. The two speak to Detective Brian Keene who had arrested the gangbanger several times and confirms that he's still popular enough that several kids might use his name as an alias. Keene points them to where those kids would hang out and they spot a kid with an arm wound named Zack Rowland and arrest him. While he confirms that he and James did try to rob Van Buren, he claims they were unarmed and tried to rob through intimidation and she went crazy and started shooting.
They are unable to locate Zack's gun, but with the help of James' girlfriend Gwen, they find it and it matches Van Buren's description of the gun pulled on her, seemingly proving her story. They also learn that Zack's brother stole it and sold it to him which strengthens their case.
McCoy charges Zack with murder for his part in James' death who had a very low IQ and according to his teacher and Doctor Ollivet's assessment of him, didn't have the mental capacity to plan the robbery with the teacher believing he was likely tricked into it, believing it was a game.
McCoy hides that James needed money to buy Gwen an ID bracelet and had "a way" of getting it which could prove that he was willingly in on the robbery, but the defense finds out and puts her on the stand. However, McCoy and Kincaid recall that the teacher had told them that James had needed her help to learn how to write Gwen's name and it would be printed on the bracelet, but he'd gotten the help some time before his death.
Realizing that James may have already gotten the bracelet which would negate his motive for committing robbery, McCoy sends Van Buren to ask James' mother about the bracelet. Mrs. Gordon refuses to help Van Buren as she killed her son, but when Van Buren reveals her immense guilt over his death and asks her to help prevent more kids from dying on the streets, the mother reveals that James did buy the bracelet, having presumably sold valuable baseball cards he collected for the money.
Having gotten the bracelet from the mother, they are able to disprove the defense's story and Zack Rowland cuts a deal. Later, McCoy and Van Buren meet at a bar and McCoy reveals that his father was a cop and if his father had been in the same situation, both kids would've been dead, not just one.
McCoy tells Van Buren that he would've taken his father to the grand jury if that had happened and would've gotten him convicted, indicating that he probably was going easy on Van Buren when he had her on trial.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe
- Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
- Sam Waterston as Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy
- Jill Hennessy as A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
- Steven Hill as D.A. Adam Schiff
Recurring cast[]
- Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- Rochelle Oliver as Judge Grace Larkin
- Charles Dumas as Donald Van Buren
- Bernie Grant as Judge Irwin Reisman
Guest cast[]
- Samuel E. Wright as Defense Attorney Jerome Osborn
- Jude Ciccolella as Captain Dennis Burnett
- Omar Sharif Scroggins as Zack Rowland
- Lisa Louise Langford as Marjorie Gordon
- Marcella Lowery as Van Buren's Attorney
- Jacklin Brooke Sanford as Guinivere "Gwen" Sheffield
- Fredro Starr as Tony "G-Dog" Rowland
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Detective Brian Keene
- Jerry Grayson as Jeffrey Crockett
- Sharon Martin as Linda Byrd
- Gia Galeano as Ana Valdez
- J.C. MacKenzie as M.E. Hoeck
- Sharif Rashed as Ric Van Buren
- Tse-Mach Washington as Stefan Van Buren
- Fanni Green as Mrs. Rowland
- Chris McGinn as Mrs. Sheffield
- Nicholas Garr as Doyle
- George Hosmer as Court Clerk
References[]
- Blue Dueces
- Morrison Day School
- James Gordon
- Warren Commission
Quotes[]
- Hoeck: I'll tell you what. 14-year-old kid with a size 18 collar. He ate well.
- Briscoe: Well, an ATM a day buys you a lot of ice cream.
- Hoeck: See these bloodstains here? That's a type AB negative.
- Briscoe: Oh good, I got dibs on his liver.
- Briscoe: Van Buren shoots the other kid in the arm or leg, someplace not fatal. It's a through-and-through and it kills James Gordon.
- Logan: The old magic bullet theory?
- Briscoe: Hey, it worked for the Warren Commission.
- Briscoe: Thanks Ana. If anybody asks...
- Ana Valdez: Briscoe who?
| “ | Why couldn't he have been shot in the leg?! | ” |
–Briscoe as they chase Zack Rowland | ||
- Van Buren: Tell me something councilor: were you born a wise-ass, or did it just come with the job?
- McCoy: I'm a pussycat. You should've met my old man.
- Van Buren: Lawyer?
- McCoy: Cop.
- Kincaid: Now all we have to do is hope that the jury understands the difference between motive and intent.
- Schiff: Good luck. That's beyond most members of the bar.
Background information and notes[]
- The song playing in the Van Buren family car in the open is "Jump" by Kris Kross.
- The song "Cop Killer" is mentioned as a favorite of a suspect. The song is by the band Body Count, whose front man is actor Ice-T, who would go on to guest-star on the made-for-TV movie Exiled: A Law & Order Movie and then portray Sergeant Odafin Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Office Of |
Office Of |
Apartment Of |
Grand Jury |
| 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|
|
Office Of Executive |
Morrison Day School |
Summers-Maddox Farmhouse |
| 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|
|
Supreme Court |
Supreme Court |
Chambers Of |
| Previous episode: "White Rabbit" |
"Competence" Law & Order Season 5 |
Next episode: "Precious" |