Law and Order
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Dennis Pollock (born Dennis Beck) was a swindler and double murderer.

History[]

Dennis was raised by his mother, a thief and swindler currently known only as Liann Crosby. She would prompt Dennis to commit petty crimes on her behalf, and when he refused, she threatened to abandon him. Liann was also sexually abusive towards him ever since he was a teenager. For his whole life, Dennis aided his mother with her schemes of conning of rich, older men she married just for their wealth. At some point, she ordered him to kill his last victim, her husband Henry, in order for her to inherit $18 million. Eventually, as part of another con, Dennis married heiress Joyce Pollock, who he fell in love with. When Liann asked him to kill Joyce as he did with Crosby, Dennis refused, prompting her to try and kill Joyce herself by sabotaging her gas heater. Furious, Dennis held Liann at gunpoint, intending to scare her, but he ended up slightly wounding Liann and accidentally killing his male escort Stuart Wattman instead.

Investigating Wattman's death, Detectives Briscoe and Curtis eventually managed to find Dennis, who was already considered the prime suspect by EADA McCoy and ADA Carmichael. As a means to keep him away from Joyce, Carmichael implicated Dennis in Wattman's death. After his family connection with Liann was uncovered, Dennis invoked mental incapacity, claiming he killed Crosby under his mother's influence, and that he accidentally killed Wattman while in a state of severe emotional stress. When a plan by Joyce to kill Liann and get rid of her was uncovered as well, Dennis refused a plea bargain to implicate his mother in exchange for dismissing the case against Joyce and reducing the penalty he faced if convicted. He was eventually found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree and attempted manslaughter in the first degree. Consequently, Liann was never tried for her involvement in Dennis's crimes. (L&O: "Venom")

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