Gary Blanchard is an unscrupulous paparazzi photographer and the target of rapper Justin Smolka, who killed Detective Nick Carvahal when he stopped Smolka form burglarizing Blanchard’s flat.
History[]
Blanchard went by extremely unethical standards and caused trouble to people who knew him. He once stole a painting and framed his friend Teddy Gullo for it. In spite of this, Blanchard used business deals to buy back the people he infuriated for his next moves. Gully, for example, was offered a cut of proceeds from pictures of actress Sky Sweet neglecting her baby of Gullo was a lookout ready to call Blanchard when an opportunity presented itself.
Smolka wanted a deal with Blanchard, offering to pay him for taking compromising photos of Sky to use in family court so a divorce wouldn’t result in Smolka answering to a prenup. Smolka gave Sky meth while she was still pregnant when they were at a Miami nightclub, and Blanchard waited in the bathroom to take the photos. Sky never knew about those photos, thus they weren’t covered by her injunctions on Blanchard’s activities. However, Blanchard doubled the fee for Smolka and planned to leak the photos to gossip writer Adam Stein. Smolka tried to get the photos by breaking into Blanchard’s apartment, but Detective Carvahal, one of the neighbors, stopped Smolka, who shot the detective and fled.
Blanchard played dumb regarding the burglary, was highly indifferent to Detective Carvahal’s murder, and even took pictures of Cassidy as part of major publicity she got in a recent case, which were sent to the department as blackmail when some caught her flipping Blanchard off. It didn’t last very long, as Blanchard’s conspiracy with Smolka came out when Smolka was identified as the killer. Blanchard testified to the setup in court, and Smolka took a plea when cornered by the evidence. (L&O: "Fame")