| "Phobia" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | L&O, Episode 11.13 | → |
| Production number: E1313 First aired: 14 February 2001 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Wendy Battles, Lynn Mamet & Kathy McCormick Directed By David Platt | ||
Detectives Briscoe and Green investigate the beating death of a gay man and the kidnapping of his adopted son.
Plot[]
A couple walking by see a dead body and call the police. Detectives Lennie Briscoe & Ed Green arrive discovering the victim was beaten to death, the victim was gay, and his adopted son has been kidnapped. Briscoe & Green are alerted to a ransom demand and respond quickly, only to find out it was a merely an opportunistic seltzer delivery man who was at the scene of the crime.
The police find out about the adopted child's drug-addicted mother and track her down by going through a woman who smuggles abused wives out of town. The mother may have lied about being abused to get help. The mother is found on a bus and gives up the killer as the baby's biological father, Robert Kelley, who is subsequently arrested.
McCoy prosecutes the case by trying to show that Kelley did it as a hate crime by yelling a slur during the beating, which Kelley denies. He claims he just wanted his baby back and that the adoption agency never had his consent. With McCoy's only witness being the mother, it's a tough sell, but soon the jury comes back with a "guilty" verdict, convicting him of the murder as a hate crime.
It ends with the victim's husband being approached by the mother who tells him that she hopes her child knows about her and the victim's husband saying she might tell him herself.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe
- Jesse L. Martin as Detective Ed Green
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
- Sam Waterston as Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy
- Angie Harmon as A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael
- Dianne Wiest as Interim D.A. Nora Lewin
Recurring cast[]
- Brian Davies as Judge Warren Busey
- Kathleen Chalfant as Defense Attorney Lisa Cutler
Guest cast[]
- Catherine Kellner as Celia Goddard
- David Vadim as Robert Kelley
- David Pittu as Donald Albers
- Kaiulani Lee as Mrs. Goddard
- Randy Danson as Susan Powers
- David Leary as Attorney Jerry Vaylor
- Santo Fazio as Gene Burdick
- Stephen Peabody as Celia's Defense Attorney
- Brenda Denmark as Rosalie Price
- Eliza Foss as Kay Chappelle
- Rebecca Harris as Terry Kurasik
- Toni Di Buono as Defense Attorney Jerrilyn Essex
- Karen Huie as Nori Kitamachie
- Stephen Berger as Judge David Weintraub
- Jeff Binder as Eric Cross
- Malcolm Barrett as Julian Zalak
- Tony Cucci as Herb Glenmon
- Barbara Bruno as Anita Correa
- Peter Galman as Evan McBride
- Joan Bogden as Mrs. McBride
- Joseph Vincent Gay as Culver
- Stephen Federbusch as Sketch Artist
- Chris McGarry as CSU Technician
- Frank Lombardi as Uniform Policeman
- Amiee Turner as Melinda Cross
- Richard D'Alessandro as Clerk
- Bill Anagnos as McVitty
- Michelle Bernard as Jury Foreperson
References[]
- Lennox Lewis
- Bradford Mendell (victim)
Quotes[]
- Anita Van Buren: Well, what kind of idiot arranges to pickup ransom money in a van with vanity plates?
- Lennie Briscoe: An idiot whose vanity plate read "HOSE MONKEY".
- Susan Powers: My dealings with the police have been a joke.
- Anita van Buren: Well, you haven't dealt with me, Miss Powers.
| “ | We were like any couple with a kid. Early to bed, early to rise. The only restaurants we went to had paper placemats on the tables with crayons. | ” |
–Donald Albers | ||
Background information and notes[]
- The episode title is a reference to the homophobia Celia Goddard and Robert Kelley displayed towards Donald Albers and his partner Bradford Mendell.
- * This episode was later adapted into the Law & Order: UK episode "Dependent".
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Heron Motor Sports |
Department of |
455 West 19th Street |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
|
Office of |
Supreme Court |
Supreme Court |
| Previous episode: "Teenage Wasteland" |
"Phobia" Law & Order Season 11 |
Next episode: "A Losing Season" |