Law & Order/Recap/S05/E13 Rage

A girl and her boyfriend arrive at the girl's home, and the guy is shocked that the girl's father owns a four-floor brownstone. They enter the apartment to the sound of a Mozart violin concerto, but the father doesn't appear. After searching, they find him dead on the sofa with a rifle in his lap. Blood is spattered over the sofa and the wall behind him. A cop leads Briscoe and Logan in. The dead guy is Wallace Holbrook, and the girl is his daughter Krista. Holbrook is an older white man with, apparently, a lot of money. A technician investigating the body reports a gunshot wound to the head, and Briscoe identifies the gun as a grouse-hunting rifle that cost at least $10,000.

""I guess grouse are out of season.""

- Mike Logan

At the station, Krista is adamant that her father would never kill himself. She mentions that she talked to him the day before, and he mentioned closing a big deal and that he would leave for a trip to Europe on Monday. Wallace was thrilled about vacationing in Europe; Krista repeats that he would never commit suicide.

ME Rodgers agrees with Krista -- it was a murder. She reports that the death occurred around 9 PM, and that his blood pooled in his back, indicating that he died in that position. The body lay on the ground for at least thirty minutes before being posed. Logan brings up the blood on the wall, but Rodgers says that the gunshot (which spattered the wall) didn't kill him. Someone snapped Holbrook's neck. The gunshot was part of the attempt to make it look like a suicide.

Briscoe talks to Wallace's boss, William E. Cooke. Cooke is a white man of about Holbrook's age. He says that everything was going well for Holbrook; his department made about $400 million, and Holbrook himself got a $15 million bonus. Holbrook's department did extraordinarily well; one particular trader, Bud Greer, earned a $7 million bonus himself. Cooke doesn't know what Holbrook did with the money. Logan, meanwhile, talks to Holbrook's secretary. She says that Holbrook was demanding and had a lot of enemies due to his wealth and success, but none of the traders in his department would have hurt him because he gave generous bonuses. She mentions that he canceled two meetings to leave early the day before.

Logan and Briscoe go to talk with the trader with whom Holbrook canceled the meeting. The trader, Kevin Boggs, is a younger white guy, and was unsurprised about the meeting being canceled, since he's a junior trader. He didn't like Holbrook.

""I only breathed the same air as Wallace Holbrook if I had to.""

- Kevin Boggs

Boggs brings up that Holbrook installed a loudspeaker to chastise his employees publically when they made mistakes. He mentions that everyone got it rough from Holbrook except for Bud Greer. Briscoe asks for an alibi; Boggs says he was on the phone with an office in Tokyo. The detectives catch the other trader who was supposed to meet with Holbrook, a middle-aged white woman named Joan Stillman, on her way out the door. She also didn't like Holbrook. The cops ask if she would have been at his house, but she says that, of the traders, only Bud Greer was welcome there. Stillman mentions that Greer did a half-billion in trades. Logan asks if she likes any of the men she works with; she says no, but that she might be interested in Logan. As she leaves, the detectives go to talk to Greer.

Greer lives in a dilapidated apartment. He's a 35-year-old black man in the middle of an exercising session, and he claims that Holbrook cracked under the pressure of trading and shot himself. He says that Holbrook's trades were down in the last few weeks and he seemed depressed. Briscoe says that it might not have been a suicide, and Greer asks who implicated him. Briscoe says they're talking to everyone, but Logan points out that Greer is the only trader who socialized with Holbrook. Greer says that he never socialized with Holbrook; it was all work. He only went into Holbrook's house once, he said, and it was business. He's condescending towards his coworkers.

""If those other cretins would put in half the time I did...""

- Bud Greer

Greer says he was at the office until 8 the night of the murder. Logan notes Greer's plaques for 'Trader of the Year,' but when he tells Greer that Greer should spend some of his money, Greer says that he only cares about power, not money or fancy apartments. Logan throws this back at him.

""By the way, with Holbrook out of the picture, who gets the power now?"

"Well, that would be me now, wouldn't it?""

- Mike Logan and Bud Greer

At the precinct, Van Buren is unhappy about the huge size of the suspect list, which encompasses everyone who worked at Holbrook's company -- over 600 people. Logan thinks they should just focus on Greer. Logan doesn't trust Greer since Greer has so much money but lives so poorly. A cop comes in with Greer's file; he was charged with assault. The charges were dropped, but Van Buren says to investigate him anyway.

Talking with Cooke again, they get Cooke to imply that Greer was hired partly for affirmative action reasons. Cooke says, though, that Greer had a great resume and great education. Greer was put in fixed incomes, a low-profit, low-risk environment, but Greer began doing very well. He increased sales by an order of magnitude in six months, and made everyone lots of money. Outside, Logan points out that Greer was responsible for boosting sales, but Holbrook's bonus was twice Greer's. He thinks that might be a motive. Briscoe points out that Greer doesn't even spend the money he has, so he might not want more, but Logan says that Greer wants more power. Logan sees a ticket on his car and vents.

""They got no respect anymore, these meter maids!""

- Mike Logan

Briscoe says that it would be hard to get a cab there late at night, and wonders if Greer used a company car.

At the company car service, they talk to a driver. The driver, a young black man, recalls taking Greer to the east 60's, and said that Greer was a bad passenger. Greer asked the driver to turn down the limo's radio, with bad results.

""...I said 'Come on, my brother.' He said, 'I ain't your brother. Shut up and drive.'""

- Limo driver

The address is Holbrook's place.

Back at the office, the detectives call Greer on his lie, but he says that he really did work until 8. Logan points out that Greer didn't go home but went to visit Holbrook. Greer claims that Holbrook asked him to drop by to review the work of other traders; Holbrook never showed, so Greer left to go watch a game in a bar. Greer is adamant that he didn't lie; he never went in Holbrook's house the other night, so his claim about only going in once, some months back, is valid. Greer says that he respected Holbrook, who was his mentor. Briscoe asks about his prior arrest. Greer says that it was during an equities crash; he claims a client assaulted him over the money and lost the fight.

At the bar, the bartender knows that Greer comes in a lot, but can't say if he was there that Monday, since the bar was packed. He remembers that Greer used to come in with Stillman, but they had a huge fight the last time they were there and he hasn't seen Stillman since.

The detectives talk to Stillman, who says she didn't tell them because they didn't ask. She says she isn't close to Greer. On paper he was well educated and rich; in the flesh he had anger issues. She says that when a couple of black guys harassed him over dating a white girl and having a very fancy suit, Greer slammed one of them against a well. She's sure that he didn't kill Holbrook; she says Greer respected him too much. They broke up because Stillman couldn't take any more talk about Nietzche. The detectives decide to search Greer's place to see if any blood spattered on his suit.

At the apartment, Logan notes that Greer doesn't even have cable.

""I lived better than this when I wasn't working!""

- Mike Logan

Briscoe is checking out the suits. He can't find any with blood on them. Logan locates some financial papers inside a desk drawer. Accounting sent Holbrook information on all of Greer's trades, and Holbrook got them two days before the murder.

A forensic accountant tells the detectives that Greer's trades were all made up. Greer bought things at cheap prices immediately to sell at high prices late. However, it turns out that none of the people paying the high prices existed. Furthermore, the company, unlike others, records the profit immediately, not at the date of the final sale. Greer recorded massive profits and just kept pushing back the sale dates.

In interrogation, Greer says the detectives couldn't understand the economics well enough to determine what really happened. Greer says that he earned all his money.

""I earned that money. I worked harder, and I'm smarter, than all the other kids on the block.""

- Bud Greer

Logan says that Greer's no better than a guy who holds up a corner store and shoots the clerk. Greer is contemptuous.

""I graduated sumna cum laude from Harvard. Magna from Stanford Business. I have 17 traders working for me, and I booked almost a billion dollars in trades in the last two years. Not only am I better than your punk at the 7-11, I'm also a Hell of a lot better than you... Detective Logan.""

- Bud Greer

Van Buren calls Logan outside; they found a partial print of Greer's in Holbrook's bathroom. Briscoe arrests Greer.

In McCoy's office, Greer's lawyer complains about the million dollar bail. McCoy and the lawyer, a middle-aged white man named David Solomon, bicker, and McCoy refuses to make a deal. Greer maintains his innocence. Solomon says he'll get the financial records excluded; without them, there's no evidence that Holbrook knew of the scam, and thus no motive. Solomon says he'll get them excluded on 4th amendment grounds.

Solomon presents to Judge Michael Callahan. His claim is that warrants have to include the items being searched for. The warrant only listed bloody clothes; the records weren't listed. McCoy argues that plain-view items not included in the warrants have previously been allowed, but Solomon says that those documents were in a desk drawer. McCoy reads the warrant application, which includes a line saying the detectives want any evidence to support the elements of a crime, but Solomon points out that motive isn't an element of the crime. The documents are excluded.

Later, Schiff vents at McCoy. Kincaid says that most attorneys wouldn't even have noticed, but Schiff says that Solomon did. McCoy says that, if they can prove that they would have discovered the fake trades anyway, they can get their motive readmitted. Schiff doubts that they can do this, but McCoy says that they might have looked into it to challenge his credibility.

Kincaid talks to Greer's copyist, Roberta Cooley, a middle-aged black woman. She doesn't think that Greer killed Holbrook, but Kincaid insists that he did. She doesn't want to talk, but Kincaid shows her a picture of Holbrook's corpse. Cooley brings up a time when Greer chewed her out for wearing jeans, saying that she could be a 'homie' somewhere else. She says that Greer often gets calls from his dad, but usually leaves him on hold.

Kincaid talks to Bud's father, Jack Greer, who says that Bud was a good boy and a great salesman. He says he taught Bud never to take welfare and to work for anything he wants. Jack says that Bud wouldn't check off a box indicating that he was black on a Harvard application so that affirmative action wouldn't be a factor, and that this made him very proud of Bud. Jack is adamant that Bud would never kill anyone. He directs Kincaid to Dr. Kenneth Price, one of Bud's friends.

Price, an older white man in a suit, says that he knows Greer somewhat -- they share an occasional dinner or phone call. They don't discuss business. Greer and Price often joked about going to their old neighborhood and showing off their success. Price recounts Bud's past.

""In school, the white kids beat him up because he was smarter than they were. Black kids beat him up because he was hanging out with me.""

- Dr. Kenneth Price..

Price says that race is important in this case, and that Greer would never ask for help overcoming discrimination because that would give credibility to the racists. Price says that Greer doesn't even see himself as black, he thinks of himself as just a guy who's brilliant. Price asks Kincaid to leave Greer alone, saying he would never kill anyone.

Kincaid next talks to Thomas Barnes, the CEO of Greer's previous company. Barnes, an older white guy, says that they hired Greer without knowing his race, but would have hired him anyway if they'd known he was black, thanks to his very impressive resume. He says that Greer didn't work out; he produced nothing in equities, nor in fixed-income. Barnes thought that Greer was lazy. Greer was fired after five years.

McCoy and Solomon go to argue at Callahan again. McCoy argues that Barnes's testimony would have caused them to look into the financial records anyway. He says that Greer, who was incompetent at his first job, was a superstar at his second; that would have aroused suspicion, and the financial records would have been examined. Callahan readmits the financial records.

Outside, Solomon says he still doesn't see motive. He says that Holbrook would have found out before, if at all, but McCoy disagrees. Solomon also says that Holbrook might have just gotten greedy and wouldn't have turned him in so he could keep making his money. McCoy doesn't buy it. Solomon gets into a limo and introduces Jerome Bryant, a famous civil rights attorney. Bryant is a young black man in a suit. Bryant says that he's joining Greer's defense team, and implies that Greer's civil rights have been violated. McCoy looks stunned.

Later, Kincaid tells the other lawyers that Bryant has protested racial injustice in a host of different issues, but McCoy doubts that he can do it in this case. McCoy says that the whole criminal justice system is not racist. Schiff points out that courts have been unfair to black people for so long that Bryant's arguments, specious in this case, may appeal to a jury Kincaid receives a document -- Bryant is filing a motion to dismiss.

Bryant, Solomon, and McCoy argue before Callahan.

""The only reason the police focused their investigation on my client is the fact that he's black."

"The fact that he's guilty may have had something to do with it.""

- Jerome Bryant and Jack McCoy

Bryant says that all the evidence was obtained because the police were focusing on Greer due to racism, and is thus illegal, and says further that the warrant wouldn't have been signed if Greer weren't black. Solomon reads Logan's affadavit supportint the warrant, in which Greer's race is mentioned. Callahan ignores Kincaid's objection and says that Bryant can present evidence that there was racial bias in the investigation. If Bryant is successful, Callahan will dismiss the case.

On the stand, Bryant cross-examines Logan. Logan says that they looked at Greer because of Boggs's and Stillman's statements. He says that they were just following procedure; Bryant makes the point that Greer wasn't a suspect until the interview. Bryant asks what Greer did or said that made him seem guilty; Logan says that there was nothing during the initial interview. Logan brings up the criminal record, but Bryant points out that the charges were dropped. He also points out that Greer was the only black man working for Holbrook. Logan denies any racism influencing his investigation. McCoy brings up that Logan did check everyone's records and that Greer was the only one with a previous arrest. After Bryant says that he has no more witnesses, Callahan denies the motion to dismiss.

Outside, McCoy remarks that Greer's lucky to be so rich when Bryant is making specious motions. Bryant says he's surprised he got as far as he did; he was just setting up for the trial.

""You still plan to make race an issue?"

"I plan on making it the only issue.""

- Jack McCoy and Jerome Bryant

Bryant says he'll present a 'black rage' insanity defense -- he'll claim that Greer was driven insane by living in a racist society that treated him badly every day. McCoy says that it's ridiculous, but Bryant points out that Greer had to interact with white people unless he wanted to restrict himself to certain neighborhoods, while McCoy could avoid all significant contact with black people if he chose. McCoy says he wants Olivet to examine Greer.

In Olivet's office, Greer says that white people always rise to the top. Olivet says that Greer decided to emulate white people. Greer says that people always assumed he was an affirmative action hire, but that affirmative action is itself racist -- it assumes, in his opinion, that black people are inferior and thus need a leg up. Greer says that race relations can be summed up as white men protecting white women from black men. Olivet says that the country has come a long way, but Greer doesn't agree. He says that racist fear caused hate, and both white people and black people hated each other. Greer says that this hate is why he holds both white people and black people in contempt.

Olivet tells Bryant, Greer, Kincaid, and McCoy that Greer is sane. Bryant says that it's wrong that three white people are judging a black man, but Kincaid says that Greer separated himself from the black community until it became necessary to associate with it for the trial. McCoy calls Greer a con-man. Bryant says that they'll have to see what a jury says, and he and Greer leave. Olivet says racism may have caused a lot of Greer's psychological problems, including self-loathing. Kincaid complains that now she feels obligated to feel guilty about disliking Greer.

In court, Stillman testifies that Greer wanted to rule the firm. She says that Greer might have eventually done it, but Holbrook had to retire or die first. Bryant brings up an incident in which Greer, dressed casually, was mistaken for a bus boy by a security guard, who made him enter the cafeteria through the kitchen. Greer had the guard fired; Greer's coworkers left dirty dishes on Greer's desk.

Cooke testifies about the size of Holbrook's bonuses and profits. He is adamant that Holbrook would not have accepted a bonus based on fraudulent trades. Bryant gets Cooke to admit that he never ate lunch or golfed with Greer, and when Cooke says that he was very busy, Bryant brings up that Cooke ate lunch with many other traders -- all white. Bryant asks why Cooke never ate with the firm's biggest star, and Cooke said that he didn't like Greer's smug attitude. Bryant makes the point that Cooke's actions were racist.

Dr. Bettina Osgood testifies to the history of racism. She says that the history of oppression can cause self-loathing in black people, which can cause them to lash out at white people. McCoy brings up other oppressed groups and wonders if they're "entitled" to kill their bosses. Osgood says that it's not the same; only black people were enslaved and brought to the country in chains.

""I see. So that makes black men less capable of exercising self control?"

"That is the very attitude that feeds the racism in this country."

"Yes, doctor. And it's you that is giving all the bigots in this country the justification for their fear and hatred.""

- Jack McCoy and Dr. Bettina Osgood

Greer testifies that no one ever thought he'd make money; when he did, everyone said he was lucky. He admits to talking with Holbrook about the fraudulent trades, and says that Holbrook laughed and said that he knew Greer couldn't really make the trades. He claims not to remember what happened next. McCoy points out that Greer would have had to return the money had Holbrook made his findings known, but Greer points out that he never spent the money, so that wasn't a problem. He wasn't worried about larceny charges; the firm wouldn't want the scam to be public knowledge. Greer would have had to lead the firm, but that was it. McCoy asks if the firing wouldn't have been humiliating.

""Do you know what Wallace told me? He told me, 'Go back to the jungle, and steal coconuts from monkeys.' That... was humiliating""

- Bud Greer

Later, McCoy compliments Greer's acting, and Schiff says that, with 8 black jurors, Greer might have had a good audience. Kincaid says that she gives them more credit than assuming they'll vote based on race. McCoy challenges Schiff, saying that there's no validity to the black rage defense, but Schiff says that they're dismissing it too easily; it could appeal emotionally to some of the jurors. Kincaid points out that the alternative, excluding black people from the jury, is also racist. Schiff gets mad at Kincaid. He thinks that there is too high a risk of losing and orders McCoy to make a deal.

In a conference room, Solomon, Bryant, and Greer are dismissive of the manslaughter 1 offer. Greer says that McCoy is lucky to be white.

""You play at being civilized, at being colorblind. It's all a fraud.""

- Bud Greer

Greer says he doesn't want a deal, and tells McCoy that he should be scared. He mocks McCoy, saying that McCoy will be scared of rich black people from now on, given what Greer did. McCoy says that Greer doesn't scare him, but disgusts him.

""You're nothing but a thief and a murderer, hiding behind your race.""

- Jack McCoy

Greer is found guilty. Outside, a cab passes a black man to stop to pick up McCoy. Kincaid points this out, and McCoy looks anguished.