The Reaper's Helper (Season 1, Episode 3)
Premise: A shooting that looks like a robbery leads detectives to a man who says he has been helping men with AIDS end their lives.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 3
- Detectives
- Sgt. Max Greevey (George Dzundza), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Peter Frechette as John “Jack” R. Curry, Charlotte Moore as defense attorney Julia DeBakey, Tom Signorelli as Anthony Holland, Barbara Andres as Patricia Holland
- Director
- Vern Gillum
- Writers
- Story: Thomas Francis McElroy; Teleplay: Thomas Francis McElroy and David Black & Robert Stuart Nathan
Summary
The Investigation
“The Reaper’s Helper” begins with construction worker Bobby Holland, who is found shot dead in his own apartment. As Greevey and Logan dig into his life, they learn Bobby was gay and had kept it from his coworkers, though his parents knew. Greevey remembers reading about similar deaths in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the detectives connect all three cases to one man, Jack Curry.
Curry admits he was there. He tells police that each man had AIDS, wanted to die, and asked for his help, and that the scenes were dressed up to look like crimes. In Bobby’s case, Curry says, the staged robbery was meant to keep his mother from ever learning the truth. Autopsies confirm the victims were ill. The investigation also turns up signs that Bobby may not have been as settled on dying as Curry claims. Curry’s story raises the question the rest of the episode turns on: whether a man who pulls the trigger at someone else’s request has committed murder at all.
The Trial
Stone charges Curry with murder but is privately uneasy, unsure whether Curry has done anything a jury will see as wrong. The case becomes a flashpoint: gay-rights activists rally behind Curry, Stone is assaulted by a protester, and Curry’s lawyer, Julia DeBakey, reveals that he has AIDS himself. Stone asks the detectives to look for a reason to drop the case, but another mercy killing elsewhere in the city persuades DA Adam Schiff to keep going.
In court, Curry speaks about watching friends die, and the jury responds. The defense then uses Stone’s own hesitation against him by bringing out his request to find grounds for dismissal. Stone is left arguing a case he has openly doubted, in front of a jury that has been told exactly how much he doubted it.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury acquits Curry of the homicide charges and convicts him only of reckless endangerment. Afterward Curry accuses Stone of turning him into a public lesson on mercy killing; Stone replies that Curry chose that role himself.
Why it stands out
- One of the earliest network crime dramas to build a full episode around AIDS and assisted suicide.
- The verdict is a near-loss for the prosecution, an early sign the series would not always let Stone win.
- Stone’s doubts become evidence for the defense, a twist the show returned to in later seasons.