Killerz (Season 10, Episode 2)
Premise: A seven-year-old boy is killed near a highway construction site, and the case leads to a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old girl, setting McCoy against Dr. Olivet over what to do with the younger child.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 10, Episode 2
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin), Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Hallee Hirsh as Jenny Brandt, Madeline Blue as Tara Padden, Mary Mara as defense attorney Sharkey, Luba Mason as Jocelyn Brandt, J. K. Simmons as Dr. Emil Skoda, Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- Director
- Constantine Makris
- Writers
- Richard Sweren
Summary
The Investigation
“Killerz” begins with neighborhood kids charging a few dollars to see a body: seven-year-old Aaron Polansky, hidden in a pipe at a highway construction site with a fatal head wound and a battery in his mouth. His pants have been pulled down, but the M.E. finds no sign of sexual abuse. Thirteen-year-old Tara Padden tells Briscoe and Green she saw a man in a blue uniform who smelled of gasoline put the boy there, and the description fits mechanic Dale Varnette, who had been visiting a girlfriend in Aaron’s building.
Varnette says he noticed a girl matching Tara outside that building, and Tara’s 10-year-old friend, Jenny Brandt, repeats Tara’s story. But a boy in the building says Jenny came by offering him a hot dog, and a vendor recalls a little girl buying a pretzel, matching the salt on Aaron’s hands. Van Buren lets Green question Tara without a parent in the room while her mother watches through the glass. After he wins her trust, Tara says Jenny hit Aaron with a rock and the two of them hid his body.
The Trial
Both girls are charged with murder, but a judge suppresses Tara’s statement as manufactured by a manipulative interrogation, and the DA’s office questions Van Buren’s call. Jenny’s babysitter describes her rages and hostility toward boys, and her jailed father, Vince Brandt, hands over a drawing she mailed him that shows the attack. Jenny’s lawyer, Ms. Sharkey, concedes the killing but says Jenny is too young to be responsible. Dr. Emil Skoda hears Jenny describe poisoning a cat and imagining hurting boys, and he predicts she will kill again.
Tara pleads as a juvenile offender. Since family court can hold Jenny for only five years, McCoy gets Vince Brandt to sign papers committing her to a state psychiatric hospital, over her mother’s objection. At a hearing before Judge Carla Solomon, Skoda calls Jenny a sociopath whose violence will escalate. Dr. Elizabeth Olivet, now in private practice and retained by the defense, points to frontal lobe damage from a childhood car accident and argues that Jenny can be treated. McCoy grills Jenny’s mother about the warning signs she ignored.
Spoiler, the ending: Solomon finds that Jenny did not grasp the consequences of her actions, quashes the commitment papers and returns her to her mother, with monthly check-ins before the court. Jenny laughs as the hearing breaks up, and the prosecutors are left to break the news to Aaron’s mother.
Why it stands out
- Dr. Elizabeth Olivet, formerly affiliated with the DA’s office, testifies for the defense against Dr. Emil Skoda.
- Barred by the five-year limit in family court, McCoy tries to use a parent’s civil commitment papers to confine a 10-year-old indefinitely.
- A 13-year-old’s confession is suppressed because of how Green obtained it.