DNR (Season 10, Episode 3)
Premise: A judge is gravely wounded in what looks like a carjacking, and as the case turns to her husband, she defends him while seeking to end her own treatment.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 10, Episode 3
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Lindsay Crouse as Judge Denise Grobman, John Heard as Walter Grobman, Debbon Ayer as Dana Grobman, Jeff McCarthy as defense attorney Mitchell Brizzard, J. K. Simmons as Dr. Emil Skoda
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Story: William N. Fordes; Teleplay: Kathy McCormick
Summary
The Investigation
“DNR” starts with what looks like a carjacking: civil court Judge Denise Grobman is shot twice in her building’s garage and her new Jaguar is taken, though she hits the gunman twice with her own pistol. Her husband, architect Walter Grobman, had gotten out at the front door. Briscoe and Green suspect the car was stolen to order and follow it through a fraudulent registration to a doctor who bought it, a used-car dealer and Bobby Ward, whose cousin Danny Ward is found in Bobby’s apartment with two bullet wounds.
Danny dies in surgery, and a wad of bloodstained cash looks like half the fee for a hit. Denise has just accepted a Justice Department post in Washington. A property manager she sued seems a likely suspect until the detectives learn that Danny once worked on a mini-mall Walter designed. Walter claims not to know him and gives weak answers about why his wife was driving and why he got out early. He is arrested for attempted murder.
The Trial
Denise, left paralyzed and on dialysis, signs an affidavit that Walter never left her side after they learned they had to return early, and he makes bail. The prosecution turns up a neighbor who saw him hosing off in jogging clothes, a business partner who describes his resentment of his wife’s success, and a call to Danny from a Sag Harbor pay phone. Denise then applies to stop her treatment, and her testimony is videotaped. She holds to the alibi under McCoy’s cross-examination.
The Grobmans’ daughter, Dana, says her mother knows the truth but blames herself. McCoy moves to have Denise found incompetent as a witness. Dr. Emil Skoda judges her too depressed to decide rationally, and on the stand Denise breaks down, insisting everything is her fault and begging to be left alone. Judge Lisa Pongracic rules her incompetent to testify, a decision that also weakens her bid to die.
Spoiler, the ending: In plea talks Walter breaks down and admits he did it. McCoy refuses to reduce the charge below attempted first-degree murder, but he agrees that the DA’s office will not oppose parole in 25 years and will not fight Denise’s application. Carmichael later reports that Denise has died, with Walter at her side.
Why it stands out
- Law & Order: UK later adapted this story as “Denial,” in its fourth series.
- Lindsay Crouse plays the wounded judge, opposite John Heard as her husband.
- McCoy has the victim declared incompetent to testify, a ruling that also undercuts her request to end her life.