Sunday in the Park with Jorge (Season 11, Episode 11)
Premise: A woman is found dead in Central Park on the afternoon of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and political pressure follows a case that switches suspects in the middle of a trial.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 11, Episode 11
- 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 Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest)
- Guest stars
- Glenn Fitzgerald as Seth Teitel, Ben Weber as Ethan Capp, Victor Anthony as Nestor Salazar, Jose Soto as Kiki Morales, Dan Lauria as Deputy Chief Joseph Strudevant
- Ripped from the headlines
- Loosely based on the attacks on women in Central Park after the June 2000 Puerto Rican Day Parade.
- Director
- James Quinn
- Writers
- William M. Finkelstein
Summary
The Investigation
“Sunday in the Park with Jorge” centers on a Central Park murder on parade day, as groups of young men rob vendors and soak and grope women near the lake. A couple in a rowboat finds Susan Capp dead, and the boat attendant says she rented a boat alone. Several men from the crowd are arrested for robbery and sexual assault, among them Kiki Morales, who swears he went no farther than the zoo. They plead to those charges, and nothing links them to the killing.
Deputy Chief Strudevant wants the victim’s husband, software billionaire Ethan Capp, treated gently and the death pinned on the mob. A doorman and Susan’s parents reveal that the couple were divorcing, and her lawyer says her demands could force the sale of Ethan’s company. Ethan’s alibi holds, but his girlfriend, Ms. Bergman, has bruises left by his partner, Seth Teitel, who blamed her for the breakup. A limo driver says he dropped Teitel at the rowboats that day. Teitel admits he met Susan at the lake to plead for the company, but says he left to find a police officer when the mob approached.
The Trial
City Hall aide Donny Apuzo had hoped for a Puerto Rican defendant, but Teitel is tried for the murder, and Bergman testifies that he once choked her over the company. Mid-trial, Morales, now in prison, claims he saw Teitel leap from the boat, in exchange for a year off his sentence. Briscoe recalls Morales’s earlier denial, and under pressure Morales says a young man named Nestor jumped into Susan’s boat. A witness named David admits he pulled Nestor off her, and a woman who was attacked picks Nestor Salazar from a photo array. The case against Teitel collapses, and Lewin offers to let the mayor criticize her publicly.
Salazar, who is Brazilian, is tried for second-degree manslaughter. The judge admits an amateur videotape of the mob, and David testifies that Salazar was banging Susan’s head against the boat; she fell into the water and drowned. Salazar’s sister calls him shy and respectful. Salazar testifies that his friends taunted him into jumping aboard, that Susan slapped him, and that he struck her head several times. The defense calls it negligence; McCoy argues that a mob is made of individuals who answer for what they do.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Salazar guilty of second-degree manslaughter. Susan’s parents plan to return for sentencing, and the closing remark notes that a case blamed on Puerto Ricans ends with a Brazilian in prison.
Why it stands out
- The episode is loosely based on the June 2000 attacks in Central Park after the Puerto Rican Day Parade, in which dozens of women reported being groped.
- After it aired, Puerto Rican groups protested, and NBC issued a formal apology and promised not to rerun the episode, though it still airs in syndication.
- Series producer Dick Wolf publicly criticized the network’s decision.