Bronx Cheer (Season 11, Episode 16)
Premise: With too little evidence to charge a drug dealer in a young woman’s strangling, Manhattan prosecutors pursue him for an older Bronx shooting, even though another man is already serving a life term for it.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 11, Episode 16
- 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
- Peter Greene as Francis “Taz” Partell, Keith David as Bronx DA John Robertson, Kevin Kash as Tony Shaeffer, Zach Grenier as defense attorney Hauser, Cynthia Hayden as Vera Shaeffer
- Director
- Richard Dobbs
- Writers
- Story: Wendy Battles; Story & teleplay: Richard Sweren
Summary
The Investigation
“Bronx Cheer” starts with the strangling of Angela Jarrell, a would-be actress from Minnesota found near a downtown bakery with 25 doses of ecstasy in her handbag. Her family believed she worked at a copy shop; in fact she was dealing ecstasy. A man who bought her drinks at a Tribeca lounge says she slipped away after a tall, fair-haired man came in, and a friend recalls that her supplier went by “Taz.” That leads Briscoe and Green to Francis Partell, a dealer with a broken foot to match the victim’s snapped heel. His story about when he was hurt falls apart at his dry cleaner, but no witness can firmly place him at the bar.
An old co-defendant, Quintana, then says Partell shot Vincent Jackson, a bouncer outside the Grand Slam club near Yankee Stadium, two years earlier, and that the gun jammed mid-attack. A young man named Tony Shaeffer is serving 25 years to life for that killing. The Bronx detectives brush the claim aside, but a bar patron says he told Detective Boyle the shooter was not Shaeffer, and a Crime Stoppers tip naming “Taz” was never returned. The tipster, Ms. Pistone, picks Partell out, and he is arrested for the Jackson murder.
The Trial
Carmichael cites a rule giving Manhattan jurisdiction over crimes within 500 yards of its border. Shaeffer explains that he falsely bragged to his girlfriend about the shooting to impress her, that he had quarreled with a blond dealer that night, and he passes a polygraph. Bronx DA John Robertson refuses to reopen the case, so McCoy indicts Partell in Manhattan. Judge Taylor finds the evidence legally sufficient after a shaky hearing, but Robertson still will not budge.
Lewin directs McCoy to secure a plea that would free Shaeffer. Partell admits the Jackson shooting and pleads to concurrent terms of 7½ to 15 years that also cover Jarrell, whom he says he strangled over money she owed him after she broke his foot. Robertson dismisses the admission as bought and keeps Shaeffer in prison. McCoy, with Lewin’s name on the brief, argues a habeas corpus petition himself; Robertson relies on Herrera v. Collins and says a pardon is the proper remedy, while McCoy reads the court Shaeffer’s rigid prison routine.
Spoiler, the ending: The appellate court grants the writ with one judge dissenting, and Shaeffer is freed with his murder conviction dismissed. Angela Jarrell’s father, who had refused to come to New York, arrives from Minnesota after hearing of the arrest.
Why it stands out
- Keith David plays the Bronx district attorney, and the episode carries a disclaimer that the character does not refer to the real Bronx DA at the time, Robert Johnson.
- Manhattan claims a Bronx murder through a provision covering crimes committed within 500 yards of a county border.
- McCoy personally argues a habeas corpus petition to free a man convicted by another borough’s prosecutors, who cite Herrera v. Collins against him.