For Love or Money (Season 12, Episode 3)
Premise: A paroled thief shot in a West Side parking lot turns out to have been paid to kill a wealthy electronics retailer, and the trail leads to the man’s widow and her college-age daughter.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 12, Episode 3
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Röhm), DA Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest)
- Guest stars
- Cathy Moriarty as Lorraine Cobin, Kate Moennig as Melissa Cobin, Jack Gilpin as defense attorney Mr. Axtell, Paul Diomede as Paul Kasperski, Leslie Denniston as Elizabeth Dumas
- Director
- Constantine Makris
- Writers
- Wendy Battles & Sean Jablonski
Summary
The Investigation
“For Love or Money” starts with a murder in a West Side parking lot, where teenagers find a man shot in the head and chest, carrying licenses under several names. Prints identify him as Ronnie Buck, a parolee whose officer had lost track of him. His sister, Angela McDowell, has not heard from him, but a short-lived job leads to bookmaker Freddy Gallo, whom Buck beat up over a debt. Gallo says Buck settled up for $8,000, ballistics clear his gun, and an imprisoned mob boss, Frankie Polito, walks the scene and says no professional would pick it.
Sing Sing logs show Angela’s husband, Tom, visited Buck often; he admits helping himself to loot Buck had stashed. A storage unit leads to Buck’s former cellmate Paul Kasperski, who cased jobs with him while they worked for a carpet-cleaning firm. Kasperski has an alibi, but some of the goods come from the robbery-murder of millionaire electronics dealer Alan Cobin. The old file holds the cleaners’ work order, signed by Cobin’s widow, Lorraine, who inherited about $7 million.
Facing conspiracy charges, Kasperski says Buck took the Cobin job on his own for a woman and was due to meet her at the lot the night he died. Lorraine and Buck both called the same lawyer the week before Cobin was killed. Her first husband, Nick Claussen, says she once had her daughter, Melissa, accuse him of abuse during their divorce. Lorraine wired $50,000 to her friend Elizabeth Dumas, who admits seeing her argue with Buck. A stub from the lot is found in Lorraine’s car, and she is arrested for Buck’s murder.
The Trial
Melissa, now in college, claims she spent that night with her mother, but her suitemate’s account breaks the story and Melissa admits she was out shopping until late. Lorraine refuses a plea. The judge will not try the two killings together but lets the People use Cobin’s murder to show motive. Kasperski and Dumas testify, and defense attorney Axtell attacks Dumas over the loan she never repaid.
Lorraine denies everything, and McCoy walks her through each lie. Then Axtell, over her protests, asks when Melissa left the apartment that night. Lorraine tells the jury her daughter came home in tears with flecks of blood on her, and begs to be convicted instead.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury acquits Lorraine of first-degree murder. At a celebration afterward, Melissa confronts her mother, who lets slip that she shot Buck and does not deny arranging Alan Cobin’s death. Melissa has brought police to the scene, and Lorraine is arrested for her husband’s murder, a charge double jeopardy does not cover.
Why it stands out
- The defense lawyer turns on his own client’s story mid-testimony, steering her into blaming her daughter for the killing.
- The widow is acquitted of one murder only to be arrested for the other, since double jeopardy protects her only on the charge she was tried for.
- Cathy Moriarty guest stars as the scheming widow, Lorraine Cobin.