Veteran's Day (Season 14, Episode 15)
Premise: A young antiwar activist is choked to death after a day of confrontations, and the killer turns out to be a decorated Gulf War veteran whose only son died in Afghanistan.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 14, Episode 15
- 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 Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson)
- Guest stars
- Paul Calderon as Kenneth Silva, Joe Morton as defense attorney Leon Chiles, Saundra Santiago as Mariela Silva, Wayne Duvall as Ronnie Gibbons, Poorna Jagannathan as Rehana Khemlani
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Noah Baylin
Summary
The Investigation
“Veteran’s Day” begins with the strangling of an antiwar activist, Brian Teague, found dead in fresh snow. The M.E. finds signs of a choke hold that kills within seconds, a move learned in the military, martial arts or police work, plus a white button in his stomach. Teague has arrests for disturbing the peace, assault and resisting arrest, and his girlfriend, Rehana Khemlani, says they protested outside the townhouse of an executive whose company profits from the wars before he missed their meeting at his parents’ SUV.
A newsstand owner saw Teague clash with mail carrier Kenneth Silva, a quarrel Officer Jeff Dawson broke up before arresting Teague for an obscene gesture. The arrest was quietly voided, and Dawson says someone had already slashed Teague’s tires and keyed his car. Prints on the rims belong to Ronnie Gibbons, a former Special Forces soldier who admits the vandalism over a “France was right” bumper sticker but has an alibi. A regular at McNulty’s, a veterans’ bar, finally admits Teague confronted Silva there that night, and the button is traced to a postal uniform. Silva is arrested.
The Trial
Defense attorney Leon Chiles presents Silva as a decorated immigrant with a clean record. The prosecutors learn that Silva’s only son, Matt, died when his helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, and that Teague had denounced a plan to name a street for Matt at a community board meeting. Gibbons, granted immunity, says Silva followed Teague out of the bar and was later found weeping on the curb. Chiles plans an extreme emotional disturbance defense, and Branch suggests manslaughter, but McCoy holds out for murder because Silva went after Teague some 20 minutes later.
On cross-examination Khemlani concedes Teague’s arrests. Silva’s former wife, Mariela, says he blamed himself for encouraging Matt to enlist, yet admits he did not drink more, turn violent or stop working. Silva testifies that Teague called him and his son animals; McCoy notes that he waited until the tow truck had gone. The judge lets the jury weigh the defense and the lesser manslaughter count.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury acquits Silva of second-degree murder but deadlocks on first-degree manslaughter, even after the judge gives an Allen charge, and a mistrial is declared. The prosecutors plan to try him again.
Why it stands out
- The case hinges on New York’s extreme emotional disturbance defense, which can reduce a murder charge to first-degree manslaughter.
- The judge delivers an Allen charge, urging holdout jurors to reconsider whether their doubts are reasonable, but the panel stays deadlocked and the case ends in a mistrial.
- The story pits a Gulf War veteran who lost his son in Afghanistan against a young antiwar activist, and a prosecutor complains that the jurors end up debating the war instead of the killing.