Caviar Emptor (Season 14, Episode 23)
Premise: A wealthy Persian Jewish caviar dealer dies in bed the day after his wedding, and a family fight over an autopsy opens a murder case against the daughter he was about to move out of his house.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 14, Episode 23
- 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
- Sakina Jaffrey as Roya Koutal, Maz Jobrani as Asher Koutal, Jeffrey DeMunn as defense attorney Professor Norman Rothenberg, Marjan Neshat as Yasmin Soleimani, J. K. Simmons as Dr. Emil Skoda
- Director
- Richard Dobbs
- Writers
- Roz Weinman
Summary
The Investigation
“Caviar Emptor” centers on the death of caviar importer Manny Soleimani, 68, found lifeless in bed the morning after his wedding to 25-year-old Yasmin. His son, Ben, who called 911, suspects murder and wants an autopsy; Yasmin, who says she was out riding, objects on religious grounds. The prosecutors get the objection set aside by arguing that a marriage performed Saturday night could not yet be filed, so Yasmin is not legally next of kin. The medical examiner finds he was smothered while weakened by Xanax, a rich meal and wedding drinks, and recovers a woman’s hair from his body.
Yasmin received $1 million when they got engaged and is not in the will, which splits the estate two-thirds to Ben and one-third to his sister, Roya. Suspicion shifts to Yasmin’s uncle Bijan, a rival dealer held on caviar-smuggling charges who dropped off a gift that morning, and to Ben, who detectives say drove the family company into losses. Then the pillow used to smother Manny turns up on Roya’s bed, and both hairs prove to be hers.
Roya and her husband, Asher Koutal, lived with Manny. An adoption agency worker says they had been matched with a baby girl in China before Roya backed out, and her rabbi explains that Manny opposed adoption and wanted Roya out of the townhouse once he remarried. Roya is arrested.
The Trial
Roya is charged with second-degree murder, and bail is set at $2 million. Her lawyer, Norman Rothenberg, persuades a judge that the rabbi cannot be forced to testify, so the prosecutors find a stable manager Manny confided in, who says Manny felt guilty for pressing teenage Roya into a jumping event where a fall left her infertile. At Rothenberg’s urging, Dr. Emil Skoda examines Roya, who tells him Manny called an adopted child a bastard. Skoda testifies that her rage at a father who replaced her with a younger wife after she gave up a child points toward violence. Roya tells the jury she welcomed Yasmin like a sister, but under McCoy’s cross she concedes Manny wanted her out before the honeymoon ended so he could have more children with Yasmin.
Asher then testifies to give his wife an alibi and instead confesses, saying he drugged Manny’s drink at the wedding and smothered him the next morning because Manny betrayed the family by casting Roya out. McCoy suggests he is lying to save her, and Rothenberg argues the confession alone creates reasonable doubt.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Roya not guilty, and Asher is taken into custody as the two call out to each other. The prosecutors reflect that Roya forgave her father but Asher, who married into the family, did not.
Why it stands out
- An autopsy hinges on a filing technicality: because the Saturday-night wedding could not be recorded before the Sunday death, the bride’s religious objection as next of kin is set aside.
- Citing the separation of church and state, a judge refuses to make the family’s rabbi testify about a conversation held during a walk in a garden.
- The defendant’s husband confesses from the witness stand, and the prosecutors are left believing he may have been the killer after all.