The Sixth Man (Season 15, Episode 16)
Premise: A reclusive basketball fan is found with a broken neck in his rent-controlled apartment, and the trail leads to the visiting star he spent two seasons taunting from the stands and over the phone.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 15, Episode 16
- Detectives
- Det. Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse), DA Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson)
- Guest stars
- Joe Morton as defense attorney Leon Chiles, Poncho Hodges as Silas Inwood, Lamman Rucker as Reggie Uggams, Robert Prescott as Coach Aikens, Mark L. Montgomery as Jonathan Levin
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Story: Richard Sweren; Story & teleplay: Lois Johnson
Summary
The Investigation
“The Sixth Man” opens with a murder in a rent-controlled apartment, where Ira Walderman, a solitary accountant, lies dead in his unheated two-bedroom. The medical examiner says a man well over six feet lifted him by the neck until his vertebrae broke. A circled sports page hints at gambling, and the landlord, Jonathan Levin, had paid Walderman $80,000 to leave a building that has otherwise gone co-op, and had also cut off his heat. The money went to pro basketball season tickets one level above courtside.
Court files show Walderman suing the league, two teams and Philadelphia Cannons star Silas Inwood for $20 million over a brawl in which players charged into the stands. A fellow season ticket holder says Walderman taunted Inwood relentlessly, once provoking an obscene gesture that cost the player a $10,000 fine. Days before the body was found, Inwood’s cousin and agent, Reggie Uggams, berated Walderman at a video game promotion. Inwood claims he dined that night with his old college coach in Queens, but his Porsche was ticketed near Walderman’s building. A thumbprint on the victim’s watch matches a print card kept from Inwood’s college assault arrest, a case dropped after the victim was apparently paid off, and he is arrested when the Cannons visit New York.
The Trial
Borgia fails to get Inwood remanded; bail is $5 million, and he keeps playing. Defense attorney Leon Chiles argues the print card should have been sealed with the old arrest, and the judge dismisses the indictment without prejudice, finding the parking ticket insufficient. The prosecutors then find that Walderman made repeated calls to Inwood’s hotels and took cabs to his Pennsylvania home, where a driver saw Inwood curse him by name. Offered first-degree manslaughter, Chiles answers that Inwood will admit the killing and claim self-defense, saying Walderman came at him with a butcher knife.
At trial, Inwood’s former Cannons coach says the player once choked him until he blacked out, though Chiles paints him as bitter about his firing. Walderman’s seatmate testifies that he threw beer during the brawl but never saw any player strike him. Chiles plays a taunting voicemail, and Uggams says Walderman told him at the promotion that he owned Inwood. The prosecutors learn that Walderman approached Inwood’s seven-year-old son that night. Inwood testifies he went to make peace and choked Walderman only after being attacked with a knife; McCoy draws out that Walderman had upset the boy, then has Inwood stand beside a court officer of Walderman’s size.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Inwood guilty as charged. The Cannons try to void his contract under a morals clause, and his jersey becomes the top-selling piece of sports memorabilia overnight.
Why it stands out
- The first indictment is thrown out because the fingerprint match relied on an old print card from Inwood’s dropped college arrest, which by law belonged under seal; the detectives knowingly used that database gap.
- To counter the self-defense claim, McCoy has the 6-foot-9 Inwood stand beside a court officer matching the victim’s height and weight.
- Joe Morton guest stars as defense attorney Leon Chiles.