Corner Office (Season 17, Episode 10)
Premise: The murder of a company’s general counsel, days before he is due to testify to Congress about corporate eavesdropping, leads to a former call girl and the CEO who supports her.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 17, Episode 10
- Detectives
- Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin), Det. Nina Cassady (Milena Govich)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza), DA Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson)
- Guest stars
- Susan Misner as Samantha Weaver, Mercedes Renard as Julia Veloso, David Alan Basche as Attorney Tepper, Chris McKinney as Mike Owens, Paul Urcioli as Robert Caldwell
- Director
- Joan Stein Schimke
- Writers
- Rick Eid & Richard Sweren
Summary
The Investigation
“Corner Office” opens with a corporate eavesdropping scandal and a body: Charles Dillon, general counsel of Halligan-Webb, is found shot in the head in the company apartment, his hands tied to the bed, days before he was to testify to Congress. CEO Samantha Weaver won’t discuss their last meeting without a lawyer. Dillon’s attorney explains that Weaver had Dillon hunt for a press leak and that the security firm he hired went too far. Its owner, ex-cop Mike Owens, tapped nearly every executive and says Dillon later threatened to report him to the DA, and the fired leaker, Robert Caldwell, has an alibi.
Dillon’s phone records lead to an escort he canceled that night, telling her he had found better company. A bartender at the Atlantique Hotel saw him leave with a tall woman with an accent, and a fake phone number she gave another patron is traced to the credit card of Julia Veloso, a Brazilian with two solicitation arrests. She says Dillon only walked her to a cab, but her ex-husband, Dr. Michael Covington, says she kept escorting and often called Halligan-Webb. A bellman saw her leave with Dillon, her fingerprint turns up on a lamp at the scene, and she is arrested for murder.
The Trial
Veloso is held on $1 million bail, but the prosecutors see no clear motive. The prosecutors find she bought shares of a Halligan-Webb spinoff at the offering price, a perk only Weaver could grant. After McCoy threatens to indict the company for eavesdropping, it hands over Dillon’s files, including a hidden-camera recording of Dillon demanding a $10 million severance and threatening to expose Weaver’s affair with Veloso. Weaver had been paying Veloso $20,000 a month, met her at an espresso bar and once bought a .38 Smith & Wesson, the type that killed Dillon. Weaver is arrested.
The judge excludes the recording because it was made in a men’s room. Veloso, testifying for a deal, says Weaver gave her Dillon’s photo and sent her to fetch Weaver’s .38, and that she tied him up and shot him. Weaver testifies that Veloso acted alone, fearing the loss of her support, and insists she never seeks revenge, so McCoy calls fired executives in rebuttal, including one let go while his wife was undergoing chemotherapy. Weaver then asks for a plea bargain but rejects the terms McCoy offers.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Samantha Weaver guilty of second-degree murder. The terms of Veloso’s deal are not revealed.
Why it stands out
- Hidden-camera footage from the CEO’s own illegal surveillance is ruled inadmissible because it was recorded in a men’s room.
- McCoy convenes a grand jury on the company’s eavesdropping to force it to honor his subpoena.
- When the CEO swears she never takes revenge, McCoy answers with testimony from executives she fired.