Animal Instinct (Season 3, Episode 18)
Premise: A university scientist is shot in her lab, and Stone’s case against her husband collapses when his supposed mistress turns out to be living a fantasy.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 3, Episode 18
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Frances Fisher as Susan Boyd, John Cunningham as Donald Walsh, Lawrence Pressman as Professor Wesley Burke, David Schechter as Dirk Chesney, Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- Director
- Ed Sherin
- Writers
- Michael S. Chernuchin & Sibyl Gardner
Summary
The Investigation
“Animal Instinct” begins when biologist Dr. Fay Walsh is found shot in the back in her lab at the Manhattan Institute. Her husband, Donald Walsh, blames animal rights activists who had picketed and threatened her. Briscoe and Logan arrest Dirk Chesney, founder of the underground Animal Rights Crusade, but his alibi holds, and the murder weapon proves to be the institute’s own .410 shotgun, used to collect specimens and kept in an equipment closet.
A private investigator hired by Fay says she suspected Donald of an affair with Susan Boyd, a department administrator, and plays a tapped answering-machine message in which Susan talks of being rid of Fay. Donald denies any relationship, while Susan says they have been lovers for three years and were together the night of the murder. A Cape May gun shop owner identifies Susan as the woman who bought .410 slugs using Fay’s license, and both are arrested.
The Trial
The judge excludes the tape under federal wiretap law. Susan takes a deal to testify against Donald and says he talked about wishing Fay dead. On cross-examination, defense attorney Wesley Burke gets her to say Stone told her what to say, the judge lets the jury disregard her testimony, and Donald is acquitted.
A Newark judge, Feldman, then reveals that Susan, as Susan Daly, once fixated on him, and her law degree and marriage turn out to be invented. Dr. Olivet suggests erotomania, a delusion that someone is in love with her. A search of Susan’s Cape May rental turns up mementos of Donald, the .410 shells and a license in Fay’s name bearing Susan’s photo.
Spoiler, the ending: Susan is arrested for the murder. Confronted, Donald calls her a lunatic, while she insists he loves her. She rejects Stone’s offer of first-degree manslaughter with psychiatric treatment, fires her lawyer and represents herself, filing motion after motion. The episode ends before her trial.
Why it stands out
- Dr. Elizabeth Olivet’s diagnosis of erotomania reframes the case.
- A ruling on a privately recorded phone message knocks out Stone’s key evidence.
- The first defendant is acquitted, and double jeopardy leaves Stone no leverage over him.