Censure (Season 4, Episode 14)
Premise: Threats against a wealthy couple’s young daughter lead to a respected appellate judge, and the case exposes Kincaid’s own past affair with him.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 14
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- David Groh as Judge Joel Thayer, Jane Kaczmarek as Janet Rudman, George Grizzard as defense attorney Arthur Gold, Kip Niven as Dan Rudman, Mike Cicchetti as John Blanchard
- Director
- Ed Sherin
- Writers
- William N. Fordes
Summary
The Investigation
“Censure” opens as Janet Rudman finds her five-year-old daughter Laura’s doll on the front walk and a menacing message on her answering machine. Laura is safe, but she says a man in a shiny silver helmet and mirrored glasses on a bicycle talked to her at the zoo. A videotape then arrives demanding $20,000.
At the drop in Central Park, police arrest John Blanchard, a petty con man paid $20 to collect the money. He recalls a black sedan with a club sticker showing a profile, which points to the Pequot Club, where the Rudmans are members. Lab work on the tape picks up a ship’s bell and water against a fiberglass hull, narrowing the field to three club members with boats, including appellate judge Joel Thayer, a family friend.
Kincaid, who clerked for Thayer, asks to be taken off the case. Blanchard picks Thayer out of a photo array, the news leaks, and Thayer surrenders while insisting he is innocent.
The Trial
Kincaid tells Schiff and Stone she had an affair with Thayer and resigns. Defense lawyer Arthur Gold gets the photo ID suppressed because Kincaid told Blanchard he would get a deal once he picked the right face. Thayer then testifies at a disciplinary hearing that Kincaid pursued him, and she is censured and barred from practicing law.
On her own, Kincaid confronts Thayer on his boat and then Janet, who admits she also had an affair with him and wanted out. The judge rules that Kincaid acted as a private citizen after resigning, so Miranda does not apply. Dan Rudman testifies about his wife’s affair, and Thayer’s wife says she found magazine clippings with words cut out on the boat.
Spoiler, the ending: Thayer pleads guilty to attempted second-degree grand larceny for 1 to 3 years. After dodging during his allocution, he admits under pressure from the judge that he threatened Janet Rudman’s child.
Why it stands out
- Kincaid’s past affair with Thayer, from her time as his law clerk, comes out during the case, and she resigns and is censured.
- A key ruling turns on her resignation: as a private citizen, she was not bound by Miranda when she questioned Thayer.
- The judge refuses Thayer’s plea until he admits on the record to threatening the child.