Act of God (Season 5, Episode 17)
Premise: A bombing that topples a building under renovation pits a bankrupt contractor against a jealous husband trained in explosives.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 5, Episode 17
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Robert John Burke as Arthur ‘Buzz’ Palley, Skipp Sudduth as Henry ‘Hank’ Chappel, Steve Harris as Calvin Tiller, Melinda Mullins as Christine “Chris” Chappel
- Director
- Constantine Makris
- Writers
- Ed Zuckerman & Walter Dallenbach
Summary
The Investigation
“Act of God” starts with an explosion that brings down an 1880s building being renovated on Church Street. Rescuers pull out 12-year-old Robbie Cuneo, who had been climbing the building at night, and he later dies. The bomb squad finds dynamite set at the support beams and triggered by a kitchen timer, placed so the collapse falls toward the back of the lot.
Owner Gaston blames contractor Buzz Palley, who uses non-union crews and has clashed with picketers and with Calvin Tiller, an activist who wanted a payoff. Someone fired shots into Palley’s site trailer weeks earlier. Briscoe and Logan learn Palley was fired from another job for diverting that client’s concrete, his checks are bouncing, and his contract with Gaston ends if the job is destroyed by an act of God or terrorism.
A Hong Kong investor says he backed out of Palley’s company and left word with Palley’s girlfriend, Christine Chappel, who claims she never passed it on. Palley was secretly living in the trailer, yet nothing personal is found in it, and he says he was out walking when the bomb went off. He is arrested for arson and murder.
The Trial
Palley’s lawyer reveals that Christine is married to Hank Chappel, a heavy drinker whose blaster’s certificate was suspended and who threatened in a bar to shoot Palley. Police find a .38 matching the slugs in the trailer and detonating cord matching the bomb. McCoy drops Palley and tries Hank, who admits firing the shots but denies the bombing. The jury convicts him of arson and second-degree murder.
Briscoe then notices that Palley never returned from his walk and arrived at 6:30 the next morning. A wiretap catches Christine and Palley worrying about being found out, but a judge excludes it because the warrant application left out Hank’s conviction, and Judge Caffey refuses to set aside the verdict. McCoy recasts the tape as Christine plotting with her husband. Hank agrees to testify against her, and Christine admits Palley bombed the building to avoid bankruptcy and she supplied the cord.
Spoiler, the ending: Christine pleads guilty to second-degree arson and first-degree manslaughter for ten years. Hank Chappel is released, and McCoy refuses Palley a deal, leaving him to face 25 years to life.
Why it stands out
- The title comes from the force majeure clause in Palley’s contract, which voided the job if the site was destroyed by war, terrorism or an act of God.
- The prosecutors win a conviction, then spend the rest of the episode trying to free the man they convicted.
- McCoy questions Briscoe on the stand to show that Palley’s arrest was premature, which leads Briscoe to take a second look at Palley’s alibi.