Scoundrels (Season 5, Episode 9)
Premise: A lawyer’s murder exposes a scheme to fleece victims of a savings and loan swindler, and McCoy goes after the swindler himself.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 5, Episode 9
- 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
- Michael Zaslow as Willard Tappan, Edie Falco as Sally Bell, Lisa Emery as Alice Huntley, Jonathan Hogan as John Curren
- Director
- Marc Laub
- Writers
- Ed Zuckerman & Charles C. Mann
Summary
The Investigation
“Scoundrels” begins when lawyer Arthur Kopinsky is found shot in the head in his office. His last client saw a tall man with glasses arguing with him. An inventor who accused Kopinsky of neglecting his lawsuit against a novelty company is cleared by witnesses at a Central Park concert.
Kopinsky’s files show he wrote to about 50 victims of savings and loan swindler Willard Tappan, claiming a lead on Tappan’s hidden money and asking for $3,000 each in research costs. Tappan, now at a Manhattan halfway house, says there is no hidden money. A nursing home resident tells the detectives that John Curren, whose mother lost $830,000, vowed to get back the $3,000 check she sent Kopinsky. A witness picks Curren from a lineup, the check is found in his jacket, and he is charged with murder.
The Trial
Defense attorney Sally Bell, McCoy’s former assistant, points to the inventor through Alice Huntley, owner of the novelty company. A bank manager then testifies that Curren stopped payment on the check the morning of the killing, which removes his motive, and Schiff tells McCoy to get a continuance.
Kopinsky’s files show he had a private investigator follow Huntley, who turns out to be Tappan’s lover and former employee. Her company holds $5 million in an offshore loan that it never repays, and she admits Kopinsky found Tappan’s money and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet. Tappan has an alibi, but a halfway house log shows Curren called him about an hour before the shooting.
Tappan hints he steered Curren to Kopinsky and wants immunity on fraud. McCoy instead charges Tappan with murder under a depraved indifference theory, and Curren pleads to manslaughter and testifies that Tappan said Kopinsky kept the money and promised to repay him if he killed the lawyer. Tappan denies it, and McCoy attacks his credibility with his fraud convictions involving 14,000 people.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury convicts Willard Tappan of second-degree murder. Afterward Kincaid questions whether Curren’s story was true, and McCoy brushes her off.
Why it stands out
- The man who fired the shots becomes the state’s star witness, and the man on trial never touched the gun.
- Defense attorney Sally Bell turns out to be McCoy’s former assistant.
- Kincaid suspects the office let a convenient story stand to win the case.