Bodies (Law & Order episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Bodies
Series = Law & Order


Caption =
Season = 14
Episode = 1
Airdate = Start date|2003|09|24
Production =
Writer = Michael Chernuchin
William Fordes
Director = Constantine Makris
Music = Mike Post
Photographer = John Beymer
Guests = Jordan Charney
Alexander Chaplin
Ritchie Coster
Susan Floyd
Mimi Lieber
Episode list = List of Law & Order episodes (season 14)
Prev = Smoke
Next = Bounty

"Bodies" is the first episode of the 14th season of "Law & Order", and 302nd episode overall.

Plot

A teenaged girl is found murdered in an alley, with her body brutally assualted and evidence of rape. Detectives Briscoe and Greene later find a connection to unsolved Brooklyn homicide from five years earlier, featuring a similar victim and modus operandi. The detectives are able to link several unsolved homicides and missing persons report and believe them all to be the work of a serial killer. After speaking to some of the victims' families, they realize the victims were all abducted or found far from their homes, meaning they likely summoned a taxi. An investigation of the cab company leads them to the apartment of Mark Bruner. Bruner's unsettling demeanor and evasion to the detectives' questions quickly make Bruner a suspect, and he is eventually held and charged with murder.

Bruner is remanded without bail at arraignment. His attorney, Jessica Sheets, is so disturbed by her client that she refuses to represent him. Bruner is subsequently represented by legal aide lawyer Tim Schwimmer. Schwimmer comes off as cocky to McCoy and Southerlyn, and appears to want to use the case to further his career. During plea negotiations, Bruner reveals that Schwimmer visited the site where the bodies of Bruner's victims were stashed. At first, McCoy tries to pressure Schwimmer into revealing the location by leaking word of Schwimmer's actions to the press. Bruner later says that the bodies were "under lock and key"; McCoy argues that that statement meant Schwimmer abetted Bruner's crime by not disclosing location and has Schwimmer arrested.

Schwimmer argues that he refuses to break attorney-client privilege and, despite the benefit to families who want to put their loved ones to rest, he feels the system wouldn't work if he breaks that confidence. When speaking privately to McCoy and Southerlyn before the verdict, the ADAs tell Schwimmer that, "no bar association in the country would consider disbarring" him for revealing the location, he replies, "shame on them." Schwimmer is subsequently found guilty of being an accomplice to murder.

External link

*imdb episode|0629185|Bodies