Joey Heric

Joey Heric is a fictional, recurring character on The Practice, played by John Larroquette, who won an Emmy for the role in 1998 and was again nominated in 2002.

Joey is a wealthy, wisecracking, narcissistic psychopath with a habit of stabbing his gay lovers to death. Despite his psychological problems, he is a brilliant schemer, who delights in and excels at manipulating the legal system for his own benefit. He first appeared as a murder defendant who had hired Bobby Donnell's firm to represent him, while in his second appearance (again as a murder defendant) he chooses to represent himself, with Bobby appointed by the court as second chair. When he returns several years later, he is now a licensed attorney, who hires Bobby's firm to help him with his first murder trial -- only for Bobby to discover that Joey's primary motivation in becoming a lawyer is to continue to manipulate the legal system for his own amusement.

Larroquette's final appearance as Joey was a cameo in the season six finale, in which Joey appears on the news to publicly hint that he may be the culprit behind the O'Malley shooting -- a twist on the firm's infamous misdirection strategy known as "Plan B."

Larroquette would eventually join the cast of The Practice's spin-off, Boston Legal, but as a different character, despite the fact that both shows supposedly share the same continuity.