Law & Order Episode: Blood Libel

This episode originally aired in January 1996. This long running television series was set (and filmed) in the Manhattan area of New York City.

Episode Main Cast:

Jerry Orbach as Detective Lenny Briscoe

Benjamin Bratt as Detective Rey (Reynaldo) Curtis

S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren

Sam Waterston as Executive Asst DA Jack McCoy

Jill Hennessy as Asst DA Claire Kincaid

Steven Hill as DA Adam Schiff

Jack Vinson as Matt Hastings

Chris Cooper as defense attorney Roy Payne

Santiago Douglas as Eddie Camarillo 

Lee Wilkof as school principal Dr. Sabloff 

A female art teacher, Sarah Aronson, is found strangled in her high school art room after hours. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis talk with her husband and associates and check into the possibility of the woman having had a boyfriend on the side, but they find no indication of any affair by Mrs. Aronson; however, Mr. Aronson does mention some phone calls to their home, but that when answered, the person hung up. When they talk with the school's principal, the detectives indicate that there was no evidence of a break-in, so the killer had to have a key and knew how to disable the school's alarm system, as no alarm sounded. The detectives also talk with another female teacher, a close friend of Mrs. Aronson, and she tells them Aronson had had some problems with a male math teacher. This information eventually leads to the detectives discovering that the math teacher, Richard Kovax, had been selling grades to some of the students, and that Mrs. Aronson had found out and she confronted him about it. Kovax promised Mrs. Aronson he would stop selling grades, but when he refused to accept anymore payments from students, he also told the students it was due to Mrs. Aronson. (You can now see that this could make Mrs. Aronson a target for any student desperate for a decent math grade to have a chance to get into a good university, but don't let your imagination run too far off just yet, as the real crux of the story will start shortly.) 

 

Lab tests of the blood found at the murder scene show that the murderer was caucasian and male, but also predisposed to diabetes. The teacher Kovax again denies he killed Mrs. Aronson (the school principal, Dr. Sabloff tells one detective he saw Kovax leave the school about an hour before the estimated time of Aronson's murder), but Kovax does tell the detectives Aronson had told him she was getting anonymous threatening notes left on her desk. The detectives get into Mrs. Aronson's locker at the school, where she kept gym clothes for when she played volleyball at the school. They find an envelope with the written threats to Mrs. Aronson with antisemitic expressions like "Jew bitch," "Hitler was right" and "mud people." One of the threats contains a violent drawing with a swastika, but it's not just any drawing, it's been done by someone with at least some artistic talent. (Is this symbolic of Hitler's art talent; that is, better than the average person, but not good enough to get through art school?) The detectives and an art expert look at drawings made by Mrs. Aronson's art students and they find a drawing of similar art characteristics from a student named Edward Camarillo. When the detectives question Camarillo, he gives them lots of attitude and he denies having made the drawing in the threatening message to Mrs. Aronson or his having had anything to do with her death, adding that he was working in his father's shoe repair store the evening of the murder, which is later verified by customers of the shoe repair shop. The detectives let Camarillo go, but they check the high school yearbook and find he and three other boys, all on the wrestling team, have three unexplained letters under their school pictures. At first they think it might be some kind of wrestling team lingo. Lt. van Buren and the two detectives write out the letters and they finally figure out the letters spell "KILL ALL KIKES" when assembled alphabetically by each boy's last name.* They question the three other boys, all of whom say it was just joking, but one, Matt Hastings, also defends it as "free speech," to which one of the detectives tells him that death threats aren't included in "free speech." The detectives let the principal know about the boys and their "letters." When the principal hears that Hastings is one of the boys, he tells the detectives that he had recently come to the school in the evening and saw Hastings leaving the school, which meant he had a key. He questioned Hastings about it, and he said one of the teachers had given him a key so he could work on a school project. The principal later asked that teacher if the story was true, but she denied it. The principal assumed the teacher was lying to avoid any repercussions for having given a student a key, but the principal let matters go, because Hastings is one of the top students in the school and the class president. 

 

When the detectives talk with Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid in the DA's office, McCoy suggests getting the school to get a urine test from the members of the wrestling team, then see if the lab determines that Hastings has diabetes. Kincaid explains that schools are permitted to have athletes undergo urine tests for drugs and without a warrant. When the team is tested, the detectives ask for the specimen number for Hasting's sample and then later they go to the doctor in charge and they learn Hasting does indeed have diabetes, but that he and his family probably don't know it. He explains that when a student's urine test shows positive for alcohol, they run a further test to see if the alcohol was from drinking, or if it was produced within the person's body, as can happen with a high sugar level in people with diabetes. Hastings' test showed the latter. The detectives arrest Matt Hastings. With Hastings in custody the police get his fingerprints and they match to fingerprints on one of the notes left on Mrs. Aronson's desk, to which Hastings says he was just trying to frighten her about stopping Mr. Kovax from selling grades. They also match his blood to blood at the crime scene. Hastings' attorney moves to suppress the urine test, saying that while the law allowed for such tests to identify drug users, it wasn't intended to be allowed for murder investigations. The fact that the detectives specifically asked for Hastings' specimen number also showed this was not about drug use, and the judge suppresses the urine test and thus, overturns the whole case, because it was the urine test that prompted Hastings' arrest and this brought about the blood match and the fingerprint match to the threatening note, both of which are thrown out. Hastings is free ... at the moment. 

 

McCoy and Kincaid meet with DA Adam Schiff to determine where to go with the case. Kincaid says the police found white supremacy and racist literature in Hastings' room at his home, along with "white power" music, and she reads some of the nasty, or should I say Nazi, lyrics to the other two. Since the boy's father vouched for his son being home on the night of Aronson's murder, Schiff tells them to check the father's own alibi. Claire Kincaid talks with the boy's mother who was working on the night of the murder, but she says they were both home when she got home from work and that she trusts her husband and her son, "He's not like what they say in the papers. Those people think we're all anitsemites." Kincaid asks, "Those people?" And the mother says, "You know very well what I'm talking about." The mother goes on to say, "Look at that school. How do you think he feels? He's a minority." (Note: While I didn't hear it mentioned earlier in the script, but it might have been, this comment seems to indicate that the high school has a large number of Jewish students. Wow! And in New York City, who would have 'thunk' it? Now ideally none of this should matter, but we're talking about antisemitism, racism and hate here, not "A day at Disneyland." Also interesting, earlier the principal tells the detective that Hastings was elected class president. Hm, I wonder what percentage of the Jewish vote he got?) The mother writes off the yearbook message as her son "just trying to get a rise out of people." When Kincaid mentions the racist lierature found in his room, the mother says, "Matt reads a lot," and she insists her son doesn't have a problem with Jews, and that he dated a Jewish girl. This takes Kincaid to Hastings' former girlfriend who tells how he flattered her with comments about Jews being smart and such, but also that he was using her to build his image, and that he blamed Jewish students for spreading lies about him. She also mentions that she believes Hastings got the basis of his beliefs at home, and that his father once asked her about a family named "Abramson," as if all Jews somehow know each other. She says the father said the Abramsons cheated him out of his printing business and that it was their fault he didn't have enough money to send his son to prep school. Kincaid asks about Eddie Camarillo and the girl says that he and Hastings are good friend and that they would get into the school on weekends to lift weights. When Kincaid asks how they got through the locked door and the alarm system on weekends, she says that Eddie had a key made at his father's store.

 

Now the detectives bring in Eddie Camarillo again and tell him they know about the key and that was how Hastings got out of the school after killing Mrs. Aronson, but Camarillo denies he had a key. McCoy tells him he's an accessory to murder and Rey Curtis, who is part Peruvian and fluent in Spanish, tells him that when Hastings talks about "the mud people," he means both Eddie and himself. This brings Camarillo to say, "My people come from pure Spanish blood, white, Christian blood." (Damn! Now we know blood has religious identifiers. I think he needs to have a blood test.) Eddie tells them that Mrs. Aronson recognized his artwork on the one threatening note and confronted him about it and gave 'them' the chance to turn themselves in. (Interestingly, he says she called 'him' in, but then that she gave 'them' the chance to turn themselves in; so, he obviously told her that Hastings was in on it.) Hastings said he would lose his scholarship and that he wanted to talk with Aronson, so Eddie supplied the key, but, "I never thought he was going to hurt her." McCoy sends the detectives to arrest Hastings. 

 

Hastings' defense attorney comes to the DA's office and introduces them to the attorney who will handle Hastings' defense, Roy Payne, an attorney known as a Klan lawyer; "Klan," as in "Ku Klux Klan." He bluntly says he will present a case that says his client is being framed as part of a conspiracy to protect the "real killer," the teacher, Mr. Kovax, who is Jewish. In court Payne lays out for the judge his theory that a succession of Jewish people were involved in investigating or providing evidence against Hastings. When McCoy objects, the judge says that while the theory is offensive, he'll weigh whether the evidence Payne offers is valid before letting the jury hear it. Afterward Payne tells McCoy and Kincaid that it's a golden age of conspiracy theories, that such theories help people make sense of an irrational world and that if they go out on the street and ask 12 people what they think about Jews, "All I need is one" (for those unaware, the jury must be unanimous to convict). During jury selection, Payne asks one man if he's Jewish, but when McCoy objects, the judge has a private conference with McCoy and Payne and Payne says his client has a right to know if any Jewish jurors can set aside their bias. The judge has another "Susan Collins moment," and says it's all very odious, but bias is relevant, so he'll allow Payne's question. (For those unaware, Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, is noted for saying how troubled she is by Donald Trump's statements or actions, only to then support him. She voted not to convict Trump at his impeachment trial, saying that she was certain he had learned his lesson, a statement which quickly circled the toilet bowl and was flushed along with other doo doo.) Later, Adam Schiff tells McCoy and Kincaid that they aren't trying an antisemite, but rather a murderer who killed Aronson because she was about to stop him from getting a Princeton scholarship, "He would have killed here if her name was McGinty; make sure the jury knows it."

 

At the trial the technician from the lab tells how Hastings' blood sample after his arrest matched the blood found at the crime scene stored in the lab. Payne makes sure to repeat the technician's name, "Rosen," and the technician answers Payne's question about who brought in the blood sample as "Detective Briscoe." ("Rosen" is a fairly common Jewish name, although his family might have been from the North Pole for all we know, but the point is made that Payne is emphasizing the technician's background is likely Jewish.) Payne follows with a question as to the blood from the crime scene being "kept under lock and key 24 hours a day," but the technician says "not when someone is in the lab working." This brings Payne to ask if it was, therefore, possible that Detective Briscoe could have swapped Hastings' blood taken after his arrest for the blood at the crime scene. The technician asnswers, "Anything's possible." Now Detective Curtis takes the stand and testifies that he accompanied Detective Briscoe to the lab with Hastings' blood sample and witnessed Briscoe turning the sample over to Mr. Rosen and signing the required form. Payne asks if Curtis was always with Briscoe in the lab, "joined at the hip," he asks? Curtis says he made a one minute call to report in to the precinct, which Payne says, "So there was a minute when you and Detective Briscoe were separated?" Curtis answers, "Yes." Payne then asks if earlier in the investigation that Curtis was completely convinced that Kovax was truly cleared as a suspect and Curtis says, "Not entirely," explaining that Kovax "had a motive and a window of opportunity to commit the crime." Payne askes if the two detectives discussed the case and then proceeded to look for other suspects, to which Curtis answers, "Yes." Payne asks if Curtis was overruled by his senior partner, which prompts McCoy to object and brings a withdrawal of the question by Payne. He then asks Curtis if he knows if Briscoe is Jewish and Curtis says, "I don't know, I never bothered to ask him." 

 

With the school's principal, Dr. Sabloff, on the stand, Payne goes over how Mr. Kovax was not just a teacher, but also a big fundraiser for the school, which Dr. Sabloff admits he likely mentioned when being asked by Detective Briscoe about Kovax in a phone call. Sabloff says he also learned from Briscoe that Kovax was a murder suspect during the call. Payne then spins this into further conspiracy by saying that Sabloff then conspired with Briscoe to cover for Kovax and that it all came down to implicating Hastings in the murder because Hastings' yearbook message "so inflamed" Sabloff as a Jew. Sabloff says, "Jews don't conspire with each other to protect Jewish criminals, it's ridiculous." Payne then cites the case of Jonathan Pollard, an American intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel in the 1980s. While McCoy objects and the judge stops Payne's rant, the information Payne wanted out before the jury can't be un-heard. (As I noted, Pollard was a Jewish-American, born in Texas, convicted of providing secret information to Israel. The case received much publicity in the mid 1980s, but when this episode of "Law & Order" was filmed, the case had been back in the news, as Israel had recently granted Pollard citizenship. Payne is trying to inflame anti-Jewish sentiment in any of the jurors. Remember Payne's earlier statement, "ask 12 people what they think about Jews; I only need one.") McCoy then asks Sabloff if he conspired with anyone about the case, to which he says, "No," and he further notes that Kovax was fired for selling grades. But is this enough? 

 

Briscoe is naturally upset that he's being used by Payne as part of a conspiracy, but McCoy refuses Briscoe's request to be put on the stand. Briscoe then tells McCoy and Kincaid that his father was Jewish, but his mother wasn't and that he was raised Catholic. (By the way, this was actor Jerry Orbach's own history: Jewish father, Catholic mother, raised Catholic.)  

 

Hastings takes the stand and Payne has him explain that he's tried to get along with the Jewish students, and that he even dated a Jewish girl, but the Jewish students told lies about him and the two broke up. And "they" kept him from becoming the captain of the wrestling team, instead choosing a Jewish captain for the team. "You see, I don't have a problem with Jews, they have a problem with me." (Then I think there needs to be a recount on that class president election. Somebody manipulated the ballots. Let's see... the Post Office? No wait, they didn't have mail in voting in schools. Obama did it! Well wait, he wasn't known back in those days. Hey, whichever hand of Detective Briscoe that's not Jewish did it. Yep, gotta be.) Hastings answers McCoy's question about the yearbook message as being a joke that was not his idea, that the other guys thought it up and he just went along. McCoy then asks about the threatening notes to Mrs. Aronson and Hastings says one of the other guys thought that up. McCoy asks him if Aronson's knowledge of him buying grades made him worry about his (Princeton) scholarship, but Hastings says he never thought about it. McCoy tells of a few of the Jewish students preparing to go to Ivy League schools, and wonders if Hastings was fearful of where he'd end up, and saying further, there wouldn't be anyone to blame this time, because Hastings bought grades and had sent death threats. Hastings insists he's being framed, but McCoy asks who is doing the framing. McCoy then suggests that maybe it's the same Jewish family who 'stole' his father's business. McCoy goes on that it was Hastings' own stupidity that put him into this whole situation, not Sarah Aronson, but this prompts Hastings to scream, "It was her fault. That kike was going to ruin my life." McCoy says, "As in the kikes you joked about killing?" 

 

Later the jury foreman tells the judge the jury is hopelessly deadlocked and the judge declares a mistrial. A new trial date will be scheduled. Hastings and parents celebrate, but later McCoy tells Adam Schiff that Hastings' original attorney is now willing to discuss a plea, because Payne got the publicity he sought and he's now hitting the "Klan lecture circuit," he won't be available for another trial. Kincaid informs them that one of the jurors said in an interview that the vote was 11 to 1 to convict. When McCoy asks, "I wonder which one?" Kincaid says, "Whoever it is, they blended right in," bringing Schiff to say, "What else is new? ... Next case."                

       

* The history of the term "kike" is uncertain, but perhaps the most accepted explanation is that Jews who immigrated into the United States from Tsarist Russia in the late 1800s and early 1900s signed immigration forms with an "O," not the traditional "X," which they misinterpreted to be a Christian symbol, as "X" does represent "chi" in the Greek alphabet, and thus is the first letter in the Greek for "Christ." It is most commonly represented in English with "Xmas," instead of the proper English form "Christmas." In Yiddish, the "O" was/is called a "kikel/kaykl," and it was so common, the immigration officials began calling Jewish immigrants by that name, which then was shortened to "kike." It is a derogatory term and I use it here only because it is central to the story.   

 

Photo is of the 2008 Edition of the Universal Home Entertainment "Law & Order Sixth Year" DVD box set

WORD HISTORY:

Libel-This word is distantly related to "leaf," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and to "lodge," a word English borrowed from French, which had it from Germanic Frankish, and it is more closely related to "library," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via French. It goes back to Indo European "leubh," which meant, "to peel off, to strip away or to break off a plant covering," which produced the noun "lubhro," meaning, "leaf, (tree) bark, rind." This gave Italic "lufro," with the same meaning. This gave Latin "liber," meaning "parchment, paper;" thus also, "written materials;" thus, "book." Its diminutive form, "libellus," meant "booklet, pamphlet, petition, written accusation." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "libelle," also meaning, "booklet," but also legalistically, "a written claim, a written charge (accusation) against someone." English borrowed the word circa 1300, originally with the meaning, "a brief written summary or declaration," but its legalistic meaning in civil law, "written statement of accusation against someone," provided the basis for the more modern meaning which developed in the early 1600s, "a false defamatory statement about someone," and its legalistic sense of "written false statement likely to do harm to a person's reputation and thus damage their life, earnings and well being." The verb developed from the noun in the 1400s, initially meaning, "to have written accusation(s) made against someone," with the "make false written accusation" meaning coming along in the 1600s with that meaning in the noun. The adjective "libelous" (UK English: "libellous") is also from the 1600s and meaning, "having to do with harming a person's reputation with defamatory accusation(s)."