Post by Arthur LipscombLaw & Order - "Report Card" - A young boy shoots and kills his teacher.
Therefore team Law & Order arrest and prosecute the principal of the
school the boy attends. I had to stop and think about this one for a
minute because for a moment, I thought the boy shot the teacher on
school property. But no. They were nowhere near the school when it
happened.
Ok. You are making an obvious point. The principal's failures relate to
what could have happened on school grounds, not in the rest of the
world, so the manslaughter charge was absurd. There still could have
been charges related to failure to do his duty, including failure to
call the police with that gun report.
It's C-Note from Prison Break!
Post by Arthur LipscombThe dead teacher's husband was upset with team Law & Order
for focusing on the high school principal instead of the shooter, but
clearly he didn't realize he was in an episode of Law & Order. If Team
Law & Order and figure out *any* way to connect someone to a crime they
*will* go after that person! And in this case someone told the
principal the boy had a gun. The principal didn't actually see the gun,
but what does that matter. Someone has to pay for the boy's crimes.
He was required not to ignore the gun report.
Shaw's enforcememt of woke was a lecture on not slamming the teacher for
being gay; bit more to it than that but I forgot.
The STOOPID with the rapper refusing to talk to cops getting all tough,
but he's ALREADY allowed Riley and Shaw into his home. The rapper got
very upset that the victim drove his girlfriend home (who started a
stupid fight with him by grabbing his cell phone for no valid reason),
accusing him of flirting with her; Shaw emphasized "He's gay."
Shaw gets over-the-top woke lectury because the perpetrator was a middle
school child bounced among numerous foster homes since he was six. He's
finally in a home he might stay in; the foster mother cares for him.
This turns out to be the motive for the murder. The teacher (the victim)
had singled him out in class, so the boy wrote "joke" rap lyrics
threatening to kill the teacher. The teacher threatened to make an issue
of the "threat" and the perpetrator thought he'd end up in juve.
If he'd been in a shitty foster home like the previous ones, he might
not have cared.
Amazingly, given Shaw's super-sympathy for the boy, he still
interrogates him without the foster mother (she shows up minutes later
in the scene). He gets the kid to sign a paper waiving his rights at
arrest.
Huh? He's a 13 year old moron. He can't waive his rights. In my state,
in law (I don't recall if it's a statute or court decision), a child
must have an attorney or parent or guardian. Cops can never interrogate
the child alone. Now, if it's likely to be a felony charge, the child
really needs a lawyer but my state still leaves that up to child or
parent to ask for a lawyer to end the interrogation,
I can't believe the law in New York is different. The judge ruled the boy
was a moron (based on her own sons when they were teenagers) and threw
out the confession.
Shaw, in one scene, gets super-woke with Price, demanding that the
perpetrator be tried as a juvenile. Price won't commit, then Shaw claims
(without backing it up) that black children are discriminated against in
transfers from juvenile court to adult court.
Riley, Shaw, and Price simply believe the perpetrator that he didn't
know the gun was loaded; Price files manslaughter charges. Price makes a
deal with the boy to testify against the principal in exchange for
manslaughter II and no adult prison.
When the principal is tried, suddenly, Shaw receives vety late forensic
evidence (because on tv, cases always go to trial the very same day
before all the forensic evidence has been compiled) after the boy
testified. The boy perjured himself. His fingerprints were found on
shell casings, which means the murder was premeditated, not accidental.
Shaw follows the boy out of the courthouse and shoos the guard away. He
talks to the boy without his lawyer, even though at this point the boy
has a lawyer, completely violating the boy's rights. The boy finally
reveals that the crime was premeditated and what his motive was. Another
massive fuckup by Shaw.
Shaw witholds evidence from Shaw till Riley gets him to do the right
thing. Turns out that Shaw's super sympathy was because he himself was
in foster care FOR A WHOLE MONTH and, even though his foster parents
wouldn't keep him any longer, he was returned to his father who had
returned from a lengthy business trip (or was it military), so in his
mind, he's convinced himself that this brief experience with foster care
fucked up his whole life. Riley finally convinces him that he wouldn't
have committed murder.
Shaw is such an asshole about this, the principal could have made a
legal claim of failure of discovery and gotten off on a technicality.
Instead, Price reveals the evidence and the principal takes a plea which
will require prison time.
Shaw takes the boy into custody and explains he's now facing murder
charges because he no longer has a deal.