February | 2012 | True Stories of Law & Order

Feb
27thHand it over, Jack

Jack McCoy has a habit of playing fast and loose with the rules. He also isn’t very fond of disclosure. Back when old Jack was Executive ADA his assistants often had to convince him to disclose favorable evidence to the defense. The lovely ladies weren’t soft-hearted; they were being pragmatic—and practicing safe law. According to the model rules of professional conduct (and a little old ruling by the Supreme Court), “a prosecutor in a criminal case is duty-bound to make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence known to the prosecutor that supports innocence or mitigates the offense.” In other words, if Jack has evidence that supports Jill’s contention of innocence, he is required by law to hand it over to her defense attorney.
Feb
22ndLindbergh Baby Redux

BY ROB CARBONE For many, July 4th is a day of celebration of our nations independence. But in 1956, one Long Island family was torn apart by an event that would eventually help the nation. On the morning of July 4th, Betty Weinberger did what young mothers all around the world had always done. Peter, her one-month old son, had fallen asleep and Mrs. Weinberger wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in a carriage on the front patio of her family’s Westbury home. Safe in the knowledge that her child would sleep and get fresh air, she went back inside for a few moments and returned to every mother’s nightmare. Peter was gone and in his place was a ransom note. While kidnappings had happened before, a case of child abduction touched nerves everywhere since the March 1, 1932 kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr. Knowing how that ended could not have been reassuring for Mrs. Weinberger. After contacting the Nassau PD and asking the local newspapers not to cover the story (The Daily News failed to comply and ran the story on the front page), reporters swarmed the ransom drop-off point and the chance to catch the kidnapper was lost. Six days after the kidnapping, the Weinbergers received two phone calls from the kidnapper with new instructions for the ransom drop-off. Both times the kidnapper did not show up but the police did find a blue, cloth bag with a handwritten note inside saying where the baby would [...]

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