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"Forgiveness"
L&O, Episode 3.03
Production number: 68005
First aired: 7 October 1992
  th of 456 produced in L&O  
th of 456 released in L&O
  th of 1271 released in all  
Logan Cerreta Forgiveness
Teleplay By
Ed Zuckerman

Story By
Ed Zuckerman & Robert Nathan

Directed By
Bill D'Elia

Plot[]

The investigation of a college junior's murder involves the victim's boyfriend and her hot-tempered father.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Phil Cerreta: Did you save your high school prizes?
Mike Logan: Yeah. First prize, multiple dress code violations.
Cyrus Weaver: You feel no sympathy for this boy? He did what we told him to do. He went for the American Dream. He got good grades, played by the rules.
Benjamin Stone: He beat a girl's head in, that's not in my rule book.
I don't think we're going to trace it. They're still working on gun control. Pipe control's a ways off.

–Phil Cerreta


Elizabeth Olivet: It was not a crisis of identity. Mr. Beltran thought that violence was an acceptable response to rejection.
Cyrus Weaver: Isn't that mental illness?
Elizabeth Olivet: No, it's a character flaw.


Cyrus Weaver: If anything, you should understand where he's coming from.
Paul Robinette: Yeah, I do. I also know where he's going.
Adam Schiff: Hired Cyrus Weaver as council.
Benjamin Stone: Cy Weaver. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Benjamin Stone: The boy climbs a mountain, he falls off. Any decent attorney is going to make it look like a Greek tragedy.
Adam Schiff: Or a daytime soap. She rejects him, he's heartbroken. That and a bucketful of remorse adds up to man one, not murder two.
Paul Robinette: His only remorse is that Beth prevented him from entering her world. He didn't fall off the mountain, he jumped.
Mike Logan: Who you gonna get?
Phil Cerreta: Judge Morris.
Mike Logan: Him? You kidding? You'll get a warrant after the Second Coming. Who's easier? Judge Fadem. Dial-a-Warrant.


Curtis Milgram: I behaved badly. The Beltran boy gave her a ring for their engagement. He's a nice young man. Whether he loved Beth, marriage would have not been the best thing for him. He would have had difficulty fitting in.
Mike Logan: Especially if you didn't want him to.

Background information and notes[]

McCormickSeason 3

McCormick in the opening theme.

  • This episode is based on the Bonnie Garland murder case. In the early morning hours of July 7, 1977, Yale graduate student Richard Herrin bludgeoned Yale college senior Bonnie Garland to death with a hammer as she lay sleeping in her parent's Scarsdale, New York, home. Herrin was arrested. A group led by members of the clergy of Yale's Catholic church campaigned to have Herrin released on bail. They raised bail money and wrote letters attesting to Herrin's "good character" to the trial judge. Impressed by the campaign, the judge released Herrin into the care of the Christian Brothers in Albany. The tactics used by Herrin's lawyer, Jack T. Litman, have become known as 'blame the victim' defense. Richard Herrin was convicted of manslaughter, rather than first degree murder. He served 17 years in prison, and was released on January 12, 1995. (Bonnie Garland murder case at Wikipedia)

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Manhattan College
Dormitory
245 E. 90th
Friday, April 26

Executive Assistant
District Attorney
Benjamin Stone
Thursday, June 20

Supreme Court
Trial Part 56
Monday, June 24

4

Courthouse Rotunda
Wednesday, July 3

Previous episode:
"Conspiracy"
"Forgiveness"
Law & Order
Season 3
Next episode:
"The Corporate Veil"
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