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"Nullification"
L&O, Episode 8.05
Production number: K2507
First aired: 5 November 1997
  th of 456 produced in L&O  
th of 456 released in L&O
  th of 1271 released in all  
The New Sons of Liberty
Written By
David Black

Directed By
Constantine Makris

Summary[]

A fatal shootout during a robbery leads to the uncovering of a militia, the members of which declare themselves POWs in a war against the government.

Plot[]

Three armed men in ski masks rob an armored car outside a state betting shop and kill one of the guards. Of the robbers, one dies, a second is taken to the hospital, and the third gets away.

The medical examiner notes that the dead robber had a recent tattoo: fortune favors the bold, in Latin. Meanwhile, the ballistics lab finds that the attackers converted their weapons to be fully automatic and used homemade ammunition. Fingerprints identify the dead perpetrator as a veteran named Matthew Brant and the hospitalized one as Greg Kubie, a cop. Both have clean records and are from suburban Hastings, New York.

At the Brant home, Briscoe and Curtis encounter Matthew's brother-in-law, Phil Christie, who played poker with Brant and Kubie. They then visit a local tattoo parlor whose owner did the fortune favors the bold tattoos for a group of a dozen guys. One of them, Thomas Robbins, says the tattoos were a joke and that he doesn't even know Kubie.

Curtis locates the image of the tattoo on the website of a militia group called the New Sons of Liberty. He joins their chatroom posing as a potential member and is sent instructions on how to modify weapons to make them fully automatic.

Ross convinces a judge to sign off on a search warrant for Thomas Robbins's business, where he keeps the New Sons of Liberty membership list. There are 20 of them. The police execute more warrants on each of their homes, and find an arsenal of automatic rifles in Phil Christie's basement.

Under questioning, members of the New Sons of Liberty repeat only their names and ranks, claiming that they're prisoners of war. Although the police haven't recovered the murder weapon, the homemade ammunition matches, and McCoy charges them all with conspiracy.

The trial judge denies Christie's demand to be treated as POWs, but allows him to represent himself. Various defendants interrupt the proceedings by loudly reciting parts of the Declaration of Independence. Meanwhile, Christie asks the witnesses mostly irrelevant political questions, which McCoy successfully objects to.

Mrs. Brant testifies that Matt told her about the robbery plot in advance. She says she didn't understand, because the government wasn't bothering them. On cross-examination, she admits that in exchange for her appearance, McCoy offered to try her son Matt Jr. separately.

The judge then discovers that one juror has advocated to others that they acquit the defendants regardless of the evidence. Since a jury cannot be punished for a "wrong" verdict and the accused cannot be tried again, this process is called jury nullification. The judge replaces two jurors, but McCoy wants to eliminate another one and cause a mistrial. Ross unearths the fact that one juror was arrested for leading an anti-government protest decades ago, which could get them removed, but McCoy decides not to cede the moral high ground.

Christie takes the stand himself and states that his group is a resistance movement to government tyranny, citing Waco and Ruby Ridge, and brings up an article discussing jury nullification that McCoy wrote while in law school. McCoy retorts that if Christie believes what he did was justified, he should admit to being the third robber, to which he pleads the fifth.

In his closing statement, Christie argues that the government has sold out ordinary citizens to multi-national corporations, and appeals to the jurors to reclaim their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. McCoy responds that the conspirators took the life of an ordinary citizen, who didn't even work for the government. Furthermore, there can be no liberty if juries reach arbitrary verdicts.

After nine days of deliberations, the jury is deadlocked. The judge declares a mistrial, and Christie celebrates. McCoy tells him to enjoy his freedom while it lasts.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Governments are like elephants--they never forget.

–Jamie Ross.

Background information and notes[]

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Home Of
Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Brant
Hastings, New York
Thursday, August 10

Robbins Bait & Tackle
Hasting, New York
Thursday, August 10

Office Of
Asst. District Attorney
Jack McCoy
Wednesday, August 30

4 5 6

Supreme Court
Trial Part 86
Tuesday, September 19

Supreme Court
Trial Part 86
Wednesday, October 11

Supreme Court
Trial Part 86
Thursday, October 19

Previous episode:
"Harvest"
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Law & Order
Season 8
Next episode:
"Baby, It's You"
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