Law and Order
Register
Advertisement
"Working Mom"
L&O, Episode 7.14
Production number: K1118
First aired: 26 February 1997
  {{{nNthProducedInSeries}}}th of 456 produced in L&O  
{{{nNthReleasedInSeries}}}th of 456 released in L&O
  {{{nNthReleasedInAll}}}th of 1271 released in all  
Written By
Jeremy R. Littman & I.C. Rapoport

Directed By
Jace Alexander

Plot[]

A retired cop is found shot to death in his car, and the investigation trail involves two interior decorators who double as prostitutes.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

What's next? Campfire girls selling crack?

–Adam Schiff


Stieglitz: [her closing summation] It's not often that Big Brother has to listen to your opinion. It happens every 4 years. And it happens when you have the privilege of sitting in this box. Hillary Colson shopped at Gap Kids. She goes to PTA meetings. She's also a prostitute. I don't like it anymore than you do. It disgusts me. I don't approve of serial adultery. She's endangered the lives of every member of her family in a pathetic search for what? Novelty? To fill a void in her life, maybe? I don't know. But I do know this. If this were a referendum on prostitution, I would say: "Throw her in jail and forget about the key". But it's not! That's not why she's on trial. She is on trial, because she said no to an ex-police officer armed with a Colt revolver and the will to use it! An ex-police officer. Hmm? A bully who used sex to dominate women. She said NO! And she meant it! The bill of rights does not only apply to the June Cleavers of this country. Acquit my client, and you say to Big Brother that any woman, regardless of her character, has got the right to say no, and has got the right to back it up! I'm not asking you to agree with prostitution. But I am begging you to disagree with rape.
McCoy: [his summation] Miss Stieglitz is right. This isn't a referendum on prostitution. It isn't a referendum on rape. You're here to render a verdict on her client's credibility. She says she was raped. What's her evidence? "Keene was a bully. My husband believes me. So should you." In the meantime, she suffered no injuries, she destroyed evidence, she lied to the police. It was only when she was backed into a corner that she cried rape, that she wrapped herself in the right of self-defense. But she wasn't defending her virtue. She didn't shoot Gilbert Keene to keep from performing an act that she had willingly performed on dozens of other men. She killed him to protect a secret. You've all seen what lengths she went to, to avoid Mac Bernum, to hide her identity. Who can blame her? She didn't want to lose her husband, her family, her comfortable home. Those things, she would kill for. But those things do not justify the taking of a life! The threat of deadly physical force does, or rape does, or kidnapping, or robbery. But none of those things happened in that car. What happened in that car was a cold and calculated thing. A woman killed her blackmailer, not her rapist. That's who Gilbert Keene was. That's how he got sex. He didn't rape those other women. He blackmailed them. I don't want you to convict her because she's a prostitute. I'm asking you to convict her, because her story is a lie.

Background information and notes[]

  • This episode was later adapted into the Law & Order: UK episode "Vice".
  • This episode and the previous episode, "Matrimony", both feature women who work a double life as interior designers and another job. "Working Mom" features women, Hillary Colson and Sondra Benton, who also serve as prostitutes. "Matrimony" had a woman, Kim Triandos, who worked as an interior designer but was also a stripper.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Bernum Woods
80 Queens Blvd
Thursday, January 18

Fox Hill Decor
Mt. Kisco, NY
Monday, January 22

Apartment of
Gino Ricardo
523 West 26th Street
Tuesday, January 23

4 5 6

Rikers Island
Rose M. Singer Center
Monday, February 12

Supreme Court
Trial Part 67
Wednesday, March 27

Supreme Court
Trial Part 67
Friday, March 29

Previous episode:
"Matrimony"
"Working Mom"
Law & Order
Season 7
Next episode:
"D-Girl"
Seasons 1234567891011121314151617181920212223
Advertisement