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Recap / Law & Order S2 E18 "Cradle to Grave"

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Directed by James Frawley

Written by Robert Nathan & Sally Nemeth

A baby boy, Henry Ward, is found frozen to death in a hospital waiting room. His mother Jackie says that she usually left him with a babysitter but when she got home from work, the babysitter hadn't shown up and Henry was frozen. She panicked and left him at the hospital. The babysitter says that a man refused to let her in. Cerreta and Logan learn that the heating to the building is frequently switched off; and uncover numerous past complaints against the landlord Iris Corman. She has a history of harassing tenants to leave so she can renovate the units for better capital gain. She has hired Joe Turner to pose as a tenant and drive the others out. Turner shut Jackie's babysitter out of the building, and knew Henry was alone.

The judge admits Turner's history of assault against tenants as evidence. However, Turner co-owns many of Corman's properties and is her live-in boyfriend; making it unlikely he will testify against her. Turner is found guilty, but the trial is ruled a mis-trial due to a mistranslation of the statement given by the Spanish-speaking supervisor of the building. If Turner's history is not admitted as evidence in the second trial, he will not be convicted. Schiff tells Stone to offer Turner a deal in exchange for his testimony against Corman. Stone and Robinette further strengthen their case when they discover that Corman has been bribing a housing inspector. The end of the episode reveals that Turner pled guilty to reckless endangerment, and testified against Corman, who was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.


This episode contains examples of:

  • And I'm the Queen of Sheba: When Logan interviews a former tenant and asks him about Joe Turner, the tenant says, "That guy's a tenant like I'm the Queen of England."
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Corman's total lack of concern over the death of Jackie's baby.
  • Death of a Child: The death of 10-month-old Henry Ward.
  • The Dragon: Joe Turner was one to Iris Corman. Turner posed as a tenant to the building, but would make life as difficult as possible for the other tenants in hopes of chasing them out of the building so Corman could renovate the apartments and increase the rent. He constantly broke into people's apartments in the middle of the night, and personally chased off Henry's babysitter so the infant was home alone with no one to care for him. When the cops find him in the building, he's literally in the process of trying to smash an elderly woman's door lock with a hammer so he could wander into her apartment later and harass her.
    • Heel–Face Turn: Turner is not a good guy, but he does accept a plea deal of reckless endangerment in exchange for testifying to all the shady practices Iris Corman used to scare her tenants off; including shutting off the heat to the building and having him chase off the babysitter who would have made sure Henry was safe, which both led to the infant's death.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: Tirado either can't or won't speak English well.
  • A Million Is a Statistic: Inverted, to Cerreta's frustration, as he finds the people he and Logan interview in trying to find Henry's mother think it was a different baby who froze, and he wonders how many babies die like this in the city.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Jackie Ward testifies in the first trial of Turner for causing the death of her baby.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Iris Corman's attitude.
  • Smug Snake: Joe Turner.
  • Token Good Teammate: A subversion: of all those in Henry's life, his babysitter was the only one genuinely concerned about his well-being. She even tried to break into his apartment complex to save him, but was unable to enter unless she had a key or permission from Corman's henchman, neither of which she did.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Joe Turner chased away the babysitter knowing full well Henry was all alone in the apartment. Even if the heat hadn't been shut off in the middle of winter, he had to have known forcing an infant to stay home alone for several hours would have been incredibly dangerous. Ultimately, it's Iris Corman who's held responsible for the baby's death, however, since she was the one who ordered Turner to make life hell for her tenants to chase them out of her building.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Jackie and her attorney both react this way when Cerreta and Logan reveal Iris Corman deliberately turned off the heat in her building.

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