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In a surprising role reversal, Jack acts as a defense attorney for a wrongfully convicted man in this week's Law and Order.

When the detectives are called to investigate the death of Angela Jarrell outside a bakery, they are unable to find any physical or forensic evidence linking Francis Pastell, their primary suspect to the case. Searching through their suspect's criminal record, Briscoe and Green find a former co-defendant who states that Francis, known as "Taz," killed a bouncer at a Bronx bar two years ago. The lack of evidence in Angela's case causes the detectives to work on building a case against "Taz" for the bar murder instead.

There are two major problems: 1) the crime occurred in the Bronx, so it appears to be outside the jurisdiction of the Manhattan DA's office, and 2) another person has already been convicted of the murder. A turf war results when the Bronx detectives and prosecutors turn out to be adamantly opposed to reviewing the case, which causes Jack to boldly announce that he'll prosecute Taz for the Bronx murder.

At Taz's arraignment, Abbie solves the jurisdictional problem by correctly pointing out that CPL 20.40(4)(c) provides for concurrent jurisdiction between counties when the crime is within 500 yards of the county border.

The judge orders a hearing to examine the strength of Jack's case. At the conclusion, the judge rules that Jack has barely presented sufficient evidence to bring Taz to trial. I feel the judge was understating the strength of the case; juries often convict with less than 3 witnesses implicating the defendant. Despite the judge's position on the strength of the evidence, a plea bargain is struck in which Taz is sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years on a manslaughter charge.

Now comes the unbelievable part of the episode: Jack decides to petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Tony Schaffer, the person convicted by the Bronx jury. This would not be permitted in real life; it would be a severe conflict of interest for a prosecutor to begin acting as a defense attorney. This is true regardless of whether Jack does so as a private citizen, as he's still employed by the state that incarcerated Schaffer. The Disciplinary Rules governing attorneys state that attorneys who enter private practice after leaving a government position are prohibited from working on cases in which the attorney was “substantially and personally” involved in the case during the course of their government employment.

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The writ of habeas corpus is an extraordinary measure used by defendants who claim the state is unlawfully depriving them of liberty. However, the courts have held that habeas corpus cannot be used simply to reargue the issue of the defendant's guilt or innocence. The Bronx District Attorney makes this point in his argument, citing Hererra v. Collins. Thus, the appellate court was in error when it set the conviction aside. The Hurricane Carter case is probably the most famous example of a successful habeas petition.

While the episode did a good job of making us feel sympathy for Schaffer, it had no legal accuracy. This is well below the high standards Law and Order normally sets for itself.

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