Law and Order – Season 23 Episode 9 Recap and Review

Family Ties

Law and Order Season 23 Episode 9 begins with a woman testifying under subpoena. And she says the words, “He doesn’t know I’m here, does he?”

Cut to a crime scene: It’s the same woman from court who lies dead from blunt force trauma. Her husband, Tom is still alive, but unconscious. The crime took place between 8pm and midnight. There were no witnesses or cameras, no forced entry, and a bloody hammer was found in the trash. 

The woman was an aide to a congressman called Richards. Tom Porter has a serious head wound and is in the hospital. The police are investigating, forensics have come through on the hammer, and the DNA has revealed that blood came from three different sources, but the third source is not on the system. 

Turns out, the congressman Richards used funds to pay for Botox and expensive dinners for his mistress. Eileen was supposed to testify against Richards, and he’d threatened her.

Shaw and Riley visit Richards and threaten to arrest him if he doesn’t talk to them. He says he has an alibi as he was at a fundraiser, and they ask him if he has any thoughts on who would want to kill Eileen. Richards says he saw Eileen being sworn at by someone in a restaurant. So they go to speak to a worker there, and he says a guy came in drunk and very aggressive and yelled at her about something to do with money.

Meanwhile, Tom Porter is in a medically induced coma, and it’s 50/50 odds whether he will survive. Shaw and Riley discover it was Eileen’s brother, Kevin Marshall, who confronted her. He’d filed a civil lawsuit against Eileen. They speak to him, and he says he didn’t kill her and was at work until 2 am and wants to know who really killed his sister. 

They discover that a woman was living in the guest room from a man who did odd jobs at Eileen and Tom’s apartment. Turns out, Tom wired 50k to a company called Family Services Consulting, which is an adoption agency. They meet the guy who runs it, and he reveals the Porters were looking to adopt and were looking for a surrogate. Shaw and Riley ask where the woman is. Her name is Darina Meleshko: a 24-year-old from Ukraine, and she was the one living in the guest room and was the Porters’ surrogate. Turns out, Darina was set to give another couple the baby, as they offered more money. 

Shaw and Riley track her down to The Baldwin Hotel and want to ask her some questions. She has an injury to her hand, and her DNA is on the hammer that killed Eileen. They arrest her for murder, but she begins having contractions and appears to go into labour. 

At the trial, Darina pleads not guilty. Tom has been released from the hospital. There was an altercation between her and the Porters when they found out she was giving the baby to a couple who offered more money. The prosecution claims she killed them before leaving. She had motive and opportunity, and is considered a flight risk, so they are seeking for her to be kept in remand.

Darina gave birth four days ago, but she is remanded in custody. Judge Stuart Adams decides to suppress the murder weapon from the case, as the police obtained it without a warrant. The trial continues and Tom testifies but doesn’t have any recollection of the attack. Darina claims he startled her, and due to PTSD suffered in Ukraine during the war, she lacked rational thought, and that’s what led to the murder. 

The defence wants to change their plea to Not Guilty by reason of insanity. However, the evidence points towards an unprovoked attack. The defence claims that in Darina’s mind, the attack was warranted. The prosecution hits back by saying she was never treated for PTSD until after the evidence was revealed and thinks it’s all a ploy. 

DA Nicholas Baxter is considering offering a plea to Darina, but Price doesn’t think she’s legally insane. Baxter tells Price to call her lawyer to see what they can work out. 15 years is the offer. However, the defence says they are willing to accept 5 years as well as help with immigration upon her release, so she isn’t deported back to Ukraine. They can’t agree to that. Darina offers to terminate her parental rights and hand over custody of the baby to Tom Porter. He begs them to make the deal so he can have access to his daughter. However, they can’t use it in the trial as a bargaining chip.

The episode ends with Darina being found guilty. Tom asks, “What about the baby?” but Samantha Maroun admits she doesn’t know what’s going to happen. 

The Episode Review

This is an excellent episode that raises a couple of interesting points, and once again succeeds in ripping from the headlines, this time focusing on a perpetrator with PTSD from the Ukraine war.

The episode is as formulaic as ever, but it’s entertaining and proves why Law and Order has been going strong for so many years now. It tells the story well and raises important issues.