# Law & Order season 14

The fourteenth season of Law & Order premiered on September 24, 2003 and concluded on May 19, 2004 on NBC which remained unchanged. The season consists of 24 episodes. This is the final season to feature Jerry Orbach as Det. Lennie Briscoe. The character was transferred to the spin-off Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Orbach appeared in only two episodes of the show, dying of prostate cancer on December 28, 2004. In May 2004, it was announced that Dennis Farina would be replacing Jerry Orbach (Detective Lennie Briscoe) as Detective Joe Fontana. Having moved over to the third Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Orbach only filmed two episodes of the series before his death in December 2004 Season 14 was released on DVD, September 14, 2004 & the slimline reissue set was released on February 25, 2014.

## Cast

The cast of season 14 remained unchanged from season 13. Jerry Orbach, who played Lennie Briscoe, left the series at the end of the 14th season, and was replaced by Dennis Farina. But he moved to the third spin-off, Law & Order: Trial by Jury before his death on December 28, 2004 at the age of 69. This season aired alongside season five of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and season 3 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

### Main

* Jerry Orbach as Senior Detective Lennie Briscoe
* Jesse L. Martin as Junior Detective Ed Green
* S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
* Sam Waterston as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy
* Elisabeth Röhm as Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn
* Fred Dalton Thompson as District Attorney Arthur Branch

### Recurring

* Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
* J. K. Simmons as Dr. Emil Skoda

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 302 | 1 | "Bodies" | Constantine Makris | S : Michael S. Chernuchin; S/T : William N. Fordes | September 24, 2003 (2003-09-24) | E4302 | 20.86 |
| While investigating the death of a teenage girl, the detectives stumble on a pattern of crimes that indicate they are after a serial killer. The suspect, however, puts the prosecutors through an ethical wringer when he discloses his attorney's knowledge of the victims and their whereabouts. ||||||||
| 303 | 2 | "Bounty" | Matthew Penn | Michael S. Chernuchin | October 1, 2003 (2003-10-01) | E4304 | 17.50 |
| The investigation into the murder of bounty hunter Robert Rovelli leads to a reporter with compromised ethics and a dubious defense strategy. ||||||||
| 304 | 3 | "Patient Zero" | David Platt | Wendy Battles | October 8, 2003 (2003-10-08) | E4301 | 16.47 |
| The investigation into the carjacking of Anna Hopkins reveals her vehicle contained vials of a deadly virus, leading the detectives on a search for the first person infected with the virus and a biochemist whose sinister motivations were driven by passion. ||||||||
| 305 | 4 | "Shrunk" | Jace Alexander | Richard Sweren | October 22, 2003 (2003-10-22) | E4305 | 16.60 |
| The police and prosecutors investigate the connection between John David Myers, an award-winning songwriter, and Carrie Gunderson, the young woman found murdered in his home, to discover who would profit by her death at his hands. ||||||||
| 306 | 5 | "Blaze" | Gloria Muzio | Marc Guggenheim & Aaron Zelman & Michael S. Chernuchin | October 29, 2003 (2003-10-29) | E4309 | 16.17 |
| A teenager's need for parental love, acceptance, and recognition sets in motion the events leading to the deaths of 23 concert-goers in a blaze started by a rock band's illegal pyrotechnics. Based on The Station nightclub fire. ||||||||
| 307 | 6 | "Identity" | Jace Alexander | Janis Diamond | November 5, 2003 (2003-11-05) | E4311 | 16.38 |
| When a man is found murdered shortly after depositing almost $400,000 in his savings account, the investigation into the source of funds reveals that Andy Hitchens, the victim, ran an identity theft scam which left Lonnie Jackson, an elderly man, homeless and impoverished. ||||||||
| 308 | 7 | "Floater" | Richard Dobbs | Eric Overmyer | November 12, 2003 (2003-11-12) | E4307 | 18.93 |
| The husband of a woman whose partially decomposed body is found floating in the Hudson River becomes the prime suspect in her murder until the prosecutors uncover a connection between her prospective attorney and a judge who has heard a suspiciously high number of his cases. ||||||||
| 309 | 8 | "Embedded" | Ed Sherin | Craig Turk | November 19, 2003 (2003-11-19) | E4303 | 17.53 |
| After Frank Elliot, a reporter accused of causing the deaths of soldiers with whom he was embedded in Iraq by reporting on their troop movements, is shot and wounded on the eve of his return to the front, the ballistics report indicates that the gun belonged to one of the dead soldiers, leading the detectives to uncover who brought the gun back from the front and committed the crime. ||||||||
| 310 | 9 | "Compassion" | Constantine Makris | Roz Weinman | November 26, 2003 (2003-11-26) | E4308 | 14.74 |
| When Gideon Blake, a con man passing himself off as a grief counselor, is poisoned by a respected doctor he victimized, McCoy must determine whether revenge or insanity prompted the crime. ||||||||
| 311 | 10 | "Ill-Conceived" | David Platt | Aaron Zelman & Noah Baylin & Michael S. Chernuchin | December 3, 2003 (2003-12-03) | E4306 | 16.61 |
| Arnold Zachary, the owner of a clothing company with illegal immigrant workers, is found murdered which sends the detectives on a search for an unidentified evening caller whose girlfriend, also a worker in the factory, recently gave birth. Upon discovery that the victim was also the baby's father, the boyfriend is arrested with the motive being an office affair until the victim's widow discloses that it was a surrogate arrangement. ||||||||
| 312 | 11 | "Darwinian" | Jace Alexander | Marc Guggenheim | January 7, 2004 (2004-01-07) | E4313 | 17.99 |
| The apparent hit-and-run of a homeless man sends the detectives on a search for the driver, a high-profile female publicist, which fuels the fire for the prosecutors to obtain a murder conviction. However, an autopsy reveals that the victim died as a result of a beating, which had to have taken place hours before the car accident, which leads to a suspect within the homeless community. ||||||||
| 313 | 12 | "Payback" | Constantine Makris | Lorenzo Carcaterra | January 14, 2004 (2004-01-14) | E4310 | 17.23 |
| The investigation into the murder of Jerry Tortino a former bookie turned mob informant reveals a disturbing new wrinkle in organized crime involving legitimate businessmen moonlighting as contract hitmen in a battle for mob leadership, and ends with a Federal ploy to nullify the plea bargain in the case, leaving McCoy seething and two more people dead. ||||||||
| 314 | 13 | "Married with Children" | Richard Dobbs | Wendy Battles & William N. Fordes | February 4, 2004 (2004-02-04) | E4315 | 17.33 |
| The death of Lisa Winslow, a woman who fell from a hotel balcony leads to a case involving a lesbian couple and a state law banning gay adoption. ||||||||
| 315 | 14 | "City Hall" | Gloria Muzio | Richard Sweren & Marc Guggenheim | February 11, 2004 (2004-02-11) | E4318 | 16.96 |
| A city employee's clerical error sets in motion a chain of events which culminates in a fatal shooting at City Hall and a secret federal court proceeding with sinister implications. ||||||||
| 316 | 15 | "Veteran's Day" | David Platt | Noah Baylin | February 18, 2004 (2004-02-18) | E4314 | 18.04 |
| A decorated Gulf War veteran, grief-stricken over the Afghanistan combat death of his son, murders an anti-war protester, claiming at trial that he acted under extreme emotional distress. ||||||||
| 317 | 16 | "Can I Get a Witness?" | Don Scardino | Aaron Zelman | February 25, 2004 (2004-02-25) | E4320 | 16.73 |
| McCoy faces an uphill battle in proving that witnesses to the murder of Henry Ware a drug mule were bribed, intimidated, and eventually murdered on the orders of the drug dealer accused of the crime. ||||||||
| 318 | 17 | "Hands Free" | Gloria Muzio | Janis Diamond | March 3, 2004 (2004-03-03) | E4316 | 14.61 |
| When McCoy fails to win a murder conviction against an eccentric cross-dressing millionaire for the death of his neighbor, he redoubles the effort to convict the man for murdering his second wife years earlier by demonstrating that he murdered a witness to the crime. Based on the murderer Robert Durst ||||||||
| 319 | 18 | "Evil Breeds" | Constantine Makris | S : Barry Schindel; S/T : Noah Baylin | March 24, 2004 (2004-03-24) | E4326 | 15.05 |
| A Holocaust survivor, Leah Glaser, is murdered on the eve of her testimony in the deportation trial of Stefan Anders, a former concentration camp guard. McCoy must not only put the murderer on trial, but also the former guard who stood to gain the most from the survivor's death, even though evidence is limited. ||||||||
| 320 | 19 | "Nowhere Man" | Martha Mitchell | William N. Fordes | March 31, 2004 (2004-03-31) | E4324 | 17.86 |
| The District Attorney's Office is set on its ear when the investigation into the death of ADA Daniel Tenofsky uncovers a scandal that could imperil hundreds of cases. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg makes in-character cameos at the beginning and end of the episode. ||||||||
| 321 | 20 | "Everybody Loves Raimondo's" | Richard Dobbs | S : Richard Sweren; S/T : Lorenzo Carcaterra | April 14, 2004 (2004-04-14) | E4327 | 16.16 |
| Greed, treachery and disrespect shape the motives for murder when two men are gunned down at an exclusive restaurant. ||||||||
| 322 | 21 | "Vendetta" | David Platt | S : Michael S. Chernuchin; S/T : David Nahmod | April 21, 2004 (2004-04-21) | E4317 | 17.21 |
| The investigation into a barroom brawl fatality reveals a detective's decades-old vendetta against a petty criminal turned murderer who was falsely accused of one murder after evading conviction on another. Partially inspired by the 2003 Steve Bartman incident. ||||||||
| 323 | 22 | "Gaijin" | Jace Alexander | Wendy Battles | April 28, 2004 (2004-04-28) | E4325 | 17.19 |
| Van Buren has reservations about Branch's tactics in luring a Ginza nightclub owner back to New York after the Japanese government is unwilling to extradite him to face charges of conspiracy and murder in the death of his wife on a New York City vacation. ||||||||
| 324 | 23 | "Caviar Emptor" | Richard Dobbs | Roz Weinman | May 12, 2004 (2004-05-12) | E4321 | 15.86 |
| When Manny Suleimani a caviar importer is murdered the day after his wedding to a much-younger woman, the large pool of suspects includes his new wife, his children, and his chief competitor, each of whom has a compelling motive for committing the crime. ||||||||
| 325 | 24 | "C.O.D." | Matthew Penn | Richard Sweren & Marc Guggenheim | May 19, 2004 (2004-05-19) | E4319 | 19.46 |
| Briscoe bids farewell to the 27 as the prosecution of two women for killing each other's husbands comes to a successful conclusion. Final appearance, on this series, of Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe. ||||||||