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| “ | I know why you're here, but that bastard Chandler got what he deserved! He should have never changed his vote. We need to stop all this gun craziness! How many more people have to die? | „ |
| ~ Quinn rationalizing having assassinated Alan Chandler as he is arrested. |
Derek Quinn is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Open Wounds". He is a teacher who murders a U.S. senator whom he blames for a shooting that occurred at his school and uses his post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense when he is tried for the crime.
He was portrayed by Dennis Flanagan.
Early life[]
Quinn was a history teacher at Thatcher Academy, an elite private school in Manhattan. On April 11, 2019, a former Thatcher student went on a shooting rampage in the school, killing 16 people and wounding 12 others, including Quinn, whom the assailant shot in the chest. Despite being wounded, he managed to tackle and subdue the murderer, who was then arrested. He was hailed as a hero and became a gun control activist.
The shooting left him with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which took a toll on his marriage to his wife, Elena.
Shortly before the events of the episode, he advocated for a gun control bill in Washington, D.C. and pinned his hopes for its passage on New York Senator Alan Chandler, who had made publicly stated that he supported the legislation. Ultimately, however, Chandler, known as a swing voter on the issue of gun control, changed his mind and voted against the measure. Outraged and bent on revenge, Quinn went to New Hampshire to buy a firearm that would be untraceable, and then went back to New York to kill Chandler.
"Open Wounds"[]
Quinn stalks Chandler to his daughter Victoria's wedding, parking in the catering company's lot and sneaking into the ceremony by disguising himself as a waiter. When Chandler poses for a photograph with Victoria, Quinn charges at him and shoots him twice in the chest, killing him instantly. Quinn flees the scene before the police arrive and spends the rest of the night wandering around the city, coming back to the parking lot the next day to collect his car.
NYPD Homicide Detectives Frank Cosgrove and Jalen Shaw investigate the shooting and, with help from Detective Violet Yee, discover that the only car in the wedding caterer's parking lot not registered to an employee belongs to Quinn. They go to Quinn's home to question him, but Elena tells them that he abruptly left for New Hampshire the previous day, and that she has not seen him since.
Cosgrove and Shaw track Quinn through his cell phone to Coney Island, where they spot him on the boardwalk outside Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. He takes off running through the park, but the detectives give chase, eventually cornering him. Quinn puts his weapon under his chin and threatens to kill himself while saying that Chandler deserved to die, but Shaw manages to talk him down by saying that Elena is worried about him. Quinn lowers his weapon, and Cosgrove and Shaw arrest him.
District Attorney Jack McCoy charges Quinn with first-degree murder, even though his daughter Rebecca, a defense attorney, is representing Quinn. She enters an insanity plea on Quinn's behalf, arguing that the PTSD he suffered as a result of the shooting five years earlier rendered him incapable of controlling or appreciating the consequences of his actions.
Wanting to make an example of Quinn, McCoy assigns Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price and Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun to prosecute Quinn and to seek the death penalty against him, even though they both sympathize with the trauma he suffered - especially Price, who was traumatized one year earlier from witnessing white supremacist John Nelson commit a mass shooting.
During the trial, Rebecca calls Quinn as a witness, and he tearfully describes the school shooting and claims to have been disoriented and confused when he murdered Chandler; he also begs Victoria forgiveness. Price starts to question him, but suddenly suffers a flashback to the shooting he witnessed and asks the trial judge for a recess until the following day. When a worried Maroun asks him what is going on, Price admits that he is not sure he can try the case because he understands what Quinn has been through and feels empathy for him, even though he abhors what Quinn did.
Price tries to convince McCoy to let him offer Quinn a plea bargain, reasoning that the jury feels so sorry for him that they might vote to acquit him. McCoy grudgingly agrees to have Price offer Quinn a chance to plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter and serve 15 years in prison, but Rebecca rejects the deal. The jury ultimately votes to find Quinn guilty, and he is sentenced to life in prison.
External links[]
- Derek Quinn on the Law & Order Wiki
