| “ | We'll have each other, she said, and the money. | „ |
| ~ Himes describing how Janet Ralston talked him into helping her murder her husband. |
Gil Himes is the secondary antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Happily Ever After". He is a financial adviser who is sleeping with his client's wife, who talks him into helping her murder her husband.
He was portrayed by Bob Gunton, who also played Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption, The Warden in Family Guy, Leland Owlsley in Daredevil and Lawrence Hendricks, Sr. in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Early life[]
Himes worked as a financial adviser, and his primary client was wealthy businessman Alan Ralston. He began an affair with Ralston's wife, Janet, and she convinced him to help her kill Alan so she could inherit his money and they could run away together. To that end, he forged a life insurance policy for Alan that would leave Janet all his money, and they began planning how to murder him and get away with it. Janet was the dominant partner in the scheme, while Himes was her lackey, doing whatever she told him without question.
They planned for Himes to surprise Alan in their parking garage and shoot him dead, and then shoot her non-fatally and take her purse and Alan's wallet so it would look like a mugging.
"Happily Ever After"[]
On the night the murder is to take place, Himes loses his nerve at the last minute, and is late to appear and shoot Alan. Janet grows impatient and kills Alan herself with his own gun. Himes then shuts off the light in the parking garage and shoots her twice, stealing her purse and Alan's wallet as planned. He then goes to the hospital where Janet is being treated and gives NYPD Homicide Sergeant Max Greevey and Detective Mike Logan financial records accounting for the items that were stolen.
Homeless crack addict Willie Tivnan is arrested for the murder, but Greevey is skeptical of his guilt because there are no records of Tivnan using the Ralstons' credit cards, and because Janet's account of the shooting sounds rehearsed. He and Logan investigate further and discover that, a year earlier, Himes had been stopped by the police for having sex in public with a woman resembling Janet, although she supplied a fake name. Working with the theory that Himes and Janet worked together to kill Alan, they re-examine the crime scene and find Himes' fingerprints on a light bulb, which suggests that he cut off the lights before the shooting started.
Himes and Janet have a tryst at a motel, with Himes leaving first to avoid suspicion. Greevey and Logan have been following them, however, and confront Janet with the evidence against them. Janet claims that Himes started stalking her after she ended their affair and killed Alan out of jealousy. Once the detectives leave, she calls Himes and tells him he is about to be arrested, but if he does what she says he will serve only a few years in prison and will have her and Alan's money once he gets out. Himes reluctantly agrees to go along with the plan and surrenders when Greevey and Logan arrest him.
Himes pleads not guilty to second degree murder, with his lawyer arguing that Alan's murder was a crime of passion that he committed after Janet broke off the affair. After discovering the life insurance policy, however, Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone and Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette suspect that Himes and Janet were working together. They question Tivnan, who says that Janet shot Alan before Himes shut off the lights and shot her. Greevey and Logan then arrest Janet.
Stone and Robinette try to persuade Himes to testify against Janet, but he refuses, claiming that they are both innocent. Nevertheless, he tries to buy himself a deal from Stone by saying that he knows where the murder weapon is. Realizing that Himes and Janet would sell each other out if cornered, Stone meets with both of them and their lawyers and says that first person to agree to testify will get a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter in the first degree, which carries a lighter prison sentence than murder. Himes once again loses his nerve and offers to testify against Janet, who curses him for his cowardice and stupidity.
Himes then testifies against her, sending her to prison for life, while he is sentenced to eight and a third to 25 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter.
External links[]
- Gil Himes on the Law & Order Wiki
