| “ | What do you wanna hear from me, McCoy? That I killed my wife? That I cut her throat? That I gutted her? Yeah, you're pissed off that you can't do anything about it. | „ |
| ~ J.P. Lange taunting Jack McCoy. |
James Paul "J.P." Lange is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Murder Book". He is a former Major League Baseball player who murders a publicist who gets in the way of a multimillion-dollar deal for him to write a book speculating about "the real killer" of his wife, who he got away with murdering four years earlier. He is loosely based on the late murder suspect and NFL football player O.J. Simpson.
He was portrayed by Bobby Cannavale, who also played James Kent in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire, Guy Danlily in Annie, Sergio De Luca in Spy, Irving in Mr. Robot, Russel Van Pelt in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, William Stevens/The King in Thunder Force and Jimmy Crystal in Sing 2.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Lange is a former Major League Baseball player with a reputation for throwing violent tantrums when he does not get what he wants; during his career, he frequently fought with umpires and other players if a game did not go his way.
His rage also carried over into his private life; he regularly abused his wife, Jenny, and accused her of cheating on him. When she tried to leave him, he flew into a rage and brutally beat and strangled her before finally slitting her throat. The jury at his trial found him innocent thanks to his literary agent Serena Darby, who bribed juror Lydia Neville to persuade the other jurors to acquit him. However, Jenny's family successfully sued him for wrongful death, costing him $20 million.
Years later, he decided to make some badly needed money and get media attention by writing a book about what he would have done if he were "the real killer". The book's launch met with public outcry, however, costing Lange's publisher millions. Around this time, Neville tried to blackmail Lange, who met with Darby to find out who she had paid off. When Darby refused to tell him for fear of going to prison herself, they got into a violent argument that ended with Lange beating and strangling her to death.
"Murder Book"[]
When NYPD Homicide Detectives Ed Green and Nina Cassady question Lange during the investigation of Darby's murder, he claims that any profits from the book would have gone to charity and to fund his daughter's education. After looking into a lawsuit filed against Lange by Jenny's father, however, they find out that Darby had paid Lange $200,000 under the table. After learning that Lange had dinner with Darby the night of the murder, they question him again, and he says he had been sleeping with Darby, but broke off the relationship by giving her a copy of the book signed, "screw you".
The book turns out to have been sold to a private dealer by its ghostwriter, Gerald Stockwell, who briefly becomes the main suspect in the murder. Stockwell manages to get released, however, by giving Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy, the prosecutor in Lange's murder trial, that Lange had told him off the record that not only had he murdered his wife, but he had also bribed a juror to get an acquittal. McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Connie Rubirosa investigate and find out about Neville's blackmail scheme, and that Lange framed Stockwell. McCoy has Lange arrested and charged with Darby's murder, bribery, and planting evidence.
Lange's lawyer publicly accuses McCoy of having a vendetta against his client, and manages to persuade the trial judge to exclude any evidence related to the previous trial, including the bribery, which leaves the case in jeopardy. On District Attorney Arthur Branch's orders, McCoy and Rubirosa reluctantly offer Lange a reduced sentence. In response, Lange offers to take an Alford plea - pleading guilty without admitting actual guilt - and serve five years in prison, an offer McCoy refuses.
During the trial, Lange testifies that McCoy and the police fabricated evidence against him as payback for beating the prior murder charge. McCoy cross-examines him and mentions the book in violation of the judge's order, prompting Lange to call it a work of fiction, giving McCoy legal justification to call Stockwell as a rebuttal witness to testify about what Lange had told him about Jenny's murder. McCoy plays the jury a recording of Lange bragging about killing Jenny, which so horrifies the jury that they find him guilty. He is then imprisoned for life.
External links[]
- J.P. Lange on the Law & Order Wiki
