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| “ | You stupid cow! | „ |
| ~ Jacob while attacking his wife Carla. |
| “ | I've always been a good daddy. | „ |
| ~ Jacob showing an undue interest in his fiancée's young daughter |
Jacob Lowenstein is the main antagonist of the 1990 Law & Order episode "Indifference", and a supporting antagonist in the 2005 Law & Order episode "Fixed". He is a drug-addicted psychiatrist who physically and sexually abuses his wife and children, and who is indirectly responsible for the death of his daughter.
He was portrayed by the late David Groh, who also portrayed Joel Thayer in a later Law & Order episode.
Biography[]
"Indifference"[]
Jacob Lowenstein is introduced as a quack psychiatrist who makes his living dealing cocaine to his patients. He is also addicted to the drug, which worsens his narcissism, paranoia, and violent rage. He beats and rapes his wife Carla and gives her cocaine to condition her to obey his commands. He uses her to "discipline" their children, six-year-old Didi and two-year-old Ezra, by forcing her to beat, starve, and even burn them. He also sexually abuses Didi to "train" her to be the "perfect wife".
The abuse comes to a head one night when Jacob hits Carla in the face and she, in turn, hits Didi in the head so hard it causes a brain hemorrhage. Jacob does nothing to help her, simply leaving Didi lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.
When Didi collapses at school the next day, NYPD Homicide Sergeant Max Greevey and Detective Mike Logan look for her father. They find Jacob at the Reichian Therapy League high on cocaine and trying to seduce a patient. He denies hurting his daughter, but when Greevey and Logan find Carla about to burn Ezra, they arrest both her and Jacob. When Didi dies, Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone and Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette charge both Jacob and Carla with assault and murder.
Eventually, Carla admits that Jacob forced her to hit Didi in the head, which caused the injury that killed her. During his trial, Jacob denies abusing Didi and blames her death on Carla, but Stone points out that Jacob saw Didi bleeding to death and did nothing. The jury finds Jacob guilty of murder, and the trial judge sentences him to 25 years to life in prison, while sentencing Carla to eight years in prison in return for her testimony.
"Fixed"[]
For the next 15 years, Jacob survives in prison by earning a correspondence school law degree and helping his fellow prisoners with their appeals. He is nevertheless disliked by prisoners and guards alike, both for his heinous crimes and for his constant whining and conniving; his cellmate calls him "cockroach".
He undergoes therapy with social worker Joyce Draper and manipulates her into believing that he has changed. She recommends him for early release, which the parole board grants. During their final session, however, he reveals that he is going to marry a woman with two young children and move in with them, a violation of his parole; he then leers that he is going to be a "good daddy" to his fiancée's children, particularly her daughter, in whom he shows an inappropriate interest. Draper realizes that Jacob has been using her all along, and she decides to kill him.
After his release, Jacob begins harassing Ezra, who is now living a good life with loving adoptive parents, by asking him for money. One day after walking his fiancée's daughter to school, he is struck by a speeding car. Doctors are forced to amputate his leg to save his life. Soon afterward, he suffers a fatal pulmonary embolism as a result of a bacterial infection.
NYPD Homicide Detectives Joe Fontana and Ed Green investigate Jacob's murder, eventually finding out that Draper hit him with her car to stop him from abusing anyone else and arresting her. Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy, Stone's successor, and Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn prosecute her for murder, but the jury finds her not guilty; it is implied that they found Jacob so repulsive that they considered Draper a hero for killing him.
Trivia[]
- Jacob is based on Joel Steinberg, the unofficial guardian and killer of Lisa Steinberg, whom he and his girlfriend brutalized and tortured to death in the family's home.
External links[]
- Jacob Lowenstein at the Law & Order Wiki
