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| “ | You stupid cow! | „ |
| ~ Jacob Lowenstein while attacking his wife Carla. |
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 abuses his wife and children, and is indirectly responsible for the death of his daughter. He is based upon the real-life child murderer Joel Steinberg.
He was portrayed by the late David Groh, who would go on to portray Joel Thayer in a later episode, "Censured".
Biography
"Indifference"
Jacob Lowenstein is introduced 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 fits of violent rage. He beats his wife Carla and gives her cocaine to condition her to obey his commands. He uses her to "discipline" their children, Didi and Ezra, by forcing her to beat and even burn them. He also sexually abuses Didi to "train" her to be his sexual servant.
When Didi collapses from severe internal injuries, Detective Mike Logan and Sergeant Max Greevey go to 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 the detectives find Carla about to burn Ezra, they arrest both her and Jacob. When Didi dies, ADA Ben Stone charges them 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 giving Carla a lesser sentence in return for her testimony.
"Fixed"
For the next 15 years, Jacob survives in prison by earning a correspondence school law degree and helping the other 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 Dr. Joyce Draper, and tricks her into believing that he has changed. She recommends him for early release, which the parole board grants. However, she finds out too late that he was using her to get out of prison, and that he has manipulated a woman named Sheryl into taking him in and allowing him to be around her children, a direct violation of his parole.
Jacob is released from prison in 2005, and immediately begins harassing Ezra, who is now living a good life with loving foster parents, by asking him for money. One day after walking Sheryl's daughter to school, he is struck by a speeding car. Doctors are forced to amputate his leg to save his life. His injuries leave him with several bacterial infections, however, and he ultimately dies in hospital. It is revealed that Draper hit him with her car to stop him from abusing anyone else, but she is found not guilty of his murder.
External links
- Jacob Lowenstein at the Law & Order Wiki
