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| “ | One move, Lennie, and I’ll shoot you in the head! | „ |
| ~ Trapp threatening Lennie Briscoe before being shot |
Leon Trapp is the overarching antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Hot Pursuit". He is a career criminal who brainwashes a woman he kidnapped into coming numerous robberies.
He was portrayed by Rusty DeWees, who also portrayed Dave Randall in a later Law & Order episode.
Biography[]
Trapp was born to an unnamed mother, who was dead before the episode, and a father, whose address was unknown. He also had a cousin named Eddie and was associated with Bobby Johnson. A drug addict, he robbed a store for drug money, but he was arrested for it instead. A year before the episode, he got out on parole but didn’t show up for his appointments as he left a bogus address. Six months after being released, he abducted Leslie Harlan, a troubled woman from a wealthy family, and held her hostage with Eddie. When the ransom was paid, instead of agreeing to the deal, he kept Leslie and then shot Eddie in the head to scare Leslie into submission.
After holding her at gunpoint and raping her, he kept raping and beating her, which caused them to keep moving to different towns. One time while he was with his friend Michael Murvis, he stabbed Michael in the hand for simply changing the TV channel. Under the threat of harming her family, Leslie developed Stockholm Syndrome, bonding with Leon to the point that she participated in robbing and holding three people hostage at a liquor store.
"Hot Pursuit"[]
One night, Trapp and Leslie rob a bar, killing the bartender and a customer, and kidnapping the manager. The attack injured several innocent bystanders with shrapnel. Minutes later, they hit a deli, where they killed the clerk, and within hours, they killed the abducted manager and left her body in the trunk of their vehicle, which they later abandoned after stealing a different car.
While purchasing beer and cigarettes at a gas station, Harlan and Trapp were stopped by NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis, who had been tracking them since the initial bar robbery. Trapp grabbed a customer and held her at gunpoint as Leslie froze in panic. Before Trapp could harm the hostage, the gas station attendant shot him in the back, killing him instantly. Briscoe and Curtis arrested Leslie, who tearfully thanked them for saving her and asked to see her parents.
To set up a defense, Leslie reveals that while she did commit the robberies, she was forced to do it under duress because of prolonged abuse at Trapp's hands. Through deductions by forensic psychiatrist Elizabeth Olivet, she says that Leslie enjoyed helping Trapp, but also thought she had no choice but to help. Leslie's attorney, Danielle Melnick, tries to make her agree to a deal with Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy that would get her less prison time, but she declines. Though she is found guilty, McCoy admits that he would not be opposed to giving her parole in the future.
Trivia[]
- Trapp is loosely based on the Symbionese Liberation Army, who kidnapped Pattie Hearst and brainwashed her into helping them with robberies; Hearst is mentioned in the episode.
