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| “ | I don't need you to tell me I'm a son of a bitch. I've been one a long time. I like it - the hours are good and there's no heavy lifting. But I just happen to be a son of a bitch whose wife was murdered by some other son of a bitch! | „ |
| ~ Dobson claiming to be innocent of killing his first wife |
Michael Dobson is a supporting antagonist in Law & Order, appearing in the episodes "Coma" and "Encore". He is a club owner who murders his wife and gets away with it, only to murder his second wife two years later.
He was portrayed by comedian/actor Larry Miller.
Overview[]
Dobson is the owner of the Ha Ha Comedy Club, notorious for his vicious temper and ruthlessness in cheating his performers. He is also an abusive husband, frequently beating his wife, Sandra.
When Sandra files for divorce, she tells Dobson that she is going to take their children, Jessica and Jeremy, so he cannot hurt them, as well. Unwilling to let Sandra "win," he pays one of his performers, heroin addict Robin Wenner, to kill her.
Biography[]
"Coma"[]
At Dobson's direction, Wenner shoots Sandra in the head and makes it look like a robbery. She does not die, however, instead falling into a coma. NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Mike Logan investigate the shooting and uncover Dobson's history of spousal abuse and a major cash withdrawal he made just after her shooting, and they arrest him for attempted murder.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid have no direct evidence that Dobson shot his wife, so they petition the trial judge to allow them to remove the bullet lodged in her brain. Dobson objects, hypocritically saying that he fears for her life. Sandra's sister Kathleen, who despises Dobson, supports the prosecution's motion, and the surgery goes forward. Sandra dies during the operation, and the bullet removed from her brain turns out not to match Dobson's gun. Kathleen petitions the court to take custody of Jeremy and Jessica with McCoy's backing, but Dobson manages to retain custody.
Soon afterward, Briscoe and Logan discover that Wenner, who has since died of an overdose, committed the murder. Dobson is released, and cruelly mocks McCoy while leaving the courthouse that he has him to thank for no longer having to pay alimony. The next day, however, Briscoe and Logan turn up a tape of Wenner performing at Dobson's club, suggesting - but not proving - that Dobson paid Wenner to kill Sandra.
"Encore"[]
Two years later, Dobson marries another woman, Emily, and almost immediately begins abusing her, as well. When she tries to leave him, Dobson pays hitman Luis Cruz to kill her and make it look like a mugging. Briscoe and his new partner, Detective Rey Curtis, investigate the murder, and suspect that Dobson killed his second wife, as well. Dobson has Cruz kill a witness to the crime, but Briscoe and Curtis find enough evidence to arrest him, and McCoy and Kincaid prosecute him once again.
Dobson claims that he owed money to Cruz's boss, gangster Joey Jabone, who ordered Cruz to kill Emily when Dobson could not pay, and threatened to kill his children, as well. Dobson also has his new girlfriend, Margaret Nash, say that he was with her at the time of Emily's death.
McCoy and Kincaid do not believe either one of them, however, and investigate Dobson's finances until they find out that both of his late wives had taken out life insurance policies shortly before their deaths naming him as the sole beneficiary. They show Nash the evidence against Dobson and warn her that she will be the next woman in his life to die, so she reveals that she gave him a fake alibi. Dobson is found guilty of Emily's murder and that of the witness, and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
External links[]
- Michael Dobson on the Law & Order Wiki
