This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
“ | There was an arson, Mr. McCoy. I blew the house up... because I had nothing left but the house, and I knew it was next on her lawyer's hit list. I wanted to die in those flames, and now I'd rather tell the truth and go to jail than watch you pick at the last scrap of meat. That means no insurance settlement, sweetie! No proceeds for you to attach. And you know what? It's all worth it to watch you clutching with your claws, and there's nothing, absolutely nothing, for you to grab! | „ |
~ Shaffner cursing his ex-wife, while unknowingly falling into Jack McCoy's trap |
Miles Shaffner is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Home Sweet". He is the embittered ex-husband of Rosalie Shaffner, who blows up his own house to stop his ex-wife from getting it in the divorce, and in the process accidentally kills a little girl.
He is portrayed by Robert Emmet Lunney.
Early life[]
Shaffner was born into a wealthy family, and inherited millions of dollars, an expensive townhouse, and a multi-acre garden plot after his parents died. When his wife, Rosalie, left him, she and her divorce attorney, Alissa Goodwyn, won a large divorce settlement that cost him most of his net worth. His only assets left were his house and the land; he allowed an environmentalist group to use the latter for free in order to stop Rosalie from selling it to the supermarket chain IdealMart.
Eventually, however, Shaffner's legal fees grew so large that he knew that he would eventually have to sell the land and the house. He decided to kill himself by blowing up the house while he was still inside, thus sparing himself inevitable poverty and denying Rosalie the satisfaction of finally taking everything from him.
In "Home Sweet"[]
Shaffner causes an explosion in the house by tampering with the wires and cutting a gas main. While the house is destroyed, however, he survives with only minor injuries, while an eight-year-old girl named Jenna Wechsler, who had been playing in the street outside, is killed.
NYPD Homicide Detectives Ed Green and Nina Cassady investigate the explosion, and Shaffner manipulates them into suspecting Rosalie by telling them that she was once an electrician. They investigate her and find out that she could sell the land for millions if Shaffner died, and still had a key to the house, so they arrest her.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy - whose ex-wife had been represented by Goodwyn in his second divorce - and Assistant District Attorney Connie Rubirosa prosecute Rosalie, under the theory that she had tried to kill Shaffner so she could sell the land. However, Rubirosa examines Rosalie and Shaffner's finances and discovers that the latter had canceled an insurance policy on the house a week before the explosion, even though he is nearly broke. That, added to the evidence of a years-long war of attrition between Shaffner and Rosalie in the divorce, leads McCoy and Rubirosa to suspect that Shaffner destroyed the house so his ex-wife wouldn't get it.
To expose Shaffner, McCoy and Rubirosa set up a sting operation of sorts with Rosalie and Goodwyn, in which Rosalie pretends to agree to plead guilty to manslaughter in return for the prosecution allowing Goodwyn to arrange an order of attachment to the insurance settlement, which would go to Rosalie once she gets out of prison. Unable to stand the idea of Rosalie winning, Shaffner confesses to blowing up the house, gloating that the satisfaction of leaving her with nothing is worth going to prison, only for Rosalie to say, "Is that good enough, Mr. McCoy?". As Cassady walks in and arrests Shaffner for murder, he realizes that he has been duped. Meanwhile, Goodwyn and McCoy agree to drop the charges against Rosalie.
Shaffner is sentenced to life imprisonment, and a conversation between McCoy and Robirosa in the episode's final scene reveals that Rosalie has finally sold Shaffner's land to IdealMart, leaving Shaffner with nothing.
External links[]
- Miles Shaffner on the Law & Order Wiki
[]
Villains | ||
Law & Order Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: LA Law & Order: Organized Crime Law & Order: Toronto Law & Order: UK Homicide: Life on the Street Chicago Fire Chicago: Med Chicago P.D. FBI FBI: Most Wanted FBI: International |