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| “ | I'm just sorry it happened, especially so soon after my birthday and all. | „ |
| ~ Regan's callous "apology" for murdering a man in cold blood |
Mitch Regan is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Teenage Wasteland". He is a psychopathic teenager who beats a Chinese food deliveryman to death for fun.
He was portrayed by Alex Feldman.
Overview[]
Regan is a lifelong juvenile delinquent with a violent streak, regularly committing petty crimes and getting in fights, including one in which he gouged another boy's eye out; he also once tortured and killed a neighborhood cat. He has a troubled home life, with an alcoholic father and a stepfather with whom he often fights.
While he is angry, violent, and lacks remorse for the crimes he commits, he is not without redeeming qualities; he loves his mother, to the point that he is capable of loving anyone, and he is protective of his younger brother and sister.
"Teenage Wasteland"[]
Regan, his girlfriend Heather Russo, and their friends Peter Franco, Chris Donalds, and Nick Simms break into an apartment owned by Heather's older brother Kevin to party for the weekend, and order Chinese food even though they have no money to pay for it. When the deliveryman, Tommy Ngai, demands to be paid, Regan throws a blanket he had stolen from a homeless man earlier that night in his face and knocks his down the stairs. He says that Ngai had seen their faces and would send them to jail before beating his head in with a piece of cement, hitting him so hard that he shatters the man's skull. He and his friends then leave him in an alley to drown in his own blood.
NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green investigate Ngai's murder and question a homeless man who had been seen in the area, who tells them about the teenagers who had taken his blanket. Kevin tells them that he had given Heather the keys to drop off, and questioning Heather leads them to Regan's car, which has spilled Chinese food in the backseat.
They interrogate Regan, who denies everything until Briscoe tells him they have evidence against him; he then blames Franco for Ngai's death. Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy, who is watching the interrogation, does not believe him, however, and charges him and his friends with murder. Because the others are under 18, Regan is the only one charged with murder in the first degree.
McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael question Simms, who says that Regan attacked Ngai and said that they would go to jail if they didn't kill him. McCoy and Carmichael recommend the death penalty for Regan over the objections of District Attorney Nora Lewin, who personally disagrees with capital punishment, especially when used against a teenager.
Regan, meanwhile, pleads guilty to first-degree murder in return for life in prison with the possibility of parole. McCoy believes that the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment, however, so he persuades Judge Marilyn Haines to vacate the plea and give the District Attorney's office the chance to decide whether to seek the ultimate punishment. Lewin finally decides that the death penalty is warranted under the law, regardless of her personal feelings.
During the trial, Regan's lawyer Leslie Stanton calls Mrs. Regan as a witness, allowing her to tell the jury that her son is a good person who made a mistake. During cross-examination, McCoy asks her if she had known her son was capable of such a heinous crime, a question that leaves her speechless. Regan testifies in his own defense that the robbery was merely "a goof" and that he did not intend to kill Ngai. When McCoy questions Regan, however, he confronts him with the fact that he had said that Ngai had seen their faces just before beating him to death, something that was not possible because his face was covered with the homeless man's blanket; he then says that this had merely been an excuse to kill Ngai, something he had intended to do all along.
Trial judge Walter Schreiber instructs the jury that, if they cannot decide whether to sentence Regan to death, he will sentence him to 20 years to life in prison. During closing arguments, McCoy tells the jury that Regan beat Ngai to death for no reason and with no remorse and thus deserves to die, while Stanton argues that, at his age, Regan's personality is not set in stone and that he deserves the chance to grow up to become a different, better person.
Ultimately, the jury sentences Regan to death. Lewin sadly remarks that the state will probably get to execute Regan before his 21st birthday.
External links[]
- Mitch Regan on the Law & Order Wiki
