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| “ | You can pile on the coincidences, Mr. McCoy. You can slather on the sarcasm. But you cannot get me to say that I killed anybody, because I didn't. | „ |
| ~ Richard Morriston pleading innocence |
Richard Morriston is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Hubris". He is a con artist who murders four people to cover up his crimes.
He was portrayed by Tim Guinee, who also portrayed Adrian Cross in Smallville, George Zane in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and David Bishop in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Early life[]
Morriston was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attended the University of Utah Law School. He abruptly dropped out in 1994 after he killed his girlfriend, Beth Fazekas, during an argument, and fled to Chicago, Illinois. There, he started dating another woman, whom he physically abused; she filed assault charges against him, but he intimidated her into dropping her complaint. He then moved to Denver, Colorado, where he was arrested for fraud. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, and once again moved out of state, this time going to New York City.
He stole the identity of a man named Mark Landry and used it to apply for a real estate license. He also seduced a wealthy woman named Susan Kimball and moved in with her. He used her corporate accounts and insider information to make illegal stock trades; when she confronted him, he beat her. He was arrested for the assault, but she dropped the charges after he threatened to kill her. Morriston then stole another identity, that of Kevin Massey, and applied for another real estate license.
Morriston began a relationship with another wealthy woman, Gail Churchill, after selling her a house. He gave her a necklace that had belonged to Fazekas, which he had taken as a souvenir after he killed her. Eventually, however, Churchill began to suspect that he was using her for her money and traced the necklace back to its original owner, in the process discovering his real name.
In order to cover his tracks, Morriston broke into her jewelry store and shot her dead, along with her five-year-old daughter and the couple who managed the store, and then stole $70,000 from the safe to make it look like a robbery gone bad. He then fled the scene, taking the store's security tapes with him.
"Hubris"[]
While investigating the murders, NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green interview Morriston, who is still using Massey's identity. He feigns grief for Churchill and her daughter, and casts suspicion on Churchill's ex-husband David. Eventually, however, Briscoe and Green discover Morriston's true identity and criminal history, and call his office to set up a time to question him again. Morriston rushes back to his apartment to destroy the tapes, but Briscoe and Green get there first and arrest him after finding the tapes.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael charge Morriston with four counts of second-degree murder and try to work out a plea bargain, but Morriston insists that he is innocent. His lawyer convinces Judge Walter Bradley to exclude the security tapes as evidence, but Briscoe and Green find the gun and stolen jewelry in his apartment. Over McCoy's objections, Morriston files a motion to represent himself, and manages to convince Bradley to let him out of prison on bail, although his efforts to get the tapes and jewelry suppressed as evidence meet with failure.
During the trial, Morriston manipulates the jury forewoman, Carol Gibbons, by locking eyes with her at every opportunity, as well as speaking directly to her and touching her hand, both violations of trial rules. McCoy tries, unsuccessfully, to have her excluded from the jury, and tells Briscoe and Green to monitor Morriston's movements, although he manages to convince Bradley to order them to stop.
He also manipulates his secretary, Annette Perry, into lying under oath for him and giving him an alibi for the murders. Finally, he takes Gibbons out to dinner and seduces her, provoking her to convince the other members of the jury to deadlock, resulting in a mistrial.
Two days later, Morriston unceremoniously dumps Gibbons, and she realizes that he is, in fact, guilty. She goes to McCoy and Carmichael and confesses to manipulating the other jurors. Morriston finds out, and sneaks into her apartment to kill her. He tries to strangle her with piano wire as she washes her dishes, but his luck finally runs out when she grabs a kitchen knife and stabbed him in the neck in self-defense, killing him.
External links[]
- Richard Morriston on the Law & Order Wiki
