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| “ | I went there to reason with him. I told him to leave me and my family alone. But he went off on me. He came at me with a damn butcher knife! I had no choice but to take him down. It was him or me. | „ |
| ~ Inwood defending his murder of Ira Walderman |
Silas Inwood is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "The Sixth Man". He is a professional basketball player who murders a fan who had been stalking him.
He is portrayed by Poncho Hodges.
Early life[]
Inwood was a point guard for the New York Knicks who was just as well known for his hot temper and frequent suspensions for unsportsmanlike behavior as for his playing. While playing in college, he was arrested for assaulting another player, although the charges were dismissed and the arrest record sealed.
He was suspended and fined $10,000 for getting into a physical fight with Ira Walderman, an obsessed fan of Inwood's rival team who had been stalking and harassing him for months in hopes of provoking him so severely that he would lash out and get fired.
Following their altercation, Walderman sued Inwood for assault, and accosted his young son at a press event. This was the last straw for Inwood, who then found out where Walderman lived and confronted him. An argument ensued in which Inwood broke Walderman's neck with his bare hands, killing him.
In "The Sixth Man"[]
While investigating Walderman's murder, NYPD Homicide Detectives Joe Fontana and Ed Green find out that he had been at a media event for a video game featuring Inwood's likeness and had been thrown out for yelling at Inwood. Fontana and Green question Inwood during a dinner with his lawyer and cousin, Reggie Uggams. Inwood denies knowing Walderman, and arrogantly dismisses the detectives, to the point that Fontana warns him to watch his tone. Uggams, meanwhile, says that Inwood was having dinner with his former coach at the time, which the coach backs up.
Fontana and Green investigate further, however, and find out that Inwood's alibi is fake. They also learn that Walderman had sued Inwood and harassed his son. After forensic examination of Walderman's body yields fingerprints that match the ones from Inwood's college arrest, they have enough evidence to arrest him for Walderman's murder.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Borgia charge Inwood with second-degree murder. Inwood's defense attorney, Leon Chiles, argues that Fontana and Green improperly obtained Inwood's fingerprints from a sealed arrest record, and the trial judge agrees, excluding them as evidence. Fearing that Inwood will be acquitted, McCoy tries to get him to plead guilty to manslaughter in the first degree, but he refuses. He admits to killing Walderman, but he claims to have acted in self-defense after Walderman attacked him with a knife.
During the trial, Inwood's teammates and members of his entourage testify on his behalf, telling the jury that Walderman had been harassing him for years, often with racial epithets. Inwood, meanwhile, again claims that he had killed Walderman in self-defense. While cross-examining Inwood, however, McCoy brings up the fact that Walderman was costing him money and harassing his son. As intended, this remark triggers Inwood's temper, and he yells at McCoy. In his closing arguments to the jury, McCoy tells the jury that a man of Inwood's size had nothing to fear from Walderman, who was middle-aged and out of shape, and that Inwood could have easily disarmed him without killing him; he then argues that Inwood's motive was revenge, not self-defense. The jury agrees and finds Inwood guilty of second-degree murder. Inwood is then sentenced to life in prison.
External links[]
- Silas Inwood on the Law & Order Wiki
