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| “ | You stupid little--! | „ |
| ~ Martell cursing Maggie Conner |
Steve Martell is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Family Values". He is an unfaithful husband who married his wife for her money and seduces her teenage daughter, which led to him killing his wife after she found out.
He was portrayed by Stephen Sellen.
Early life[]
Martell worked as the owner and operator of a struggling house painting company. He briefly sought treatment for alcoholism at a substance abuse clinic, where he met Laura Madsen, the wealthy CEO of a publishing company who suffered from prescription drug addiction. Martell charmed and married Laura to get her money and started cheating on her immediately, sleeping with several of his female clients. He also became stepfather to Laura's 17-year-old daughter, Maggie.
Eventually, Martell started sleeping with Maggie, and manipulated her into believing he loved her. When Laura found out about Martell's affair with her daughter, she threatened to divorce him, which would leave him with nothing. Enraged, Martell pushed Laura, causing her to fall and crack her skull against the table, an injury that killed her instantly. Maggie witnessed the murder, but Martell manipulated her into helping him move the body by saying the police would arrest both of them. They rolled up Laura's body in a drop cloth and threw it in the East River to make it look like she committed suicide.
"Family Values"[]
After Laura's body is found, NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Mike Logan question Martell, who claims that he had been working at the time of her death. During the investigation, however, they discover that he lied about his whereabouts and learn of his serial infidelity, while the medical examiner determines that Laura's death was a murder, not a suicide. Finally, they find a scrap of the drop cloth in a dumpster outside Martell's neighborhood bar. Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid uses this evidence to get a search warrant for the house Martell shared with Laura, where the police find blood stains on the floor. Briscoe and Logan arrest Martell for murder.
Maggie rushes to Martell's defense, telling Briscoe and Logan that he had been with her at the time, ultimately forcing her to tell them about their relationship. Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy suspects Martell and Maggie of killing Laura together, a suspicion seemingly confirmed when one of Maggie's friends tells Kincaid that she had sneaked out to see Martell just before Laura was killed. Briscoe and Logan arrest Maggie, and Martell shows his true colors by lying to McCoy and Kincaid that she had made up the affair, killed her mother, and coerced him into helping her move Laura's body. Meanwhile, Christine Whitburn, one of Martell's lovers, says that he had been with her at the time of Laura's death, and that Martell had proposed to her.
McCoy suspects that Martell is lying, however, and has him testify against Maggie at her trial so she will stop protecting him. Sure enough, Martell incriminates Maggie in Laura's death and denies having ever loved her, and she finally sees Martell for who he is and agrees to help put him in prison. During a meeting with Martell, his lawyer, and Whitburn, Kincaid asks Maggie to describe the first time she had sex with Martell; when Whitburn discovers that he used the same seduction techniques on Maggie that he did on her, she reveals that she lied to give him an alibi before leaving in disgust. When Maggie tearfully reminds Martell he promised to never hurt her, he merely curses her. He then pleads guilty to manslaughter in the first degree and is sentenced to 8 and a third to 25 years in prison.
External links[]
- Steve Martell on the Law & Order Wiki
