| “ | I want it over. I want it over! I did it! I did it, I killed her. I did it! What about my wife? You have fixed it so that she can't win her application, she'll be like... she'll be like... that... | „ |
| ~ Grobman admitting to paying to have his wife killed |
Walter Grobman is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "DNR". He is a narcissist who pays to have his wife murdered because he cannot stand that she is more successful than he is, only for the assassin to botch the hit and render her a quadriplegic.
He was portrayed by the late John Heard, who also portrayed Warren Vandergeld in White Chicks and Jeremy Stancroft in Assault on Wall Street.
Early life[]
Grobman worked as an architect, and had an adult daughter, Dana, with his wife Denise, a federal judge. A narcissistic bully, he refused to listen to what his clients wanted because he believed he was always right, and if they disagreed with his decisions it was only because they were stupid. Unsurprisingly, his career began to falter, while Denise rose up the legal ranks. He blamed her for his lack of success, telling himself that he would had the career he wanted if only he had not moved to New York City with her when she was appointed to a judgeship there.
When Denise was appointed to a position with the U.S. Justice Department, the wound to Grobman's fragile ego finally became so great that he decided to have her killed. He paid Bobby Ward and Anson Scott, two ex-cons who performed maintenance work on a property he designed, $30,000 to shoot Denise at their summer cottage, giving himself an alibi by going jogging. The assassination went awry, however; Ward shot but did not kill Denise, who managed to return fire and seriously wound him before losing consciousness, while Scott fled the scene. While Denise survived, she was rendered a quadriplegic.
"DNR"[]
While investigating the shooting, NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green track down Ward and Scott. The latter admits to being present at the shooting, but says he does not know who paid them to do it, while the former dies before he can identify their client.
Meanwhile, Briscoe and Green find some inconsistencies in Grobman's account of where he was at the time of the shooting, and eventually arrest him for attempted murder after unearthing phone records proving he had called Ward shortly before Denise was attacked. He pleads not guilty, while Denise tries to give him an alibi by saying they had been together the entire weekend that she was shot.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael realize that they only way they can convict Grobman of trying to kill Denise is to persuade her to testify against him. She refuses to admit that he is responsible, however, even as McCoy, Carmichael, and even Dana try to make her see that there is no other possible explanation.
McCoy and Carmichael's dilemma gets worse when Denise declares that she wants to end her pain by committing physician-assisted suicide; the only way they can stop her is by having her declared legally incompetent, which would prevent her from testifying against her husband. During a competency hearing, McCoy questions her about the shooting, and she once again refuses to acknowledge that he husband ordered her death. When McCoy presses her harder, however, she bursts into tears and says that it is her own fault that her husband wants her dead. The judge at the hearing, a friend and colleague of Denise's, rules that she is not competent to make the decision to end her own life.
When McCoy and Carmichael meet with Grobman, a disgusted McCoy tells him that the shooting was all for nothing and asks why he did not simply divorce his wife if her success injured his pride so much. Grobman breaks down and, over his lawyer's objections, admits that he paid for his wife to be killed and says that he simply wants the whole ordeal to be over; he is especially angered and seemingly repulsed by his wife's physical condition. Carmichael tells him that it will take weeks for the judge's decision to be ruled as final, and that Denise can end her life before then if he agrees to whatever plea bargain she and McCoy offer. McCoy says that, when Grobman is eligible for parole in 25 years, the District Attorney's office will not oppose it.
Days later, Denise commits physician-assisted suicide, with Grobman by her side. McCoy remarks that he hopes Grobman will take the image of his wife's death, and the knowledge that he is responsible for it, with him to prison.
External links[]
- Walter Grobman on the Law & Order Wiki
