Law & Order: Season 7

1996 · 23 episodes · ★ 7.5

What Season 7 of Law & Order

Season seven opens with Jamie Ross as McCoy's new second-in-command, determined to come down hard on those who commit violent crimes. As in the rest of the series, each episode splits its focus between two fronts. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis search for evidence on the street, while Manhattan prosecutors build the case and take it to court. The cases range from car thefts to police corruption and clashes with judges. Ross and her ex-husband, attorney Neal Gorton, face off in the courtroom, and the characters' personal lives barely surface between cases.

23episodes

Sep 18, 1996premiered

May 21, 1997latest episode

18 hrtotal runtime

Season 7 Episodes

7x01 Causa Mortis
Sep 18, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 7.9
McCoy's new second chair, ADA Jamie Ross, is determined to prosecute as harshly as possible a carjacker who took the life of a teacher as she pleaded for her life on an audio tape discovered at the crime scene.
Directed by: Edwin Sherin · Written by: René Balcer · Cast: Jurian Hughes, George Martin, Cyndi Cartagena, Louise Sorel
7x02 I.D.
Sep 25, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 7.9
The cops tackle identifying a corpse left in an elevator, and McCoy finds his prosecution of the suspect later hampered by a vindictive judge who resents Ross's in-court rebuke for sexual harassment.
Directed by: Constantine Makris · Written by: Ed Zuckerman · Starring: Aida Turturro, Gerry Bamman, Frank Anello, Jerry Adler
7x03 Good Girl
Oct 2, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 7.4
Briscoe and Curtis have to break the mutual alibi of two girlfriends as they try to find the killer of a young black man, whose angry parents pressure McCoy to indict a young woman who claims the victim had raped her.
Directed by: Jace Alexander · Written by: Jeremy R. Littman · Cast: Frank Anello, Joan Copeland, Chelsea Altman, Tommy Hollis
7x04 Survivor
Oct 23, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 8.2
Briscoe and Curtis's investigation of the murder of a rare coin dealer nets them a millionaire as a suspect, but Ross has to play detective too as the DA's office tries to establish a provenance for the missing coin collection.
Directed by: Vincent Misiano · Written by: Barry M. Schkolnick · Starring: Carolyn McCormick, Tovah Feldshuh, Larry Keith, Karen Allen
7x05 Corruption
Oct 30, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 8.0
Curtis, angered by the attitude of an old colleague of Briscoe's, looks beyond the findings of an IAB investigation and turns up evidence of police corruption that puts the DA's office into competition with an ambitious judge and Briscoe under investigation for stealing evidence from a police lockup.
Directed by: Matthew Penn · Written by: Gardner Stern · Cast: Kevin Conway, Caroline Kava, Tim Ransom, Skipp Sudduth
7x06 Double Blind
Nov 6, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 7.8
The murder of a janitor in a university laboratory building leads back to a student employee whose participation in a drug study may have prompted the crime.
Directed by: Christopher Misiano · Written by: Jeremy R. Littman, William N. Fordes · Starring: Christine Farrell, Fred J. Scollay, John Bedford Lloyd, Mark Bateman
7x07 Deadbeat
Nov 13, 1996 · 47 min · ★ 7.4
The murder of a deadbeat father whose son is dying of leukemia presents McCoy and Ross with a sympathetic suspect and a moral dilemma.
Directed by: Constantine Makris · Written by: Ed Zuckerman, I.C. Rapoport · Cast: Tamara Tunie, Val Avery, J. Evan Bonifant, Mark Casella
7x08 Family Business
Nov 20, 1996 · 46 min · ★ 5.9
The murder of Richard Speigel, chief financial officer for an exclusive, family-owned department store goes from the sitting room to the bedroom and into the board room as suspicion shifts from co-workers to family members.
Directed by: Lewis Gould · Written by: Gardner Stern, Barry M. Schkolnick · Starring: Rochelle Oliver, Anna Carolina Alvim, Jean De Baer, Frank Girardeau
7x09 Entrapment
Jan 8, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.1
The case against Huey Tate, a young man accused of shooting the well-known leader of the African-American Congress comes undone when the New York authorities learn that their chief witness was once an informant for the FBI, and is still under their protection.
Directed by: Matthew Penn · Written by: René Balcer, Richard Sweren · Starring: Samuel E. Wright, Gloria Foster, Michelle Hurd, Ron Cephas Jones
7x10 Legacy
Jan 15, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 8.0
The sidewalk shooting of a young husband uncovers the fact that his wife's first husband died in a inadequately investigated accident, and that they may have been having an affair before it happened.
Directed by: Brian Mertes · Written by: Jeremy R. Littman, Ed Zuckerman · Cast: Christine Farrell, Charlotte Moore, Hugh O'Gorman, Frances Sternhagen
7x11 Menace
Feb 5, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.7
The detectives face a difficult struggle getting witnesses to a girl's apparent suicide to come forward while Ross tries to prove that a known bully is the one really responsible for her actions.
Directed by: Constantine Makris · Written by: I.C. Rapoport · Cast: Francine Beers, John Ellison Conlee, Christopher Cousins, John Cullum
7x12 Barter
Feb 12, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.6
An unpromising case of murder suddenly develops new leads when the cops explore the possibility that the victim was mistaken for someone else. McCoy walks a thin line in the matter of ethical conduct as he tries to make a case against a lendor who uses unscrupulous methods to collect the money owed to him.
Directed by: Dan Karlok · Written by: René Balcer, Eddie Feldmann · Starring: George DiCenzo, Scott Bryce, Victor Argo, Greer Goodman
7x13 Matrimony
Feb 19, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 6.2
The discovery of a would-be thief refocuses a murder investigation, leaving the prosecutors the task of making a conspiracy case against the deceased's attorney and the pretty young widow.
Directed by: Lewis Gould · Written by: Richard Sweren, Ed Zuckerman · Starring: George Grizzard, Arija Bareikis, Stephen C. Bradbury, Todd Davis
7x14 Working Mom
Feb 26, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 6.1
The murder of an ex-cop with a penchant for blackmail and illicit sex brings feminist lawyer Lanie Stieglitz into court against McCoy to defend a suburban wife and mother.
Directed by: Jace Alexander · Written by: Jeremy R. Littman, I.C. Rapoport · Starring: Elaine Stritch, Felicity Huffman, Scarlett Lam, Jodie Markell
7x15 D-Girl
Mar 13, 1997 · 45 min · ★ 6.1
A headless corpse fished out of the river sends Briscoe and Curtis out to Los Angeles to obtain a blood sample from their chief suspect while McCoy and Ross back in New York try to obtain a court order for the procedure.
Directed by: Constantine Makris, Edwin Sherin · Written by: René Balcer, Gardner Stern, Ed Zuckerman · Cast: Michael Zaslow, Janeane Garofalo, Lauren Graham, Harrison Young
7x16 Turnaround
Mar 20, 1997 · 45 min · ★ 7.7
Back in New York with their suspect, Briscoe and Curtis try to pin down his schedule on the night of the murder, but find instead that another man was in the area at the right time and more importantly, might have a motive for the crime. But after the issuance of a new arrest warrant, McCoy and Ross have to fly to LA to defend their warrant against attacks by the man's defense counsel, Ross's former husband Neal Gorton.
Directed by: Edwin Sherin · Written by: René Balcer, Gardner Stern, Ed Zuckerman · Cast: Michael Zaslow, Lauren Graham, Tom Kane, Keith Szarabajka
7x17 Showtime
Mar 27, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 8.1
The trial of Eddie Newman begins but the prosecution's chances of conviction are hampered by a "dream team" of defense attorneys, Gorton's personal pressures on Ross, the public questioning of the relationship between Curtis and Lisa Lundquist, and a surprise accusation.
Directed by: Edwin Sherin · Written by: René Balcer, Gardner Stern, Ed Zuckerman · Cast: Carolyn McCormick, Michael Zaslow, Janeane Garofalo, Lauren Graham
7x18 Mad Dog
Apr 2, 1997 · 48 min · ★ 8.0
McCoy becomes obsessed with nailing a serial rapist recently released on parole and pushes the cops perilously close to harassment as he attempts to connect the man with a new rape and murder matching his previous M.O.
Directed by: Christopher Misiano · Written by: René Balcer · Starring: Carolyn McCormick, Burt Young, Alice Liu, David Fonteno
7x19 Double Down
Apr 16, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 8.0
The cops' best hope of finding a kidnapped hired car driver alive is one of the armed robbers who grabbed him after a job, but the immunity deal he demands in return would effectively preclude his prosecution for the shooting death of an off-duty cop, placing McCoy in a difficult position as he seeks to placate the cops, who want the guy prosecuted, and the kidnapped man's wife, who wants every avenue of saving her husband explored.
Directed by: Arthur W. Forney · Written by: Ed Zuckerman, Shimon Wincelberg · Cast: Carolyn McCormick, Edie Falco, Don Hewitt Sr., Nancy Addison
7x20 We Like Mike
Apr 30, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.7
A young man who claims to have helped a murdered young man change a flat tire is first the cops' primary suspect, then the prosecutors' chief witness.
Directed by: David Platt · Written by: Gardner Stern, I.C. Rapoport · Starring: Casey Siemaszko, Stuart Burney, Benny Nieves, Reiko Aylesworth
7x21 Passion
May 7, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.6
Briscoe and Curtis investigate the death of a pretty young book editor who was reputedly having an affair with one of her authors, and find themselves focusing on the author's long time companion, who steadfastly denies there was anything wrong with their relationship.
Directed by: Constantine Makris · Written by: Barry M. Schkolnick · Starring: Cynthia Harris, Barbara Berjer, Sara Botsford, John Carpenter
7x22 Past Imperfect
May 14, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.6
The cops have a definite clue when a bloodstain that's not the same as the victim reveals that the killer was a blood relative, and the prosecutors stumble when their chief suspect claims their chief witness is her lawyer, and his knowledge of the crime represents privileged communications.
Directed by: Christopher Misiano · Written by: Janis Diamond · Cast: Katherine Borowitz, Bob Kaliban, Kitty Mei-Mei Chen, Rene Augesen
7x23 Terminal Season Finale
May 21, 1997 · 47 min · ★ 7.9
The cops uncover a man with a secret second life as they try to learn who opened fire on a group of people disembarking from a party cruise, but his guilt or innocence becomes almost a second thought as Schiff goes toe to toe with the governor and the States Attorney General over the decision to seek the death penalty.
Directed by: Constantine Makris · Written by: René Balcer, Ed Zuckerman · Cast: Donald Corren, Dani Klein, Lianna Pai, Kent Williams