Jack McCoy - Notable Conflicts

Notable Conflicts

McCoy's unconventional and sometimes ruthless professional conduct has put his job in jeopardy more than once throughout the series. Some of the more serious occurrences are these:

• In "Competence", McCoy withholds turning over the statement of a witness to the defense. The statement would have aided the defense's case by showing strong motive to another individual for the crime, casting a reasonable doubt. Under Brady v. Maryland, the prosecution is required to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense. McCoy's reasoning is that he was not going to call the witness at trial and that he is not obliged to "...turn over irrelevant and potentially misleading evidence." When defense eventually learns of the withheld statement and accuses the DA's office of misconduct, DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) is angry about McCoy's judgment call, and suggests that McCoy is at grave risk of being disbarred. A hearing with a judge declares that McCoy pushed the envelope of good law practice, but that the ambiguity of the law did not prove his actions were unethical.

• In "Under the Influence", McCoy is prosecuting a drunk driver for killing three pedestrians. McCoy takes an incriminating statement from a flight attendant (a Colombian citizen) about how drunk the defendant was and encouraged the airline, at fear for its public image, to assign the flight attendant to an international route, putting her out of reach for the defense to question her. McCoy then lies to the defense attorney about following all relevant discovery procedures, and is reinforced by the judge not to turn over the statement to the defense. Ross does not agree that withholding evidence furthers justice and warns McCoy that he faces disbarment. The defense's case is repeatedly undermined by the judge and McCoy, but eventually McCoy changes his mind and submits the flight attendant's statement at trial, prompting a plea bargain. The judge initially does not accept the plea bargain and threatens to charge McCoy with professional misconduct, but McCoy threatens to bring the judge before the ethics committee. The judge eventually accepts the plea and no misconduct charges are brought on either party.

• In "Mad Dog", McCoy becomes obsessed with proving that a recently paroled rapist (Burt Young) is guilty of a new fatal rape. McCoy pushes the police periliously close to harassment and was considering committing false arrest until Schiff decides to put a stop to it. At the end of the episode the rapist is killed by his daughter after he attacks one of her friends. McCoy says "I'm sorry it had to happen this way". ADA Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell) says "Not that sorry".

• In "Monster", McCoy is brought before the Disciplinary Committee of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division on misconduct charges stemming from a case earlier that season, in which he had hidden a material witness from the opposing counsel to support more serious charges against a defendant. Since McCoy had ultimately released the evidence before the case was decided, he was not seriously punished for what he did. In the same episode, it becomes clear that he had wrongly prosecuted an innocent man for the sexual assault of a young girl; during the investigation, the suspect had been coerced by Curtis and Briscoe into giving them a false confession. When the real perpetrator is caught, McCoy asks the girl's doctor to give the defendant's lawyer false information. The following episode explains that he is exonerated by the ethics committee.

• In "Invaders", after the brutal murder of McCoy's assistant Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse), McCoy pushes the envelope even further when he arranges to present a sham prosecution to intimidate a corrupt DEA agent to turn state's evidence against her murderers. When that trick fails, McCoy, hoping the agent would lead police to the killers, orders him released. While the murderers are arrested and the corrupt agent is killed, the severely unorthodox strategies used in the case lead to McCoy being removed from the case by order of the Governor of New York. He is replaced for the duration of the case with an attorney from the New York State Attorney General's Office.

• In "The Family Hour", in which a state senator is on trial for murder, medical examiner Elizabeth Rodgers (Leslie Hendrix) cites the wrong book during cross examination and later confesses to McCoy about it. McCoy wishes to disclose the error to the judge, but Branch decides the error is not exculpatory, and he orders McCoy to keep quiet. When McCoy refuses to cooperate, Rubirosa gives the trial's closing summation instead of him. Although Rubirosa wins the case, McCoy submits his letter of resignation in protest. Branch appears to dissuade him from resigning and says he would not be "in this chair forever." McCoy replaces Branch as the DA immediately thereafter.