Jack McCoy
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| Law & Order character | |
 |
|
| Jack McCoy | |
|---|---|
| Time on show | 1994- |
| Preceded | Ben Stone |
| Succeeded | Current |
| First appearance | "Second Opinion" |
| Portrayed by | Sam Waterston |
Jack McCoy is a fictional character in the television drama Law & Order, played by Sam Waterston since 1994.
Contents |
[edit] Character history
He was appointed Executive Assistant District Attorney in the 1994 episode "Second Opinion" by Adam Schiff. He quickly established himself as a more unconventional, ruthless litigator than his predecessor, Ben Stone; he was infamous for bending (but not breaking) trial rules to get convictions, finding tenuous rationales for charging defendants with crimes when the original charges didn't stick, and making passionate — sometimes to the point of inflammatory — closing arguments. McCoy was more than once found in contempt of court for such behavior, and his tactics occasionally incurred bad press for Schiff. His underlying motivation, however, is not corruption, but a sincere desire to see justice done. To that end, McCoy has gone after defendants accused of perverting the justice system to arrange wrongful convictions with just as much determination as his more mundane cases. Such aggressive actions in the courts have earned him the nickname "Hang 'em High" McCoy. McCoy has subsequently developed a reputation with both colleagues and rival attorneys, once being referred to as "the top of the legal food chain" by a rival attorney during a case.
[edit] Personality
While a brilliant legal mind, McCoy has more than a few personal demons. As revealed in the 1996 episode "Aftershock," he was abused by his father, a Chicago "Irish cop" who also beat his mother, and who eventually died of cancer; the 2003 episode "Under God", meanwhile, reveals that he rejected his Catholic faith as a child after his best friend's death. A workaholic, he occasionally takes cases personally, especially when they involve racism or child abuse. He is also a notorious womanizer, having had sexual relationships with four of his female assistants. This has often blown up in his face, however; One such assistant, Diana Hawthorne, was, in the episode "Trophy", found to have suppressed evidence so they could win a case (unbeknownst to McCoy, and to his horror upon finding out); another, Claire Kincaid, was killed in a car accident just as their relationship was starting to unravel, a source of great pain for him. Since Kincaid's death, McCoy has kept his relationships with assistants (who have all been female, attractive, and half his age) professional, although he nurtured friendships with all of them, particularly Jamie Ross.
Unlike Stone, he embraces the option of the death penalty, claiming it is a suitable punishment for particularly heinous crimes and a useful threat in plea bargaining. This often has led to heated arguments with his more liberal colleagues. He has shown mercy on occasion, however, such as when he prosecuted a boy with bipolar disorder for murdering his sister. The boy's grandfather, a wealthy CEO (and good friend of Schiff's) who also suffered from the disorder, attempted to get his grandson to plead guilty and go to jail rather than plead insanity and be committed to a mental institution. McCoy led the effort to prevent an unjust punishment for the boy.
McCoy is twice divorced (one of his his ex-wives having been a former assistant) and has a grown daughter who has never been seen on the show and is rarely mentioned. In the season 17 opener "Fame", a gossip columnist wrote that McCoy had not seen or spoken to his daughter since 1997. At the end of the episode, McCoy received an envelope containing pictures of his daughter. He did not open the envelope; rather, he placed it in his bottom left desk drawer, next to a bottle of Scotch.
While McCoy was not exactly a part of the 1960s counterculture, he did protest against the policies of the Nixon administration, particularly the Vietnam war. In 1972, as explained in the episode "Nullification", he published an article at New York University (NYU) Law School in defense of Catholic priests opposed to the conflict. He retains some of the wild streak from his youth; he has a Yamaha motorcycle, which he sometimes rides home from work, and is a huge fan of punk rock bands like The Clash.
[edit] Conflicts within the Law & Order universe
McCoy's unconventional, sometimes ruthless professional conduct has put his job in jeopardy more than once throughout the series. The two most serious occurences were:
- In the 1998 episode "Monster," he was brought before the New York Bar Association on misconduct charges stemming from a case (portrayed in an earlier episode) in which he hid a material witness from the opposing counsel to win a case. He was eventually exonerated.
- In the 2006 episode "Invaders", after the brutal murder of his assistant Alexandra Borgia, he would push the envelope even further when he arranged to present a sham prosecution to intimidate a corrupt DEA agent to turn evidence against her murderers. When that trick failed, he had the agent released hoping he would lead the police to the killers. While the murderers took the bait, were arrested, and the corrupt agent was killed, the severely unorthodox strategies used in the case led to the New York State governor ordering McCoy removed from the case. It remains an open question if McCoy will be disbarred.
[edit] Trivia
McCoy has said he attended the University of Chicago before obtaining his law degree from New York University. It has been hinted that he attended St. Ignatius College Prep.
[edit] Assistant history
| Time period | Assistants | District Attorney |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 – 1996 | Claire Kincaid | Adam Schiff |
| 1996 – 1998 | Jamie Ross | Adam Schiff |
| 1998 – 2001 | Abbie Carmichael | Adam Schiff (until 2000); Nora Lewin |
| 2001 – 2005 | Serena Southerlyn | Nora Lewin (until 2002); Arthur Branch |
| 2005 – 2006 | Alexandra Borgia | Arthur Branch |
| 2006– | Connie Rubirosa | Arthur Branch |
| Preceded by Ben Stone |
Law & Order New York County Executive Assistant District Attorney 1994–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Law & Order prosecutors |
| Manhattan District Attorneys |
| Alfred Wentworth | Adam Schiff | Nora Lewin | Arthur Branch |
| Executive Assistant District Attorneys |
| Benjamin Stone | Jack McCoy |
| Assistant District Attorneys |
| Paul Robinette | Claire Kincaid | Jamie Ross | Abbie Carmichael | Serena Southerlyn | Alexandra Borgia | Connie Rubirosa |
