Some crimes just happen without rhyme of reason because of the presence of
pure evil. Michael Maronna and Rob McElhinney kill a young delivery driver, a
20 something like there own age just for the thrill. McElhinney is a follower, but
Maronna is just rotten through and through, a truly soulless being.
The legal issues here are Maronna's confession to a priest which was ruled inadmissible though he surely wasn't truly repentant. The two young men get
turned against each other with some legal trickery by Sam Waterston.
Waterston is aided greatly by the worst attorney that Legal Aid has to offer.
Sig Libowitz plays for the first time in the Law And Order franchise defense
attorney Stan Shattenstein. No truly innocent person wants to get stuck
with this one. In a Criminal Intent episode Vincent D'Onofrio actually checks
the upcoming schedule to make sure he's assigned to one of two killers, a situation very similar to this one. Sure enough Stan screws up again, proving
he learned nothing. And I mean the same mistake.
Maronna is one of the best arguments for capital punishment out there.