The following is a list of Law & Order episodes from the series' seventh season (1996–1997):[1] During the seventh season, Law & Order was becoming more popular than ever on television and was NBC's 2nd most-popular drama; however, the ratings were usually half the size of the network's hit drama ER. NBC decided to give Law & Order some additional promotion by airing episodes 149 "D-Girl", 150 "Turnaround" & 151 "Showtime" (a three-episode story arc involving the murder of a Hollywood director's wife, partially set in Los Angeles) on Thursday nights at 10pm ET instead of ER reruns. Ratings for all three episodes were strong and helped establish the show on NBC's schedule for years to come. Episode 152 "Mad Dog" was supposed to air on a Thursday night as well, but NBC moved Law & Order back to Wednesdays at 10pm ET when their midseason show, the police drama Prince Street, bombed in the ratings in that same time slot. Law & Order won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for their work in the 7th season.
Cast
Jamie Ross (played by Carey Lowell) replaced season 6's Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) in the role of Assistant District Attorney. The resulting ensemble cast was the most stable in the history of the Law & Order series up to this point, remaining unchanged for two seasons and 47 episodes.
McCoy's new second chair, ADA Jamie Ross, is determined to prosecute as harshly as possible a carjacker who took the life of Maureen Rankin a teacher as she pleaded for her life on an audio tape discovered at the crime scene.
The cops tackle identifying a corpse left in an elevator, and McCoy finds his prosecution of the suspect later hampered by a vindictive judge (Jerry Adler) who resents Ross's in-court rebuke for sexual harassment.
Briscoe and Curtis have to break the mutual alibi of two girlfriends as they try to find the killer of Charlie Monroe a young black man, whose angry parents pressure McCoy to indict Danielle Mason a young woman who claims the victim had raped her.
Briscoe and Curtis's investigation of the murder of Steven Campbell 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.
Curtis, angered by the attitude of John Flynn an old colleague of Briscoe, 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. Flynn, angry, accuses Briscoe of stealing evidence from a police lockup.
The murder of Greg Franklin a janitor from a university laboratory building leads back to a student Alan Sawyer, employee whose participation in a drug study may have prompted the crime.
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.
The case against Huey Tate, a young man accused of shooting Roland Brooks 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.
The investigation of a seemingly random shooting James Shepherd, leads Briscoe and Curtis to a brazen, cold-blooded hitman, and the only way to bring him down is for Briscoe to pose as his competition. The case is complicated during trial it is revealed that the victim was shot as revenge for a murder he committed himself just five years ago.
An apparent suicide turns out to be murder as Briscoe and Curtis investigate the death of a woman Karen Marsh, who jumped from a bridge (in front of numerous bystanders) to avoid a crazed attacker with whom she was apparently involved in a fender-bender. When they are unable to convict, McCoy and Ross dig deeper and discover that the 'accident' might not have been so accidental after all. Meanwhile, Curtis is booted from his house after admitting to his wife that he cheated on her.
An unpromising case of murder suddenly develops new leads when the cops explore the possibility that the victim Shelley Ganz 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 lender who uses unscrupulous methods to collect the money owed to him.
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.
The shooting of Gilbert “Gilly” Keene, an ex-cop, in a neighborhood notorious for prostitution leads Briscoe and Curtis to two suburban housewives who are secretly high-class hookers. When one of the housewife's specialty lipstick is matched to a lipstick sample taken from a very private spot on the victim, it seems like McCoy has an open and shut case. However, the accused soon claims rape and hires a famous women's rights attorney to defend her.
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. Back in New York, McCoy and Ross try to obtain a court order for the procedure.
In New York, Briscoe and Curtis try to pin down the suspect's 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. After a new arrest warrant is issued, McCoy and Ross have to fly to L.A. to defend their warrant against attacks by the man's defense counsel, Ross's former husband Neal Gorton.
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, and a surprise accusation of sexual harassment. Curtis' relationship with Lisa also creates tension.
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.
A young man Mike Bodak who claims to have helped a murdered young man Matthew Sherman, change a flat tire is first the cops' primary suspect, then the prosecutors' chief witness.
Briscoe and Curtis investigate the death of Joan Timberman a pretty young book editor who was reputedly having an affair with one of her authors, and find themselves focusing on the author's longtime companion, who steadfastly denies there was anything wrong with their relationship.
The cops have a definite clue when a bloodstain that is not the same as the victim's 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.
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 Adam Schiff goes toe-to-toe with the governor and the state's Attorney General over the decision to seek the death penalty. Meanwhile Schiff learns his wife has been rushed to Cedar's Hospital after suffering a severe stroke rendering her unconscious.
