Tonight on NBC Law & Order returns with an all-new Thursday, May 9, 2024 episode and we have your Law & Order recap below. In tonight’s Law & Order season 23 episode 12 “No Good Deed,” as per the NBC synopsis,
“Shaw and Riley investigate the death of a therapist with a long list of troubled clients. Baxter takes over Price’s chair when a disturbing connection to the defendant is discovered during the trial.”
Tonight’s Law & Order season 23 episode 12 looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it. So make sure to bookmark this spot and come back from 8 PM – 9 PM ET for our Law & Order recap. While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our Law & Order SVU recaps, spoilers, news & more!
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In tonight’s Law & Order episode, the body of Angela Hart was found by her boyfriend, Mark Salerno. They’ve been together less than a year. They talk every night. Mark also had a key to her brownstone. He tried calling her a bunch of times. He thought it best to check on her when he didn’t hear from her.
Mark later told police that Angela was the kindest person he ever met. He couldn’t understand why anyone would hurt her, but he soon became a suspect. He was wearing a baseball cap and a dark hoodie. It was the same clothes that a food delivery driver remembered seeing that night. He said someone was watching Angela’s brownstone across the street in those same clothes.
Mark also sent Angela a text saying he could snap her neck. She was apparently making him crazy. Angela was a therapist. She often treats criminals that the rest of the world turns their back on. Many had thought it could be one of her clients that harmed her at first. Her clients were rapists and murderers.
Angela was found naked. She might have been sexually assaulted before her death. The stabbing certainly seemed to have a sexual component to that. The police changed gears after they spoke to the deliveryman. They began looking into Mark. They found his rap sheet.
He was arrested twice for battery. The charges were dropped by the District Attorney’s office because both times happened while Mark worked as a bouncer. It was merely a hazard of the job. Mark couldn’t prove his innocence. He got mad at Angela because she oversaw a flirty text to another woman.
They were technically fighting. He went to her apartment to see if she was still angry. Mark proved to be in the clear when someone else’s DNA was found in Angela’s rape kit. That’s when the police tried to use Mark as a source. They asked him about Angela’s patients.
Mark mentioned one of Angela’s clients scared her. She told him that she was wary of Shawn Payne. The police looked into Payne. He got five years for aggravated rape.
Angela was his therapist. She advocated that he could turn his life around after he served his time. Which she went back on with her boyfriend. Angela told her boyfriend that Payne was writing to her from prison. Payne would often say he couldn’t wait to get to know her. Payne only served five years because that’s the deal he got from ADA Price.
Price gave Payne that deal because he spoke to the victim of the case. Her name was Chelsea Shell. She wanted the whole thing to go away. She was deeply traumatized and Price thought a plea deal would satisfy everyone. He didn’t know that Payne got paroled out of prison. The police talked to Price.
They told him that Payne hasn’t contacted his parole officer. He was considered AWOL. He automatically goes back to prison if he doesn’t check in. The police seriously considered him a suspect.
Price was still talking to them when Chelsea contacted him. Chelsea said that Payne contacted her. He wrote her letter saying how he couldn’t wait to reconnect.
He wanted to explore their relationship. He wrote this like he genuinely thought nearly beating her to death after a brutal rape was a relationship. The cops caught up to Payne. They found him at a halfway house. They also found Angela’s jewelry in Payne’s room. Payne ran when he saw the cops. They had to chase him and once they got him – they ran his DNA.
Payne’s DNA was all over Angela. Payne must have gotten smart since the last time. He asked for a lawyer after he told the cops that Angela was a slut and Detective Shaw threw a chair. He didn’t throw it at Payne, but Payne likes to toy with people. He was loving every minute of that interrogation.
He said what he said to needle Shaw. He also got a lawyer that was willing to truly fight for him. His new lawyer got the jewelry dismissed as evidence. She said that the cops didn’t have a warrant and that even felons are still deserving of privacy.
The new District Attorney thought Price was too close to this case. He wanted to be first chair instead. Baxter was a lawyer and he has experience in the courtroom. Only he wanted to take over because it was an election year. He has to show his experience. The borough of Manhattan voted for Jack McCoy.
McCoy is now retired. Baxter only got the job because of his friendship with the governor. He now has to show why the city needs to vote for him. He also wanted to prove himself against Price.
Price and Baxter’s working relationship has been combative to say the least. They constantly viewed the other as hostile. They were trying to win and unfortunately Payne’s lawyer did her homework. She tried to blame the murder on Mark. She brought up the fact that Mark sent the threatening text.
She also included Mark’s ex-girlfriend as a witness. Mark also allegedly used to beat his ex. She mentioned that and the defense attorney was doing her best to paint Mark as a violent abuser. She said Mark killed Angela.
She also put Payne on the stand. Payne claims he and Angela connected. He said they had consensual sex. Price was able to find evidence against that.
Shawn carved an “S” into Chelsea’s thigh after he nearly killed her. He started to write that “S” in Angela’s thigh as well. He stopped. Probably because he realized it would make him look guilty or something prevented him from finishing it. Price wanted to use that information to force Payne into another plea agreement. He didn’t want to put Chelsea on the stand.
Price thought she was too fragile. Baxter pushed for it. He also pushed to include the “s” thing in trial. The judge didn’t want to rule in their favor only he was running for higher office. He didn’t want to let a violent criminal out. Baxter ticked off the judge when he forced the other man’s hand.
He let Price take the lead after that to win back the judge and Price brought it home. He kept Chelsea focused on the trial. He got her to talk about her violent rape. And Payne was ultimately convicted of murder thanks to Chelsea.
And unfortunately Chelsea had to be hospitalized afterwards because she tried to kill herself.
THE END!
