By: Melissia Gould
I’ve never watched an episode of Law & Order in my life! I was completely unaware of the number of seasons and the sheer number of episodes that would be available. Randomly, I selected a more recent episode from last season to analyze for this assignment. After watching, I now fully understand the hype around the show and all its spin offs.
The episode begins with a Black couple arguing in a ride share- when the driver intervenes threatening to call the police, the man becomes aggressive with the driver and snatches his dash cam. The scene then cuts to the rideshare driver, a black male, Walter Rhodes, dead on the sidewalk, steps from his home with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Walter Rhodes was a middle school teacher who drove in the evenings to make extra money. Rhode’s husband, a white male is on the scene as he heard the gun shot, thinking it was kids playing with fireworks, he came to investigate and found his husband dead. My initial thought, the husband did it. The spouse is always a suspect, maybe it was domestic violence. As the episode progresses, we learn a lot more about Rhodes and others who could have had a potential motive to kill him.
The male passenger, who happened to be a popular rapper was interrogated and cleared. During his interrogation, the passenger noted Walter’s phone kept ringing during the ride. At a point, Walter picks up the phone and yells, “you got to stop harassing me.” Enter suspect number two. A friend of Walter’s who secretly co-signed for a car. Walter started missing payments and stopped answering his friend’s calls. Is this motive enough to commit murder? Not likely for a reasonable person. The friend also had an alibi that checked out; however, he did mention to the detectives that Walter had been accused by the parent of a student for having sex with his child.
Enter the angry parent, out of the previous suspects, this one seems to have the most motive to kill Walter. The parent, a Black father to a 7th grade boy, found Rhodes in a closed room, alone with his son. The next day, the boy told his dad he was gay. Although Rhodes was cleared of any wrongdoing, the father was still angry and felt like Rhodes got what he deserved for “turning his son gay” Despite his anger and lack of sympathy for Walter’s death, he too had a strong alibi that did not place him at the crime scene.
At this point, I definitely think it’s the husband! Everyone else that could have had some reason to kill Walter have been cleared. It’s soon discovered that a student posted a diss track rapping about shooting Rhodes. This leads detectives to Anthony “Ant” Turner a 7th grader who made the song and was rumored to have had a gun on school premises around the time of Rhode’s murder. Anthony was a ward of state, in the system since he was 6 years old. Anthony is Black, young, and has a prior criminal history; he instantly becomes suspect number one.
When attempting to arrest Anthony, he runs. In the chase he picks up a gardening tool and is swinging it at police. This scene was the most unrealistic part of the episode… in real life Anthony would have been shot dead! I think it was interesting to note that the lead detective is Black and after learning about Anthony’s history and his many stints in various foster homes, he feels compassion because of his own background. He is the reason Anthony wasn’t shot down on the sidewalk. This is a notable example of why proper policing is important, having officers that are relatable and can see the humanity in people is critical to how they interact with the public. This ability to see a human first makes all the difference in lives not being taken unnecessarily.
Moving through the episode lots of things happen that are questionable. Anthony is interrogated and admits to the crime without the presence of a guardian or lawyer. Anthony was tried as an adult to make an example that teachers and public servants must be protected, yet teachers and public servants are some of the lowest paid professionals in this country. But I digress.
The principal of the middle school was implicated because he was told by another student that Anthony had a gun and had posted the song. He ignored what he called “rumors” and chalked it up to typical behavior of “a school like this” – urban, primarily black students. The principal didn’t follow protocol, he didn’t call the police and didn’t adequately search the student.
The question became who is more at fault? The student with “all kinds of behavioral problems” or the adult principal, “who pretty much didn’t want to be bothered.”
After lying, it was discovered that Anthony did in fact load bullets into the gun and used that gun to shoot and kill his teacher. Initially he said, he didn’t know the gun was loaded and didn’t mean to kill Rhodes. Perhaps, he didn’t mean to kill his teacher, but his actions were premeditated. The principal too was charged and took a five-year deal for his role in the murder. He didn’t follow through on his legal responsibilities to ensure the safety of his school community and for that his inaction shared in the murder of Walter Rhodes.
The episode highlighted many complexities of the juvenile court system as well as the public school system. Teachers and administrators go through a lot of daily challenges that cause them to become desensitized to the needs of their students. The juvenile court system is broken and lacking in true restorative and rehabilitative processes for children. More needs to be done in the way of prevention.
Sources:
Law & Order Season 24 Episode 5: Report Card
Air Date: October 31, 2024
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