History Recap / LawAndOrderS7E10Legacy

* UnwittingPawn: Robin, ultimately. She had fallen for Jim after Rick's death and remarried him, but she wasn't involved in the murder and hadn't even known that he was obsessed with her and had killed Rick to be with her. Upon learning this, she divorces Jim.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Estelle Muller is a sympathetic and justified example.
* ParentsKnowTheirChildren: Estelle was suspicious of her son's death from day one because she knew that since he was afraid of heights, he would have never gone rock climbing.

An examination of the body shows that Rick was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Shepherd is arrested. At trial, one of the key witnesses (Shepherd's friend) instantly recounts his testimony, forcing [=McCoy=] and Ross to dig deeper. They discover that Shepherd was obsessed with Robin, even before Rick died. When she traveled out of state for her high school reunion, Shepherd booked a hotel room at the venue and pretended he was there on a business trip. He asked her to go for dinner with him, but she already had plans.

* DeathByFallingOver: Robin's first husband and Darlene's father, Rick, supposedly died of this while rock climbing in Central Park. His mother insists that he was afraid of heights and it turned out she was right; he was instead beaten to death with a baseball bat.

On the way back from a birthday dinner for his stepdaughter, Jim Shepherd is shot in an attempted hit. Estelle Muller hired the would-be killer because she believes Shepherd murdered her son Rick. Rick was Shepherd's best friend, and died in a fall while on a climbing trip with him. There was no autopsy, and just a few months later, Shepherd married Rick's widow Robin. He now intends to adopt Rick's daughter, so Mrs. Muller tried to have him killed. She is prepared to go to jail to prove that Shepherd killed Rick.

* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The first half of the episode is about trying to find out who shot Jim Shepherd. The second is about invetigating Shepherd's role in Rick Mueller's death.

On the way back from his stepdaughter's birthday dinner, Jim Shepherd is shot but survives. The forensics determine that the same weapon was used for a murder by a hitman; this leads to the killer, Howard Phillips. Briscoe and Curtis soon discover that Phillips was hired by Estelle Muller, the former mother-in-law of Shepherd's wife Robin. Mrs. Muller admits to ordering the hit on Shepherd because she believes he killed her son Rick, who was Robin's first husband.

Rick and Shepherd were supposedly best friends, until Rick died in a "climbing accident." The death was excused as accidental, with no autopsy, and Shepherd and Robin married just a few months later. Mrs. Muller insists Rick would never go climbing, since he was afraid of heights. She's so sure of herself that she's willing to accept any sentence, and [=McCoy=] believes it's worth investigating.

An examination of Rick's body shows he didn't fall, but was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Shepherd is arrested. When a crucial witness (Shepherd's friend) recants his testimony, [=McCoy=] and Ross are forced to dig deeper. They discover that just before Rick's death, Robin went to her high school reunion out of state, and Shepherd booked a room at the hotel where the event was being held. Robin's friends account for her whereabouts the whole time. She says she did run into Shepherd, and he told her he was on a business trip. He tried to ask her to have dinner with him, but she already had plans.

In court [=McCoy=] shows paperwork from Shepherd's company to prove that he wasn't on a business trip. He set the whole thing up as an excuse to spend time with Robin. Subsequently, she testifies that Shepherd tried to kiss her before Rick's death; she said that maybe they could have fallen in love, if she weren't married to Rick. The jury convicts and Robin instantly files for divorce from Shepherd.

James Shepherd is shot but survives. He had returned with his wife Robin and their daughter from the latter's birthday celebration. The forensics determine that the same weapon was used for a murder by a hit man. The clues lead the the detectives to Estelle Mueller, the mother of Robin's deceased first husband. She admits to ordering the hit on Shepherd but wants the police to investigate her son's "accidental" death, as she believes Shepherd murdered him. An autopsy confirms that Nick Mueller had been hit on the head with a bat before the fall

* ComfortingTheWidow: Jim Sharpe "consoles" his so-called best friend's widow Robin after his death and they end up married a short time later.

* MadeOfIron: Jim Sharpe, oddly enough. In spite of being shot in the head by an apparent professional hitman, he survives relatively unscathed with little lasting effects.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Why Rick Mueller had to die in Jim's eyes; so he could be with Robin.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Estelle Mueller is a sympathetic and justified example.

''Not to be confused with the [[Recap/LawAndOrderS21E7Legacyt Season 21 episode of the same title]]''

After a man is shot, there is a connection discovered between this attack and another death from years earlier--a death which was ruled accidental.

* DeathByFallingOver: Robin's first husband and Darlene's father, Rick, supposedly died this while via rock climbing in Central Park. His mother insists that he was afraid of heights and it turned out she was right; he was instead beaten to death with a baseball bat.

* StalkerWithACrush: Jim towards Robin. He even followed her to a class reunion on the excuse that he had "accodentally" bumped into her whilst traveling for work.