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| “ | If I could take it back, I would. It was a mistake. | „ |
| ~ Sandig rationalizing the murder he committed. |
Paul Sandig is the main antagonist of the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Savages". He is a corrupt accountant who murders an undercover police officer unknown to Quinn the criminal he launders money for.
He was portrayed by Victor Garber, who also played Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde, Sinestro in Green Lantern: First Flight, Henry Stein in DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Michael De Graaf in The Simpsons.
Early life[]
Sandig was a certified public account (CPA) with a wife, Jenny, and two children. While he made a very good living for himself and his family, he eventually got greedy and laundered $6 million for heroin smuggler Ted Quinlan, making a $1 million profit.
When samdig found out that one of his accomplices Robert Croft, was an undercover police officer, he unfortunately decided to kill him. Sandig reluctantly unfortunately killed him, shooting Croft dead.
"Savages"[]
While investigating Croft's murder, NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis question Sandig about Quinlan, whom they suspect of the crime. Sandig says he was having a business dinner with Quinlan at the time of the murder, confirming the alibi that Quinlan gave them. They ask if he knew that Quinlan was a drug dealer, but he replies that he merely does Quinlan's taxes.
Briscoe and Curtis get a warrant to investigate Quinlan's finances, and Sandig turns them over. They find that Quinlan is hiding money from the IRS, so they question the banker in charge of the transactions. She tells them that Sandig had ordered the money hidden on Quinlan's behalf, and that Croft had made a similar request moments later, claiming that he worked for Sandig. She did not believe him and denied the request, and then called Sandig to tell him what happened. Briscoe deduces that Sandig found out that Croft was a police officer and killed him.
The detectives arrest Quinlan for money laundering and search Sandig's office, finding several audio tapes, one of which contains a conversation between Sandig and corrupt insurance adjuster Marty Prince in which Prince outs Croft as a police officer, having investigated him personally. Briscoe and Curtis get a search warrant for Sandig's house and find the murder weapon just as Sandig walks through the door. They then arrest him for first-degree murder.
Sandig pleads not guilty, but Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid seek the death penalty against him, even though Kincaid is personally opposed to capital punishment. Sandig's lawyer manages to persuade the trial judge to exclude the audio tapes as evidence; since the tapes are the only proof that Sandig knew that Croft was a police officer, that means it is no longer a death penalty case. Ultimately, however, McCoy makes a deal with Quinlan to testify that Sandig witnessed him committing several crimes, which again puts the death penalty in play because killing a witness to a crime qualifies as first-degree murder. After hearing Quinlan's testimony, the jury finds Sandig guilty of murdering Croft.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, Sandig testifies that he did not want to kill Croft, and that he is filled with remorse, to the point that he contemplated suicide before he was arrested. When McCoy asks him why he did not kill himself, Sandig admits that he does not want to die, and tearfully begs the jury to spare his life. The jury is unmoved, however, and unanimously sentences him to die by lethal injection.
External links[]
- Paul Sandig on the Law & Order Wiki
