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Sad Details of Nolan Price’s Family Life Revealed on Law & Order’s Latest Episode
A groundbreaking case on Law & Order hit attorney Nolan Price hard, as his heartbreaking family situation was revealed at the end of the episode.
An intense trial on Law & Order hit close to home for Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) — as a heartbreaking truth about his family was revealed after he won the case.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office made history by charging a man with murder even though the victim was still technically alive and on life support, in a controversial decision that questioned the idea of when life truly ends.
From the beginning, Price had been against the bold legal maneuver, and in the final moments of the episode, fans finally found out why. His own father lay in a long term care facility, seemingly unable to communicate.
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The case began after renowned fertility doctor Sarah Heartwood and her husband Christopher, a divisive author who wrote about religion, returned home from a night on the town to find someone had delivered a beautiful gift bag to their home. While Christopher headed out to the backyard to get fresh herbs to use for dinner, Sarah opened the bag, triggering a bomb hidden inside.
After a devastating explosion, Sarah was left in an “irreversible coma” and brain dead, but her husband Christopher wasn’t ready to say a final goodbye and take her off life support.
Authorities initially believed that Christopher could be the intended target because of his controversial writings, but Detectives Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) and Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) ultimately learned that the killer targeted Sarah because of her work in the fertility world. The suspect, Patrick Wayne, was a member of the “fetal personhood” movement, a group convinced that destroying unused embryos was akin to murder.
Prosecutors went for murder charge, despite victim still breathing
After the arrest, prosecutors struggled with what to charge Wayne, since Sarah was technically still alive, although never expected to recover. Price suggested charging him with attempted murder and upgrading the charge to murder when Sarah died, but ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) didn’t believe that would send a strong enough message.
“Nolan, come on, she’s young, she’s strong, I mean she might survive for decades,” she told him. “What kind of murder case can our office mount in 10 years? And will our witnesses still be alive or evidence intact? He killed a woman for giving other women reproductive choices.”
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Price admitted that charging him with attempted murder could still “risk” him only serving 10 years behind bars, but he believed it was the better option.
“It’s not perfect, Sam, but I’m not comfortable declaring that neurological death is exactly the same as full circulatory death,” he said. “Since when did we get to distort science for our own convenience?”
The final charging decision was left to District Attorney Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn), who sided with Maroun.
“The courts have been pretty busy redefining when life begins, maybe it’s time to ask when it ends,” he said.
Price told Maroun she needs better bedside manner
Prosecutors charged Wayne with first-degree murder and despite the defense’s objections, the judge decided to let the charge stand. Maroun and Price knew that having Christopher’s support in the case was critical to getting the win and went to visit him at the hospital, where he remained at his wife’s bedside.
Christopher explained that his decision not to remove her from life support wasn’t a “religious issue” but stemmed more from his belief that she was “still alive” and “still with me.”
“That is entirely understandable,” a sympathetic Price told him.
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Maroun, for her part, was much more direct, asking the grieving husband whether he understood that his wife had been declared brain dead and explaining they’d need his cooperation to get a conviction.
“We will need you to testify and for that, you can’t waiver on your acceptance of Sarah’s death, putting Patrick Wayne behind bars will depend on it,” she told him.
Christopher agreed he’d “do what I have to do,” but outside the hospital Price told his fellow prosecutor that she might need to improve her bedside manner and use more compassion.
“Our whole case hinges on our claim that she’s dead, that this is murder that his crime merits the highest level of punishment, so we need our case and him to be rock solid,” she said in defense of her actions.
“I get it, but he’s not ready to say goodbye no matter what the medical experts say,” Price replied. “I know, changes are remote and it might not be logical or rational, but it is not our job to rob him of that hope.”
Maroun countered that she believed it was the prosecution’s job to “let him know the cost of that hope.”
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Price questioned implication of murder charge
Back in the courtroom, the prosecution called a doctor to the stand who testified that Sarah was brain dead based on “every test in the guidelines of the American Academy of Neurology,’ but Price still wasn’t comfortable with the direction of the prosecution.
Later that night, over drinks with Maroun, he questioned the implications that the decision to charge Wayne with murder — despite Sarah still being on life support — could have on other cases.
“What happens next time some angel of death nurse yanks a ventilator? What’s the charge? Nothing? Cause you know damn well the defense will say by law the victim was already dead, thanks to us,” he raged.
But Maroun still felt that the benefits outweighed any negatives, insisting they do “whatever we need to do” to keep Wayne from hurting anyone else.
In court, the case against Wayne hit a stumbling block when the defense called an expert witness who had interviewed people who had woken up after once being declared brain dead. Although it was an extremely rare phenomenon, the witness’ account clearly tugged at the jurors’ heartstrings and put the case in jeopardy.
As the prosecutors tried to regroup, Baxter suggested they use the same strategy of focusing on the emotion of the case, rather than the science.
“Whether or not Sarah is legally or scientifically dead, she is lying in bed, unconscious, intubated, hooked up to all kinds of machines, that’s her reality and the jury needs to feel that,” he said, before instructing Price to prepare an emotional closing.
While Price got to work, Maroun went over everything she could find about Sarah and discovered the doctor had a do not resuscitate order in place and an advance directive saying she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Although Maroun clearly felt the discovery could be just what they needed, Price wasn’t so sure.
“He definitely doesn’t want to pull the plug, so, what’s your point?” he asked her.
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“If her wishes had been followed we wouldn’t be here, Nolan, we wouldn’t be trying to convince the jury that she’s actually dead,” she replied.
“That ship has sailed, Sam,” Price retorted.
“No, we’re on the ropes here, Nolan. We went out on a limb—no, I went out on a limb, and now, if one juror believes that Sarah Heartwood might actually wake up one day, then we’re screwed, regardless of how emotional and brilliant your closing might be,” she said before walking out of the office.
Maroun — seemingly unswayed by Price’s opinion — then went to the hospital and confronted Christopher about the legal documents and asked him why he wasn’t following his wife’s wishes.
“I just wanted my wife to live,” he told her.
“Do you think Sarah would consider this living?” she asked. “Do you think she would want her killer to go free?”
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By the next morning, Sarah had been taken off life support and took her last breath, ending any ambiguity in the case. The jury delivered a guilty verdict, but Price—who suspected Maroun had something to do with Christopher’s decision to remove his wife from life support—still seemed troubled by the case.
“As long as you can sleep at night,” Price told Maroun after the verdict.
“I can, trust me. We put a cold-blooded murderer away for life,” she replied, before putting her hand on his shoulder. “It’s a good day, Nolan.”
Sad details revealed about Nolan Price’s father
In the final moments of the episode, Price was seen walking down the hallway of a long-term care nursing facility, where he was obviously a regular. He walked into the room of an elderly man, who lay motionless on a hospital bed with a tube coming out of his nose.
Price sat down next to him, held his hand and told him “Hey Dad. How was your day?”
Although his father moved his head slightly, his eyes remained closed and it didn’t appear that he was able to respond, explaining why the case was likely so personal for the prosecutor.
To find out what other cases the detectives and prosecutors will take on this season, watch Law & Order on Thursdays at 8/7c p.m. on NBC or stream episodes on Peacock.
