Intent Season One Episode 7: "Poison" Death and acknowledgements In 2005, the Lennie Briscoe character was written out after the second episode of Trial By Jury, coinciding with Orbach's death on December 28, 2004, from prostate cancer. The character's departure from the show was originally to be in the episode "Baby Boom" in which members of the DA's office attend a memorial service for him. This scene was in fact filmed but was not included in the aired episode. Part of the scene however is included in the behind-the-scenes footage of the show's DVD set. Briscoe's absence past the second episode is never acknowledged, and he is quickly replaced by Detective Chris Ravell (Scott Cohen). His former partners each mention his death on Law & Order or one of its spinoffs. In the 2007 Criminal Intent episode "Renewal", Mike Logan mentions that Briscoe has died, but that he still sees him alive in his dreams. In the 2008 Law & Order episode "Burn Card", Ed Green says that his gambling addiction relapsed briefly after Briscoe died. In the 2009 Law & Order episode "Fed", Rey Curtis returns to New York to bury his wife Deborah, who had finally succumbed to complications related to multiple sclerosis. He reveals to Van Buren that he had spoken with Briscoe a few days before his death, and that he was his old wisecracking self right up to the end. Credits Law & Order Law & Order: Trial By Jury Reception Lennie Briscoe was voted the 30th-greatest television show character of all time by Bravo TV. Lennie Briscoe was Law & Orders third-greatest detective on the Hallmark Channel poll in 2010, beaten only by Special Victims Units Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), who came in second, and Criminal Intents Detective Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), who won the poll. Lennie Briscoe was ranked number 9 on Sleuth Channel's poll of America's Top Sleuths, between Sherlock Holmes at number 10 and Gil Grissom of CSI at number 8. Lennie Briscoe was named one of TV's Smartest Detectives by AOL TV. Lennie Briscoe was ranked 15th on TV Guides list of the 25 greatest TV detectives. References Law & Order characters Law & Order: Trial by Jury characters Fictional New York City Police Department detectives Fictional characters from Manhattan Fictional United States Army personnel Fictional Vietnam War veterans Television characters introduced in 1992 Fictional alcohol abusers Crossover characters