Russell Washington

Russell Washington is a main character in the American crime drama, Law & Order: New Orleans.

Biography & Personality

Born in New Orleans in July 1953, Washington was the middle of a middle-class family's three children. He graduated from Tulane University School of Law in 1976.

He served as a N.O.P.D. detective from 1977 to 1993, and an A.D.A. for the New Orleans office afterwards. He takes over as D.A. temporarily after his friend Alan Grimes was shot by a sniper, and then took over full time after Grimes retired over a year later.

He has been married three times, and divorced twice, and has 6 children from his three relationships.

He is shown to be as two-sided as Grimes: seeking the harshest punishment for criminals who deserve it, but also showing leniency when given the right circumstances.

In the ninth season, Carla Valentine, the daughter of Washington's deceased partner George Valentine, from his N.O.P.D. days, temporarily transfers into the MCCIS to fill in for Detective Zhao. Upon meeting her, memories of her father's death return to haunt Russell. The following season, he discovers that the man who's been sitting in prison all these years for George's death is innocent, and that the true killer is still out there. Russell spends the rest fo of the season tracking down the killer, who is revealed to be Keegan Cobb, a psycotic ex-Black Ops soldier, who killed George during a bank robbery he masterminded. Cobb taunts Russell many times, from phone calls, to even kidnapping a young girl and threatening to murder her over the Internet.

Eventually, Cobb tries to kill Russell's friends and colleagues outright, leaving many of them injured. Russell then sets out to stop Cobb once for all with Sergeant Dallas Parker, Captain Colton Renko, and Investigator Gino Carcaterra.

Cobb manages to find where Valentine and her family is, and takes Carla's daughter Claire hostage. When Washington steps up to face him, Claire breaks free, and Washington jumps in front of her as Cobb tries to shoot her, causing him to be shot and mortally wounded. Parker, Carcaterra and Renko then open fire on Cobb, hitting him multiple times. Cobb, however, is shielded from all the shots due to wearing a bulletproof vest. He is just about to shoot them all before they can reload, when suddenly, Washington uses his last bit of strength to fire a single fatal shot into Cobb's head, killing him, finally avenging George, and ending Cobb's rampage forever. Washington then dies in Valentine's arms just after she thanks him for everything.

Washington is mourned by many at his funeral, including Valentine and her family.