 ADA Danner in 2006 | |
| ADA William Danner | |
| Portrayed by | Thomas Calabro |
| Episode | Death Penalty: Final Appeal |
| Status | Arrested
Disbarred |
William Danner was a Philadelphia district attorney in the 1990s and 2006.
Danner graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1994, he tried Andre Tibbs for the rape and murder of Kate Lange. Although Andre maintained his innocence, he was convicted of being identified in the Lange house by Kate's father, Mike Lange, and was captured three blocks from away with blood on his boots. Andre had gone to the house to apologize to Mike for an earlier fight. However, corrupt officer Joey Norman took the letter from Andre before his arrest.
12 years later, Danner was approached by Lieutenant John Stillman and Detective Will Jeffries regarding Kate's case after Mike recanted his earlier statement and Norman had taken his own life after being caught in a corruption scandal. Danner was angered when Stillman and Jeffries asked for a warrant to search the evidence in the Internal Affairs case against Norman for the letter. He was unswayed by the change in evidence, and refused, maintaining that Andre, who was due to be executed in three days, was guilty.
The day after Andre's execution, Jeffries searched through the evidence anyway and discovered Andre's letter, which corroborated his story and cast suspicion on his boss, Wayne Nelson. When Danner walked into the evidence room, demanding to know what Jeffries was doing, Jeffries confronted him with the letter, which Danner had apparently been aware of. When Danner, completely unrepentant, still insisted in a condescending tone that Andre was guilty, Jeffries punched him and walked out.
Danner went to Stillman's office later that day, demanding that Jeffries be punished for assaulting him, and was incenced when Stillman allowed Jeffries to conduct the interview of Wayne Nelson. Wayne was later arrested for Kate's murder, and though Jeffries was restricted to desk duty for punching Danner, Danner himself would be fired from the DA's office, with his reputation ruined. He was last seen packing up his belongings in disgrace. Danner was likely disbarred and arrested for falsely convicting Andre, leading to his execution.
Danner was replaced weeks later as ADA by David Cage, who was eager to mend fences with Homicide after the debacle and thus agreed to have the DA drop the charges against Jeffries and have him reinstated.