Name: Bud J. Roberts (Patrick Labyorteaux)
Rank: Lieutenant, USN
Current Station: JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA.
Bud made his first appearance in the pilot episode, as an Ensign who served as Public Affairs Officer on the USS Seahawk. In “We The People,” the second-season opener, we learn that Bud was promoted to LTJG and transferred to JAG, and he served as an aide to Harm and Mac while attending law classes at night. During an investigation on the Seahawk, he met Ensign Harriet Sims, who had replaced him as Public Affairs Officer (“Crossing the Line”). She and Bud have their first date when she is transferred to Norfolk (“Washington Holiday”).
In the third season, Harriet is assigned to JAG HQ. She and Bud got engaged later in the season (“Tiger, Tiger”), and were married despite having to battle Harriet's disapproving mother, a wild bachelor party and Bud's alcoholic, abusive father (“Wedding Bell Blues”). Bud also has a younger brother, Mikey, who dreamed of being a cartoonist but gave in to his father’s wishes and joined the Navy (“Dungaree Justice”).
Bud graduated from law school and was sworn in as a Judge Advocate in the fourth season. His first case forced him to defend his father, a retired master chief, on charges that he defrauded the Navy. He managed to win the case against none other than his mentor, Harm (“The Adversaries”), but Harm made it clear to the elder Roberts that he would never be able to use his son like that again. Bud was promoted to full lieutenant around this time.
Also in season four, Bud and Harriet discovered that they were expecting a baby (“Embassy”). Despite one health scare for Harriet (“The Martin Baker Fan Club”), A.J. Roberts was born at JAG Headquarters in the episode “Yeah, Baby.” In “Goodbyes,” it was revealed that Harm and Mac are little A.J.’s godparents.
Bud took on much more legal responsibility in the fifth season, and took center stage in the episode “Rogue.” He was assigned to help a contractor test security on a nuclear submarine, but was trapped when the team hijacked the sub. Bud helped to end the situation peacefully, but injured his knee in the process. He had a temporary moment of regret in “The Colonel’s Wife,” when he met up with a college friend who struck it rich with a computer company, but soon decided that he was content with his life as it was. In “Boomerang, Part Two,” Bud took an unlucky punch (or two) in Harm’s scuffle with Brumby, and ended up with his jaw wired shut.
Bud successfully defended his brother Mikey twice: first when Mikey was accused of mistiming a warhead during an exercise (“Surface Warfare”), and again when he was accused of killing a man during a bar fight in Mexico (“Liberty”).
Late in season five, Bud and Harriet found out that they were expecting a second child (“Promises”), and they decided to name the baby Sarah, after Colonel Mackenzie (“JAG TV”). Unfortunately, baby Sarah died during birth (“The Princess and the Petty Officer”), and Bud was consumed by his desire to seek justice for his daughter’s death. He brought charges against the Navy doctor who delivered Sarah, but sufficient evidence of negligence was never found, and a complicating factor from Harriet’s past sealed the verdict (“Family Secrets”).
In the seventh season, Bud helped Mikey secure an appointment to the Naval Academy, and there were hints that ties between the Roberts boys and their father had been somewhat patched (“Answered Prayers”). Admiral Chegwidden informed Bud that he needed to consider an overseas assignment to further his career, and after a difficult trial that left him facing charges of negligence (“Exculpatory Evidence”), he chose to accept an assignment aboard his old ship, the Seahawk. Although the deployment strained his relationship with Harriet – she bought a house without his knowledge, and he hid the identity of his legalman, Petty Officer Coates, from her – Bud was instrumental in obtaining vital information from Al Qaeda prisoners (“In Country”). He and Coates later traveled to Afghanistan to help secure funding for a village hit in U.S. attacks, and he struck a mine while attempting to rescue a young boy (“Enemy Below”).
Bud survived the mine blast, but lost his lower right leg in the incident. He returned home to Washington to begin therapy (“The Promised Land”), but as of season eight, he is still working to reenter his life and his relationship with Harriet. A young Marine and fellow amputee has helped him cope, and he has support from Mikey, his father, and his friends at JAG. Midway through season eight, he and Harriet learned that they were going to have another baby (“All Ye Faithful”).
We know that Bud entered the Navy through the ROTC program at the University of California-San Jose (??), and that he is a sci-fi geek who loves “Star Trek” and “Quantum Leap” (an homage to another Bellisario show) and firmly believes in little green men.
(Biography used by permission by Aerogirl)