.
- In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad known
as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
[tires screeching]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- No! No!
No, I think she hit her head! Oh, no!
- Let's go!
- Wait, I don't think she's breathing, man!
- Get back in the car!
- Come on, let's get out of here.
- Let's go!
♪ ♪
[engine rumbles]
♪ ♪
- Help! There's a girl on the ground over here!
She needs a doctor! Over here!
Help!
♪ ♪
- He's a waffle guy. - Oh, I'm good with coffee.
Thanks.
Like I said, looked through hundreds of cases.
- I'm sure you did.
- And, uh, are there minor mistakes?
Yeah, sure.
License plate numbers transposed,
paperwork misfiled, small stuff.
I mean, you could find worse in my jacket.
- Could we now?
- It's not like there was incompetence or corruption.
- I'd like to decide for myself, Jake.
May I have the file?
Thank you.
- You're wrong about this.
You're wrong about Benson, OK?
And whatever chain of command or BS you're hung up on,
let it go.
- Wow.
Six months as a detective,
and he's ready to run the Bureau.
Do you remember when you had that problem in high school
with that kid and you called me?
- I'm not doing that.
No, this is not about how many times you helped me
or how tight you were with my dad.
I'm not gonna look the other way
when you're doing something wrong.
- What am I doing wrong?
- You're undermining a good cop.
You're letting your ego make decisions.
Yeah.
And when you can't get to her,
you go after someone in her unit.
Then you set me up to be the fall guy.
- That's untrue. - I still don't understand why.
- If Captain Benson asks you to do something,
and you did the opposite,
what do you think would happen?
- That's not the same thing. - It's exactly the same thing.
I am not being unreasonable. I'm not even being political.
I'm being a boss.
- If she does good,
you look good, right?
Why not just make her an ally?
- I tried.
Benson's only ever allied with herself.
[phone buzzes]
- There's a teenage girl in the hospital--
head trauma, signs of sexual assault.
- Go - [sighs]
- Jake,
you can leave the file.
- We found her school ID in her pocket.
Emma Burns, 16, attends Carlton Prep.
- How is she doing? - Stable, but unconscious.
There's a subdural hematoma from getting
tossed out of the car, bruising and blood in her underwear.
Plus, the tox screen showed Lorazepam in her system.
- Anybody get a good look at the car that dumped her?
- Witness said it was an SUV.
We can get you the security footage,
but they said it's not helpful. - OK
- Sorry. - Thank you so much.
All right, Lorazepam is a benzo,
so that increases impulsivity, and it induces memory loss.
- Basically a roofie. - Yes.
Hey. How was your breakfast?
- You know, like talking to a charming brick wall.
- Yeah. - You back with us?
- Told Cap don't make me a cake,
but yeah, I'm back. - Well, that's good to hear.
- So how about the two of you go through
the security footage and see if you can see
something that they didn't?
- Something's up with this kid.
- Think he knows something?
- Let's ask.
[dramatic music]
- Hey.
Hey, hey. Hey, stop.
- Got me running the first day back?
Seriously? - Hey!
[thuds]
- Oh, and it's unlocked.
Thanks, kid. - Hey, that's private property.
You can't take that.
- Technically, it's abandoned property,
which we can search. - Please, just give it back.
I didn't do anything wrong. I'm just here visiting someone.
- Look at this-- "At the hospital.
"Cops here.
Nobody better snitch."
- You know what the first rule about not snitching is?
Don't text about not snitching.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
.
- You have to do it. Oh, my God.
- Ethan's social media helped identify
the kids in this video, all seniors at Carlton Prep.
- Oh, I've heard of that.
It's a high-end private school. - So these four--
Ethan Weiss, Matt Davis, John Gallagher, Casey Stewart--
were all on the group chat.
- Possibly the ones that took her to the hospital.
- And no luck with Ethan? - I tried.
He's not talking.
- These private school kids ain't gonna talk to the cops.
Their parents will pay for the best lawyers in the city.
- Most of these kids are 17 years old,
so we don't need their parents' consent to talk to them.
Let's grab them on the way to school.
- And ever since she cut her hair,
she looks like a hippopotamus. - Hey.
[grim music]
- What the hell, bruh? - Come with me, bruh.
You too. Let's go.
♪ ♪
- Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hey. - Oh!
- All sticks and stems.
You got beat, kid.
- So let's start with an easy one.
Where was the party last night?
- Look, I'd love to help you, but I have no idea
what you're even saying right now.
- Casey, your friend may have been sexually assaulted,
and I think that you can help her.
- And I think I'd like to speak to my attorney.
- Just tell us what happened.
We'll forget about the weed.
- What weed?
- Wise guy, huh?
- Wise enough not to talk to cops.
- So, John,
your friend, Emma,
she's in pretty bad shape.
She may have been sexually assaulted,
and we're just trying to figure out what happened.
So can you help me help her?
♪ ♪
- Lawyer.
- We know you care about Emma.
You came to the hospital to check on her.
- You tried to help her, right?
You saw that she was in trouble,
and you tried to help her?
- Listen, I swear-- [door opens]
- That's enough.
Ethan, I'm your lawyer.
Don't say another word.
[door shuts]
- Calm down! - We are leaving
to Aruba tomorrow.
You need to release these kids immediately.
- I'm not gonna let this get in the way of my vacation.
- These kids are not going anywhere.
- I want to speak to my son.
- You're not gonna give us anything, Sergeant?
- I skipped donuts at the courthouse for this?
What a mess.
- Well, they all lawyered up and won't talk,
and we can't hold them.
- Which means we got no leads.
There's nothing you can do?
- All right, put all the lawyers
in the conference room.
I got an idea.
- Just give us a minute, all right, guys?
Thank you.
- Hey. - Hey.
- So I wanted to give you a heads-up.
I did some digging, and I found the retired
IAB detective who investigated your dad's shooting.
- Oh, yeah?
OK, the case I'm on is a cluster.
- All right, that's fine.
It's best I talk to him anyway. - I owe you.
- Yeah. I take Venmo.
[indistinct chatter]
- Sonny, what's up with all the theatrics?
You know you can't talk to our clients.
- Well, you're right.
I'm not gonna talk to all of them.
I'm only gonna talk to one of them.
- What does that mean? - Well, these kids are in deep.
And, uh, I'm gonna make an offer to the first one
that comes forward with useful information.
The rest can drown. - Come on, Carisi.
- There's a teenage girl in the hospital
because one of your dumb-ass clients
dropped her on her head.
This train is leaving the station,
and I'm only letting one kid ride.
You all have my number.
[door shuts]
[indistinct chatter]
I really thought one would flip.
- Look, it was worth a shot.
We'll figure something else out.
[phone buzzes]
- Ah, no need.
We got a bite.
- I keep seeing her face.
Her lips were blue.
- Yeah, we saw the video.
And we also saw that you were drinking.
- Just tell them what we talked about.
- We went to John's apartment to party after school.
I only had one drink, maybe two.
- We had no idea-- - I didn't get drunk.
- He told us it was just him and John.
- Mr. and Mrs. Weiss, just please,
let Ethan answer.
Go ahead.
- At some point, I fell asleep.
And then all of a sudden, John and Casey
were shaking me awake, saying that Emma might be dead.
- You didn't call 911?
- I wanted to, but they didn't let me.
Like you said, we had been drinking.
We just didn't want to get in trouble.
- So you drove her to the hospital yourselves?
- Yeah, but I didn't mean for her to hit her head.
I--I lost my grip, and she fell.
And then John and Casey were yelling at me.
I didn't know what to do. I tried to pick her back up--
- All right, Ethan has given his statement.
Now, let's talk deal.
Full immunity for my client.
- If you want full immunity,
he's gotta give me more than that.
- Hey, Ethan, it doesn't matter if your intentions were good.
Emma almost died.
She may have been raped.
So if you know something, you can help her.
- Ethan, you don't have to say anything--
- It's OK, Ethan-- - OK, enough!
Emma started to act weird.
She seemed out of it.
And then I saw her go in the guest bedroom...
with Matt.
[soft dramatic music]
.
- All right, according to Ethan, Emma and Matt,
they were flirting the entire night,
and then they snuck off into the guest room together,
and Emma was unsteady on her feet.
- OK, but Ethan didn't intervene?
- Well, he didn't think it was a big deal.
He figured if they were going off together,
then Emma must have consented. Excuse me.
- OK, but she was 16 and full of drugs.
Where'd the Lorazepam come from, anyway?
- Ethan said that there were no drugs at the party.
- Was Matt drunk, too?
- Ethan said that Matt had one drink, possibly two.
- So he was sober enough to know better.
- We have a suspect and a crime scene.
Go check out the apartment.
- That was Matt's lawyer. He wants to talk.
- All right.
- My client has come forward of his own volition.
He's willing to cooperate.
But before you take him into custody,
there's something you should see.
- What's this? - It's a toxicology report.
Matt woke up the morning after the party
with no memory of the previous night.
I ordered the report.
It shows Lorazepam glucuronide in his urine
at a rate of 30 nanograms per milliliter,
which is more than enough to impair
decision-making and memory.
Since benzos only remain in the urine for one to three days,
it is likely he ingested the drug at the party
in question, which Matt swears
he did not willingly do.
- So what are you saying?
- Our son was drugged.
- I had one drink early in the night,
and I never took any drugs.
- Well, who do you think would have drugged you?
- [sighs]
- He clearly doesn't know anything.
- And if any sex occurred, I suggest you...
[phone buzzes] Look at my client as a victim,
not the perpetrator.
- OK, well, hopefully we're gonna get to the bottom
of what happened.
Emma's awake.
- No, it's not true.
- I know that it's hard to hear,
but your injuries are consistent
with a sexual assault.
- Matt cares for me. He would never rape me.
- OK. Do you have any memory of--of the night?
Because one of your friends said that they saw you
and Matt walking into a bedroom,
and you were having trouble walking.
- Oh, well, no.
I like Matt, so if we did anything,
I would have wanted it to happen.
- You had Lorazepam in your system,
and that's a drug that can cause
memory loss and confusion.
So do you remember taking anything like that?
- No. I don't take any pills.
I don't get wasted
because I just--
I don't ever want to feel like I'm not in control, OK?
- OK, I believe you.
So how about you tell me anything that you do remember
leading up to the party?
And nothing is too small.
You know, little things can be important.
- We went to John's apartment after school.
- So were his parents home?
- His dad died. Talia was there though.
- And Talia is his mother? - Yeah.
- Did she know that you all were drinking?
- It's not a big deal.
And she-- she said that it's safer
to drink at her place, rather than some, like,
back alley. So she's cool.
- Uh-huh.
- She doesn't treat us like kids.
- Was she drinking with you?
- [scoffs] Only a little, but hardly anything.
- Right.
- Look, Talia is a good person.
She's like one of us.
She's a friend.
And she's the one who told me that Matt has a crush on me.
- Oh. When did she tell you that?
- At the party.
And, um...
[ominous music]
She told me to go for it, and if Matt and I
wanted to use the guest bedroom, that we could.
- Emma, I think that you know that
it's inappropriate for an adult to say that.
♪ ♪
OK, so what happened next?
♪ ♪
- I don't remember anything after that.
♪ ♪
- NYPD.
We're looking for Talia Federov.
- Who are you?
- Detective Griffin. Sergeant Tutuola.
- We need to ask you a few questions,
take a look around the apartment.
- Why would you need to look around my apartment?
- We think someone may have been sexually assaulted here
at a party the other night.
- Oh, my God. Who? In my home, here?
- We already have a suspect.
We just need to take a look at the crime scene.
We'll be in and out in five minutes.
- I would love to help you guys out.
I really would, but my dad is a retired judge, Owen Fedorov--
I'm sure you've heard of him.
And he would absolutely kill me if I let law enforcement in
without a warrant, so I'm sorry. - Good thing we brought one.
- All right, guys, come on in. Spread out.
[tense music]
- Um, this is a mistake. I'm sure of it.
You can't just waltz in here and barge in
and start touching everything-- - Ma'am.
Griff, find the guest room.
- Copy.
- The guest room?
There's nothing in the guest room
that you need to see.
♪ ♪
- So this is your daughter's room?
- What? No, I don't have a daughter.
This is-- this is my room.
Listen, I just let them have a couple of drinks.
It's not a big deal.
I mean, wouldn't you rather that than--
than having them drink at some park unsupervised?
I just wanted to create a safe space.
♪ ♪
- Hey, you got tweezers?
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
What you got?
♪ ♪
- Hidden camera.
- Detective, do you have kids?
So, I mean, you would understand.
My son was bullied all throughout school,
and so was I.
I tried to step in and create a space for him
and his friends to have some fun.
That's all.
I didn't do anything bad.
I just-- I'm a helicopter mom, I guess.
But I did it for my son.
- You know what I never did for my son?
Roofie his friends.
Talia Federov, you're under arrest.
Turn around. - What?
I-- [sighs]
.
- The best you have is endangering
the welfare of a child for the alcohol,
a misdemeanor.
- Well, don't forget about the Lorazepam.
- The medicine cabinet wasn't locked.
It's not the first time that kids helped themselves
to a parent's prescriptions.
- That doesn't explain the hidden camera.
- Yeah, and the only device the camera was connected to
was your cell phone.
- That camera was used to check on her aunt,
who had dementia and who was staying with them
until she passed away.
- OK, show us the video.
- Sorry, the camera only streams the video directly,
so there are no recordings.
- Oh, so you were watching teenagers have sex
in your guest bedroom live?
- That is an outrageous accusation.
- OK, well, tell us about this
unlawful surveillance charge,
1995.
You would have been, what, a college freshman?
- Is that when you picked up your peeping kink, Talia?
- You were charged as a youthful offender,
which is usually sealed.
But thankfully, we got a grade A DA.
- Taking pics through the dorm window
of football players and cheerleaders.
- I was walking down the street--
- No, Talia. Just be quiet. - No.
Their curtains were wide open.
- Stop. Talia. - This is--
- Talia.
- A YO plea is hard to come by.
It must be nice to have a father
who's a judge with juice. - Mm-hmm, must be nice.
That must be what privilege buys.
- And what is that?
- Never having to face consequences.
- Welcome back, Judge Federov. - Oh, thanks, Sam.
I wish it was under better circumstances.
- This is calendar number three,
the People of the State of New York versus Talia Federov.
Defendant's charged with two counts of facilitating
a sexual offense with controlled substance
and two counts of using a child for sexual performance.
- Good morning, Your Honor.
Trevor Langan for the defendant.
My client enters a plea of not guilty.
- As to bail, Your Honor, the defendant is accused
of a class D violent felony. - I read the complaint.
Defendant has no criminal record.
I'm going to release her on her own recognizance
and assign this case to Judge Kevin Ryan.
[soft dramatic music]
Next case!
♪ ♪
- Hey. What was that?
- Don't you know?
Talia's father was the chief of criminal court.
- Oh. So I see that membership still has its privileges.
[laughter]
- So what can I do for you gentlemen?
- I appreciate the time, Judge. Um--
I just--I wanted to discuss your relationship
with the defendant's father.
- Well, it's common knowledge that we were friends.
That was years ago.
I certainly don't see it as a problem.
- Well, no, of course not.
But, um, I mean, I just think we should
really try to avoid even the appearance of impropriety here.
- Oh, so you're suggesting there's something improper
about me trying the case.
- Everybody knows he was your mentor, Judge.
- Mentor?
Judge Federov was close with many judges in this building.
- Even so, I think it would be wise
for you to recuse yourself.
- Denied.
Anything else?
- Uh, yeah, actually, Your Honor,
I was hoping that this meeting would be about
Mr. Carisi offering my client a misdemeanor.
- A misdemeanor? - Yeah.
- One of those kids almost died.
That's never gonna happen.
- I appreciate your passion, Mr. Carisi,
but if I were you, I'd think on it.
- Thank you, Judge,
but no deal.
- Well, then, I guess I will see
both you gentlemen in court.
- It's totally normal to feel nervous, all right?
So ADA Carisi is gonna prep you in his office,
and he's gonna go through every single question with you
right before you have to testify.
- Uh, will you be there, too? - Oh, yes.
Absolutely. - OK.
- Absolutely.
Here, why don't you have a seat?
- Thank you.
- OK, can I-- can I make you a cup of tea?
- Yeah. - Great. Great.
So Emma, is there, um--
is there something else bothering you,
something you want to talk about?
- No, it's fine. I'll handle it.
[chuckles]
- OK.
You know, you mentioned at the hospital
that you never wanted to feel out of control, that--
it seems like it's something that is very important to you.
- Thank you.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- A lot of people that I've talked to,
you know, survivors of trauma, experience something
called hypervigilance.
And it's when your brain works really, really hard,
right, scanning for threats
to make sure that they're safe,
and they sort of live in a constant state
of fight or flight.
You ever--
you ever feel like that?
- Sometimes.
- I want you to know that you can talk to me
because I know a little bit about that.
- If I, uh--
if I tell you something, do you--
do you have to tell other people?
- Well, sometimes I do, yeah.
If you need me to keep it between us, then--
then I will.
I promise I'll keep it between us.
- OK.
When I was younger,
like--like 12, um...
my uncle, he--
he would-- he would touch me.
And he would have me, uh, touch him.
I-I knew-- I knew it was wrong.
But I couldn't make him stop.
It was during, like, seventh grade.
But that's it. That's--that's what happened.
- I'm so sorry, Emma.
I'm so sorry that that happened.
Would it be OK for me to ask you a couple
of questions about that?
So where is your uncle now?
- He died last year.
- OK, and did you ever tell anyone?
- My mom, the--
the summer after it happened.
- Mm, what did she do?
- I mean, never let me be alone with him again.
But that's it.
- But did she call the police or a doctor or--
- My parents were having money problems.
And my uncle, he was rich.
He invented this app or something.
And so he paid for everything, paid for school.
But yeah, that's-- that's it.
That's all they did.
- That must have been so hard and--
and so unfair.
And Emma, if you'd let me,
I'd love to talk to your parents.
- No. - Hold on.
Even if it's just to get a good therapist...
- No, no, I-- - Who can help you.
- I can't handle any of that right now.
OK?
So just-- just don't tell anyone.
- I did promise, and I won't tell anyone.
I will keep it between us.
I promise you that.
- OK.
.
- I can't believe anybody's asking about Jimmy Griffin.
How long has that guy been dead and buried?
- Believe me, I know.
There's this unreliable informant talking smack,
and I was told to track it down and put it to bed.
- Doubtful I remember much, Curry.
- It's all right.
See if anything jogs your memory.
- [chuckles]
[rock music playing softly]
- Oh.
♪ ♪
You're-- you're missing stuff.
You sure you got all of this? - What's missing?
- Well, photos for one.
We certainly had one of the gun.
- OK, I'll dig around.
So it was an officer-involved shooting.
You caught the IAB investigation.
What happened?
- Jimmy and--and some skel get into a beef in a bar,
uh, something about the guy owed Jimmy, you know, money.
They take it outside.
Dummy pulls a gun.
Jimmy pulls, puts one in the guy's knee.
Good shoot. Guy survived.
End of story.
- The file says that the skel was Dennis Reeves.
I looked into him. He died in 2015.
But you remember what he said back then?
- What do you think he said?
"Not my gun.
Dirty cop planted it."
Made up some garbage about Jimmy was on his payroll.
Nonsense. - Any witnesses?
- It was Jimmy and his partner.
You probably know her.
She's the new chief of Ds, Tynan.
- Yeah, I met her a few times. She's solid.
She stand up? - Yeah.
She said the same thing Jimmy said--
you know, pretty open-and-shut, you know,
two cops versus one skel.
You know, not a lot of shoe leather on this, Curry.
- No-brainer, I get it. - [chuckles]
- Reeves said that Jimmy was on his payroll, right?
What, was he a bookie?
- Yeah. Um... [sighs]
You know, I-I don't recall.
Anything else I can help you with?
- Yeah, last thing.
Case file says that Reeves caught a collar
for the illegal gun. - Yeah.
He had some night, right?
Got drunk, pulled a gun on a cop,
got shot, and arrested for a gun charge.
Just a, uh, great New York tale.
- Any idea what happened to the gun?
- Probably in a box in a property warehouse in Queens.
- I checked. It's not there.
- What can I tell you, Curry?
Sometimes things just disappear.
- Looking a little dry there, Sergeant.
Next one's on me.
Thanks for your time.
- I'm telling you, I have nothing
but admiration for your work with SVU, Mr. Carisi.
- Thank you, Judge. That, uh-- that means a lot to me.
- That must take a toll,
you know, a heavy load.
- You know what?
How about I tell you all about it,
but after this trial?
Because seeing as your daughter's the defendant
in this case, I don't think it's even appropriate for us
to be speaking right now.
- I thought you might say that.
- Good day, Judge.
- Do you have children, Mr. Carisi?
- Yes, I do.
- I'm sure you agree that you'd do anything to protect them.
My suggestion is a lighter load for you
makes a lighter load for me.
- With respect, Judge,
I'm not interested in lightening anyone's load.
I just want to try a fair case.
- You know I was on the bench for over 30 years.
That doesn't mean anything to you?
- It means you know damn well that your friend, Judge Ryan,
should recuse himself.
You have a good day, Judge.
And after the defendant gave you this drink, what happened?
- I don't remember. I-I blacked out.
- And did you submit for a toxicology screen?
- Yes, and it showed I had Lorazepam in my system,
which I never took.
- So the defendant spiked your drink.
- Objection-- assumes facts not in evidence.
- Sustained.
- Matt,
did you see anyone put Lorazepam in your drink
after the defendant gave it to you?
- No. - Thank you.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
- Mr. Davis, tell the jury about the deal
you made with Mr. Carisi to get you to testify.
- Objection. He knows there's no deal.
- Overruled.
- Your Honor, assumes facts not in evidence.
- Sit down, Mr. Carisi.
- Well, there is no deal.
- Isn't it true that you were investigated
for the rape of Emma Burns?
- Yeah, I guess, but--
- Yeah, but you were never arrested or charged
for that sexual assault, correct?
- Correct.
- Who made the call to not charge you?
- I-I guess, Mr. Carisi.
- [sobbing] - Hey.
We're gonna have to go out there now,
so I need you to take a deep breath.
- Hey.
- I don't know what happened. She was fine.
- She had trouble breathing. - OK. Hey, Emma.
I'm here. I'm here.
Hey, can you tell me what happened?
- [hyperventilating]
- What's going on?
- All those people.
- OK, Emma, I'm gonna be right there with you.
You just-- you just focus on me, OK?
I'm gonna be right there in the gallery.
Deep breath.
[breathes deeply]
There you go. Deep breath.
- [panting] - Huh?
[breathes deeply] Deep breath.
- [sobs] - Oh, geez.
It's OK. - Honey, it's OK.
- OK. Can you adjourn early?
- There's no way Ryan's gonna go for that.
- [sighs]
- I can't put her on the stand like this.
- You may not have to.
[soft dramatic music]
- Based on the evidence and your years of experience,
do you believe that the defendant drugged
two teenagers, Emma Burns and Matt Davis,
in order to watch them have sex on a hidden camera?
- Yes, I do.
- Thank you, Captain.
No further questions, Your Honor.
- Captain,
is it fair to say that the alleged victim
in this case was under the influence
on the night in question?
- There's nothing alleged about it.
The evidence proves that Emma is a victim.
- But she doesn't remember any of it.
So how do we know she's not making it up?
- Well, victims of sexual assault
often have trouble remembering traumatic events,
especially when they're drugged against their will.
- Did Emma ever mention any other traumatic events
in her life?
- We spoke of many things.
- Any of those pertinent to this case?
- Not that I can speak of.
- Captain Benson, has Emma ever claimed
to have been sexually assaulted before?
- Objection, Your Honor.
- Overruled.
Captain.
- My duty is to protect the victim, Your Honor.
- You are under oath, Captain,
and you will answer the question.
- I'm sorry, but I can't.
♪ ♪
- Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm gonna send you on a short break.
We, uh, have some boring legal matters to address.
Grab a coffee, stretch your legs,
and we'll call you back in shortly.
♪ ♪
- Your Honor, the Rape Shield Law
specifically limits the defense's ability
to introduce the past sexual behavior--
- This isn't about past sexual behavior.
This is to establish if the girl has lied
in the past about sexual assault
and goes directly to her credibility.
- I agree.
Captain Benson will answer the question.
- I can't do that, Your Honor. I'm sorry.
- Are you refusing to comply with a court order?
- Legally, she cannot answer that question.
- Sit down, Mr. Carisi.
Captain.
- I don't want to refuse.
I'm simply obeying the Rape Shield Law,
which was passed to protect victims.
- If you refuse my order,
I will hold you in contempt of court.
- Your Honor, Captain Benson is following the law.
You can't do this.
- You don't tell me what I can do in my own courtroom,
Mr. Carisi!
♪ ♪
It's your last chance, Captain.
- My duty is to protect the victim.
I can't and won't answer the question.
♪ ♪
- Put her inside.
♪ ♪
[handcuffs clicking]
♪ ♪
.
- Hey, Liv.
Listen, I'll defend your right
not to answer that question in court,
but what the hell is going on? - I'm sorry, Carisi.
I can't. I can't say.
- No, it's OK.
You don't have to go to jail for this.
- Don't worry about that, Emma.
I will not be manipulated by that lawyer.
- I'm not going to either.
[solemn music]
Captain Benson knows
what Uncle Ian did to me.
♪ ♪
I can't keep it a secret anymore.
And neither can you.
You have to tell everyone.
I'm not afraid anymore.
- OK.
OK.
- How did that lawyer know about this?
- Because I told Talia.
- [sighs]
- She acted sympathetic and kind.
And now she's gonna use it against me.
I'm really sorry, Mom, because I thought
that I could trust her.
♪ ♪
- You have nothing
to be sorry for.
♪ ♪
I'm sorry.
Oh, I am so, so sorry.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
- No charges were ever filed?
- No.
- She never even reported it?
- That's not uncommon in these types of circumstances.
- So we just have to take her word for it?
- She told her mother.
She also told your client.
- Is it fair to say that charges were never filed
against the uncle because her mother
didn't believe that she'd been sexually assaulted?
- Objection, Your Honor.
- Overruled. Answer, Captain.
- No.
That's not fair to say.
Emma is not a liar.
And her mother couldn't protect her
because people with money
and people with influence held all the power.
But that's what this trial is for,
to even the odds
and to give power back to the people
who deserve it the most.
- Emma, do you drink alcohol often?
- Maybe a drink or two if I'm at a party.
- Pretty normal for a teen.
I can't say that I didn't steal a beer
out of the fridge in the garage
every once in a while when I was a kid.
- Careful, Mr. Carisi. - I'm sorry, Your Honor.
We weren't all law-abiding teenagers.
Emma, was it strange
for an adult to be giving you alcohol?
- At first, yes.
But we knew that Talia's father was a judge, so we felt safe.
- And did you and Talia become close?
- We did.
She said that she understood me
and that I could tell her anything.
- What'd you talk about?
- I talked about the boys that I liked
and school stuff.
And I, um--
told Talia that my uncle molested me.
- And is this the secret that Captain Benson
was willing to go to jail to keep?
- Yes.
♪ ♪
- And why did you want to keep it a secret?
♪ ♪
- I was ashamed.
I was afraid that it was gonna make me and my family look bad.
And I told Talia because I--
I trusted her,
or I thought that I could.
But she used my--my secret,
my abuse to make me look like a liar
to try and break me. - Objection.
- Sustained.
The jury will disregard.
- Emma, why do you say that?
- Talia knew I wanted to hide it.
I think she hoped that it would make me fall apart.
♪ ♪
But it didn't, Talia.
I'm stronger than you think.
- Objection!
- Sustained.
The jury will disregard.
♪ ♪
- Hey, just heard the good news.
Congrats on the verdict, man.
- I would have paid money to see Judge Fedorov's face.
- Chief!
- Captain Benson,
you've done excellent work
throughout your years with SVU.
In your tenure as captain,
you've led this team through difficult cases
with a steady hand.
It has been an honor to work with you.
I am here to inform you that you are suspended,
effective immediately. - Chief, come on--
- Stand down, Detective. - Are you kidding me right now?
- So what did you find, Chief?
Did I not file a report on time?
- This has nothing to do with files, Captain.
You were found in contempt and taken into custody.
- Wow.
- The department cannot tolerate that
under any circumstances.
Please turn over your service weapon and badge.
- Wow.
Wow.
- Chief, come on.
- Go home, Captain.
- Liv, we'll appeal it first thing.
- Not the time. Let her be.
[sighs]
[solemn music]
♪ ♪
[door opening]
♪ ♪
.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[wolf howls]