American Tragedy (Season 15, Episode 3)
Premise: A celebrity chef shoots an unarmed black teenager she mistakes for a serial rapist, and her manslaughter trial turns on race, fear and self-defense.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 15, Episode 3
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Nick Amaro (Danny Pino), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), ADA Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), Dr. Peter Lindstrom (Bill Irwin), Defense Attorney Ben Cohen (Jeffrey Tambor)
- Guest stars
- Cybill Shepherd as Jolene Castille, Moise Morancy as Mehcad Carter, Sonja Sohn as Lisa Carter, Kevin Carroll as Cory Carter
- Ripped from the headlines
- Combines elements of the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in a hoodie, with the racist remarks that engulfed celebrity chef Paula Deen.
- Director
- Fred Berner
- Writers
- Story: Jill Abbinanti; Teleplay: Warren Leight & Julie Martin
Summary
“American Tragedy” begins with a serial rapist on the Upper West Side who follows single white women over 40 to their doors, claims to have a gun and wears a condom; the victims describe a tall young black man in a hoodie and cap. Benson, meanwhile, lashes out physically at a man who catcalls her on the street and tells Lindstrom she seems unable to react the right way to anything. After a third, more violent attack, the squad floods the area with stop-and-frisks. That night, celebrity chef Jolene Castille shoots 16-year-old Mehcad Carter at the gate of her brownstone, saying he followed her, ignored her orders to stop and lunged with a hand in his pocket. He was carrying only a cell phone.
Two victims pick Mehcad’s photo, a third cannot, and his phone places him near each attack. His parents call him an honor student who was walking home from basketball. Mehcad dies of his wound. Fin and Amaro then catch Willie, a paroled sex offender from Michigan who collects used cooking oil, in the middle of a rape; traces of oil and lard link him to the earlier victims, and one recognizes him by his hands and smell. Warner finds no gunpowder stippling on Mehcad, so he was at least five feet away, and Jolene adds a detail, that he used the rapist’s phrase, only after it leaks to the press. Barba charges her, with protesters outside.
At trial, defense attorney Ben Cohen gets a detective to concede that Mehcad matched the rapist’s description and that SVU briefly suspected him. Judge Steven Ong keeps out an old deposition in which Jolene called black kitchen workers “field hands” unless she opens the door, and she does by claiming to love all her employees. Barba confronts her with it and with a quote comparing the subway to a jungle, and she admits a white boy would not have frightened her. Barba weighs a plea deal. Cohen then has Fin admit that the 12 men he frisked that night were all young and black, and argues that Jolene reacted no differently. In a courthouse restroom, Jolene tells Benson she is sorry the boy is dead.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Jolene not guilty of manslaughter, and the courtroom erupts. Outside, a statement on the Carters’ behalf asks that any protests stay peaceful. Afterward, word comes from a juror that the panel was split on its first vote before fear won out.
Why it stands out
- Cybill Shepherd guest stars as Jolene Castille, and Jeffrey Tambor plays defense attorney Ben Cohen.
- Leslie Odom Jr. appears as Reverend Curtis Scott, a recurring role this season.
- Tamara Tunie returns as ME Melinda Warner, now a special guest star after leaving the main cast.