Perverted Justice (Season 16, Episode 21)
Premise: When a recovering addict recants the testimony that convicted her father of raping her, SVU and Bayard Ellis dig into how the original detective handled the case.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 16, Episode 21
- Starring
- Sgt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Nick Amaro (Danny Pino), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), Defense Attorney Bayard Ellis (Andre Braugher)
- Guest stars
- Samira Wiley as Michelle Thompson, Glenn Plummer as Derek Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard as ADA Kenneth O'Dwyer, Nick Sandow as Det. Ted McCormack, Kia Goodwin as Audrey Thompson
- Director
- Alex Chapple
- Writers
- Story: Warren Leight & Julie Martin; Teleplay: Robert Brooks Cohen & Céline C. Robinson
Summary
“Perverted Justice” opens at a church dedication ceremony for Noah, where congregant Michelle Thompson, a recovering addict on the ninth step of her program, says she wants to make amends to her father, Derek. He has spent 17 years in prison for raping her when she was six. Michelle brings Bayard Ellis of Project Innocence to meet him at Green Haven, and at the request of Reverend Curtis Scott, Ellis asks Benson to look into a case that was handled by the local precinct, not SVU. Michelle tells the detectives that she burned her hand cooking hot dogs while her mother, Audrey, was out drinking, and that after her parents fought, her mother kept questioning her until she said her father had touched her. Audrey refuses to talk, and Derek maintains that his wife lied and made Michelle lie.
Retired Capt. Cragen, back from Florida, turns up a letter Michelle’s first-grade teacher sent to the lead detective, Ted McCormack, and to ADA Kenneth O’Dwyer, saying Michelle had told her that her mother made her lie. O’Dwyer, now in the white-collar unit, says he turned it over to the defense, and Cassie Muir, Derek’s since-disbarred lawyer, confirms she had it and never used it. Ellis files a motion claiming ineffective counsel, but the sympathetic judge falls ill, and Judge Al Bertuccio denies it. Michelle turns on Ellis and the detectives for raising her family’s hopes.
Cragen lures McCormack in by saying Ellis is trying to reopen the case, and McCormack lets slip that he still hears from Audrey. The squad finds that McCormack’s wife named Audrey in her divorce petition, Michelle and her brother, Will, recall him around the apartment and their mother going away for a weekend, and a disorderly conduct charge puts Audrey in Key West while McCormack was there on police business, a month before the trial. A federal judge grants Ellis’s habeas petition and orders a retrial. O’Dwyer offers time served on a plea, but Derek refuses to admit to something he says he did not do. At trial, Audrey admits the affair but stands by her account. O’Dwyer presses Michelle until she says she was six and does not know; on redirect she says her father did not rape her. Afterward, she admits that she does not really remember.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Derek not guilty of first-degree rape, and he is free to go. Ellis thanks Benson, and the episode closes on the question of whether they did the right thing.
Why it stands out
- Andre Braugher returns as defense attorney Bayard Ellis, his recurring role from Seasons 13 and 14.
- Dann Florek makes a guest appearance as Don Cragen, the squad’s retired captain, who helps reopen the case.
- Robert Sean Leonard, known for House, plays ADA Kenneth O’Dwyer.