In Loco Parentis (Season 19, Episode 15)
Premise: Carisi’s niece recants a campus rape claim to him, then says the student she accused raped her in revenge, putting Carisi’s honesty on trial.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 19, Episode 15
- Starring
- Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), ADA Peter Stone (Philip Winchester)
- Guest stars
- Ryann Shane as Mia Morino, Sam Vartholomeos as Ethan Hartley, Rachel Bay Jones as Teresa Carisi, Susie Essman as Arlene Heller, Rachel Finninger as Renata Schaeffer
- Director
- Norberto Barba
- Writers
- Story: Brianna Yellen & Robert Brooks Cohen & Céline C. Robinson & Elizabeth Rinehart; Written by: Michael Chernuchin & Julie Martin
Summary
“In Loco Parentis” opens at a Hudson University tribunal, where Carisi’s 18-year-old niece, Mia Morino, accuses fellow student Ethan Hartley of raping her in her dorm after a December party. The dean finds him responsible and suspends him for a year, and he lashes out at Mia on his way out. Carisi’s sister Teresa told him only on the day of the hearing; he takes the case to Benson and Stone, and Benson pulls him off it officially while telling him not to botch it unofficially. Stone notes that the school needed only a preponderance of evidence, while a jury needs proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Mia tells Benson she said “wait” and pushed Ethan away, and his parents insist he was railroaded.
Mia’s roommate, Renata, who once dated Ethan, says Mia spoke up only after being asked why Ethan had been in their room. The resident adviser heard no cry for help, and a neighbor, Andy Rayburn, says Mia spent that night talking with him and blaming herself. Mia then says she cannot remember and does not want a trial, and Stone declines to charge Ethan. Alone with Carisi, she admits she agreed to sex and called it rape so Renata would not be angry; he tells her to make it right. Soon she calls him: she asked Ethan over to apologize, and he raped her, saying she now knew what rape felt like. Carisi tells her they will say nothing about the first time. Ethan calls the sex consensual, and Benson tells a wary Stone that imperfect victims need prosecutors who fight harder.
Ethan is charged. At trial defense attorney Arlene Heller attacks the first accusation and is fined for contempt. Under her cross-examination Carisi admits there was no first rape, and Benson tells him Mia’s credibility is now close to zero. Stone finds Carisi on Barba’s old bar stool and credits him for telling the truth. When Ethan takes the stand, Stone goads him into saying that once he was branded a rapist he might as well become one, and that he set out to ruin Mia.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury convicts Ethan of first-degree rape, and Heller vows to appeal. Stone thanks Benson for not punishing Carisi further and offers Noah Mets tickets. Carisi expects Ethan to get seven years, and as Mia leaves Hudson he promises to help her break the news to her mother.
Why it stands out
- Susie Essman returns as defense attorney Arlene Heller, last seen in season 17.
- Stone passes along greetings to Fin from Antonio Dawson, Stone’s chief investigator on Chicago Justice.
- Rachel Bay Jones guest stars as Carisi’s sister, Teresa.