Part 33 (Season 20, Episode 14)
Premise: As the squad waits to testify in the trial of a woman who killed her emotionally abusive police officer husband, the detectives argue over how far their testimony should help her.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 20, Episode 14
- Starring
- Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), ADA Peter Stone (Philip Winchester)
- Guest stars
- Amy Rutberg as Annabeth Pearl, Paula Malcomson as Stella Russell, Nicholas Turturro as Det. Frank Bucci, Vincent Curatola as Judge Al Bertuccio, Art McFarland as Charlie
- Director
- Alex Chapple
- Writers
- Michael Chernuchin
Summary
“Part 33” plays out mostly in a courthouse witness room and courtroom during the murder trial of Annabeth Pearl, who shot her husband, Thomas, a police officer, three times, hours after he spat out the steak she served at a dinner party. Stone tells the jury the case is simple, since Thomas never struck her. Her lawyer, Stella Russell, calls the killing self-preservation after six years of psychological abuse. Fin, Rollins and Carisi wait to testify alongside Det. Frank Bucci of the 28th Precinct, who knew Thomas at the academy and despised him but thinks no cop deserves to be shot by his wife. Benson, who questioned Annabeth after her arrest, arrives late and uneasy.
Fin testifies that a bartender at the Tatum, the couple’s local spot, sent him inside, where Annabeth sat bloodied with the gun and a wedding ring on the table; on cross-examination he confirms two shots hit the chest and one the groin. In the witness room Rollins calls Carisi’s talk of shading his testimony perjury and asks why Annabeth did not simply leave; Carisi, who believes killing Thomas was her only way out, answers with a domestic call from his patrol days in which a husband he could not arrest later killed his wife. On the stand he leans toward the defense, saying the apartment could have been tidied, that Annabeth may have been in shock before she fired, and that the television was on but muted, letting the defense suggest the couple spoke first. Meanwhile Benson suggests Rollins’s view is colored by her father’s beatings of her mother, and Rollins insists her mother was weak. Stone then accuses Benson of being behind Carisi’s testimony.
Benson tells Rollins the gun Thomas always left in view was a constant threat, and describes the frozen terror of captivity in terms that recall her own ordeal with William Lewis. Rollins testifies that Annabeth said she killed Thomas because he disliked her dinner. Annabeth tells the jury about the gun he kept in sight, his insults, and being made to quit college classes and drop her friends. Under Stone’s cross-examination she says she endured unwanted sex throughout the marriage; when he says that is not rape, the bench rebukes him. Fin tells Benson about a big bluefish he threw back because it fought so hard to live.
Spoiler, the ending: Stone calls Benson as a rebuttal witness. She first tries to give context, then, pressed under oath, testifies that Annabeth showed no remorse and said she was glad her husband was dead and had prayed about it for years. The episode ends on her testimony; the verdict is not shown.
Why it stands out
- Written by showrunner Michael Chernuchin, who left the series after this season for another Wolf Films drama, FBI.
- The case brings back Benson’s memories of her abduction by William Lewis, and Rollins and Carisi clash openly over the case.
- Nicholas Turturro plays Det. Frank Bucci, and Vincent Curatola plays Judge Al Bertuccio.