People vs. Richard Wheatley (Season 23, Episode 9)
Premise: Carisi prosecutes crime boss Richard Wheatley for the car bombing that killed Kathy Stabler, while Barba defends him and puts Stabler and Benson under scrutiny.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 23, Episode 9
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Defense Attorney Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Bureau Chief Phillip Baptiste (Teagle F. Bougere)
- Guest stars
- Dylan McDermott as Richard Wheatley, Tamara Taylor as Angela Wheatley, Nick Creegan as Richard Wheatley Jr., Danielle Moné Truitt as Sgt. Ayanna Bell, Rocco Sisto as Judge Ellery
- Director
- Michael Smith
- Writers
- Story: Julie Martin & Warren Leight & Denis Hamill & Kathy Dobie & Micharne Cloughley; Teleplay: Brendan Feeney & Candice Sanchez McFarlane; Story & teleplay: Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Summary
“People vs. Richard Wheatley” picks up the Law & Order: Organized Crime story of Det. Elliot Stabler, whose wife, Kathy, died nine months earlier in a car bombing he blames on crime boss Richard Wheatley. After Benson joins Stabler and his children for Kathy’s belated birthday, Carisi and Bureau Chief Phillip Baptiste lose a key ruling: Judge Ellery bars the taped confession of Wheatley’s missing security chief, Izak Bekher, who built the bomb, as hearsay. Wheatley then fires yet another lawyer and hires Rafael Barba. Benson asks Barba to drop the case; he answers that the state must prove Wheatley guilty and that any other lawyer would put her friendship with Stabler on trial.
Questioned by Baptiste, Benson recounts the night of the bombing; on cross, Barba plays video of Stabler interrogating another suspect and asks why she let the victim’s husband near the investigation. Barba also suggests to Sgt. Ayanna Bell that the bomb-making vise traced to Bekher was planted. Wheatley asks Benson to meet him, denies having her car run off the road, and warns that Angela Wheatley’s testimony will embarrass Stabler. Benson tells Stabler their friendship has become a one-way street. On the stand, Angela says Wheatley asked if she wanted Stabler dead; under Barba’s questioning she admits she kissed Stabler and fell in love with him. Wheatley’s son Richie, awaiting his own murder trial, then claims he never heard his father order the hit.
Stabler testifies calmly until Barba raises his PTSD and his family. He then blames Wheatley for a string of killings, asks the judge how much Wheatley is paying him and is held in contempt. Over Barba’s objection, Wheatley insists on testifying and blames Bekher alone. Carisi’s cross turns to the death of Angela’s son Rafiq, and Wheatley snaps that if he wanted someone dead, Carisi included, they would be.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury deadlocks. Barba tells Benson that Stabler goaded Wheatley onto the stand on purpose, and she tells Barba she feels betrayed; Wheatley asks Barba to be his consigliere, and Barba declines. Stabler then learns that his son Eli has slipped away from home, fooling the security camera with a looped video. The judge declares a mistrial and sends Wheatley back to jail, and Stabler leaves to find his son; the story continues on Organized Crime.
Why it stands out
- A crossover with Law & Order: Organized Crime that concludes on that series’ second-season ninth episode.
- Raúl Esparza returns as Rafael Barba, the former SVU prosecutor, now defending Wheatley.
- Dylan McDermott and Tamara Taylor appear as Richard and Angela Wheatley, characters from Organized Crime.