Doubt (Season 6, Episode 8)
Premise: A graduate student says her professor raped her, he says it was rough sex she asked for, and the detectives split over whom to believe.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 6, Episode 8
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly (Judith Light)
- Guest stars
- Billy Campbell as Ron Polikoff, Shannyn Sossamon as Myra Denning, Viola Davis as Donna Emmett, Mariette Hartley as Lorna Scarry, Wynter Kullman as Jenny West
- Ripped from the headlines
- Inspired by the 2003 sexual assault case against basketball star Kobe Bryant, which was dropped in 2004 when the accuser declined to testify.
- Director
- Ted Kotcheff
- Writers
- Marjorie David
Summary
“Doubt” begins with art graduate student Myra Denning smashing a cab’s window when the driver refuses to take her to Brooklyn; as police step in, she says she has just been raped. Ron Polikoff, a professor on her MFA committee, approaches the detectives and predicts that she will name him. Both agree to forensic exams with Warner, and their stories match up to a point: wine, her portfolio and a kiss. Polikoff says Myra wanted rough sex and bit and scratched him; Myra says he choked her and held her down as she begged him to stop. Because the patrol car is delayed, Stabler drives Myra home and helps her up the stairs.
Warner finds semen from two men on the silk teddy Myra wore. Polikoff’s lawyer, Donna Emmett, gives Novak a list of Myra’s sexual partners and cites a lie Myra told after a car accident. The second sample belongs to her boyfriend, Justin Wexler, and the list came from her roommate, Jenny West, who had been seeing Polikoff. The two accounts also clash over whether he looked at her work before or after sex. Stabler doubts Myra, Benson believes her, and they argue bitterly. Myra’s new lawyer, Lorna Scarry, then accuses Stabler of touching Myra inappropriately and reveals that his wife, Kathy, has filed for legal separation and taken the children. Stabler tells Cragen that Kathy has left him, and Cragen takes him off Myra’s case.
Donnelly advises Novak to let a grand jury weigh the evidence, and Benson testifies that Myra shows signs of trauma. Myra then receives dozens of hateful emails, traced to the City Arts library, where a sign-up sheet shows Polikoff’s 16-year-old daughter, Sophie. Polikoff, now fired, says Sophie sent them and takes the blame himself, and Stabler begins to suspect he is manipulating everyone. After the grand jury indicts, Benson finds Myra unconscious from sleeping pills in an overflowing tub. Learning that Myra had called the squad and knew she was on her way, Benson accuses her of staging the attempt; Myra insists she wanted to die.
Spoiler, the ending: At trial, Emmett gets Myra to admit that Stabler did not grope her, and she breaks down. Novak makes Polikoff concede that he caused Myra’s bruises, while he insists that he is the real victim. Stabler admits that seeing Polikoff with his daughter clouded his judgment and blames the job for his failed marriage. After closing arguments, the foreperson begins to give the verdict on first-degree rape, but the episode ends before it is announced.
Why it stands out
- The episode reveals that Stabler and his wife, Kathy, have separated.
- Viola Davis returns as defense attorney Donna Emmett, and Mariette Hartley plays Myra’s lawyer, Lorna Scarry.
- The jury’s verdict is never revealed.