Discord (Season 4, Episode 3)
Premise: A college junior says a heavy-metal star raped her in his hotel suite, but her credibility unravels on the stand and strains Stone’s trust in his new partner.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 3
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Lucy Deakins as Julia Wood, Sebastian Roché as Clarence "C Square" Carmichael, Avi Hoffman as Teddy Wayne, Amy Korb as Tina McCartney, Cynthia Harris as defense attorney Adele Diamond
- Director
- Ed Sherin
- Writers
- Michael S. Chernuchin
Summary
The Investigation
“Discord” begins when Julia Wood, a 19-year-old college junior, reports that she was raped in the presidential suite of the Radcliffe Hotel. She names Clarence Carmichael, the heavy-metal star known as C-Square, who met her at lunch that day and promised concert tickets for her brother. A hospital exam confirms intercourse and bruising, but the doctor cannot say from the physical evidence alone that it was rape.
Carmichael admits the sex but says Julia wanted it, and his manager, Teddy Wayne, suggests she is after money as his client closes a $20 million record deal. The detectives learn that the same night Carmichael canceled a paid companion and was turned away by his ex-wife, Sharon, and that he sent his limo driver home despite claiming he planned to take Julia dancing.
Carmichael’s former manager, Bobby Feinberg, points the detectives to Tina McCartney, a fan who says the singer forced himself on her years earlier; Wayne later paid her $10,000. Carmichael is arrested for first-degree rape.
The Trial
Defense attorney Adele Diamond gets the first judge to step aside because her nephew is suing Carmichael over a Los Angeles restaurant. Julia’s father wants to drop the case, and a tabloid then reports her remarks about the singer’s wealth, but Kincaid persuades Julia to go on.
On cross-examination, Julia denies consulting a lawyer about the case, which is false. Kincaid had known and not told Stone, who tells her to request a new assignment once the trial ends. Diamond then confronts Julia with a retainer agreement she signed. Stone presses Carmichael, who says a woman coming to his room implies consent, and has the clerk read his own lyrics to the jury. In summation Stone argues that Julia had the right to change her mind and say no.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury convicts Carmichael of first-degree rape. As Kincaid prepares to hand off her cases, Stone recalls an early mistake of his own that nearly ended his career and asks to see her in the morning.
Why it stands out
- Kincaid’s failure to share a witness’s disclosure nearly costs her the job in only her third episode.
- A judge recuses herself because a relative she barely knows is suing the defendant over a business deal.
- The prosecution uses the defendant’s song lyrics to show his state of mind.