Damaged (Season 8, Episode 22)
Premise: A schoolyard shootout that wounds a teacher exposes three popular boys who had sex with a mentally disabled classmate, while Briscoe’s daughter Cathy testifies against the dealer she supplied.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 8, Episode 22
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Lauren Ambrose as Valerie Maxwell, Julia Weldon as Sally Maxwell, Adam LaVorgna as Hayden McLaughlin, Jennifer Estlin as Cathy Briscoe, J. K. Simmons as Dr. Emil Skoda
- Director
- Constantine Makris
- Writers
- Janis Diamond
Summary
The Investigation
“Damaged” opens with a shooting outside a high school that leaves teacher Amanda Novak wounded. Novak had pushed the principal to suspend three boys for using a sealed-off music room for sex, and one of them, Randy Baxter, admits firing a .38 from his Camaro but claims a hooded stranger shot first. Absence lists and gun permits lead to 14-year-old Sally Maxwell, whose fresh bandage and her father’s emptied 9mm give her away. Questioned by Van Buren, Sally says her older sister, Valerie, was raped by the boys, and that a guidance counselor ignored her complaint.
Valerie, 18, has an IQ of about 65 and believes the boys, Hayden McLaughlin, Randy Baxter and Roscoe Johnson, are her friends; she describes how they took turns with her and violated her with a soda bottle. Dr. Emil Skoda finds she cannot meaningfully consent. Classmate Gina Bowman admits she brought Valerie to the boys so they would accept her, and says one of them called Valerie a slur for the disabled. Meanwhile, Cathy Briscoe helps Brooklyn narcotics detectives arrest the dealer she supplied, Danny Jones.
The Trial
The defense argues the boys never knew Valerie was disabled, and Judge William Wright excludes Gina’s account of the slur. Skoda testifies, but the defense attorney stresses that Valerie was mainstreamed. On the stand, Valerie describes the assault, then is pressed about her clothes and her interest in sex. The jury convicts all three of third-degree rape, but Wright sets the verdict aside and dismisses the case. In Brooklyn, Jones’s lawyer attacks Cathy and her father, and that trial ends in a hung jury.
Ross, newly engaged, and McCoy look for new evidence. Gina reveals that the boys knew Sally had a gun, so McCoy charges all three with attempted murder for helping create the gunfight and offers Roscoe a one-year plea. Roscoe testifies that he knew Valerie from her father’s restaurant and told the others about her disability. Re-examined, Valerie first confirms the slur, then insists she did what she wanted, and Wright refuses to reinstate the verdict.
Spoiler, the ending: Valerie says she does not want to be known as the disabled girl who was raped, and her father declines an appeal so she can keep her dignity. The prosecutors leave the attempted murder charges in place. Cathy Briscoe is then found shot dead, and Briscoe breaks down at the scene.
Why it stands out
- Briscoe is devastated by the death of his daughter Cathy, killed by someone a prosecutor failed to convict.
- Curtis asks Van Buren for a desk transfer early in the episode, saying his family has to come first.
- Dr. Emil Skoda evaluates the victim and testifies that she cannot make an informed decision about sex.