Disciple (Season 9, Episode 15)
Premise: A teenage girl dies of internal injuries after being left in a hospital waiting room, and the trail leads to a homemade exorcism run by a former nun who says she hears the voice of Saint Michael.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 9, Episode 15
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- Frances Conroy as Rosa Halacy, Sylva Kelegian as Margo Grayson, Mel Rodriguez as Bill Crawford, Wendell Pierce as Mr. Wade, Leighton Meester as Alyssa Turner
- Director
- Martha Mitchell
- Writers
- Story: Kathy McCormick; Teleplay: Richard Sweren; Story & teleplay: Lynne Litt
Summary
The Investigation
“Disciple” is a murder case that starts in a crowded emergency room, where a girl who has sat unnoticed for hours is found dead; a big man in a hooded jacket carried her in and walked out. The medical examiner finds seven broken ribs, a punctured lung and a torn aorta from a beating, plus fresh marks from being bound at the wrists, ankles and waist. Absentee lists from the schools lead the detectives to Margo Grayson, who claims her daughter Kira is at school in North Carolina, and to an abusive father, until a schoolmate recognizes Kira and Margo identifies the body.
Margo says Kira ran away often and that she hid it for fear of losing her to foster care. Chipped paint by the radiator in their phoneless apartment suggests the girl was chained. A neighbor recognizes the man on the hospital tape as Bill Crawford, a slow-witted homeless man who mops floors at a rec center, and the detectives find his bloodstained jacket and catch him in a Chinese-language movie theater. He tearfully insists he only took Kira to the hospital. Lab tests show most of the blood on his jacket is Margo’s, but her alibi holds: she spent the afternoon praying in church.
A call from North Carolina leads to Rosa Halacy, a former nun known in the neighborhood as Sister Rosa. In her apartment the detectives find restraints and an image of Saint Michael. Crawford admits that Rosa held a prayer ritual to cure Kira of her bad behavior while he and the mother were present.
The Trial
Carmichael calls it an exorcism done without the church. Crawford is offered a misdemeanor and probation, and Margo Grayson, after giving notice of an insanity defense, pleads to second-degree manslaughter in exchange for testifying against Rosa. A church official tells Carmichael that sanctioned exorcisms are rare and require psychiatric review and a team of priests.
Margo testifies that Rosa sent her to church to pray when her doubts began. The defense, led by Mr. Wade, presents a father who says Rosa cured his son of drug use, then puts Rosa on the stand. She calmly describes beating Kira and pressing a crucifix onto her chest because Saint Michael told her to drive the demon out with pain. McCoy, who tells Carmichael he believes evil exists, gets Rosa to concede she must answer to God for Kira’s death. In closing he argues that she may hear God but cannot act as God.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Rosa Halacy guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a minimum of 15 years to life. Neighbors write letters on her behalf, and McCoy says he is not sure whom they have put away.
Why it stands out
- The defense argues that a woman following what she believes is a saint’s command cannot be depraved or indifferent, without raising an insanity claim.
- McCoy, a Catholic school graduate, tells Carmichael that after decades of prosecuting murderers he is not sure the Devil is only an allegory.
- Leighton Meester guest stars as a schoolgirl who helps the detectives identify the victim.