LAW & ORDER: TRIAL BY JURY: DAY {CROSSOVER EPISODE WITH "LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT"} (TV)
Summary
Continued from B:91660. One in this series of police dramas—a spin-off of "Law & Order"—about the criminal trial proceedings of the New York City judicial system, showing both the defense’s and prosecution’s points of view. Part two of a two-part crossover story between the NBC police dramas, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Trial by Jury.” In this episode, Elliot and Olivia process Gabriel Duvall and send him to Central Booking. They meet with A.D.A. Tracey Kibre, who asks about Casey and assures them that Gabriel will not get away with his crimes—but they are all surprised when he easily makes his two million-dollar bail. Eleanor comes to visit Branch, with whom she is friends, and firmly states that her son is innocent. Tracey and Casey talk, and Casey states that Nina’s testimony is solid.
Warner testifies about Marguerite Beauclaire’s DNA being on Gabriel’s tissue, but Jason Whitaker has the evidence thrown out on a technicality, which invalidates the murder charge. When they learn that Gabriel had a previous sexual harassment suit filed against him, Tracey sends Hector and Chris to investigate. The woman who filed says that she worked with Gabriel and that he often made inappropriate comments to her, but got away with it because of his wealth and social stature. Elsewhere, Jason meets with Gabriel, who says that his encounter with Nina was consensual. Eleanor then talks to Jason and discovers that Nina is the only real threat against Gabriel. Shortly thereafter, Olivia is called to Nina’s apartment after it has been vandalized with offensive slurs. Tracey and the others are sure that Gabriel and Eleanor’s people are the culprits, but they cannot prove it.
The detectives look into Gabriel’s past and find that he had several nannies growing up, including an Irish woman, Julia, who still lives in the area. When they interview her, she says that she is sure he is guilty of assaulting Nina, as he raped her as well many years ago. Elliot questions her further while Olivia talks to Nina again, and Julia explains that Gabriel was always "touched" in the head and that Eleanor insisted that she, Julia, bathe him, even up to the age of fourteen. Nina recounts the details of her rape to Olivia and notes the way Gabriel said "please" and wiped her tears, and the two women’s stories match up. Julia mentions that Gabriel saw Eleanor pay her to keep quiet after the incident, suggesting that he then learned to do so after assaulting a woman. Later, Jason tells Eleanor that the detectives have found and questioned Julia, so she schedules a television interview with Larry King in which she says that Julia is trying to extort more money and that Gabriel is innocent.
Julia’s daughter, Meg, comes to the station house and asks Casey to leave her mother alone, as she is now being slandered on television. The detectives realize that Meg’s age corresponds with Gabriel’s rape of Julia and guess that she is his biological daughter. Olivia goes to Meg and asks for a DNA sample, which she eventually gives. This worries Jason, who knows that the DNA evidence is damning. Gabriel then fails to show up for court and the judge issues a bench warrant before throwing out Julia’s testimony due to lack of evidence. Tracey then learns that Gabriel has been arrested for attacking another woman on the street, and he says she came onto him because "those people" are there to help relieve his desires. Jason then says he is planning an insanity defense.
Dr. Olivet interviews Gabriel about his methods of trying to understand human behavior, and reports that he likely has Asperger's Syndrome, but says that that does not explain his violent actions. In court, Jason questions Nina and proves that she talked to Gabriel before he assaulted her, suggesting that he misinterpreted the encounter as flirting. Jason then interrogates Olivet, trying to prove that he did not receive proper care and training as a child and therefore did not understand why assaulting Nina and other women was wrong, and she explains that his nannies used to "help" him with his sexual tension when he was young, eventually leading to his repeated attacks on immigrant cleaning women. Tracey then points out that he could easily be faking his symptoms to escape the charges.
Jason forces Eleanor to testify on Gabriel’s behalf, and she stonewalls him, asserting that her son is perfect and refusing to elaborate on his problems. She recounts a tale of childhood bullying and says Gabriel was upset when he fought back, and Tracey counters that regretting his actions suggests that he knows the difference between right and wrong. In closing arguments, Jason reasserts that he was unaware of committing a crime because of his disorder, and Tracey says that he deliberately chose “an invisible woman” to prey upon and knew what he was doing. The jury comes back a short time later and finds Gabriel guilty. Commercials deleted.
(Part one of this episode was telecast on the NBC series, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” on May 3, 2005. See B:91660.)
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: May 3, 2005 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:43:09
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:91661
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 2005-2006
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter Jankowski … Executive Producer
- Walon Green … Executive Producer
- Dick Wolf … Executive Producer, Created by
- Richard Pearce … Co-Executive Producer
- Arthur W. Forney … Co-Executive Producer
- Rick Eid … Supervising Producer
- Chris Levinson … Producer
- Barry Berg … Producer
- Tim DeLuca … Co-Producer
- Joan Rater … Co-Producer
- Tony Phelan … Co-Producer
- Amanda Green … Writer
- Chris Levinson … Writer
- Caleb Deschanel … Director
- Mike Post … Music by
- Bebe Neuwirth … Cast, A.D.A. Tracey Kibre
- Amy Carlson … Cast, A.D.A. Kelly Gaffney
- Kirk Acevedo … Cast, D.A. Investigator Hector Salazar
- Scott Cohen … Cast, Detective Chris Ravell
- Fred Dalton Thompson … Cast, D.A. Arthur Branch
- Alfred Molina … Cast, Gabriel Duvall
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Eleanor Duvall
- Bradley Cooper … Cast, Jason Whitaker
- Anya Migdal … Cast, Nina Zergin
- Mary Jo Deschanel … Cast, Julia Lonegan
- Allan Miller … Cast, Judge Ambrose Trillin
- Larry King … Cast, Himself
- Christopher Meloni … Cast, Detectiive Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay … Cast, Detective Olivia Benson
- Diane Neal … Cast, A.D.A. Casey Novak
- Tamara Tunie … Cast, M.E. Warner
- Carolyn McCormick … Cast, Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- Rita Moreno … Cast, Mildred Quintana
- Nicholas Webber … Cast, A.D.A. Ross Campbell
- Gretchen Cleevely … Cast, Meg Lonegan
- Nicole Leach … Cast, Catherine Selles
- Joe Holt … Cast, EMS
- Arlene Chico-Lugo … Cast, Hispanic Woman
- Jo Yang … Cast, Foreman