Law & Order Special Victims Unit s22e04 Episode Script
Sightless in a Savage Land
1
In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses
are considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Are they still gonna drop the ball?
Yes, of course.
If nobody's gonna be here,
then why are they putting those up?
Oh, just to close it off.
Hey, Noah?
We're gonna watch it on TV
just like any other New Year's.
No, it's not.
I just want this year to be over.
Everyone does.
Morning, handsome.
Good morning.
It's rooibos. Herbal.
- Rooibos?
- Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
What?
Do I have something on my face?
No, you're just beautiful.
Black coffee, two sugars
and one regular.
Give give me two bear claws
as well, all right?
Ooh, what are you doing to me?
You need to eat.
- You got my file?
- Yeah.
DD5s for the Berasco case.
Thank you.
Gives me something to do tonight.
You're not with your family?
No, they went out to the Poconos.
I got seven arraignments
Monday morning and
So you're alone on New Year's?
That's that's bad luck.
Why don't you
why don't you come over?
Nah, I don't want to crash or anything.
You're not crashing, it's pizza.
And the girls will bang
on pots and pans.
We'll all be asleep by 9:30.
Ah.
Ah, okay. Okay, sold.
Good.
Whew.
- Too much?
- No, it's
it's just right.
It's Fin, it's gorgeous.
What if she says no?
She's not gonna say no.
An engagement, then what? A wedding?
It all seems so corny to me.
After the year we've had?
Fin, you found love.
Hold onto it tight.
Thanks.
Hello, Officer.
Not tonight.
For once, I am off duty.
Pizza man's here!
Uncle Sonny!
Hey, Jesse. Where's Billie?
- She's asleep.
We're one down here already.
What? What a lightweight!
I'll tell you what, Jesse.
You and I, we're gonna get
this party popping, okay?
Oh, my God.
- I'm sorry, sorry.
- It's okay, it's okay.
Happy?
I can stay up till midnight, right?
I don't know, can you?
I'm not tired.
Here we go.
Well, this is lovely.
- You like the meal?
- Yeah, I told you, I loved it.
But are you okay?
You seem a little anxious.
I'm okay. I'm cool.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
'Cause you know,
my father would always say
that New Year's is for amateurs,
so, I mean, we can go home.
No, no. Before that
to us.
You know, we were
each other's first partner,
- and that's a bond.
- Mm-hmm.
Then last year,
we found each other again.
I don't ever want to lose you.
Phoebe
I got you something.
Oh, sorry.
- One sec.
- Seriously?
It's an AMBER Alert. I have to go.
I'm sorry.
- What is it?
- AMBER Alert.
13-year-old girl taken off the street
a block from Gracie Mansion.
SVU requested.
So 2021 begins.
So much for ringing in the new year.
- Yeah.
- I can stay; you got kids.
No, no, it's okay.
They're home with Carisi.
He didn't have a place to go.
Well, the missing girl is Nydia Davis.
Okay.
Those are her foster parents,
Ajay and Rani Sharma.
He's also an ACS supervisor.
And this is the last place he saw her?
He said they got
into a fight; she ran away.
He followed her and saw her get thrown
into a white box truck on that corner.
You think he went through with it?
Fin. Phoebe say yes?
I got saved by the AMBER Alert.
- She's home.
- Come on, turn around.
Go back. We got this.
I'm in no rush.
I'm here. What's going on?
She's a good girl.
Just been acting up lately.
Hanging out with a bad crowd.
What happened tonight?
She wanted to go out. I said no.
She's 13.
She ran.
By the time I caught up, I saw two guys
wrestling her into a box truck.
Did you get a good look at them?
Latino, hoodies, face masks.
So, no.
Does this "bad crowd" have names?
I try to give Nydia her privacy.
Does she have a cell phone,
use social media?
I took her phone and her computer.
We'll need to take a look
at both of those.
Yeah, of course.
Are there any other kids in the house
that might know where Nydia was going?
Our son and daughter were asleep.
We have two other foster daughters,
but I already asked them.
They don't know.
Is there anyone else in Nydia's life?
You think someone she knows did this?
Ajay lets Nydia's biological
mother have visitation.
She's a junkie.
Captain.
What are we looking at?
Is this an abduction
or a runaway teen on New Year's Eve?
We're not sure.
The girl was fighting
with her foster parents.
There could be a bad boyfriend
in the picture.
- Got it.
- Checking partials on plates
and truck rentals.
- Nothing on the traffic cams.
- 1PP has its eyes on this.
The girl's foster father
is high up at ACS.
This happened near Gracie Mansion.
Rollins and Kat are talking to
the girl's birth mother right now.
Lulu Davis,
record for possession and prostitution.
Phoebe?
- Ten, nine, eight, seven
- Happy New Year.
Yeah, literally.
Six, five
What, did you come here to
give me a kiss at midnight?
Yes, of course.
- Also
- Two, one, Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
Also, the AMBER Alert girl.
Turns out I arrested her mom
and her mom's pimp, Chili Chacon.
He runs his girls
out of a white box truck.
She was reported taken
by two male Latinos in a box truck.
I'll run Chili's plates.
I hate to say it,
but you can make a lot of money
running a 13-year-old girl
on New Year's Eve.
Chili? I haven't seen him in weeks.
And I'd never let him
pimp my daughter out.
Nydia was last seen
being dragged into a truck
that matches Chili's.
That curry-breath ACS idiot
told you that?
She ran away on him.
I never lost her.
You lost custody.
Drugs, prostitution.
I needed money.
My husband ditched us.
I'm clean now, working my program.
You don't look it.
Come on, girl. It's New Year's Eve.
Yeah, Nydia's out there,
so either you spend the night
jonesing in a holding cell,
or you text Chili.
Forty per shorty.
What's the deal, player?
Forty per shorty, 15 minutes.
How about 15 years, Chili?
- Not you again.
- Where's Nydia?
Am I gonna find her back there, Chili?
Lulu's brat?
I don't run kids, baba.
Witness saw her snatched
into a white box truck.
- Get out.
- Not me!
Ask my girls I've been
at this hot spot all night!
Come on.
Everybody out.
My truck might have rocked,
but it never rolled, baba.
Party's over, Chili.
Nydia's not here.
They say they haven't seen her.
They might be telling the truth.
A girl matching her description
was found bleeding out,
off York Avenue.
No ID.
She was unconscious
by an ambulance bay.
One of the orderlies realized
she matched the AMBER Alert.
- But what happened to her?
- She was hemorrhaging.
Her tox screen shows
misoprostol and mifepristone.
- The abortion pill.
- We had to do a D&C.
She was at least eight weeks along.
- They told me I lost the baby.
- We are so sorry.
I just wanted to be a mom.
But you took the medication
to end the pregnancy.
What? No, I would never.
Nydia, how did you get to the hospital?
Didn't Ajay tell you?
Is he here?
He's on his way, he
Ajay reported you missing.
He was very, very worried about you.
What?
Didn't he bring me here?
Okay, so
Nydia, why don't you tell me
the last thing that you remember.
I was bleeding.
Okay.
Ajay said he'd take me to a hospital.
'Cause EMTs, they brought you here.
And they found you unconscious
on a sidewalk.
No.
No, Ajay carried me to his car.
Nydia, did Ajay know,
that you were pregnant?
Yeah.
He didn't tell you that?
No, he told us that,
you ran away,
that he saw you being kidnapped.
Why would he say that?
Do you have a boyfriend?
Hmm, Chili?
What?
No. No, Chili's a pimp.
You think I'm like my mom?
That's disgusting.
Okay.
I'm in love
With Ajay.
Just ask him.
Thank God you guys found Nydia,
but I don't understand
why Rani and I can't see her.
- She must be so traumatized.
- Soon.
But while we're waiting
some of what she's telling us
doesn't track with what
you told the police.
Now that she's okay,
I can tell you the truth.
Which is?
She ran away on New Year's Eve.
I thought if I didn't say
she had been kidnapped,
no one would look for her.
That makes sense.
The problem is she said
she passed out at home
and you were gonna drive her
to the hospital.
What? No.
She's confused.
That's what we think,
but this is some shocking news.
She's pregnant.
Oh, my God.
Well, that would explain
- why she's been acting out.
- Hmm.
Do you have any idea
who the father could be?
No, what'd she say?
Well, actually,
for whatever it's worth,
she says it's you.
Okay, we all know what this is.
She has a boyfriend.
She's protecting him.
She's angry with us for being strict.
I-I've seen this a lot in foster care.
I need to talk to her.
That's not gonna happen right now.
Of course, you have an allegation.
You have to do due diligence.
We do. And for starters,
if we want to exclude you,
we need to search your car.
We need a DNA sample from you.
Believe me, I appreciate
that you need to investigate,
but an accusation like this,
my whole career could be ruined.
And I got four other kids at home.
I get it.
I got two teenage daughters of my own.
But you're innocent, right?
So why not just clear this up?
To be safe, let me talk
to my supervisor first.
Okay.
- And maybe a lawyer.
- Of course.
He's right.
Troubled teens
can blame their guardians.
- Any priors?
- No.
Twenty years at ACS.
Ajay and his wife
have personally fostered
dozens of girls.
The supervisor called me
back immediately
on New Year's Day to tell me that
Nydia had caused trouble
in former foster homes,
and that he has never,
ever gotten a complaint against Ajay.
Well, somebody got this girl pregnant.
Who else is in the house?
The Sharmas have 10-year-old
twins, a boy and a girl,
and two other pre-teen foster girls.
Can we try for fetal DNA?
We can, but it's a very
complicated process
and it doesn't always work.
Nydia denied taking abortion drugs?
Nydia said that
she wanted to keep the baby.
Look, it is possible that somebody
slipped her these drugs
without her knowledge.
Yeah, easy enough to get online.
I'll start with a warrant
for her computer and his.
Is there anyone in Nydia's life
she might have confided in?
Well, the mother has her own problems,
but we did get Nydia's
cell phone records.
The dad texts her every day.
The father's still in the picture?
- Mm-hmm.
- Where is he?
My ex says Nydia's in the hospital.
She's not returning my texts.
- Is she okay?
- She's being taken care of.
Good.
Old Lulu likes to push my buttons.
Mr. Davis, do you know
if Nydia has a boyfriend?
What? No.
She's 13.
Besides, she'd tell me.
We text every day.
Listen, I love my daughter.
It killed me to lose custody, but
it had to be.
Her foster parents,
how well do you know them?
I only met the father.
He brought Nydia in here a few times.
Showed respect.
She ever talk to you about him?
Any problems?
No, typical teenage girl stuff like
He wouldn't let her use
the phone at night.
He seemed very protective of her.
Protective how?
Well, he always had his arm around her
like he was shielding her or something.
I guess it can be tough to take
if you're not used to
a place like this.
Yeah.
Did you get much of a chance
to speak with Nydia
away from Ajay?
No, but she seemed happy.
Before the Sharmas,
she was in a group home.
You know, between
Nydia's mother and the drugs,
and, you know, my chair
It's all my fault.
Never apologize
for wearing the cloth, soldier.
Yeah.
I lost a lot of good friends.
Lost my wife, my leg
Maybe my mind.
But, the worst part was losing my kid.
Once I get out of here,
I'm gonna make a home for Nydia and me.
- And be a real dad, you know?
- Hey.
From one Airborne Ranger to another
Call me if you need some company
when you want to go visit
your daughter.
Hey, any luck with the girl's father?
He loves his daughter,
but if there's something going on
between her and Sharma,
he's not seeing it.
Nydia is sticking to her story
and I talked to the girls
in the house, the wife.
They all blame Nydia for acting out,
see Ajay as a saint.
Which could be true,
or he's an experienced groomer.
Well, that's what I think, but
Still don't have enough to arrest.
Taru went through Ajay's computer.
He tried to delete his history,
but they were able to recover
recent searches for
New York State abortion clinics,
RU-486, misoprostol, and mifepristone.
So he slipped her the abortion drugs.
Nydia told me he made her smoothies.
Call Carisi.
Get a warrant for that blender.
Pick up Ajay.
Nydia's father
I have to tell him.
Mickey, are you sure
you want to be here?
I want to look
that son of a bitch in the eye.
Let him know I know.
Mr. Sharma
on the charge of rape in the second,
rape in the third,
first degree reckless endangerment,
and official misconduct,
- how do you plead?
- My client pleads not guilty.
- People on bail?
- This is a heinous crime, Your Honor.
There are other children
in the defendant's home.
Request remand.
Your Honor,
my client is a respected civil servant,
with no priors.
I don't want to hear it.
I'm granting remand.
Bailiffs? COs will arrange
individual protective transport
to Rikers.
I put my faith in the DOC thereafter.
- That's it?
- For now.
Want me to take you back to the VA?
Let me get a smoke first.
Mickey!
There you are.
Right across the street.
Mickey?
Reporter told me
he's coming out this way.
He didn't look at me
at the arraignment.
That's all I want.
Captain?
Ajay!
No, no, no!
The hell did you do?
Mickey Davis, Specialist.
173rd Airborne Rangers, The Herd.
Last four: Zero, six, four, seven.
Oh, my God.
Consulting with the Innocence Project,
defending voting rights on the ground.
I've barely slept
since the election ended.
Liv said once everything cleared up,
you might consider doing defense work.
Your case or hers?
You're both getting sued.
The city settled one of mine.
Liv's still waiting on her day
in the barrel,
but that's not why we're here.
It should be.
- Sorry.
- Anyway
Hypothetically, if we
arrested a defendant
who was not innocent
Decorated vet.
Six tours in Afghanistan.
Comes home to find his daughter
raped by her foster father.
And he shoots the guy
point-blank range three times?
- Hypothetically.
- So you're all caught up.
All right, hold on.
Carisi asked you to intervene
on Davis' behalf?
Well, actually, Carisi
doesn't know that we're here.
We wanted to see if you
would feel him out.
And see if he would cut Mickey a deal.
With Carisi's stomach?
He won't have the stomach
to take this to trial.
As long as Mickey doesn't go to prison.
I feel for him, but he shot a suspect
under arrest going to trial.
The government frowns on that.
And it's against the law.
That's why we called you.
Carisi?
How's the eighth floor treating you?
No differently than
any other junior ADA.
They want you to cover
their ass all the time?
Never lose a case?
Pretty much.
Good to see you, Barba.
If you came to taunt me, I got all day.
Huh, they gave you an office.
Nice view.
I had to move the Xerox machine
and four filing cabinets
just to get the desk in.
So you caught the Mickey Davis case?
Oh, yeah. Horror story.
What are you charging?
The guy brought a gun to court,
he followed the vic to transport,
and shot him at point-blank range.
What do you think?
I think the guy's got a Purple Heart,
titanium leg, and PTS.
That doesn't change what he did.
He was betrayed by the VA and ACS.
Even the eighth floor's gotta
know this is a dog.
Maybe, but they still
want him to do time.
That has to be negotiable.
Hold on.
- Before we continue
- Mm-hmm.
Are you representing Mickey Davis?
I guess I am now.
Okay.
What kind of deal are you looking for?
No way you want
to put this guy on trial.
Best I can offer is man two.
3 1/2 years? No, but thank you.
Barba, we both know
this wasn't heat of the moment.
Man two is a gift.
Maybe to you, not to Mr. Davis.
There's security cam video.
There's multiple eyewitnesses.
Mickey broke the law.
A jury might see that
as defending his daughter
when no one else did.
Get the jury to ignore the law?
That's a slippery slope, Rafael.
You really have become a lawyer.
What does that mean?
Mickey Davis is a human being.
So are the jurors.
See you at arraignment.
You going for insanity?
I'm going for straight-up not guilty.
So you know, Mr. Barba,
I don't need charity.
I get 100% disability
because of my leg and PTS.
Don't worry about his fee.
We'll talk about that later.
Thank you, Sergeant. That's right.
That's not your worry right now.
What I'm worried about is my daughter.
She's telling her mother that I killed
the only man she'll ever love?
My goal was to get out of rehab
and give her a normal life,
but now?
They'll never let me out of prison.
One thing at a time, Mr. Davis.
I want to go over your story.
The day I shot that animal?
First, your life story.
Your time in the Army.
When you became a dad.
Just so you know,
there's nothing you can say that
I haven't heard before.
Mickey held his own at the arraignment.
The judge released him ROR.
Well, it's not like
Davis is a flight risk.
What do you need, Barba?
I'm going for jury nullification.
English, Counselor?
Get the jury to ignore the law,
see the accused as a victim.
Counselor.
I don't know if you've met
Deputy Chief Garland.
Mr. Barba, do you have a second?
Just to be clear,
the NYPD isn't pressuring
a defense attorney
to walk away from his client?
Of course not. Not my prerogative.
At the same time, I'm surprised
to see you in the SVU squad room.
Oh, I'm sure you were just catching up
with old friends, right?
Yes. That's
- Right.
- Good,
just want to make sure
the boundaries are clear.
It's an emotional case
for all of us and
I wouldn't want you presuming
on your old friendships
in the hopes of having SVU
detectives buttress your case.
Then we're both on the same page.
I hope so.
One more thing, Mr. Barba.
I hope your strategy
won't be to countenance
a vigilante's murder
of a man accused of rape.
Given our country's dark history,
we both know where that could lead.
I'll leave you two to reminisce.
He's a lot of fun.
Gets right to the point.
Always, and so will I.
What the hell are you doing here?
You asked me to defend Davis.
A hypothetical. And, by the way,
I didn't even know
that you took the case
until Garland called me.
I went to see Carisi, he pointed out
that we couldn't even discuss the case
if I wasn't representing Davis and
Things moved quickly.
How did Garland find out?
The DA's office must have called him.
I have no intention
of disrespecting Carisi.
But
Mickey deserves a defense.
Isn't that why you came to me?
I wanted you to cut him a deal!
Listen. As the Chief said,
we cannot send a message
that it is okay
to take the law into your own hands.
Well, that's Carisi's case to make.
Luckily I don't work for the DA.
I don't need to worry about messages.
I just need to get 12 New Yorkers
to like my client and me.
Barba
he's guilty.
Is he?
Depends on the jury.
I consider myself a nice guy.
But I'm not always gonna
be nice during this trial.
Sometimes I'm gonna be loud,
angry, sarcastic
when I cross-examine witnesses
from the ACS, VA, and NYPD,
who, as you will hear,
failed to do their jobs.
Anyone have a problem with that?
All right.
This is not a popularity contest.
This is not about who wears
the snazziest suit,
who has the most charisma,
or even who talks the fastest.
It's also not about
how many combat medals
the defendant has.
This is about the facts and the law.
I'm not allowed to ask you to imagine
what it would be like
to be Mickey Davis right now
sitting at that table.
I submit to you
that the evidence in this case
is overwhelming.
You will see video of Mr. Davis
shooting and killing Ajay Sharma.
But I need to know that you will
consider your decision in this case
as the most important
decision in your life
because it certainly will be
the most important decision
in the life of this decorated war hero.
You will hear testimony
that Mr. Davis is a wounded vet
whose daughter was victimized
by a serial predator.
You expect Mr. Davis to not react
when his own daughter is assaulted
like the victims he saw in combat?
Are any of you veterans?
Or proud to have
family members who have served?
I need to ask if anyone
or a family member
has been the victim of gun violence?
I challenge jurors 32 and 36.
No objection. I challenge number 17.
The evidence will show
that Ajay Sharma was
awaiting trial when Mrs.
Davis acted as judge,
jury, and executioner.
Do you believe, that everybody
has a Constitutional right
to have their guilt or innocence
determined by a jury
and not a vigilante?
I challenge number 18, 24, and 29.
That leaves you two
peremptory challenges, Mr. Barba.
And I challenge number 16.
And you're out, Mr. Carisi.
You promise me, keep an open mind
and hold the government
to make its case?
Mr. Barba is going to play
on your emotions.
But I ask that you promise me
and the State of New York
that you will decide this case
on the facts and the law
as instructed by the judge.
Mr. Carisi told you that
he represents the people of New York.
Well
you are the people of New York.
And neither Mr. Caris,
nor the Judge here gets to decide
how this trial will
turn out for my client.
You do.
How'd it go at voir dire?
It was the Rafael Barba show,
charming and cherry-picking
jurors for 12 straight hours.
Yeah, he was always a dog with a bone.
Yeah.
I'm looking at his witness list,
and he tracked down
Ajay's other foster kids,
ACS employees, VA shrinks.
How big of a staff does he have?
I probably shouldn't tell you this
About you and Fin helping him out?
- I don't want to know.
- I am not helping him out.
It's fine. Barba was here before me.
- Fin was your first partner.
- That doesn't mean
I'm more loyal to them
than I am to you.
You should know that it
wasn't Liv's intention to undercut you.
Oh, no?
Are you gonna tell me
that Fin brought Barba in?
Ajay!
No, no!
No, no, no.
Sergeant Tutuola,
you were there when Mr. Davis
shot Ajay Sharma?
Yes, I was on the phone.
I heard a commotion, I turned.
I saw Mr. Davis, gun aimed,
and he fired three rounds.
And what did Mr. Davis do
after he shot Ajay?
He dropped his gun
and recited his name and rank.
Did you think that
that was for dramatic effect,
or did he actually believe that
he was a soldier in battle?
Objection. Calls for speculation.
Rephrase.
Did he appear confused?
- No.
- Thank you, Sergeant.
No, no!
On the video, you get between Mr. Davis
and the corrections officers.
I just didn't want
a bad situation to get worse.
I knew he was no threat
to the officers.
They didn't know that.
You knew he was no danger.
Do you think Mickey
Davis should be sitting
in this courtroom here today?
- That's not my job.
- No?
But it was your job,
- to investigate Ajay Sharma?
- Yes.
Do you have any doubt that Ajay Sharma
raped Nydia Davis repeatedly,
got her pregnant, and administered
the abortion drugs
- which almost got her killed?
- None.
Well, what about the other
four girls he fostered
who he also sexually assaulted?
Did you charge him for that?
We only found out about the other girls
after Mr. Sharma's death.
So for 10 years as an ACS supervisor,
Ajay Sharma raped girls in his care
and neither ACS nor SVU
found out about it
until Nydia Davis was found
hemorrhaging in the street?
- Why?
- I can't answer that.
Was it because ACS failed to do its job
to protect Nydia, just like SVU failed?
- Objection.
- Sustained.
Leaving my client no choice
but to protect his daughter himself!
Mr. Barba! I'm about this close
to holding you in contempt.
You can fine me all you want,
Your Honor,
I'm not gonna stop asking questions,
because I am fighting
for my client's freedom
the same way he fought
for our country's.
The defense calls Mickey Davis.
No, sir.
Mr. Davis, can you tell the jury
how you came to be in that chair?
My unit was ambushed
in the Khyber Pass.
I went back to retrieve two of my men,
stepped on an IED.
It was a coffee can full
of rags and a grenade.
Spent two years in Landstuhl,
a military hospital,
and then the VA here.
They fit me with one of these.
Still learning how to use it.
It's been tough.
Focusing on getting custody
of my daughter back
helped me get through.
And now?
I'll never get over what happened
to Nydia in that house
With that animal.
ACS lied.
They made me believe that she was safe.
How did you react when you
found out that Ajay Sharma
had been raping Nydia, impregnated her,
and left her on the sidewalk to die?
I cried like a baby.
Why did you go to that courthouse?
To see him arraigned.
I wanted to hear him admit
what he'd done.
Then I heard him plead not guilty?
There's no remorse.
No shame.
What did you do?
I found out where
he was being transported.
I wanted him to look me in the eye,
so I called his name.
Then what happened?
He refused to look at me.
I lost control, I
My head was pounding
and there's blood in my eyes.
My ears were ringing.
I knew I had to protect Nydia.
After that, I
I don't remember much.
So you reacted as you were
trained to do as a Ranger.
Shoot the enemy,
center mass, close grouping
Objection, leading.
Rephrase.
Mr. Davis
why were you deployed to Afghanistan?
To fight the Taliban.
To defend women, children,
from their brutality.
Rape?
Yes, sir.
Shoot to kill if I had to.
Thank you. Nothing further.
Thank you for your service, Mr. Davis,
and I'm truly sorry for
what happened to your daughter.
You said you went to the courthouse
- to see Ajay Sharma arraigned?
- Yes, sir.
And you brought a gun with you.
Did you know that was illegal?
I'm used to carrying.
It's just a reflex.
But they don't let you
keep the gun at the VA,
so you had to go to
a brother soldier's house
earlier that day to get it?
- Yes, sir.
- And you took advantage
of being a vet in a wheelchair
to avoid the metal detector,
get that gun through security.
Well, law enforcement's
usually respectful of my service.
In court, you heard the judge
grant Ajay private transport?
- Yes, sir.
- And you found out that
that transport was going
to occur in the sally port.
How long did it take you
to get over there?
- Well, I'm not confined to this chair.
- No, I know.
You had to find a service elevator
to avoid the courthouse steps,
cross from Chambers to Baxter,
at lunch hour
- 20 minutes sound about right?
- I guess.
And how long did you wait outside
before Ajay was walked out?
There's security footage.
You waited 40 minutes
in 30-degree weather.
Objection, is there a question here?
Let's move along, Mr. Carisi.
Mr. Davis, you smuggled
the gun into the courthouse,
tracked Sharma's location,
waited for him, called out his name,
and then shot him at
point-blank range three times.
And you expect this jury to believe
that you didn't want to kill him?
That none of that was intentional?
I didn't intend to shoot him.
Oh, so the gun just went off?
You're a trained military professional.
You must know that in order
for a weapon to fire,
you gotta pull the trigger?
- Objection.
- I'll allow.
I didn't know where I was.
Oh, well, where did you think you were?
Afghanistan.
- Well, do you know where you are now?
- Yes, sir.
Do you know that murder
is against the law?
So is what he did.
Do you know that even
if you're a soldier at war,
it's a violation of
the military code of conduct
to shoot an unarmed,
handcuffed civilian?
That son of a bitch raped my daughter!
Raped her.
I'm her father.
I'm supposed to protect her.
Your Honor, we need a recess.
Mr. Davis, be honest with me.
You knew where you were,
you knew exactly what you were doing,
and you would do it again,
wouldn't you?
You're damn straight!
Every day of the week.
Well, that didn't
exactly go as planned.
You had to see it coming.
Off the record, he expressed
similar sentiments in prep.
I advised him that it would
not be in his best interests
to convey that to a jury.
When I was an ADA,
this would be the moment
I would offer the defense a deal.
Man two is still on the table.
I can recommend the minimum.
That's exactly the offer
I told Mickey you'd make.
What did he say?
Basically, no thank you,
but more anatomically.
Man two specifically states
that the accused
Lacked the intention to cause harm.
If I go any lower, then I'm saying
it's okay for civilians to take the law
into their own hands.
Rafael, when you were an ADA
I would have held the line at man two.
But here we are.
When I was an ADA,
the NYPD and the DA's office
commanded a modicum of respect.
So it's a bull market in vigilantism?
We already have armed militias
coming into our cities.
How much more lawlessness can we take?
In terms of the big picture, I agree.
In terms of Davis
I don't think a jury's gonna
put him in a cell.
And that's all that matters?
To my client?
Yeah.
See you tomorrow.
You know how you used to come to
all of my closing arguments?
Yeah.
Let's see if you learned anything.
My client is in a fight for his life,
as serious a fight as when he was
facing the enemy in Afghanistan.
He returned home damaged
in body and soul.
And while he was on the long,
hard road to recovery,
his daughter was being groomed, raped,
and impregnated by Ajay Sharma.
Sharma was a serial predator,
raping young girls,
in his home for a decade.
No one stopped him. Not ACS.
Not SVU.
And now the government
wants to punish Mr. Davis
because he did
what no one else would do.
He protected his daughter.
We all understand the raw emotion
behind Mr. Davis' decision
to murder Ajay Sharma.
We understand that.
But the question is
Who do we want to determine
which laws we obey
and which laws we don't?
We are lucky
to live in a country where police,
prosecutors, and courts
mete out justice,
not individuals.
You made me a promise at voir dire
that you would decide this case
based on the evidence and the law.
Well, there's no doubt to either,
as the defendant's own words
made clear.
- Cheers.
- To what?
Jury deliberates for six hours
to find Mickey guilty of man two
and we are right back where we started.
To irony, then.
You both did your jobs,
and so did the judge.
I mean, Davis got the minimum, but,
that sends a message.
3 1/2 years?
You ask me, he shouldn't do a day.
Yeah, I got that from you.
I thought we were on the same side.
We used to be.
Come on, Fin.
What happens to Nydia now?
She's in a group home.
I mean
She's getting counseling.
She's mad at Mickey.
She didn't want Ajay to die.
Sorry to cut this wake short.
My mom is heading to Florida tomorrow.
Tell Liv I'm sorry I missed her.
- Will do.
- Uh-oh,
my fiancée wants me home.
- You went through wh it?
- Yeah, this morning.
One condition. No more herbal tea.
Good for you. Mazel tov.
- Congratulations, Fin.
- Hey, you got a date set?
- Gotta go.
- Aw.
- Next round's on me.
- Thank you.
You doing okay?
Not really.
To be honest, I
- I feel bad about Mickey.
- Hmm.
And maybe I'm a little angry.
- At Barba?
- No.
He was just doing his job.
Look, it's hard enough going up
against my mentor,
but when half of my old unit
is helping him investigate?
It's over.
And not for nothing, you won.
Cheers.
Hey.
Did I miss the post-mortem?
No, they're still inside.
Hey, walk with me?
Sure.
Are you mad at me
about how I handled this case?
Davis confessed on the stand.
What if they found him guilty
of man one?
- It was never gonna happen.
- Because you're so good?
Barba, how much of this
was about Davis
and how much of it was about you?
- What do you mean?
- The way that you had to leave.
Maybe you weren't
defending him, maybe
You were defending yourself.
We can't change the past.
I just miss it.
And you.
That's all.
Me too.
This past year's been all about loss.
Well, let's hope that
this year's a better one.
Happy New Year, Liv.
Happy New Year.
In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses
are considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Are they still gonna drop the ball?
Yes, of course.
If nobody's gonna be here,
then why are they putting those up?
Oh, just to close it off.
Hey, Noah?
We're gonna watch it on TV
just like any other New Year's.
No, it's not.
I just want this year to be over.
Everyone does.
Morning, handsome.
Good morning.
It's rooibos. Herbal.
- Rooibos?
- Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
What?
Do I have something on my face?
No, you're just beautiful.
Black coffee, two sugars
and one regular.
Give give me two bear claws
as well, all right?
Ooh, what are you doing to me?
You need to eat.
- You got my file?
- Yeah.
DD5s for the Berasco case.
Thank you.
Gives me something to do tonight.
You're not with your family?
No, they went out to the Poconos.
I got seven arraignments
Monday morning and
So you're alone on New Year's?
That's that's bad luck.
Why don't you
why don't you come over?
Nah, I don't want to crash or anything.
You're not crashing, it's pizza.
And the girls will bang
on pots and pans.
We'll all be asleep by 9:30.
Ah.
Ah, okay. Okay, sold.
Good.
Whew.
- Too much?
- No, it's
it's just right.
It's Fin, it's gorgeous.
What if she says no?
She's not gonna say no.
An engagement, then what? A wedding?
It all seems so corny to me.
After the year we've had?
Fin, you found love.
Hold onto it tight.
Thanks.
Hello, Officer.
Not tonight.
For once, I am off duty.
Pizza man's here!
Uncle Sonny!
Hey, Jesse. Where's Billie?
- She's asleep.
We're one down here already.
What? What a lightweight!
I'll tell you what, Jesse.
You and I, we're gonna get
this party popping, okay?
Oh, my God.
- I'm sorry, sorry.
- It's okay, it's okay.
Happy?
I can stay up till midnight, right?
I don't know, can you?
I'm not tired.
Here we go.
Well, this is lovely.
- You like the meal?
- Yeah, I told you, I loved it.
But are you okay?
You seem a little anxious.
I'm okay. I'm cool.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
'Cause you know,
my father would always say
that New Year's is for amateurs,
so, I mean, we can go home.
No, no. Before that
to us.
You know, we were
each other's first partner,
- and that's a bond.
- Mm-hmm.
Then last year,
we found each other again.
I don't ever want to lose you.
Phoebe
I got you something.
Oh, sorry.
- One sec.
- Seriously?
It's an AMBER Alert. I have to go.
I'm sorry.
- What is it?
- AMBER Alert.
13-year-old girl taken off the street
a block from Gracie Mansion.
SVU requested.
So 2021 begins.
So much for ringing in the new year.
- Yeah.
- I can stay; you got kids.
No, no, it's okay.
They're home with Carisi.
He didn't have a place to go.
Well, the missing girl is Nydia Davis.
Okay.
Those are her foster parents,
Ajay and Rani Sharma.
He's also an ACS supervisor.
And this is the last place he saw her?
He said they got
into a fight; she ran away.
He followed her and saw her get thrown
into a white box truck on that corner.
You think he went through with it?
Fin. Phoebe say yes?
I got saved by the AMBER Alert.
- She's home.
- Come on, turn around.
Go back. We got this.
I'm in no rush.
I'm here. What's going on?
She's a good girl.
Just been acting up lately.
Hanging out with a bad crowd.
What happened tonight?
She wanted to go out. I said no.
She's 13.
She ran.
By the time I caught up, I saw two guys
wrestling her into a box truck.
Did you get a good look at them?
Latino, hoodies, face masks.
So, no.
Does this "bad crowd" have names?
I try to give Nydia her privacy.
Does she have a cell phone,
use social media?
I took her phone and her computer.
We'll need to take a look
at both of those.
Yeah, of course.
Are there any other kids in the house
that might know where Nydia was going?
Our son and daughter were asleep.
We have two other foster daughters,
but I already asked them.
They don't know.
Is there anyone else in Nydia's life?
You think someone she knows did this?
Ajay lets Nydia's biological
mother have visitation.
She's a junkie.
Captain.
What are we looking at?
Is this an abduction
or a runaway teen on New Year's Eve?
We're not sure.
The girl was fighting
with her foster parents.
There could be a bad boyfriend
in the picture.
- Got it.
- Checking partials on plates
and truck rentals.
- Nothing on the traffic cams.
- 1PP has its eyes on this.
The girl's foster father
is high up at ACS.
This happened near Gracie Mansion.
Rollins and Kat are talking to
the girl's birth mother right now.
Lulu Davis,
record for possession and prostitution.
Phoebe?
- Ten, nine, eight, seven
- Happy New Year.
Yeah, literally.
Six, five
What, did you come here to
give me a kiss at midnight?
Yes, of course.
- Also
- Two, one, Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
Also, the AMBER Alert girl.
Turns out I arrested her mom
and her mom's pimp, Chili Chacon.
He runs his girls
out of a white box truck.
She was reported taken
by two male Latinos in a box truck.
I'll run Chili's plates.
I hate to say it,
but you can make a lot of money
running a 13-year-old girl
on New Year's Eve.
Chili? I haven't seen him in weeks.
And I'd never let him
pimp my daughter out.
Nydia was last seen
being dragged into a truck
that matches Chili's.
That curry-breath ACS idiot
told you that?
She ran away on him.
I never lost her.
You lost custody.
Drugs, prostitution.
I needed money.
My husband ditched us.
I'm clean now, working my program.
You don't look it.
Come on, girl. It's New Year's Eve.
Yeah, Nydia's out there,
so either you spend the night
jonesing in a holding cell,
or you text Chili.
Forty per shorty.
What's the deal, player?
Forty per shorty, 15 minutes.
How about 15 years, Chili?
- Not you again.
- Where's Nydia?
Am I gonna find her back there, Chili?
Lulu's brat?
I don't run kids, baba.
Witness saw her snatched
into a white box truck.
- Get out.
- Not me!
Ask my girls I've been
at this hot spot all night!
Come on.
Everybody out.
My truck might have rocked,
but it never rolled, baba.
Party's over, Chili.
Nydia's not here.
They say they haven't seen her.
They might be telling the truth.
A girl matching her description
was found bleeding out,
off York Avenue.
No ID.
She was unconscious
by an ambulance bay.
One of the orderlies realized
she matched the AMBER Alert.
- But what happened to her?
- She was hemorrhaging.
Her tox screen shows
misoprostol and mifepristone.
- The abortion pill.
- We had to do a D&C.
She was at least eight weeks along.
- They told me I lost the baby.
- We are so sorry.
I just wanted to be a mom.
But you took the medication
to end the pregnancy.
What? No, I would never.
Nydia, how did you get to the hospital?
Didn't Ajay tell you?
Is he here?
He's on his way, he
Ajay reported you missing.
He was very, very worried about you.
What?
Didn't he bring me here?
Okay, so
Nydia, why don't you tell me
the last thing that you remember.
I was bleeding.
Okay.
Ajay said he'd take me to a hospital.
'Cause EMTs, they brought you here.
And they found you unconscious
on a sidewalk.
No.
No, Ajay carried me to his car.
Nydia, did Ajay know,
that you were pregnant?
Yeah.
He didn't tell you that?
No, he told us that,
you ran away,
that he saw you being kidnapped.
Why would he say that?
Do you have a boyfriend?
Hmm, Chili?
What?
No. No, Chili's a pimp.
You think I'm like my mom?
That's disgusting.
Okay.
I'm in love
With Ajay.
Just ask him.
Thank God you guys found Nydia,
but I don't understand
why Rani and I can't see her.
- She must be so traumatized.
- Soon.
But while we're waiting
some of what she's telling us
doesn't track with what
you told the police.
Now that she's okay,
I can tell you the truth.
Which is?
She ran away on New Year's Eve.
I thought if I didn't say
she had been kidnapped,
no one would look for her.
That makes sense.
The problem is she said
she passed out at home
and you were gonna drive her
to the hospital.
What? No.
She's confused.
That's what we think,
but this is some shocking news.
She's pregnant.
Oh, my God.
Well, that would explain
- why she's been acting out.
- Hmm.
Do you have any idea
who the father could be?
No, what'd she say?
Well, actually,
for whatever it's worth,
she says it's you.
Okay, we all know what this is.
She has a boyfriend.
She's protecting him.
She's angry with us for being strict.
I-I've seen this a lot in foster care.
I need to talk to her.
That's not gonna happen right now.
Of course, you have an allegation.
You have to do due diligence.
We do. And for starters,
if we want to exclude you,
we need to search your car.
We need a DNA sample from you.
Believe me, I appreciate
that you need to investigate,
but an accusation like this,
my whole career could be ruined.
And I got four other kids at home.
I get it.
I got two teenage daughters of my own.
But you're innocent, right?
So why not just clear this up?
To be safe, let me talk
to my supervisor first.
Okay.
- And maybe a lawyer.
- Of course.
He's right.
Troubled teens
can blame their guardians.
- Any priors?
- No.
Twenty years at ACS.
Ajay and his wife
have personally fostered
dozens of girls.
The supervisor called me
back immediately
on New Year's Day to tell me that
Nydia had caused trouble
in former foster homes,
and that he has never,
ever gotten a complaint against Ajay.
Well, somebody got this girl pregnant.
Who else is in the house?
The Sharmas have 10-year-old
twins, a boy and a girl,
and two other pre-teen foster girls.
Can we try for fetal DNA?
We can, but it's a very
complicated process
and it doesn't always work.
Nydia denied taking abortion drugs?
Nydia said that
she wanted to keep the baby.
Look, it is possible that somebody
slipped her these drugs
without her knowledge.
Yeah, easy enough to get online.
I'll start with a warrant
for her computer and his.
Is there anyone in Nydia's life
she might have confided in?
Well, the mother has her own problems,
but we did get Nydia's
cell phone records.
The dad texts her every day.
The father's still in the picture?
- Mm-hmm.
- Where is he?
My ex says Nydia's in the hospital.
She's not returning my texts.
- Is she okay?
- She's being taken care of.
Good.
Old Lulu likes to push my buttons.
Mr. Davis, do you know
if Nydia has a boyfriend?
What? No.
She's 13.
Besides, she'd tell me.
We text every day.
Listen, I love my daughter.
It killed me to lose custody, but
it had to be.
Her foster parents,
how well do you know them?
I only met the father.
He brought Nydia in here a few times.
Showed respect.
She ever talk to you about him?
Any problems?
No, typical teenage girl stuff like
He wouldn't let her use
the phone at night.
He seemed very protective of her.
Protective how?
Well, he always had his arm around her
like he was shielding her or something.
I guess it can be tough to take
if you're not used to
a place like this.
Yeah.
Did you get much of a chance
to speak with Nydia
away from Ajay?
No, but she seemed happy.
Before the Sharmas,
she was in a group home.
You know, between
Nydia's mother and the drugs,
and, you know, my chair
It's all my fault.
Never apologize
for wearing the cloth, soldier.
Yeah.
I lost a lot of good friends.
Lost my wife, my leg
Maybe my mind.
But, the worst part was losing my kid.
Once I get out of here,
I'm gonna make a home for Nydia and me.
- And be a real dad, you know?
- Hey.
From one Airborne Ranger to another
Call me if you need some company
when you want to go visit
your daughter.
Hey, any luck with the girl's father?
He loves his daughter,
but if there's something going on
between her and Sharma,
he's not seeing it.
Nydia is sticking to her story
and I talked to the girls
in the house, the wife.
They all blame Nydia for acting out,
see Ajay as a saint.
Which could be true,
or he's an experienced groomer.
Well, that's what I think, but
Still don't have enough to arrest.
Taru went through Ajay's computer.
He tried to delete his history,
but they were able to recover
recent searches for
New York State abortion clinics,
RU-486, misoprostol, and mifepristone.
So he slipped her the abortion drugs.
Nydia told me he made her smoothies.
Call Carisi.
Get a warrant for that blender.
Pick up Ajay.
Nydia's father
I have to tell him.
Mickey, are you sure
you want to be here?
I want to look
that son of a bitch in the eye.
Let him know I know.
Mr. Sharma
on the charge of rape in the second,
rape in the third,
first degree reckless endangerment,
and official misconduct,
- how do you plead?
- My client pleads not guilty.
- People on bail?
- This is a heinous crime, Your Honor.
There are other children
in the defendant's home.
Request remand.
Your Honor,
my client is a respected civil servant,
with no priors.
I don't want to hear it.
I'm granting remand.
Bailiffs? COs will arrange
individual protective transport
to Rikers.
I put my faith in the DOC thereafter.
- That's it?
- For now.
Want me to take you back to the VA?
Let me get a smoke first.
Mickey!
There you are.
Right across the street.
Mickey?
Reporter told me
he's coming out this way.
He didn't look at me
at the arraignment.
That's all I want.
Captain?
Ajay!
No, no, no!
The hell did you do?
Mickey Davis, Specialist.
173rd Airborne Rangers, The Herd.
Last four: Zero, six, four, seven.
Oh, my God.
Consulting with the Innocence Project,
defending voting rights on the ground.
I've barely slept
since the election ended.
Liv said once everything cleared up,
you might consider doing defense work.
Your case or hers?
You're both getting sued.
The city settled one of mine.
Liv's still waiting on her day
in the barrel,
but that's not why we're here.
It should be.
- Sorry.
- Anyway
Hypothetically, if we
arrested a defendant
who was not innocent
Decorated vet.
Six tours in Afghanistan.
Comes home to find his daughter
raped by her foster father.
And he shoots the guy
point-blank range three times?
- Hypothetically.
- So you're all caught up.
All right, hold on.
Carisi asked you to intervene
on Davis' behalf?
Well, actually, Carisi
doesn't know that we're here.
We wanted to see if you
would feel him out.
And see if he would cut Mickey a deal.
With Carisi's stomach?
He won't have the stomach
to take this to trial.
As long as Mickey doesn't go to prison.
I feel for him, but he shot a suspect
under arrest going to trial.
The government frowns on that.
And it's against the law.
That's why we called you.
Carisi?
How's the eighth floor treating you?
No differently than
any other junior ADA.
They want you to cover
their ass all the time?
Never lose a case?
Pretty much.
Good to see you, Barba.
If you came to taunt me, I got all day.
Huh, they gave you an office.
Nice view.
I had to move the Xerox machine
and four filing cabinets
just to get the desk in.
So you caught the Mickey Davis case?
Oh, yeah. Horror story.
What are you charging?
The guy brought a gun to court,
he followed the vic to transport,
and shot him at point-blank range.
What do you think?
I think the guy's got a Purple Heart,
titanium leg, and PTS.
That doesn't change what he did.
He was betrayed by the VA and ACS.
Even the eighth floor's gotta
know this is a dog.
Maybe, but they still
want him to do time.
That has to be negotiable.
Hold on.
- Before we continue
- Mm-hmm.
Are you representing Mickey Davis?
I guess I am now.
Okay.
What kind of deal are you looking for?
No way you want
to put this guy on trial.
Best I can offer is man two.
3 1/2 years? No, but thank you.
Barba, we both know
this wasn't heat of the moment.
Man two is a gift.
Maybe to you, not to Mr. Davis.
There's security cam video.
There's multiple eyewitnesses.
Mickey broke the law.
A jury might see that
as defending his daughter
when no one else did.
Get the jury to ignore the law?
That's a slippery slope, Rafael.
You really have become a lawyer.
What does that mean?
Mickey Davis is a human being.
So are the jurors.
See you at arraignment.
You going for insanity?
I'm going for straight-up not guilty.
So you know, Mr. Barba,
I don't need charity.
I get 100% disability
because of my leg and PTS.
Don't worry about his fee.
We'll talk about that later.
Thank you, Sergeant. That's right.
That's not your worry right now.
What I'm worried about is my daughter.
She's telling her mother that I killed
the only man she'll ever love?
My goal was to get out of rehab
and give her a normal life,
but now?
They'll never let me out of prison.
One thing at a time, Mr. Davis.
I want to go over your story.
The day I shot that animal?
First, your life story.
Your time in the Army.
When you became a dad.
Just so you know,
there's nothing you can say that
I haven't heard before.
Mickey held his own at the arraignment.
The judge released him ROR.
Well, it's not like
Davis is a flight risk.
What do you need, Barba?
I'm going for jury nullification.
English, Counselor?
Get the jury to ignore the law,
see the accused as a victim.
Counselor.
I don't know if you've met
Deputy Chief Garland.
Mr. Barba, do you have a second?
Just to be clear,
the NYPD isn't pressuring
a defense attorney
to walk away from his client?
Of course not. Not my prerogative.
At the same time, I'm surprised
to see you in the SVU squad room.
Oh, I'm sure you were just catching up
with old friends, right?
Yes. That's
- Right.
- Good,
just want to make sure
the boundaries are clear.
It's an emotional case
for all of us and
I wouldn't want you presuming
on your old friendships
in the hopes of having SVU
detectives buttress your case.
Then we're both on the same page.
I hope so.
One more thing, Mr. Barba.
I hope your strategy
won't be to countenance
a vigilante's murder
of a man accused of rape.
Given our country's dark history,
we both know where that could lead.
I'll leave you two to reminisce.
He's a lot of fun.
Gets right to the point.
Always, and so will I.
What the hell are you doing here?
You asked me to defend Davis.
A hypothetical. And, by the way,
I didn't even know
that you took the case
until Garland called me.
I went to see Carisi, he pointed out
that we couldn't even discuss the case
if I wasn't representing Davis and
Things moved quickly.
How did Garland find out?
The DA's office must have called him.
I have no intention
of disrespecting Carisi.
But
Mickey deserves a defense.
Isn't that why you came to me?
I wanted you to cut him a deal!
Listen. As the Chief said,
we cannot send a message
that it is okay
to take the law into your own hands.
Well, that's Carisi's case to make.
Luckily I don't work for the DA.
I don't need to worry about messages.
I just need to get 12 New Yorkers
to like my client and me.
Barba
he's guilty.
Is he?
Depends on the jury.
I consider myself a nice guy.
But I'm not always gonna
be nice during this trial.
Sometimes I'm gonna be loud,
angry, sarcastic
when I cross-examine witnesses
from the ACS, VA, and NYPD,
who, as you will hear,
failed to do their jobs.
Anyone have a problem with that?
All right.
This is not a popularity contest.
This is not about who wears
the snazziest suit,
who has the most charisma,
or even who talks the fastest.
It's also not about
how many combat medals
the defendant has.
This is about the facts and the law.
I'm not allowed to ask you to imagine
what it would be like
to be Mickey Davis right now
sitting at that table.
I submit to you
that the evidence in this case
is overwhelming.
You will see video of Mr. Davis
shooting and killing Ajay Sharma.
But I need to know that you will
consider your decision in this case
as the most important
decision in your life
because it certainly will be
the most important decision
in the life of this decorated war hero.
You will hear testimony
that Mr. Davis is a wounded vet
whose daughter was victimized
by a serial predator.
You expect Mr. Davis to not react
when his own daughter is assaulted
like the victims he saw in combat?
Are any of you veterans?
Or proud to have
family members who have served?
I need to ask if anyone
or a family member
has been the victim of gun violence?
I challenge jurors 32 and 36.
No objection. I challenge number 17.
The evidence will show
that Ajay Sharma was
awaiting trial when Mrs.
Davis acted as judge,
jury, and executioner.
Do you believe, that everybody
has a Constitutional right
to have their guilt or innocence
determined by a jury
and not a vigilante?
I challenge number 18, 24, and 29.
That leaves you two
peremptory challenges, Mr. Barba.
And I challenge number 16.
And you're out, Mr. Carisi.
You promise me, keep an open mind
and hold the government
to make its case?
Mr. Barba is going to play
on your emotions.
But I ask that you promise me
and the State of New York
that you will decide this case
on the facts and the law
as instructed by the judge.
Mr. Carisi told you that
he represents the people of New York.
Well
you are the people of New York.
And neither Mr. Caris,
nor the Judge here gets to decide
how this trial will
turn out for my client.
You do.
How'd it go at voir dire?
It was the Rafael Barba show,
charming and cherry-picking
jurors for 12 straight hours.
Yeah, he was always a dog with a bone.
Yeah.
I'm looking at his witness list,
and he tracked down
Ajay's other foster kids,
ACS employees, VA shrinks.
How big of a staff does he have?
I probably shouldn't tell you this
About you and Fin helping him out?
- I don't want to know.
- I am not helping him out.
It's fine. Barba was here before me.
- Fin was your first partner.
- That doesn't mean
I'm more loyal to them
than I am to you.
You should know that it
wasn't Liv's intention to undercut you.
Oh, no?
Are you gonna tell me
that Fin brought Barba in?
Ajay!
No, no!
No, no, no.
Sergeant Tutuola,
you were there when Mr. Davis
shot Ajay Sharma?
Yes, I was on the phone.
I heard a commotion, I turned.
I saw Mr. Davis, gun aimed,
and he fired three rounds.
And what did Mr. Davis do
after he shot Ajay?
He dropped his gun
and recited his name and rank.
Did you think that
that was for dramatic effect,
or did he actually believe that
he was a soldier in battle?
Objection. Calls for speculation.
Rephrase.
Did he appear confused?
- No.
- Thank you, Sergeant.
No, no!
On the video, you get between Mr. Davis
and the corrections officers.
I just didn't want
a bad situation to get worse.
I knew he was no threat
to the officers.
They didn't know that.
You knew he was no danger.
Do you think Mickey
Davis should be sitting
in this courtroom here today?
- That's not my job.
- No?
But it was your job,
- to investigate Ajay Sharma?
- Yes.
Do you have any doubt that Ajay Sharma
raped Nydia Davis repeatedly,
got her pregnant, and administered
the abortion drugs
- which almost got her killed?
- None.
Well, what about the other
four girls he fostered
who he also sexually assaulted?
Did you charge him for that?
We only found out about the other girls
after Mr. Sharma's death.
So for 10 years as an ACS supervisor,
Ajay Sharma raped girls in his care
and neither ACS nor SVU
found out about it
until Nydia Davis was found
hemorrhaging in the street?
- Why?
- I can't answer that.
Was it because ACS failed to do its job
to protect Nydia, just like SVU failed?
- Objection.
- Sustained.
Leaving my client no choice
but to protect his daughter himself!
Mr. Barba! I'm about this close
to holding you in contempt.
You can fine me all you want,
Your Honor,
I'm not gonna stop asking questions,
because I am fighting
for my client's freedom
the same way he fought
for our country's.
The defense calls Mickey Davis.
No, sir.
Mr. Davis, can you tell the jury
how you came to be in that chair?
My unit was ambushed
in the Khyber Pass.
I went back to retrieve two of my men,
stepped on an IED.
It was a coffee can full
of rags and a grenade.
Spent two years in Landstuhl,
a military hospital,
and then the VA here.
They fit me with one of these.
Still learning how to use it.
It's been tough.
Focusing on getting custody
of my daughter back
helped me get through.
And now?
I'll never get over what happened
to Nydia in that house
With that animal.
ACS lied.
They made me believe that she was safe.
How did you react when you
found out that Ajay Sharma
had been raping Nydia, impregnated her,
and left her on the sidewalk to die?
I cried like a baby.
Why did you go to that courthouse?
To see him arraigned.
I wanted to hear him admit
what he'd done.
Then I heard him plead not guilty?
There's no remorse.
No shame.
What did you do?
I found out where
he was being transported.
I wanted him to look me in the eye,
so I called his name.
Then what happened?
He refused to look at me.
I lost control, I
My head was pounding
and there's blood in my eyes.
My ears were ringing.
I knew I had to protect Nydia.
After that, I
I don't remember much.
So you reacted as you were
trained to do as a Ranger.
Shoot the enemy,
center mass, close grouping
Objection, leading.
Rephrase.
Mr. Davis
why were you deployed to Afghanistan?
To fight the Taliban.
To defend women, children,
from their brutality.
Rape?
Yes, sir.
Shoot to kill if I had to.
Thank you. Nothing further.
Thank you for your service, Mr. Davis,
and I'm truly sorry for
what happened to your daughter.
You said you went to the courthouse
- to see Ajay Sharma arraigned?
- Yes, sir.
And you brought a gun with you.
Did you know that was illegal?
I'm used to carrying.
It's just a reflex.
But they don't let you
keep the gun at the VA,
so you had to go to
a brother soldier's house
earlier that day to get it?
- Yes, sir.
- And you took advantage
of being a vet in a wheelchair
to avoid the metal detector,
get that gun through security.
Well, law enforcement's
usually respectful of my service.
In court, you heard the judge
grant Ajay private transport?
- Yes, sir.
- And you found out that
that transport was going
to occur in the sally port.
How long did it take you
to get over there?
- Well, I'm not confined to this chair.
- No, I know.
You had to find a service elevator
to avoid the courthouse steps,
cross from Chambers to Baxter,
at lunch hour
- 20 minutes sound about right?
- I guess.
And how long did you wait outside
before Ajay was walked out?
There's security footage.
You waited 40 minutes
in 30-degree weather.
Objection, is there a question here?
Let's move along, Mr. Carisi.
Mr. Davis, you smuggled
the gun into the courthouse,
tracked Sharma's location,
waited for him, called out his name,
and then shot him at
point-blank range three times.
And you expect this jury to believe
that you didn't want to kill him?
That none of that was intentional?
I didn't intend to shoot him.
Oh, so the gun just went off?
You're a trained military professional.
You must know that in order
for a weapon to fire,
you gotta pull the trigger?
- Objection.
- I'll allow.
I didn't know where I was.
Oh, well, where did you think you were?
Afghanistan.
- Well, do you know where you are now?
- Yes, sir.
Do you know that murder
is against the law?
So is what he did.
Do you know that even
if you're a soldier at war,
it's a violation of
the military code of conduct
to shoot an unarmed,
handcuffed civilian?
That son of a bitch raped my daughter!
Raped her.
I'm her father.
I'm supposed to protect her.
Your Honor, we need a recess.
Mr. Davis, be honest with me.
You knew where you were,
you knew exactly what you were doing,
and you would do it again,
wouldn't you?
You're damn straight!
Every day of the week.
Well, that didn't
exactly go as planned.
You had to see it coming.
Off the record, he expressed
similar sentiments in prep.
I advised him that it would
not be in his best interests
to convey that to a jury.
When I was an ADA,
this would be the moment
I would offer the defense a deal.
Man two is still on the table.
I can recommend the minimum.
That's exactly the offer
I told Mickey you'd make.
What did he say?
Basically, no thank you,
but more anatomically.
Man two specifically states
that the accused
Lacked the intention to cause harm.
If I go any lower, then I'm saying
it's okay for civilians to take the law
into their own hands.
Rafael, when you were an ADA
I would have held the line at man two.
But here we are.
When I was an ADA,
the NYPD and the DA's office
commanded a modicum of respect.
So it's a bull market in vigilantism?
We already have armed militias
coming into our cities.
How much more lawlessness can we take?
In terms of the big picture, I agree.
In terms of Davis
I don't think a jury's gonna
put him in a cell.
And that's all that matters?
To my client?
Yeah.
See you tomorrow.
You know how you used to come to
all of my closing arguments?
Yeah.
Let's see if you learned anything.
My client is in a fight for his life,
as serious a fight as when he was
facing the enemy in Afghanistan.
He returned home damaged
in body and soul.
And while he was on the long,
hard road to recovery,
his daughter was being groomed, raped,
and impregnated by Ajay Sharma.
Sharma was a serial predator,
raping young girls,
in his home for a decade.
No one stopped him. Not ACS.
Not SVU.
And now the government
wants to punish Mr. Davis
because he did
what no one else would do.
He protected his daughter.
We all understand the raw emotion
behind Mr. Davis' decision
to murder Ajay Sharma.
We understand that.
But the question is
Who do we want to determine
which laws we obey
and which laws we don't?
We are lucky
to live in a country where police,
prosecutors, and courts
mete out justice,
not individuals.
You made me a promise at voir dire
that you would decide this case
based on the evidence and the law.
Well, there's no doubt to either,
as the defendant's own words
made clear.
- Cheers.
- To what?
Jury deliberates for six hours
to find Mickey guilty of man two
and we are right back where we started.
To irony, then.
You both did your jobs,
and so did the judge.
I mean, Davis got the minimum, but,
that sends a message.
3 1/2 years?
You ask me, he shouldn't do a day.
Yeah, I got that from you.
I thought we were on the same side.
We used to be.
Come on, Fin.
What happens to Nydia now?
She's in a group home.
I mean
She's getting counseling.
She's mad at Mickey.
She didn't want Ajay to die.
Sorry to cut this wake short.
My mom is heading to Florida tomorrow.
Tell Liv I'm sorry I missed her.
- Will do.
- Uh-oh,
my fiancée wants me home.
- You went through wh it?
- Yeah, this morning.
One condition. No more herbal tea.
Good for you. Mazel tov.
- Congratulations, Fin.
- Hey, you got a date set?
- Gotta go.
- Aw.
- Next round's on me.
- Thank you.
You doing okay?
Not really.
To be honest, I
- I feel bad about Mickey.
- Hmm.
And maybe I'm a little angry.
- At Barba?
- No.
He was just doing his job.
Look, it's hard enough going up
against my mentor,
but when half of my old unit
is helping him investigate?
It's over.
And not for nothing, you won.
Cheers.
Hey.
Did I miss the post-mortem?
No, they're still inside.
Hey, walk with me?
Sure.
Are you mad at me
about how I handled this case?
Davis confessed on the stand.
What if they found him guilty
of man one?
- It was never gonna happen.
- Because you're so good?
Barba, how much of this
was about Davis
and how much of it was about you?
- What do you mean?
- The way that you had to leave.
Maybe you weren't
defending him, maybe
You were defending yourself.
We can't change the past.
I just miss it.
And you.
That's all.
Me too.
This past year's been all about loss.
Well, let's hope that
this year's a better one.
Happy New Year, Liv.
Happy New Year.