Bayard Ellis is a defense attorney. He used to represent drug dealers until he won a big civil suit in 2004. After that, he founded the New York Center for Civil Liberties and became an advocate for fighting the judicial system.
Clients[]
- Acquitted - Represents Michael Wedmore when he is accused of raping Sarah Walsh. He claims that the girl had a prejudice towards him after having sex with an African American bartender the night before. Michael is eventually found not guilty through reasonable doubt.
- Acquitted - Retained by Georgia Stanton to defend her husband, a famous football player named Jake Stanton accused of being a John to a pimp at Benson's insistence. Bayard pleads him not guilty by mental disease or defect by claiming he is so brain damaged that he did not know what he was doing. Jake is eventually found not guilty but Jake commits suicide by shooting himself in the chest when his dementia came to light during the trial.
- Took a plea - Retained by Olivia Benson to represent her half-brother Simon Marsden and his fiancee Tracy on both a possession of marijuana charge and in a child custody case with their daughter and stepson. The criminal case against Marsden was dismissed as it was based on racial profiling, but he was unable to get the couple custody of their kids. Ellis tried to appeal the ruling on the grounds that the judge typically displayed racial bias. After Simon kidnapped his children with Tracy's help, Ellis represented them in their new criminal trial. He worked out a deal with Tracy's new attorney, where Tracy would have her charges dropped and regain custody of their children. This is as long as Simon isn't living with them and his kidnapping charge is reduced to custodial interference, with Simon only serving sixty days, only being able to see his children in a supervised setting afterwards, and having a chance of regaining custody in three years.
- Omar Pena (SVU: "Justice Denied")
- Acquitted
- Released from death row. Serving the rest of his prison time.
- Acquitted
Trivia[]
- When Sgt. John Munch comes into the squad room, Ellis asks "Have we met?" Ellis is played by Andre Braugher and has worked with Richard Belzer before on Homicide: Life on the Street as Frank Pembleton. Munch's character started on Homicide: Life on the Street and appeared in crossover episodes on the original Law & Order before becoming a regular character on SVU; both the Pembleton and Munch characters appear in the Law & Order episode "Charm City".
Appearances[]
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (3 seasons, 6 episodes):