Benjamin Stone

Benjamin "Ben" Stone was an Executive Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order.

History[]

Stone worked under Alfred Wentworth (in the intended pilot episode) and Adam Schiff. It was Schiff with whom he is closest, treating him as a kind of surrogate father, his own father having been an overbearing alcoholic. (L&O: "Prescription for Death")

Stone was divorced with two children, Peter (who would go on to work as an Assistant State's Attorney in Chicago, and later as an ADA for the Special Victims Unit) and Pamela.

During the 1980s, he worked on a taskforce to take down the Infinity Rapist, but the latter always eluded justice. Stone later realized Infinity was stalking him and his family after being sent a picture of him and his son as well as a note, describing Peter's baseball game. Stone sent his children to his sister-in-law in Montana for protection, which strained his relationship with the unaware Peter. (SVU: "Dear Ben")

After the main witness in a racketeering case whose safety Stone had personally guaranteed was murdered by the Russian Mafia, he resigned and is succeeded by Jack McCoy as Executive ADA. (L&O: "Old Friends")

After the Job[]

When his former assistant Paul Robinette, now a defense attorney, wants a judge to recuse himself for past comments showing bias against drug addicts and support for forced sterilization, Robinette threatens to subpoena Stone as a witness against the judge. Upon hearing of the threat, Schiff informs McCoy that Stone "is traveling in Europe, not available to testify at any hearing." However, the judge by this time had already declared himself "unavailable" to hear the case. (L&O: "Custody")

In 2018, it was revealed that Stone had passed away, with his son Peter, ADA Rafael Barba, and McCoy attending his funeral, and a eulogy is given by McCoy. (SVU: "The Undiscovered Country")

Ben would often visit his schizophrenic daughter who was institutionalized for her condition. Peter proceeded to go in his place after his passing, with Pamela often mistaking him for their father. (SVU: "Send In The Clowns")

Peter later discovered his father had worked on a case involving a serial rapist known as "Infinity" for years until it went cold in 1994. It was also revealed he continued investigating the year before his death. Eventually, Peter discovered that his father was only trying to protect him and Pamela once he discovered the rapist was stalking them. The real Infinity was driven to implicate himself by saying Stone cared for him more than for his own family, but Peter said that all his father wanted justice for the victims. (SVU: "Dear Ben")