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"Criminal"
SVU, Episode 5.21
Production number: E4425
First aired: 20 April 2004
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Javier Vega
Written By
Jose Molina

Directed By
Alex Zakrzewski

Plot[]

When it's suspected that an expert in forensics is responsible for the murder of a local student, the focus of the investigation hones in on a criminology professor that Cragen arrested decades earlier for similar crimes. It's then up to Cragen and his team to discover if the professor is the perpetrator or being set up by a bitter rival.

Summary[]

Episode summary

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

  • Alcoholism
  • Joanna Lewis (victim)
  • Rebecca Wheeler (victim)

Quotes[]

[about Rebecca Wheeler]
Rudy Lemcke: She bought me dinner. She was my friend.
Benson: She was a student, you're a crackhead. You're not friends.

Cragen: What, this guy has a photographic memory for cars?
Stabler: He's a mechanic. He talked about that car like it was Paris Hilton.
Benson: Now the same guy saw a man in a black coat and a red scarf stuffing a large bundle into the back of a Lexus. Said it looked like a big-ass load of crap.
Cragen: This poet make a positive I.D. on Vega?

Stabler: I wouldn't want my children being taught by a murderer.

[to Cragen about Gabrielle]
Stabler: I think she'd do anything to protect her father.
Cragen: Then she's an accessory. Bring her in. I'll talk to her myself.
Stabler: You sure that's a good idea?
Cragen: Is there something you want to say to me?
Stabler: Just that you seem a little involved.
Cragen: Vega raped and murdered an innocent young woman. Of course I'm involved.

[about Professor Vega]
Benson: He was traveling with an older woman.
Cragen: How you get that?
Benson: Take a whiff. Lilies and roses. No woman under 60 wears this perfume.
Stabler: Maybe Gabrielle has old-fashioned tastes.
Benson: Gabrielle wears sandalwood and bergamot. [Stabler looks at her] Women notice these things.

Cragen: I remember you, Vega. When I collared you after we found that poor woman's stinking corpse, you cried like a baby. You denied it then, but we had your prints all over that oil drum. You lied then like you're lying now.
Javier Vega: I will never forget what I did to Joanna Lewis. Her face will haunt me until the day I die, but my past is my past. I'm a different man now, just like you. Yeah. Yeah, I remember you. You were drunk. The stench of booze was all over you. But you changed, didn't you, Captain? You think you're the only one who can?

Novak: This is a fragment of a condom that was found inside Rebecca's body, it's the same brand you use. This is a fiber, police matched it to your coat, it was found in Rebecca's throat. This is the letter she wrote demanding that the college fire you.
Javier Vega: Rebecca didn't write that note.
Novak: Her prints are on it, so if she didn't write it, who did?
Javier Vega: Why don't you ask the police?
Novak: Are you implying that the police planted the evidence?
Javier Vega: It wouldn't be the first time.
Novak: The police know your brand of condom and put one inside of Rebecca, then they took a thread from your coat and shoved it down her throat.
Vega: Yes.
Novak: You're a smart man, Professor, isn't the most logical answer that you murdered Rebecca?

Benson: Whoever rented the car killed Rebecca.
Stabler: An innocent man's in prison. We put him there.

Cragen: When is Vega getting out?
Novak: I'm on my way to court now. We'll have him released first thing tomorrow morning.
Cragen: That's not soon enough. We need to do it now.
Novak: Why? Is he in some sort of danger?
Cragen: Just from himself. He's using again.
Novak: Not much I can do. Rikers can't get him down to court till morning. I'll call in a favor. Have Vega produced by the end of business if you can get your motion on the calendar by then.
Cragen: Yeah, okay.
Novak: You know, this isn't your fault.
Cragen: We'll have to agree to disagree on that one.
Novak: You didn't put the needle on Vega's arm.
Cragen: No, I just torpedoed on his career and locked him up with a bunch of junkies.

[when Professor Vega has him held hostage at gunpoint]
Kyle Luhrmann: You gotta help me! He's crazy! He's gonna kill me!
Cragen: I don't blame him! But let him go, Vega!
Javier Vega: He killed Rebecca!
Luhrmann: I didn't do anything to her! I swear!
Javier Vega: Tell 'em what you did or I'll blow your head off!
Luhrmann: I killed her!
Javier Vega: Why? What she do to you?
Luhrmann: I loved her, but she told me she was marrying you. I went to her apartment and gave her one last chance. She blew it.
Javier Vega: You're dead.
Cragen: Put the gun down. You got your confession. You shoot him, you're dead. You kill him, you lose your daughter, too.
Javier Vega: Gabrielle's better off without me!
Cragen: She came to see me. She begged me to bring you home.
Javier Vega: The only way I'm leaving here is in a body bag!
Cragen: Not if you let him live. He confessed to murder. He's finished. Let me help you.
Javier Vega: Nobody can help me.
Cragen: You're still thinking like a junkie. Fine. Go ahead, kill him. Show me you're still a murderer, too.
[Vega releases Luhrmann, sobs and drops his gun]

Cragen: Let's go see your daughter.

Background information and notes[]

  • If the episode aired in 2004 and the murder Vega committed happened 30 years ago, that means that murder was in 1974 and by the thirteenth season which aired in 2011, that means Cragen most likely has a total of 37 years on the force, plus the time he most likely spent as a patrolman and the other time he spent as a detective in the late sixties. Meaning he might have a bit over 40 years on the force.
  • Goof: When Captain Cragen returns to the crime scene, while he is facing the camera the blue collar on his bullet proof vest is flipped up, obscuring the collar on his dress shirt. When the camera shows Cragen from behind, the vest collar is missing and the white collar of his dress shirt is fully visible.
  • It's unclear if the lawsuit the Vega family filed against Cragen and the NYPD was dropped or settled. All that is known is that Cragen was given an attorney, the first time in the series, to fight it.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3 4

Apartment of
Rebecca Wheeler
248 West 107th Street
Thursday, February 26

Wallace University
Criminology Department
Thursday, February 26

St. Anne's
Homeless Shelter
330 Tenth Avenue
Thursday, February 26

Wallace University
Office of Dean Ian Busch
Friday, February 27

5 6 7

Trial Part 46
Monday, April 12

Technical Assistance
Response Unit
One Police Plaza
Tuesday, April 13

Trial Part 46
Tuesday, April 13

Previous episode:
"Lowdown"
"Criminal"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 5
Next episode:
"Painless"
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