Danielle Mason is the killer of her college boyfriend, Charley Monroe. She argued in her defense she only met him once and he drugged and raped her, then she stabbed him when he tried to rape her again. Van Buren didn’t buy it and took her to trial, which resulted in racial backlash and controversy.
It was revealed Danielle’s father was horribly racist, her father breaking her arm when she dated a black boy in high school. Danielle admitted she killed Charley out of rejection because he broke up with her, hurt that he couldn’t date her more openly because of Danielle fearing her bigoted community, who she was afraid Charley would’ve confronted himself. (L&O: “Good Girl”)