| "Forty-One Witnesses" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 17.13 | → |
| Production number: 17013 First aired (US): 3 February 2016 First aired (UK): 6 March 2016 First aired (CAN): 3 February 2016 First aired (AUS): 5 May 2016 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Robert Brooks Cohen Directed By Michael Pressman | ||
Summary[]
A woman is followed home and raped outside her building, where several neighbors witness the crime but fail to call for help.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Mariska Hargitay as Lieutenant Olivia Benson
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Peter Scanavino as Detective Dominick Carisi, Jr.
- Raúl Esparza as A.D.A. Rafael Barba
Recurring Cast[]
- Andy Karl as Sergeant Mike Dodds
- Donnetta Lavinia Grays as Linda Bagley
- Daveed Diggs as Civil Rights Attorney Louis Henderson
- Steve Rosen as Defense Attorney Michael Guthrie
- Sonia Manzano as Judge Gloria Pepitone
- Yvonna Kopacz-Wright as Dr. Darby Wilder
- Jack Nawada-Braunwart as Noah Porter-Benson
- Joselin Reyes as Paramedic Martinez
Guest Cast[]
- Abby Miller as Libby Parker
- Patrick Breen as Doug Nelson
- Allyce Beasley as Mrs. Weisman
- J. Mallory McCree as Ronnie Ellis
- Anthony Ramos as Juan Flores
- Jason Genao as Will Reeves
- Michael K. Lee as Craig
- Sandra Berrios as Maria Ortiz
- Fedna Jacquet as Jenna
- Shunori Ramanathan as Sara
- Adi Hanash as Josh
- Aria Shahghasemi as Omar
- Alberto Vazquez as Freddy
- Mickey Jaiven as Stoned Jock
- Genson Blimline as Man
- Nicole Lewis as Jury Foreperson
References[]
- ASPCA
- Detroit
- New Jersey
- Bystander effect
- Staten Island
- Addiction
- Ketamine
- Marijuana
- Mercy General Hospital
- Westway Youth Center
- The Bean
- Recall
- Eidetic memory
Quotes[]
- Dodds: The vic is Libby Parker, apartment B11. Super found her in the courtyard, 7:00 a.m.
- Benson: Anyone get eyes on the perp?
- Tutuola: No video. No one's come forward.
- Benson: Guys, there's a hundred windows up there. Somebody saw something.
- Dodds: So at least ten residents saw or heard an assault.
- Tutuola: Everybody thought someone else was calling the cops.
- Carisi: Police could've been here in two minutes. Now this woman might die.
- Dodds: All right, Carisi, let's take it easy with the witnesses. We want them to cooperate.
- Carisi: You know what? Say what you want about Staten Island, but at least they have people who look out for each other.
- Dodds: The café's a drug den. No one saw a thing.
- Rollins: But still, her building... I mean, how many people face that courtyard?
- Tutuola: This one says his window was closed, that one says she went to bed early.
- Benson: Bystander effect. Sometimes the more witnesses, the less help.
- Barba: Yeah, the last thing we wanna do is rely on our "See No Evil" witnesses.
- Rollins: I know there's no such thing as a perfect vic, but this lady has got two little girls. She's doing drugs. God knows what else. You know how hard it is for a woman to lose custody?
- Benson: Addiction is addiction, Rollins.
- Rollins: Yeah, but she's got kids. You don't get to make those kind of mistakes anymore.
- Benson: Okay.
- Rollins: I mean, it's just not her life to ruin.
- Benson: I hear you.
- Barba: [skeptical of a Doug Nelson's credibility] I'm not even sure putting this guy on the stand is a great idea.
- Carisi: What, you got a better one?
- Barba: He's worse than all the others. And that's no easy task.
- Benson: Hey, Barba...
- Barba: Well, at least they admitted that they were there.
- Carisi: Now, maybe he's a coward, yeah, uh-huh, but he's credible.
- Barba: So good memory, no morality. Fantastic.
- Benson: When you prepped him, did you tell him what time to show up, since he's an hour late?
- Carisi: He'll show.
- Barba: If you say so. If not, I'll just vamp.
- Rollins: She has two little girls, how come?
- Carisi: I don't get this. All you have to do is call 911.
Background information and notes[]
- Benson and Stabler investigated a similar case of the bystander effect in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit SVU Season 12 Spectacle.
- Benson gets a check up phone call at the end of the episode by an unnamed individual. This was likely Ed Tucker, as we find they enter a relationship in later episodes.
- This episode is loosely based on the Kitty Genovese case: on March 13, 1964, Genovese was raped and murdered in New York.
- During the opening scene when the detectives first find the victim, Olivia Benson is wearing the wrong type of badge, she had on a sergeant's shield instead of her lieutenant's shield.
- When the jury foreperson reads out the jury's verdict, she includes all three defendants' names before saying guilty. Even if the jury comes to the same conclusion on each count, the foreperson should only include a single defendant (and charge) in each sentence. So, for example, she should say, "On the count of sexual assault, we find the defendant, John Q., guilty. On the count of sexual assault, we find the defendant, James Doe, guilty," etc.
- Although the Ronnie Ellis defendant admits to punching the nanny and the nanny testifies that he punched her, there is no assault charge read out when the jury renders its verdict. The assault was part of the crime the defendants are being tried for, so this charge should be included in this trial, and since this particular defendant has admitted to punching the woman but not to anything else, it is unlikely the DA would have offered him a deal on this particular charge.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Apartment of |
The Bean |
Westway Youth Center |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
|
Atlantic Avenue and |
588 Degraw Street |
Mercy Hospital |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|
|
Apartment of |
Courthouse |
Courthouse |
| Previous episode: "A Misunderstanding" |
"Forty-One Witnesses" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 17 |
Next episode: "Nationwide Manhunt" |