| "Greed" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 3.20 | → |
| Production number: E2330 First aired: 26 April 2002 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene Directed By Constantine Makris | ||
The wife of a businessman is found raped and bludgeoned on their kitchen floor.
Summary
Investigating the assault of the wife of a restaurateur during a robbery, leads the detectives to a similar assault, and to a locksmith.
Plot
A woman is found by her husband raped and beaten. He tells Olivia and Elliot that he got home and found her lying in the kitchen floor, the alarm wasn't on and she didn't hit the panic button. Mrs. Todd's state is delicate and she is paralyzed in her right side and is not able to talk. The police suspects burglary gone wrong and ask Mr. Todd if anything from the house is missing, he says he can't find his wife's Rolex watch and doesn't remember if she was wearing it when she was found.
Captain Cragen and Fin question the maid and she tells them she doesn't quite like Mr. Todd, and that he made her move out the house after he married Jessica. She tells them her boyfriend took her keys by mistake and they immediately suspect him. They go to talk to Catarina's boyfriend and he tells them about a fight between Mr. and Mrs. Todd.
The DNA from Mrs. Todd matches another unsolved rape, so Olivia and Elliot go talk to the victim. Mrs. Johansen tells them she was already in bed when she was attacked and the attacker stole a diamond bracelet, but didn't hit her like Mrs. Todd. Elliot and Olivia discover that both houses had recently changed locks in the same locksmith. They interview the man who changed both locks and he claims he is innocent, but the lab matches his prints to the ones found in both crime scenes, the Johansen bedroom and the Todd kitchen. The police search the van he uses at work, Elliot finds the stolen watch and bracelet in Mr. Ryan's toolbox.
In the court, the evidence from the toolbox is suppressed because police searched it without Mr. Ryan's permission or a search warrant. Meanwhile the DNA report is back and it doesn't match Ryan's, so police suspects someone was trying to frame him. They get Mr. Ryan's permission to search the toolbox for prints and find Mr. Todd's prints in the diamond bracelet. They talk to Mr. Todd and he lies about touching in the locksmith's toolbox and about where the locksmith has been in the house.
Olivia and Elliot find out that Mr. Todd is a 72 year old man that hasn't been to New York in twenty years and never met Jessica. They find out that the fake Mr. Todd is scamming Jessica for her money and didn't run away yet because he didn't have all the money he needed. They suspect that Mrs. Johansen is involved in the scam too. Elliot and Olivia tell everything to Jessica but she doesn't believe them, they ask her if he has access to her money and she tells them only when she dies.
The police find a common telephone number in fake Mr. Todd's and Mrs. Johansen's phone records and go to the address, the neighbors recognize them from the pictures and say they are Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Captain Cragen gets a warrant and they search the apartment. They find a used boarding pass to Winnipeg under the couch cushions. They talk to the Canadian police and find out that fake Mr. Todd visited Canada a few times lately. Captain Cragen tells Elliot and Olivia to send the prints found in the apartment to the Canadian police to see what they can find out.
Fin points out that they still don't know whose DNA it is in both victims, since it doesn't match Mr. Ryan's or fake Mr. Todd's. Olivia says maybe Mrs. Johansen used her husband's DNA, since he would never be a suspect, police would never take his DNA to compare with and the case would never be solved. They tell all to Mr. Johansen and ask for him to give a sample of his DNA for comparison. The lab results confirm is Mr. Johansen's DNA in both women.
The Canadian police send the real identities of Mr. Todd and Mrs. Johansen and that they were both arrested and convicted for fraud. Olivia and Elliot try to convince Jessica that her husband planned it all to scam her and show her all the papers from the Canadian police but she isn't convinced. She says he confessed everything to her the night before and asked for forgiveness, and she forgave him. She says her husband's lawyer told her she could never testify about what he told her because she is his wife and conversation between spouses is privileged. Mr. Johansen too heard his wife confess to him and later got the call from her lawyer telling him he could not testify.
The police do some research and find out that Ed and Denise got married in Mexico before getting married to Jessica and Mr. Johansen, so their marriage to them is void and they both can testify against Ed and Denise. Ed tries to charm Jessica, but she doesn't fall for that anymore.
Cast
Main cast
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
- Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast
- Joanna Merlin as Judge Lena Petrovsky
- Daniel Sunjata as C.S.U. Technician Burt Trevor
- Rob Bartlett as Defense Attorney Milton Schoenfeld
- David Lipman as Judge Arthur Cohen
Guest cast
- Henry Winkler as Edwin Todd/Edward Crandall
- Mary Beth Hurt as Jessica Blaine-Todd
- Roy Thinnes as Curtis Johansen
- Sherri Parker Lee as Denise Johansen/Denise Cormier
- Louis Mustillo as Locksmith Manager
- David Pittu as Investment Banker
- Alex Feldman as Danny Ryan
- Sarah Knowlton as Defense Attorney Valerie Emerson
- Michael Aronov as Andrei Gorsky
- John Leone as Randy Taylor
- Etya Dudko as Katarina Dinov
- Nick Sullivan as Super
- Mike Benitez as Dispatcher
- Charlie Sandlan as Medic #1
- Wallace E. Wilhoit, Jr. as Court Clerk
- Nicholas Glaeser as Defense Attorney Harold Karaka
- Derek Kelly as Medic #2
References
- 9/11
- Bahamas
- Jerry Blaine
- Michael Bloomberg
- Canada
- INS
- Mexico
- People v. Cacciopo
- People v. Laws
- People v. Keegan
- Seattle
Quotes
- Benson: There's three fireplaces. Could have come in through the chimney.
- Stabler: Maybe we should be looking for a guy in a red suit.
| “ | Good. Well, I got, uh, coffee cups, candy wrappers, a half eaten sandwiches. They should really think about cleaning this out once every two years. | ” |
–Olivia Benson | ||
- Tutuola: We still got a the problem with the DNA. It's not Ryan or Todd's.
- Benson: If Denise faked being attacked, how did she have the DNA in her that showed up on the rape kit? By having sex with her husband.
- Stabler: She takes the rest of his semen, plants it on Jessica, makes it look like the same guy raped them both.
- Edwin Todd: Uh, no. Her last name is Todd. Now you know my wife is ill. You have no right to bring her here. Hi, Sweetie. You should be resting.
- Jessica Todd: Sit down, you bastard.
- Edwin: You know what, this is all a mistake. Yes, I stole your money. She was only supposed to take your watch. You weren't supposed to get hurt. You're upset. We need to get away. Just you and me. Anywhere you wanna go.
- Jessica: The only place you're going is to hell.
Background information and notes
- Guest star Henry Winkler (Edwin Todd) is the real-life cousin of series regular Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch).
- This is actor David Lipman's first appearance as recurring character Judge Arthur Cohen in an episode from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Lipman is also known for playing Judge Morris Torledsky on Law & Order and Law & Order: Trial by Jury.
Episode scene cards
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Apartment of |
Restaurant Site |
Chambers of |
| 4 | 5 |
|---|---|
|
Blaine-Holland |
Oceanside Rehab Center |
| Previous episode: "Justice" |
"Greed" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 3 |
Next episode: "Denial" |