Jesse Unger was a fashion firm employee and stalker who brutally assaulted an actress named Lucy Neven, whom he was fixated on.
History
Jesse began developing mental disorders ever since his mother prematurely died. Nonetheless, his father William refused to send him to a psychiatrist because he wasn't violent and didn't represent a danger to others. Instead, he found him a job as a mannequin dresser for a fashion firm. As a result of his deteriorating mental state, Jesse became obsessed with soap-opera actress Lucy Neven, who he began stalking and harassing, both personally and through the telephone. He would also pay large sums of money to buy costumes and dresses Lucy had worn while acting.
Eventually, after an altercation with Sandy, his girlfriend, Jesse stormed to Lucy's apartment and tailed her while she walked her dog. When he approached Lucy, claiming he needed her, she rebuffed him, and Jesse reacted by brutally beating and nearly suffocating her. Lucy survived, though she was rendered temporarily comatose by the attack. Detectives Logan and Cerreta, who investigated the assault, were later able to get to Jesse, who confessed just after he was recognized by Lucy as her attacker. In court, Jesse's attorney pleaded his client's insanity, citing voices Unger purportedly heard in his head from his teenage years. Dr. Elizabeth Olivet, on the other hand, was convinced Jesse suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, but was nevertheless sane and could tell right from wrong when he assaulted Lucy. In the end, he was found guilty of attempted murder in the second degree, even though EADA Stone himself admitted he thought Unger was mentally impaired and needed psychiatric treatment, not prison. (L&O: "Star Struck")