Leah Bartlett is the foster mother of Steven Alan Smith. She had a drinking problem that resulted in her brutalizing Steven, down to beating him and burning him with a cigarette. When she was near killing hit with a kitchen knife, but her husband Warren walked in on the attack and stopped her, she got sober.
Steven carried the trauma Dan had his own drinking problem, resulting in him returning to his childhood home in a stupor and killing a couple residing there. When he recalls his trauma through hypnosis during his trial, Leah testified on the stand with an admission of the violence she dealt her adoptive son. Steven was ultimately convicted and imprisoned. (L&O: “Privileged”)