| "Murdered at a Bad Address" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 21.06 | → |
| Production number: 21006 First aired (US): 31 October 2019 First aired (UK): 7 January 2020 First aired (CAN): 31 October 2019 First aired (AUS): 18 June 2020 | ||
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| Teleplay By Denis Hamill Story By Denis Hamill and Julie Martin & Warren Leight Directed By Michael Smith | ||
Summary[]
The case of a teenage girl assaulted in the projects leads to a startling discovery. Meanwhile, Benson puts her trust in someone from the past.
Plot[]
Benson and Noah are walking from the park, discussing plans to get snacks before a man calls out to Benson and he is revealed to be her brother. Benson is shocked to see him again, as Simon takes note of Noah introducing himself to the latter. Benson sends Noah to get food, while she talks with Simon and tells the curious Simon that Noah is her son, which surprised him at having a nephew. Simon then notes he didn't know because he hasn't kept in touch with her over the years. Benson asks him about his family and he tells her that his and Tracy's relationship fell apart, with Tracy taking the children and leaving. Simon soon fell out of touch with her. Simon reveals that he moved back to Jersey a few years ago, got a job of and was now clean from a drug addiction. He wants to connect with Benson and her son because they are the only family he has now.
However, Simon does not turn up, and Benson angrily leaves him a message saying that she never wants to see him again. Eventually, Benson discovers that Simon had died of a drug overdose. This revelation leaves Benson distraught, upset that her voice message might have been the last thing Simon ever heard.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Ice-T as Sergeant Odafin Tutuola
- Peter Scanavino as A.D.A. Dominick Carisi, Jr.
Recurring cast[]
- Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner
- Michael Weston as Simon Marsden
- Ryan Buggle as Noah Porter-Benson
- Jamie Gray Hyder as Officer Katriona Tamin
- Ashley Taylor Greaves as Officer Gabrielle Taylor
- Lou Martini, Jr. as Defense Attorney Ron Freddo
- Wentworth Miller as A.D.A. Isaiah Holmes
Guest cast[]
- Larry Bryggman as D.A. Patrick Keane
- Guillermo Díaz as Carlos Hernandez
- Happy Anderson as Tim Stanton
- Deja Monique Cruz as Lupe Perez
- Lenny Venito as Detective Monte
- Gina Ferrall as Judge Mary Connor
- Tricia Alexandro as Viviana Perez
- Andrea Frye as Savannah Baker
- Yvette Mercedes as Juanita
- Dorothi Fox as Patient
- Jamal Thomas as Legal Aid
- Cole Bullock as Teen Dude #1
- Mia Darrow as Waiter
- Robert Keiley as Perp #1
References[]
- GoFundMe
- Tracy Harrison
- Jacinta Hernandez (rape and murder victim)
- Nydia Hernandez (murder victim)
- Angela Lopes (rape victim)
- Olivia Marsden
- Maria Negron (rape victim)
- New York Mets
- Voltaire
Quotes[]
- Carisi: Teenage girl assaulted in the projects? Any witnesses?
- Benson: Fin's still canvassing, but there's nothing on the rape kit, no semen or hairs.
- Carisi: So we're looking at a pro. You're letting Kat take the lead?
- Benson: We're giving her a shot. She was first on scene, she rode with her, and she took the disclosure, and I'm right here if she needs me.
- Carisi: Kat doesn't miss a trick. Somebody must've stolen her lunch money once.
- Benson: Or tried to.
- Benson: You have a closed rape and double murder from 16 years ago? And they had the DNA and never tested it?
- Rollins: It was tested by mistake, swept up while they were going through the backlog.
- Benson: And the touch DNA on Lupe's headphones matched the DNA found under the fingernails of which victim?
- Rollins: Both. Nydia Hernandez, strangled with an electric cord and her daughter Jacinta. She was sexually assaulted and then strangled.
- Tamin: Two teenagers confessed. Ricardo Torres, 15 at the time. He turned state's on Carlos Hernandez, 18, the son and brother of the vics.
- Benson: And which of their DNA matches Lupe's?
- Rollins: That's the thing. Neither.
- Benson: What does that mean? That we're looking at a third accomplice?
- Tutuola: Someone who was never caught.
- Benson: Okay, so we're gonna need to talk with Ricardo and Carlos. Where are they now?
- Tamin: Hernandez is still serving 25 to life in Green Haven.
- Tutuola: 25 to life and he never gave up the third guy? He's not talking.
- Benson: So take Carisi with you. If he sees a D.A., maybe he'll think that he can cut a deal. And what about Ricardo?
- Tamin: Finished his 15 a year ago. Last known, Wave View Houses in Far Rock. Parole officer's on vacay.
- Benson: That's leverage. So, Rollins, Kat, lean on him, hard.
- Rollins: Just to be clear, we've got a guy doing life for murdering his mother and his sister and there was someone else's DNA on the victim?
- Tutuola: Why check DNA? They had confessions.
- Tamin: Yeah, and it's the projects. They were murdered at a bad address.
- Tutuola: I'mma ask you again, Carlos, 'cause we know there was a third person who helped kill your mama and your kid sis.
- Carlos Hernandez: What you mean you know?
- Carisi: We found DNA of a third man.
- Carlos Hernandez: You did? So you know... you know who did it. You arrest him?
- Tutuola: If we knew who did it, we wouldn't be asking.
- Savannah 'Moms' Baker: Morning, detectives. Help y'all?
- Rollins: Yes, ma'am. You are Savannah Baker?
- Moms Baker: Well, the kids call me "Moms". Moms Baker. Don't tell me another child has died from them dopey-oids.
- Tamin: No, ma'am. We're here looking for Ricardo Torres.
- Rollins: The captain of the housing unit thought you might know where he is.
- Moms Baker: He paid his debt.
- Rollins: No, no, we just wanna ask a few questions.
- Moms Baker: And Carlos. No way he would hurt a June bug, let alone his family.
- Rollins: You know about the murders.
- Moms Baker: I know he was a mama's boy. Never raised a hand to hurt another child.
- Tamin: And what about Ricardo?
- Moms Baker: If Ricky threw himself on the floor, he'd have missed.
- Rollins: But they both confessed.
- Moms Baker: Down home, we call that railroading, right, honey? Detective Monte, that prosecutor... they had the wrong boys, but they didn't care.
- Rollins: You're retiring to Florida? Pension'll go a lot further down there, that's for sure.
- Detective Monte: Yeah, disability. I'm out on three quarters. You know, after collaring skells like Hernandez and Torres, I don't wanna die shoveling snow here in the stepchild borough.
- Carisi: I hear that.
- Detective Monte: Carisi, huh?
- Carisi: Yeah.
- Detective Monte: You related to Tony "No Toes" Carisi up on Todt Hill?
- Carisi: My mother says all Carisis are related.
- Benson: So, we found twelve housing project rapes, but these two most closely fit the pattern.
- Rollins: Maria Negron, 13. Uh, Angela Lopez, 12. Both lived at the Jersey Street projects. One happened in 2010, the other in 2011.
- Carisi: No DNA on either?
- Rollins: No, they were both assaulted from behind, strangled with a cord, and neither one of them saw his face.
- Carisi: That's his M.O. Any suspects?
- Rollins: So, there was 18 maintenance workers, um, that worked at all three of these projects that fit the timeline. And seven are black, two are deceased, one is disabled.
- Benson: So we're gonna need DNA warrants on these eight guys.
- Carisi: Eight? Why not make it nine? Make it a ball team. Come on, no judge is gonna sign off on this. You gotta narrow it down for me.
- Benson: All right, so we can ask them to volunteer for exclusion. If they're innocent, then they shouldn't have a problem with that.
- Carisi: Okay, anybody balks, I'll get you a warrant.
- Rollins: You leaving us again?
- Carisi: I got a pre-trial motion. Feel free to stay as long as you want.
- Benson: All right, so coordinate with, uh, Fin and Kat and make sure that you talk to all eight guys.
- Rollins: Copy that.
- Benson: I'll meet you back at the squad room. I have a lunch... with my brother Simon.
- Rollins: Wow, it's been a while. What does he want?
- Benson: He says that he wants to get to know Noah.
- Rollins: You believe him?
- Benson: I do.
- Isaiah Holmes: So you did it?
- Carisi: Hi.
- Isaiah Holmes: From detective to ADA. How's it going?
- Carisi: Well, I miss my gun and the, uh, pay cut's no fun, but I still remember what you said my first year at Fordham Law.
- Isaiah Holmes: Yeah, what was that?
- Carisi: Better 100 guilty men go free than one innocent man be condemned.
- Isaiah Holmes: You know I was quoting Voltaire.
- Carisi: Of course, but it was the way... the way you said it. It was like you believed in it.
- Benson: D.A. Keane won't let this go?
- Carisi: No, it was worse. He had no idea what I was asking him to do.
- Benson: What does that mean?
- Carisi: For years, Keane's deputies have covered up the fact that he's suffering from dementia.
- Benson: Well, how bad is it? I mean, good days, bad days?
- Carisi: Well, he thought Carlos Hernandez played first base for the '86 Mets, so...
- Benson: Okay, well, what about his deputies? Can't they step up? 'Cause we have three more rape kit hits from Stanton's DNA. Plus an eyewitness.
- Carisi: Keane can't even undo his tie, never mind a 16-year-old double homicide. One of my former law professors, he works in the Queens D.A.'s office, he said he could try to get Carlos a retrial.
- Ron Freddo: My client will agree to forcible touching on the girl from Jacob Lawrence Houses.
- Benson: He raped her.
- Tim Stanton: Says who?
- Ron Freddo: She didn't see her attacker and DNA on headphones? Probative of nothing.
- Carisi: Well, we have a voice ID.
- Ron Freddo: Mm-hmm. No eyewitnesses, only an ear witness. I'll convince the jury that little Lupe is deaf and blind.
- Benson: Little Lupe is tougher than you think.
- Ron Freddo: Juries love me and they don't like cops. And that goes double for cops who turn into prosecutors. They're gonna hate you.
- Carisi: Well, maybe not, after they find out your client's DNA was at three different rape scenes.
- Benson: And we have three projects-strong girls, just like Lupe, who will follow her to the stand.
- Carisi: Carlos, whatever you say here does not leave this room if you don't want it to, I swear. Where were you that night?
- Carlos Hernandez: I was at the beach.
- Tutuola: What beach?
- Carlos Hernandez: Plumb Beach in Brooklyn.
- Carisi: That's the boy-meets-boy beach off the Belt Parkway? That Plumb Beach, right?
- Tutuola: Okay, so you and Ricky hooked up?
- Carlos Hernandez: That was the first time. Beautiful night... until I got home and I found my mommy and Jacinta dead on the floor.
- Carisi: Carlos, a lot of people have... have come out of the closet since then. Times have changed.
- Carlos Hernandez: Not in here. In here? Out of the closet means into a casket. The other inmates find out I'm gay? Gangs will turn me into a Maytag. Washing socks and spit-shining.
- Tutuola: Yeah, we get it.
- Carlos Hernandez: I'd get bitched out until I got the bug. Like Ricky. I know I'll never walk again as a free man, but can I ask you a favor?
- Carisi: What's that, Carlos?
- Carlos Hernandez: At night... I still get the horrors, wondering where my mommy and my little sister are buried. Thinking that they're in an even worse place than me. I don't know... Potter's field or unmarked graves... just lost souls. Find out where my family's buried.
- Isaiah Holmes: So, Carlos and Ricky were gay lovers, and he can't give that alibi because he'll be raped inside.
- Carisi: That's right.
- Isaiah Holmes: And you brought this happy news to me because... I'm gay.
- Carisi: No, but it doesn't hurt. I also knew that you have a justice gene buried under that jaded Queens Boulevard veneer.
- Isaiah Holmes: Look, maybe we can get him protective custody while he's awaiting trial.
- Carisi: Protective custody with his history? PTSD, depression... he could suicide. Look, I'm... I'm asking you to help me spring an innocent man.
- Isaiah Holmes: Give me a night's sleep to figure out what Voltaire would do.
- Viviana Perez: Lupe would have to testify?
- Benson: I'm sorry, she would.
- Viviana Perez: She's been through enough already. And the lawyers? They'll trick her.
- Lupe Perez: No one can catch me in a lie if I just tell the truth.
- Rollins: And she'd be prepped. We'd be with her every step of the way.
- Viviana Perez: Lupe, you don't need to do this.
- Lupe Perez: Mama, if he goes free, next time, he might just go after Gizelle.
- [seeing Simon's corpse]
- Benson: That's him. That's my brother.
- Dr. Warner: I'm sorry.
- Benson: It was an OD?
- Dr. Warner: Heroin laced with fentanyl. Found the body in a motel room, no signs of foul play.
- Benson: He was using. He... he told me that he was sober.
- Dr. Warner: He was telling you the truth. If I had to guess, he'd been clean for quite a while.
- Benson: So it was not a suicide?
- Dr. Warner: Dosage wasn't large enough. He just got his hands on the wrong stuff.
- Benson: Okay. Well, thank you.
- Dr. Warner: You two were close.
- Benson: Not really, but, um... he was my only family.
- Carisi: Hey, the transport van just dropped Carlos off outside of the courthouse. You wanna tell me what's going on, counselor?
- Isaiah Holmes: Keane signed the vacate order.
- Carisi: He did? That's great. H-How'd you get him to... to do that?
- Isaiah Holmes: He may have thought he was graciously signing a letter of recommendation for my law school application.
- Carisi: All right, I didn't hear that, and... and you did not say that, but thank you.
- Isaiah Holmes: Welcome to Queens. Let's go do this before the ink dries or any of his deputies find out.
- Judge Mary Connor: Counselor, you're representing the defendant, Carlos Hernandez?
- Legal Aid: Yes, Your Honor.
- Judge Connor: I understand you have a motion?
- Legal Aid: I do. Based on new exculpatory evidence, defense moves to vacate the sentence of Carlos Hernandez.
- Judge Connor: People?
- Isaiah Holmes: The People believe there's been a miscarriage of justice in this case, Your Honor. Due to newly discovered DNA evidence implicating a serial predator in these crimes, the People ask that this verdict be vacated.
- Judge Connor: Mr. Hernandez, please stand. [Carlos does so] Carlos Hernandez, I apologize on behalf of the state of New York for your wrongful imprisonment that has cost you 16 years of your life. It is my duty today to vacate this unjust conviction. You are free to go. Bailiffs, take off those chains.
- Tutuola: You can walk like a man now, Carlos.
- Carisi: A free man.
- Rollins: Liv, are you okay?
- Benson: No. [closing her office door] I haven't told anyone, but my brother Simon... he died.
- Rollins: What?
- Benson: He overdosed.
- Rollins: I'm sorry.
- Benson: When he didn't show for lunch, I left him a message and I told him not to call me. What if my message... is the last thing that he heard?
- Rollins: You don't know that. The life he led... more likely, it was... just his time.
- [at the graves of Jacinta Hernandez and Nydia Hernandez]
- Carlos Hernandez: That stone looks new.
- Carisi: Some people read about your case. There was a GoFundMe.
- Carlos Hernandez: A what?
- Tutuola: Folks chipped in.
- Carlos Hernandez: How can I ever thank you?
Background Information and Notes[]
- Tamin says the title of this episode, referring to the murder of Carlos Hernandez's family in a low incoming housing project (the bad address).
- Olivia ask Noah to show her some of his new dance moves. He had started taking dance classes since the episode "Down Low In Hell's Kitchen".
- Actor Guillermo Díaz played another person wrongfully convicted, Omar Peña, in the episode "Justice Denied".
- This episode marks the final appearance of Simon Marsden, who dies of a drug overdose in this episode. More details about what happened to Simon are shown in the season 22 episode "Trick-Rolled At The Moulin'".
Episode Scene Cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Child Advocacy Center |
Green Haven |
Home of |
Office of |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jacob Lawrence Houses |
Office of |
Jacob Lawrence Houses |
Supreme Court Queens County |
| Previous episode: "At Midnight In Manhattan" |
"Murdered at a Bad Address" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 21 |
Next episode: "Counselor, It's Chinatown" |