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Rafael Barba is the former Cuban-American ADA assigned to the Sex Crimes Bureau. He replaced Cabot, Novak, Haden, and Cutter in the ADA role for Season 14 in a recurring role before being promoted to the main cast in Season 15. He has had guest roles in the series since the twenty-first season. He resigned from his job in "The Undiscovered Country" after being too traumatized by a case involving an infant with MDDS. He became a defense attorney in 2021 and defended a man who had murdered his daughter's rapist.

Barba was a by-the-book, no-nonsense ADA who requested a lateral transfer from Brooklyn to Manhattan shortly after the events of the Bart Ganzel/Delia Wilson case. (SVU: "Rhodium Nights", "Lost Reputation", "Above Suspicion")

Early Life[]

Barba will put pressure on whomever he needs to win the case, whether it is the victim or the arresting officers.

It is revealed that Barba grew up in the Bronx, and gained a scholarship to Harvard University, where he studied law.

When visiting Manor Hill Academy, it is revealed he went to a Catholic high school. (SVU: "Lessons Learned")

He states that he was madly in love with a girl named Lauren Sullivan in the eleventh grade. (SVU: "Funny Valentine")

Barba revealed to Jack McCoy that he resented his father, as most people did. Barba's father later entered into a diabetic coma and was eventually declared brain-dead, but Barba refused to remove him from life support even though it prolonged his suffering. Barba was left with lifelong guilt over this afterwards. (SVU: "The Undiscovered Country")

Barba is blackmailed by rape and murder suspect David Willard into dropping all charges on him when he leveraged one of Barba's worst prosecution handlings: Ashtonja Abreu's mother Marianna was addicted to heroine but also a witness to a double rapist-murderer's crimes. After showing up to the courthouse suffering from withdrawal, Barba gave her money to buy more heroine. She was then able to get high and testify, successfully putting the perpetrator away with her testimony. However, Marianna died from a heroine overdose eight hours after she took the stand. Barba paid Ashtonja and her grandmother ever since to support them as an endless attempt at atonement for his actions, and to help their struggling income. (SVU: "Know It All")

Career at SVU[]

In Barba's first appearance, Jocelyn Paley, author of a popular erotic novel of the same name is sexually assaulted twice by a television talk show host named Adam Cain. Captain Steven Harris recommends A.D.A Rafael Barba for the case and Harris introduces Barba to detectives Olivia Benson and Amanda Rollins. When going over the specifics of the case, Barba is meticulous and rational to the point that he upsets Paley. Benson explains to him that more compassion should be shown towards the victims. The case takes a turn for the worst when it is revealed that Paley's professor wrote the novel and the defense uses it to paint Paley as a well-crafted liar. Paley wants to drop the charges to protect her secret, but Barba informs her that the truth will come out anyway and that if she follows through, he will charge her with perjury. Barba uses information gathered from one of Cain's other victims to trick Cain during the trial by having him put a belt around Barba's neck. After some taunting from Barba, Cain chokes him with the belt in open court, showing his violent streak in front of the jurors. (SVU: "Twenty-Five Acts")

After several women and a young boy were found in a basement, Barba helped SVU in investigating the case. He noticed Benson was uneasy, no doubt from her recent experience but she assured him that she was fine. After SVU caught the perp Michael Williams and accomplice April Hendricks, the squad begged him to take in consideration of Hendricks' mentality from her previous life. Barba agreed to show leniency on her and get her institutionalized but vowed to ensure Williams was imprisoned for the remainder of his life. (SVU: "Imprisoned Lives")

Barba has to make a plea deal with Teddy Hawkins after the latter offers up a pedophile ring. One of the pedophiles is revealed to be Deputy Commissioner Hank Abraham, who had previously came to congratulate SVU on apprehending Hawkins. Barba was speechless when Benson and Ed Tucker revealed the incriminating evidence found in Abraham's home and did not know how to approach it. He confronts Abraham and his lawyer Roger Kressler, offering a deal but Abraham refuses to confess his guilt and is arraigned. He was later called in by Abraham who seems to confess his guilt but Barba is unable to make a deal because now the feds want to charge him. He later notifies Benson Abraham slit his wrists in a suicide attempt but his wife saved him. (SVU: "Collateral Damages")

While prosecuting a corrupt prison guard, he is approached by a mysterious man who tells him that he and his benefactor know a lot of information about him that the public would like to know. Barba asks if he is threatening him, though the man relays a scenario, where death would come to play if he would shove Barba down the steps and crack his skull open. Barba calmly states that the gathered mob might not save him, but they could catch his killer easily. He then gives the man a fake address, mockingly inviting him to come by at any time but after the man leaves, Barba's shock emerges as he tells Benson and Dodds about the encounter, advising them to be on the lookout. (SVU: "Intersecting Lives")

He continues the prosecution and soon is approached by the lawyers of the guard but refuses the deal, due to the severity of the crimes. While alone in the elevator, he is accosted by the same man from outside the courthouse. With no way out, Barba demands to know who hired him, though the man merely replies that he has a lot of enemies and that he will never see the bullet coming for him before he manages to escape and Barba alerts court officers of his encounter. Barba later reveals he has been receiving hangup phone calls and unknown text messages from burner phones. His stalker is eventually tracked down, arrested, and taken to the SVU precinct. Barba identifies him in a lineup and is told by Carisi that the man is Felipe Heredio, a gangster who was paid $250 for every time he talked to Barba but he refused to give up who employed him. Because of his threats, Barba gets a 24/7 security detail. (SVU: "Heartfelt Passages")

When a young woman was raped at a party, Barba prosecuted Lawrence Hendricks, Sr., a wealthy C.E.O. who tried to escape the rape charge by feigning dementia. Barba assures Benson that he will make sure the man pays for his crimes and Benson notes on his confidence, but he assures her that he is angry, which she notes is even better. Barba was able to get Hendricks to slip up and he was arrested for rape. (SVU: "Decline and Fall")

Barba later prosecutes Nicole Keller, a woman accused of statutory rape and covering it up by having her underage lover killed by her son. In front of the reporters, Barba promised the parents of the slain boy, he will get them justice, earning praise from them. His actions were successful enough to get her to change her story, but she is ultimately convicted when her son Luke testifies against her and exposes her crimes. Afterwards, he offered to get Benson a drink but she declines in favor of going to see her son to take her mind off of this case. (SVU: "Motherly Love")

Barba prosecutes an esteemed air pilot for raping a female co-pilot. After amassing evidence, he is able to make the man plea to ten years in prison or possibly face a life sentence. Afterwards, Benson noted that he was disgusted by the unfair treatment these female workers, as he voices his anger at this treatment and decides convenes a grand jury. Barba has many female workers of the company come forward to give examples of the injustices they have suffered. One by one each worker details the harassment that they have faced and how the airline has given no punishment to those who break the rules. One woman in particular comes forward with important evidence and applauds Barba for finally taking down this airline. Afterwards, Barba requests the jurors' file indictments for larceny against Optimum Air. His moving words leave the jury wondering about their future actions. (SVU: "Flight Risk")

In 2018, Barba turns off the life support of an infant boy suffering from MDDS, a disease which left the child brain-dead and would have required machinery to keep him alive for the rest of his life. Charged with second-degree murder despite the sympathies of both Benson and Jack McCoy, Barba hires Randy Dworkin to represent him. On the stand, Barba defends his actions as justifiable since the child was essentially dead already, but he admits that he felt guilty for having done so. Barba is ultimately acquitted of murder and exonerated. However, he is too traumatized by the case and resigns from his career as an A.D.A. after 21 years of working as a prosecutor, despite McCoy saying he didn't have to leave. He later says farewell to Benson, who is both happy and saddened by the outcome. Barba is replaced by Peter Stone, the special prosecutor who tried him.

Barba video-chatted with Benson, confirming that they are still in touch with each other. Benson jokes on him growing a beard. He consoles her about the recent death of Tucker before wishing her a happy early birthday. He also promises to take her out to dinner sometime. (SVU: "Redemption In Her Corner")

Career as a Defense Attorney[]

Eventually, Barba returned as a defense attorney representing a military veteran, Mickey Davis, on trial for the murder of his daughter's rapist, Ajay Sharma, at the request of Odafin Tutuola and Benson. He faced off against Dominick Carisi, Jr., who once shadowed Barba and considered Barba his mentor and now has taken over Barba's old position as SVU ADA. Carisi got a good salvo in by eventually managing to get Mickey to confess on the stand that he had committed the murder intentionally as revenge for his daughter being raped and that he would do it again if he could. During the closing statement, Barba argued that the victim was a serial rapist active for over a decade who no one had stopped, including the SVU, and that his client was just protecting his daughter. The jury eventually found Barba's client guilty of second-degree manslaughter, and he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, the minimum sentence. After the case, Barba enjoyed a drink with his former colleagues, sans Benson, who discussed the outcome of the case. Barba then got a text and left, as his mother was heading to Florida the next day. Barba asked them to tell Benson that he was sorry that he missed her.

As he left, Barba encountered Benson and wondered if she was mad at him about the outcome of the case. Benson questioned Barba about if the case was about the client or about Barba himself. She then suggested that with the way that Barba had to leave the DA's office, he might have been defending his actions in a way. The two then admitted that they missed Barba's time in the DA's office and wished each other a Happy New Year before going their separate ways again. (SVU: "Sightless in a Savage Land")

Barba represented Richard Wheatley in court after he was charged with the murder of Kathy Stabler. After Benson and Kathy's widower, Elliot Stabler, found out, they were both furious, with Benson believing that Barba betrayed them. He would also have to face his mentee Carisi in court for a second time. Wheatley later offers Barba a position within his organization, to which Barba turns down immediately. (SVU: "People Vs Richard Wheatley") Barba later meets Wheatley in jail and tells him he is free. Wheatley asks Barba again to come work for him and Barba says no again. (OC: "The Christmas Episode")

SVU wanted to get a good defense attorney for a domestic violence victim named Delia Hackman who killed her husband, Ty Hackman. Benson reached out to several other lawyers, including Rita Calhoun, Bayard Ellis, and Elana Barth, for help, but to no avail. Rollins however points out that Benson did not reach out to Barba, indicating that their relationship is still in a bad state after he defended Wheatley. Rollins then reached out to Barba on Delia's behalf and Benson thanked Barba at Forlini's for taking the case. After Barba gets Delia a plea deal, he meets with Benson again at Forlini's and she thanked him for defending her. She then told Barba she wished he hadn't defended Richard in court. Barba told Benson he was dead and asked why she felt more anger at him than she ever felt towards Stabler, to which Benson hotly responded that she had known him for 23 years and that he always had her back. Barba replied that Benson didn't have a father to protect her. Benson angrily said that this wasn't about Stabler or her father and that it was about how he betrayed her by defending Richard in court and not to tell her how to feel but Barba responded that in this case he could because he knows what it's like to love somebody unconditionally before telling her to contact him when she stopped feeling betrayed by him and proceeded to leave. Benson stopped Barba in his tracks and told him that she missed him too. Barba then left Forlini's, leaving an upset Benson alone. (SVU: "A Final Call At Forlini's Bar")

Personal Life[]

Barba reveals to Benson that he grew up with Alex Muñoz, Eddie Garcia (and possibly Yelina Muñoz) in the Bronx and that the three boys called themselves los tres mosqueteros de Jerome Avenue (the three musketeers of Jerome Avenue). It is implied that Rafael had affections for either Yelina as a teenager but that those feelings were never reciprocated and that Yelina and Alex were aware. (SVU: "October Surprise")

In this episode, the audience learns he gained a full scholarship to Harvard University.

He tells Benson at the end of the episode that growing up his mother told him to "stick close to Alex because he is going to be mayor of New York someday." She never said that about Rafael.

When talking to Nick Amaro, he mentions that he had a difficult relationship with his father and that Barba Sr. has been dead for the past 15 years. (SVU: "Padre Sandunguero")

It is mentioned that his mother works as the principal for a charter school. In the same episode his maternal 85-year-old grandmother, Catalina Diaz, dies in her apartment before he could move her to an assisted living facility. He feels responsible for her death. (SVU: "December Solstice")

Known clients[]

Interests[]

  • It appears that Barba enjoys skiing, as in "Presumed Guilty" it is mentioned that he goes to a ski resort in Gstaad, Switzerland for the Christmas holiday.
  • In "Her Negotiation", he tells the squad that he spent his weekend on a yacht.
  • In a deleted scene in "Manhattan Transfer", Barba stops watching an interrogation to go to the theater to watch Hamilton.
  • In "Dance, Lies and Video Tape", Benson tells the artistic director of the National Dance Institute that Barba is a fan.

Trivia[]

  • In the Season 17 premiere, he is still referred to an A.D.A. by his colleagues but the nameplate in his office lists him as the D.A.. This is because the nameplates were changed for all A.D.A.s.
  • Though Harry Connick, Jr. briefly preceded him in a recurring role as David Haden, Raúl Esparza is the first man to play an A.D.A. as a member of the main cast of SVU.
  • He surpassed Casey Novak, as longest-serving A.D.A. in the Law & Order franchise in Season 19.
  • His surname, Barba, means "beard" in Spanish.
  • He is called "Uncle Rafa" by Noah Porter-Benson.
  • He has met all members of the original squad, as of Season 23.
  • Barba played Little League as a child. It was highly likely he was a bad player as he made a comment comparing a disastrous case to "the RMS Titanic meets The Hindenburg meets my first year of Little League". (SVU: "Info Wars")
    • In contrast, his successor, Peter Stone, played in Major League Baseball until a bad injury cut his playing career short.
  • Barba is the first former main character on SVU to appear on Law & Order: Organized Crime, the second being Donald Cragen. This excludes Christian Garland who was currently a main character at the time of his appearance and Elliot Stabler who moved to OC as a main character.
  • Rafael is one of twelve main characters on SVU to recur or guest star before joining the main cast, the others being Monique Jeffries, Alexandra Cabot, George Huang, Melinda Warner, Chester Lake, Dominick Carisi, Jr., Peter Stone, Katriona Tamin, Christian Garland, Joe Velasco, and Grace Muncy. This excludes Odafin Tutuola who was not credited for his first appearance.

Appearances[]


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