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"Cold"
SVU, Episode 9.19
Production number: 9019
First aired: 13 May 2008
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Novak Cold
Written By
Judith McCreary

Directed By
David Platt

Summary[]

Detective Lake is accused of killing a police officer, and SVU soon discovers that he has been investigating a 10-year-old cold rape case without anyone's knowledge, a situation that leads to a violent showdown and also costs ADA Casey Novak.

Plot[]

Realizing they couldn't win the case, Lake looks to Novak who promised to re-charge Crane but her words give him little faith and he walks off.

At the precinct, Stabler tries to apologize to Fin but the latter rebukes this and hurls several heated insults at him. After Fin walks off, Munch hands Stabler papers that he reveals to Benson are Fin's request for transfer.

Novak meets with Donnelly and the latter berates her for her conduct on the trial that leaves her facing a lengthy suspension. These words leave Novak nearly bursting in tears before she gets a message. She tells Donnelly that she has to go.

It is shown that Crane has been murdered that night with shots to the head. The Detectives and Novak then watch as Lake is arrested presumably for committing the crime. As he is taken into custody, Lake solemnly looked at the other detectives and Novak without saying a word. The assembled group watch, as he is loaded into the police car that drives off.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Casey Novak: What are you selling, Brett?
Brett Smith: Criminal Defense.
Casey Novak: Yeah, hard to imagine.
Brett Smith: You've worked sex crimes longer than most and you're still passionate, we need you.
Casey Novak: Yeah, well, it's harder to care when your clients are guilty.
Brett Smith: Ours are accused of SEC violations, not diddling some 4-year-old on the playground.
Casey Novak: Look, I'm sorry. I have to go.
Brett Smith: No more late night calls, no more rape victims and dead kids. How do you sleep at night?
Casey Novak: I don't.

Donald Cragen: Tread easy. Everybody is already heated enough.

Tutuola: What's going on in Philly?
Lake: Really good cheesesteaks.

Lake: Are you interrogating me, detective?
Stabler: No. I'm watching you drown.

Warner: I see the circus is in town.
Stabler: What do you expect? When cops shoot each other, clowns come out. It's entertainment.

Tutuola: Do you know everything about Olivia?
Stabler: No, but I'd notice if she disappeared once a month.

Lake: I'm not used to sitting to take a leak.
Tutuola: That's the price of turning a vacant lot into the OK Corral.

Cragen: Olivia, Elliot... my office.
Novak: You think you could manage to read Detective Lake his rights?
Stabler: I miss something?
Novak: I specifically told you not to question him. He's under the 48-hour rule and shielded from interrogation.
Stabler: Don't worry. He didn't say anything.
Novak: Yeah, and lucky for you. Because if he talked, it would've been inadmissible and under immunity.
Stabler: Okay, so how are we supposed to put this down when most crimes are solved within the first 48?
Novak: You know what? That's not my problem. So you either follow orders, or just stay out of the way.

Tutuola: Dumping my phones was a bitch move, Stabler.
Stabler: Yeah, I called him. I didn't think he'd run.
Tutuola: You should've stayed out of it.
Benson: Take it easy.
Tutuola: He's my partner.
Stabler: Who you helped evade arrest.
Cragen: Dial it down or you're both going on report. Lake is not our problem anymore. The fugitive apprehension team will take it from here.
Tutuola: All those guys do is workout and shoot guns. They're gonna kill Lake.
Cragen: Well, that's not how FAT works, Detective.
Tutuola: Kralik's got a lot of friends on the street that'd like to see Lake dead. You gotta at least let me look.
Stabler: Where you gonna start? You don't even know the guy.
Tutuola: I know he didn't do it.
Stabler: Three bullet holes in the victim's back say different.
Tutuola: You ever think the force behind the first two spun Kralik? We're trained to keep firing till the subject is down.

Tutuola: News reports are saying Lake took a hostage. Who gave them that?
Stabler: How about your partner after he took Cecelia Cruz with a warrant on his ass?

Benson: All Lake had to do was ID the shooter.
Stabler: You can't be sure that he saw him. It was dark out, there were bullets flying.
Benson: What is your problem?
Stabler: He didn't trust us.
Benson: And maybe for good reason.
Stabler: Look, all the evidence pointed to his guilty.
Benson: Which means that we should've taken a hard look at Lake, not Fin.
Stabler: Oh, so I shouldn't have dumped his phones?
Benson: Fin's a straight shooter, Elliot. All you had to do was ask him. I think you need to make this right.

Stabler: [stopping Thomas Crane from shooting Lake] Squeeze that trigger, you'll be dead before the slug leaves the pipe.

Novak: The jury's looking at my witness like she did something wrong.
Waner: People feel strongly about immigration on both sides.
Novak: That's why your forensic testimony needs to be solid. Is this partial profile enough to say he's a match?
Warner: Yes, but it leaves you wide open on rebuttal.
Novak: Okay, why?
Warner: All human cells except platelets have 13 loci. The semen the lab tested presented only nine, which means it was significantly degraded.
Novak: I'll need probabilities as to the DNA match for Crane.
Warner: I can't give them with what we have.
Novak: Okay, without it, he walks. Thomas Crane raped and murdered a young girl, and we gave him the badge to hide behind while he did it.
Warner: I know what you want me to say, but the science doesn't support it.
Novak: When the defense gets these lab reports, they might have enough for reasonable doubt. Can you live with that?
Warner: If I have to, because I sure as hell won't risk my reputation for a verdict we didn't earn.

Donna Emmett: Two shooters. You must be a hard man to kill.
Chester Lake: Well, I was lucky.

Emmett: You call the lab to move the evidence. What were you told by the desk officer?
Lake: That I needed a boss to request it.
Emmett: Was that all you were told?
Lake: I don't recall.
Emmett: You weren't told that the evidence was too degraded and contaminated for testing?
Lake: No.
Emmett: Objection. Your Honor, I call for an immediate mistrial. There's a serious cover-up going on here, and I have proof that this witness perjured himself, and the prosecution violated Brady.
Novak: Your Honor, that's ridiculous. no one lied. Counsel is accusing my office of conspiracy in front of the jury just to score points.
Petrovsky: Enough! In my chambers now.

Stabler: Look, the situation got a little heated and I want to say I'm sorry about that.
Tutuola: You're a bulldog, Stabler. Quick to assume, slow to admit when you're wrong. Makes for a good cop, but a lousy human being.
Benson: Fin, hear him out.
Tutuola: Stay out of it, Liv. That being said, I know what it cost you.
Stabler: Appreciate that.
Tutuola: I'm not done. The problem is you will still be the same rat bastard tomorrow, and nothing you say will ever change that.

Background information and notes[]

  • This is the final appearance of Adam Beach as Detective Chester Lake.
  • This is also the final appearance of Diane Neal as a member of the main cast. She reappears as ADA Casey Novak as a guest in the episode "Reparations", the 21st episode of Season 12, and makes further guest appearances throughout Season 13.
  • Goof: Early in the episode, it is stated that Alisa's killer used a condom, but the rape kit contains a semen sample from Thomas Crane.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Mercy General Hospital
365 West 32nd Street
Tuesday, March 18

Office of the
Medical Examiner
Tuesday, March 18

Evidence Warehouse
Wednesday, March 19

4 5 6

Darraty's Fruit Packing
733 Hunts Point Avenue
Bronx, New York
Thursday, March 20

Stebor Clothing Designs
144 West 28th Street
Thursday, March 20

Kralik Residence
68 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, New York
Friday, March 21

7 8 9

Trial Part 46
Thursday, May 8

Trial Part 46
Friday, May 9

Chambers of
Judge Elizabeth Donnelly
Friday, May 9

Previous episode:
"Trade"
"Cold"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 9
Next episode:
"Trials"
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