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Reverend Curtis Scott is a priest who is heavily involved in Special Victims Unit cases in which he believes minorities are being treated unfairly. He is notorious for using the media to spread his message across for the people for whom he is advocating.

History[]

Curtis is first seen at the hospital after Mehcad Carter is shot and later defends him when he is accused of serial rape. After Mehcad is cleared and his shooter Jolene Castille is charged with his murder, he testifies at his trial about Mehcad's character. He later accuses ADA Rafael Barba of not protecting Mehcad's reputation while the opposing counsel slandered him. Curtis is later seen outside the courtroom when Jolene is found not guilty and Mehcad's parents subsequently urge their supporters not to riot and to let this go. (SVU: "American Tragedy")

He is seen toasting Senator Alex Muñoz, who is running for the office of Mayor, and declaring his support for him. When Munoz is later arrested for sexting with a 15-year-old, Curtis berates Barba that he threw away New York's best chance at urban renewal because of "a zipper problem". Barba informed him that he had nothing to do with it and the case was out of his hands.(SVU: "October Surprise")

Reverend Scott arrives at the hospital and talks with NYPD about the shooting

When Detective Amaro shoots a kid named Yusef Barré thinking he was shooting at him and another officer, Curtis immediately assumes it is racially motivated, thinking Amaro shot him with the knowledge that Yusef didn't have a gun. He and Captain Cragen argue over the incident and Curtis eventually leaves, warning Cragen that everyone is watching them and they can't cover this up. He is later seen at a press conference and makes a statement implying Yusef's death was a racially motivated shooting and the new administration had better send a clear message with Amaro. Curtis is then later seen with Yusef and his family and friends as they get ready to testify. When the grand jury decides not to indict Amaro, Amaro comes over to try to talk to Yusef, but Curtis stops him and they all walk away from him. (SVU: "Amaro's One-Eighty")

Curtis is seen again when an Arabian woman named Heba Salim is raped when he immediately tells Amaro's partner, Benson in her office that she was raped because of her appearance. He continues to push the hate crime angle of the rape and tells them that the community doesn't trust the NYPD, only him because they need to listen to him. He reluctantly works alongside Barba in reassuring the family, but is infuriated when he finds out a reporter is asking about the incident. When the reporter, Jimmy MacArthur, reports that Heba lied about being raped, Curtis gathers a group of people and reporters to voice his outrage at Heba's revictimization at the hands of the press and the NYPD. He and Jimmy argue on camera about the whole incident, which incites the crowd. When a video of the rape is discovered, Curtis is called in with Heba to discuss her possibility of testifying against her rapists. Curtis then tells Benson that he will discuss it with the family. (SVU: "Criminal Stories")

Curtis later comes to another man's defense when a man named A.J. Martin is accused of striking his baby's mother at the time, Paula. He is seen at a press conference where Paula defends A.J. and claims that him hitting her was not his fault and she is not a victim. He later testifies at A.J.'s trial and conveys that A.J. is a good man and isn't capable of hurting Paula. When Barba cross-examines him, he goes after the fact that he has only seen A.J. at his best and refuses to see his bad side. When the jury returns with a guilty verdict, he is shocked and escorts Paula to the elevator. There, he listens to her tell off the SVU that what they did was worse then what he did. (SVU: "Spousal Privilege")

He was seen again leading his congregation in prayer. After he is finished, Michelle Thompson comes up to speak with him. She confesses to him that she lied about her father raping her and asks him to contact an attorney named Bayard Ellis to help prove it. He visits Derek Thompson in prison with Ellis, where they explain his plan to argue that Derek had ineffective counsel at the trial through evidence the SVU dug up and that they have a good shot at winning. When their motion is denied, Curtis talks with Michelle and her brother Will with Benson about a possible relationship between their mother and the investigating officer. They bring this new evidence to court, where they are granted a retrial and Curtis celebrates with everyone else. He tries to encourage Derek to take a plea but he refuses and they go to trial. Derek is eventually found not guilty and Curtis celebrates with Will and Ellis, with Benson starting to doubt the original recant statement. (SVU: "Perverted Justice")

When three NYPD officers shoot an unarmed black man, Terrance Reynolds, in pursuit of a rape suspect, Scott leads a protest claiming too many African-American people have died at the hands of police. He later accompanies Terrance's parents and their attorney, Louis Henderson, to Barba's office to check on the status of the investigation. While there, they run into Deputy Commissioner Abraham, who informs them that the officers involved are being suspended. When Scott asks if it is without pay, Abraham says it is a union issue and leaves Barba's office as they discuss the case with Barba. Scott and Barba agree that the truth is most important in this case, but Scott expresses doubt as to whether the grand jury can see the truth based on past cases and has caused the people to lose faith in them. They then inform Barba that they will be running a parallel investigation into Terrance's death to get more people talking for those who don't trust the police. Barba cautions that all evidence should be turned over to him, but Henderson and Scott state that they will do what is best for the Reynolds family and get justice. As they leave, Scott mentions how he and Barba are sick of all the killings and that it is time for someone to send a message. He then offers his sympathies for being put in such an awful position.

When a grand jury is convened to investigate, Scott, the Reynolds family, and Henderson all stand in front of the courthouse. Scott and Henderson give a speech at a press conference suggesting the police officers killed Terrance in cold blood. Didi Denzler and Lorenzo Desappio, the officers' delegate and attorney, respectively, give a speech defending their clients' actions but the crowd behind Scott and Henderson is noticeably bigger. When the jury votes to indict two of the involved officers for manslaughter while indicting the third for reckless endangerment, Scott and Henderson hold another press conference stating they are satisfied for now, but adding that this is just the first step toward justice. (SVU: "Community Policing")

Appearances[]

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