| "Justice" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 3.19 | → |
| Production number: E2331 First aired: 5 April 2002 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen Directed By Juan José Campanella | ||
The death of the stepdaughter of a prominent Judge becomes complicated when her relationships with several sex offenders are revealed.
Plot
A teen with no ID found beaten dies in ER. Benson & Stabler spend all day trying to identify the victim, who turns out to be the stepdaughter of a local judge. Further investigation reveals the victim to have become a mother four years ago, and be a pen pal of inmates sent to prison by her stepfather.
Summary
A girl is found almost beaten to death. She is rushed to the hospital, but dies a few minutes after going into surgery. Elliot finds the girl's jacket and a bottle of Percocet belonging to Emily Porter. They track down Mrs. Porter and her daughter confesses she sold the pills to a dealer in the park.
Fin busts the dealer and he tells Fin the dead girl bought the drugs and went to a motel nearby. The motel receptionist recognizes the girl, and says she met an older man at the reception, they argued and he dragged her into his room. Olivia and Elliot search the room, but the room hasn't been cleaned in a long time, so any fluids they find there are useless.
They find an expensive hat and it's exclusively made for one store. The store says the hat was shoplifted and even have the picture of the girl in their black book, but no name. The manager says they pressed charges and give them the police officer's name. Stabler and Benson learn from the arresting officer that the girl is Patricia Stephens, the step-daughter of Judge Walt Thornburg.
The judge turns out to be an old friend of Captain Cragen and he decides to step in the investigation and notify the family. Judge Thornburg tells the Captain that Patricia was a troubled child ever since he married her mother and she was sent to a boarding school at age twelve, but was back at home for almost a year now.
The detectives consult with the nuns at her private school and they tell them she was rebellious and acted out by skipping school and cutting herself. Her only friend at the school tells them she had been pen-palling with convicts. ADA Cabot realizes all the convicts Patricia was corresponding with were sent to jail by Judge Thornburg.
Meanwhile Benson and Stabler are notified that the judge has just been shot outside his house. They both go to the hospital and talk to his wife, she says she didn't see anyone, she just heard the shot. Benson asks her if she ever heard her daughter mention the name Thomas Gordon, one of the convicts she was writing to.
Fin and Elliot talk to Thomas's parole officer, his employer and co-workers. One of them says Thomas borrowed his van and didn't return it yet. Captain Cragen puts an APB on the van. Benson finds the van and a gun inside it and they take it to the lab to match it with the bullet from the judge. Stabler and Fin arrest Thomas and the lab matches his DNA to the one found in Patricia. The gun is also a match to the one in the judge.
Thomas tells them Patricia was the one that started to write to him, promising sex when he got out of prison. They met in the motel the day she was murdered, he says she was supposed to give him percosed in exchange of a favor. She said she would have sex with him if he killed the judge. He claims she was alive and well when he left.
At Patrica's funeral, Benson and Stabler talk to Patricia's aunt and she tells them Patricia was never in boarding school, she was in a kid's correctional facility. Fin talks to the director and discovers Patricia was sent there when she was twelve years old to conceal a pregnancy. The detectives confront her mother and she says Patricia never told who the father of the baby was, she says Patricia told her she didn't know who the father was.
They investigate and find out that the judge's adopted son has the same birth date as Patricia's son. They suspect Patricia was sexually abused by the judge and the boy is his son. ADA Cabot gets a warrant to get the boy's DNA and run a paternity test. The test is done and it proves that Judge Thornburg had sex with Patricia and is the father of her son.
Captain Cragen talks to the judge and he still denies he killed Patricia. Stabler and Benson go to the lab and find a fingerprint in the bottle that killed Patricia. It turns out to be Mrs. Thornburg's. They confront her and she confesses she went after her when the school called, they had an argument about her pregnancy and Patricia finally told her who the father was, she says she snapped and hit her with the bottle.
Cast
Main cast
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch (credit only)
- Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast
- Daniel Sunjata as CSU Technician Burt Trevor
- Judith Light as Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly
Guest cast
- Valerie Mahaffey as Brooke Thornburg
- Welker White as Erin
- Michael Luggio as Tony Degalio
- Keir Dullea as Judge Walter Thornburg
- Myk Watford as Tommy Gordon
- Jamie Hector as Doc
- Cloie Wyatt Taylor as Mary Elizabeth
- Clarke Thorell as Officer Darrell Slater
- Gina Nagy as Sharlene Degalio
- Kim Cea as Strip Club Manager
- Julia Barnett as Sheila
- Liz McCartney as D.A.T. Clerk
- Glenn Turner as Desk Clerk
- Kathleen Goldpaugh as Sister Kay
- Libby George as Beth Fischer
- Steve Beauchamp as Parole Officer Trowers
- Jana Robbins as Emily Porter
- Bonnie Dennison as Heather Porter
- Jessica Lancaster as Sales Associate
- Ryan David McKinney as Store Manager Lauden
- Brendan O'Malley as Uniform Officer
- Michael Voyer as Doctor
- Anthony Urban as Frank
- Mike Creo as Gordy
- Sylvia Dohi as Nurse #1
- Sally Stewart as Nurse #3
- Michael Hollick as Paramedic
- Larry Brustofski as Businessman
References
Tricia Thornburg, Brian Thornburg
Quotes
"So it's true?"
"Don't tell me this has already hit the court house grape vine?"
"This is huge!"
"Well, we're off to notify the parents before Channel 5 does."
- - Alexandra Cabot, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler
"They're seven ninety-five."
"Well, she managed to find the only affordable thing in here."
"That'd be seven hundred and ninety-five."
"Oh, well, that'll max out your credit card."
- - Store Clerk, Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson
"Are you the mother of Emily Porter?"
"No, I am Emily Porter."
"Need I remind you that I am responsible for the integrity of this entire bureau?"
"A judge has used the power of the court to further his own agenda. If the light we shine on him isn't brighter than the light we shine on the public, then this bureau has no integrity."
- - Elizabeth Donnelly and Alexandra Cabot
"Thornburg? One of the most respected jurists in the state?"
"Which doesn't mean squat to me if he raped an 11-year-old girl."
- - Donald Cragen and Elliot Stabler
Background information and notes
- Actor Richard Belzer doesn't appear as Detective John Munch in this episode.
- The episode title "Justice" was also used for the Law & Order tenth season episode, "Justice (L&O)".
Episode scene cards
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Destination |
Desk Appearance |
St. Monica's Academy |
Thornburg Residence |
New York City |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Eager Beavers Strip Club |
Monohan's Funeral Home |
Westchester Residential |
Office of Special Victims Unit |
| Previous episode: "Guilt" |
"Justice" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 3 |
Next episode: "Greed" |