In Season 24, Episode 2 of NBC's iconic series Law & Order, Mariska Hargitay returns as the fearless Olivia Benson, caught in a moral dilemma as she defends a murder suspect. When Benson learns from Brady (Maura Tierney) and Price (Hugh Dancy) that DNA from the suspect’s rape kit was used as evidence in the case, she faces the difficult task of balancing justice for the victim with her own ethical convictions. As tensions rise and legal strategies unfold, this gripping episode challenges the boundaries of justice and loyalty, giving viewers a powerful, emotionally charged moment in the series.
Law & Order Cast:
Hugh Dancy, Attorney Vega, Odelya Halevi, Jeffrey Donovan, Tony Goldwyn, Camryn Manheim and Mehcad Brooks
Stream Law & Order Season 24 now on Peacock!
Law & Order Cast:
Hugh Dancy, Attorney Vega, Odelya Halevi, Jeffrey Donovan, Tony Goldwyn, Camryn Manheim and Mehcad Brooks
Stream Law & Order Season 24 now on Peacock!
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TVTranscript
00:00Jess. Nolan. Do you have a minute?
00:07So, um, Laura Kingsbury's mother called me and said that you booked her for this Central Park shooting?
00:14And I'm just, I'm trying to make sense of this. I know this woman, and she's not a killer, she's actually a victim.
00:23Of what?
00:24Of rape.
00:26Laura Kingsbury was brutally raped. I probably haven't talked to her for a year at least, but back then I helped her and her family navigate an extraordinarily difficult time.
00:39Because no one would listen to her.
00:42We didn't know about the sexual assault.
00:45Because they never took her report. That's how this whole thing started.
00:48I understand, but that doesn't change what happened three years later.
00:51But what I'm trying to say is that something's not right here. I think there's some sort of a mistake.
00:56There's no mistake. We're all pros here. We're all on the same line of work.
01:02The evidence is there. We found the murder weapon in her apartment, her DNA on the victim's wallet.
01:06DNA? Why would her DNA even be in the federal database?
01:10It wasn't. We ran it through the local.
01:13The local database? So that's how you connected her to the wallet?
01:18Correct.
01:20The only reason that she's in that database is because she was raped.
01:25Because she gave us a sample for her rape kit.
01:28We have to use every tool available to catch killers, and the database is helpful. It helps us close cases, murder cases, sexual assault cases.
01:37I understand that, but I have fought this fight before, and I think that we can all agree that that database is an ethical mess.
01:46That's your opinion.
01:47No, that is a fact. If Laura Kingsbury knew that her DNA was being used in this capacity, who knows what she would have done or not done.
01:55And that is the real problem. If word gets out, if women find out that their DNA is being used in some rogue database,
02:04they might not come forward. They might not consent to a rape kit.
02:08It's not ideal. I agree, but Laura's case is highly unusual,
02:13and the majority of sexual assault victims do not end up in the local database.
02:17These are all valid points, noble arguments, but none of it changes the fact that Laura Kingsbury murdered someone.
02:23We have the evidence, and that evidence is legal.
02:28Well, let's see what a judge has to say about that.