Abbie Carmichael

Abigail "Abbie" Carmichael was an Assistant District Attorney from 1994 to 2001. From 1998 to 2001, she worked in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office as Jack McCoy's assistant. She is from Texas.

Biography[]

In 1998, she transferred from the Narcotics Bureau to replace Jamie Ross as McCoy's assistant in the New York County DA's office. She attended the University of Texas, where she was on the track team.

Carmichael is a staunch political conservative: She is pro-life, opposes gun control, favors the death penalty, and has little to no faith in criminal rehabilitation programs. These political beliefs often put her in conflict with McCoy, Adam Schiff and Nora Lewin, all of whom are of a more liberal stripe.

In the episode "Punk", Carmichael's prosecution of an incarcerated woman (who had murdered a corrections officer she claims had forced her into a sexual relationship) affects her political outlook. Carmichael, who had prosecuted the woman before on a drug charge, has no sympathy for her and seems hell-bent on putting her in prison for life — until she cross-examines the woman, who reveals that she blames herself for being raped. This strikes a chord in Carmichael, who suddenly arranges a lenient plea bargain for the woman. Carmichael later reveals to McCoy that she had been raped as a freshman in college by a third-year law student she had been dating.

In the 1999 episode "Refuge", her friend and fellow ADA, Toni Ricci, is murdered by the Russian mobsters she was prosecuting. It's the only time during Carmichael's tenure in the DA's office that she lets anyone see her cry.

Carmichael makes her final appearance in the episode "Deep Vote", as she is replaced by Serena Southerlyn.

Carmichael also made appearances in the spinoff series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit until 2000, when Alexandra Cabot was introduced as a regular character.

She left the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in 2001 to take a job in the United States Attorney's office.

Appearances[]

• Law & Order (3 seasons, 72 episodes):
  • Season 9: "Cherished" • "DWB" • "Bait" • "Flight" • "Agony" • "Scrambled" • "Venom" • "Punk" • "True North" • "Hate" • "Ramparts" • "Haven" • "Hunters" • "Sideshow" • "Disciple" • "Harm" • "Shield" • "Juvenile" • "Tabula Rasa" • "Empire" • "Ambitious" • "Admissions" • "Refuge (1)" • "Refuge (2)"
  • Season 10: "Gunshow" • "Killerz" • "DNR" • "Merger" • "Justice" • "Marathon" • "Patsy" • "Blood Money" • "Sundown" • "Loco Parentis" • "Collision" • "Mother's Milk" • "Panic" • "Entitled" • "Fools For Love" • "Trade This" • "Black, White and Blue" • "Mega" • "Surrender Dorothy" • "Untitled" • "Narcosis" • "High & Low" • "Stiff" • "Vaya Con Dios"
  • Season 11: "Endurance" • "Turnstile Justice" • "Dissonance" • "Standoff" • "Return" • "Burn, Baby, Burn" • "Amends" • "Thin Ice" • "Hubris" • "Whose Monkey is it Anyway?" • "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" • "Teenage Wasteland" • "Phobia" • "A Losing Season" • "Swept Away - A Very Special Episode" • "Bronx Cheer" • "Ego" • "White Lie" • "Whiplash" • "All My Children" • "Brother's Keeper" • "School Daze" • "Judge Dread" • "Deep Vote"

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1 season, 6 episodes):
  • Season 1: "Payback" • "A Single Life" • "Sophomore Jinx" • "Closure (Part I)" • "Bad Blood" • "Entitled"