Witness

"Witness"
←	SVU, Episode 11.16	→
Production number: 11016 First aired (US): 17 March 2010 First aired (UK): 25 June 2010 First aired (CAN): 19 March 2010 First aired (AUS): 10 June 2010
	{{{nNthProducedInSeries}}}th of 502 produced in SVU
←	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries}}}th of 502 released in SVU	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInAll}}}th of 1271 released in all
Written By Christine M. Torres & Dawn DeNoon Directed By David Platt

Plot[]

An attractive young woman, Lainie McAlister, is raped in her apartment building's stairwell, and Benson and Stabler investigate. After an unpleasant exchange with Jason Harris, a man that Lainie claims is her boyfriend, the detectives become suspicious that she might've fabricated her rape to get attention.

Their suspicions grow when she waits to reveal that there was an eyewitness. However, once Benson and Stabler track down the witness, they also find a telescope trained on Lainie's room. During her testimony, Lainie faints due to a staph infection, and dies soon after.

In order to bring her rapist, Bryce Kelton, to justice, Benson and Stabler must track down Nardalee Ulah, the witness who saw the attack and then disappeared because she fears being deported to her home nation, the Republic of the Congo, and the almost certain rape and violence that await her there.

Nardalee is found, and after hearing her story, Cabot vows that she won't let anything happen to her. In court, she is questioned by Kressler if she knows what rape looks like. She gives a background of her story and confirms that she does know what rape looks like. Her story garners many reactions from the jury. Afterwards, the jury has a verdict and Kelton is found not guilty on witness tampering and murder but was found guilty on the rape. He was stunned by this news before he was detained. Nardalee is also surprised that she put a rapist away.

After the case is over, Benson later pays Nardalee a visit, and delivers the news that Nardalee now has permanent residence in the U.S. with a specialized visa. Nardalee is extremely grateful, and she surprises Benson with news that she's returning to her homeland to help other Congolese women who have been raped.

Later, Cabot confirms that she's joining Nardalee, and is taking a leave of absence to work with a task force to bring justice for Congolese women who have been raped.

Summary[]

Episode summary

Cast[]

Main cast[]

• Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
• Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
• Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch
• Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
• Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
• B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang
• Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner (credit only)
• Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen

Recurring cast[]

• Lindsay Crouse as Judge D. Andrews
• Ned Eisenberg as Defense Attorney Roger Kressler
• Sean Cullen as I.C.E. Agent Brett Trask
• Anne James as Dr. Jane Larom
• Elizabeth Flax as Nurse Carey Hutchins

Guest cast[]

• Diora Baird as Lainie McCallum
• Eric Lange as Bryce Kelton
• Saidah Arrika Ekulona as Nardalee Ula
• Jonathan C. Kaplan as Daniel Stegman
• Molly Wright Stuart as Beth Stegman
• Ray DeMattis as Nestor
• Zachary Spicer as Jason Harris
• Elisabeth A. Furtado as Rosie
• Joe Gately as Detention Officer
• Jonathan Miles as I.C.E. Agent #1
• Christine Fuchs as Juror #1
• Norma Chu as Asian Woman
• Peter Vilim as Soccer Boy
• William H. Burns as P.O. Sanchez
• Joel Bernard as Lounge Lizard
• Jonathan Stewart as Jury Foreperson

References[]

• Congo
• Jack McCoy

Quotes[]

Stabler: She's practically got a sex shop in there.

Benson: She is 24 and single.

Tutuola: So this unknown woman jumps into the middle of a violent rape, possibly saves the girl's life and Lainie doesn't even send help.

Munch: No good deed goes unpunished.

Cragen: Job one, find this woman.

Tutuola: Last Lainie saw her, she was hand to hand combat with a knife-wielding maniac.

Cragen: Check the surrounding precincts and hospitals. Check the morgue.

Munch: Assuming she actually exists.

Tutuola: Are you calling our victim a liar?

Munch: Well, did anyone think it's odd she didn't mention this Good Samaritan until six hours after the fact?

Tutuola: Usually, when someone inserts a fictional Black person into their story, they make them the bad guy.

Nardalee: The women in my village were raped. The women in the militia camp were raped. I was raped repeatedly by so many men I lost count. They put their guns in my sex and one of them pulled the trigger. I was in the hospital for over a year. It left me incontinent. So yes, I have seen rape everywhere. That is how I know that girl was raped.

Background information and notes[]

• This is the last appearance of ADA Alexandra Cabot until the season 13 premiere, "Scorched Earth".
• Even without knowing the timeframe of this episode, for someone to have MRSA diagnosed and then die so quickly after initial treatment would mean the antibiotics administered to the patient by the hospital were among the medications the particular strain of infection was immune to. This episode was filmed before there was a strong crackdown against community-squired MRSA, which is likely why the doctors caught the infection too late. If a patient were to go into the hospital with a similar wound and symptoms today, she would be swabbed when she is first seen for treatment, and thus, the infection could have been caught earlier.

Episode scene cards[]