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| “ | I just wanted her to stop crying. Was that too much to ask? | „ |
| ~ Jamie's excuse for beating Emily into a coma. |
Jamie Huntington is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Legacy". She is the abusive mother of 7-year-old Emily McKenna, who beats and sexually abuses her daughter so severely that the girl is left in a permanent coma.
She was portrayed by Jennifer Dundas.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Jamie is the daughter of Avery Huntington, a wealthy, influential U.S. Ambassador, and his wife Lois. Avery molested Jamie when she was a child. Children's Services briefly investigated him, but he used his connections to make the investigation go away. Lois, meanwhile, blamed Jamie for her own abuse and shipped her off to boarding school to correct her "discipline problem".
After her father's death, Jamie began numbing her pain with amphetamines, soon becoming addicted. Lois sent Jamie to rehab, where she met Denny Corea, a Cuban immigrant teaching dance classes at the same community center that hosted her NA meetings. They fell in love, which displeased Lois, who looked down upon him both for his race and his working class background. Jamie and Denny broke up shortly after Jamie gave birth to Emily, and Lois supported Denny's petition for sole custody, reasoning that Jamie was in no condition to raise a child.
After getting sober, Jamie married wealthy investment banker Randall McKenna, and became stepmother to his son Justin from his previous marriage. Jamie and Randall then had a son of their own whom they named Michael, who suffered from a learning disability and could not speak. Jamie was still full of pain and rage from her abuse, however, and took it out on Emily by hitting, spanking, and sexually abusing her. Believing McKenna to be Emily's abuser, Denny attacked him, which terminated his parental rights.
That night, while they were driving home, Emily told Jamie that Denny was planning to take her with him to Cuba. Enraged, Jamie shoved Emily headfirst into a curb. When they got home, she "disciplined" Emily with the hairbrush like her father had done to her. When Emily started crying, Jamie became angry again and threw her against a wall.
"Legacy"[]
When Jamie tries to wake Emily for school the following morning, she finds her unresponsive and takes her to the hospital, where she is pronounced to be in a coma. Denny also arrives there, and the two accuse each other of abusing Emily. The NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigates, and finds that neither Denny nor McKenna hurt Emily.
Jamie tries to frame Justin, saying that she saw him standing over Emily's bed the night before she was hospitalized. However, Detective John Munch is suspicious of her, noting that her affect is wrong for someone whose family is falling apart. He and his partner, Detective Fin Tutuola, investigate, and find out that Jamie had a year earlier taken Emily to the hospital with vaginal bleeding, and gave a fake name and address to avoid prosecution. They consult with forensic psychologist Emil Skoda, who says that Jamie is motivated to hurt, or even kill, her own daughter to get the attention and sympathy she craves.
Munch invites Jamie to the squad room, and reveals that a friend of his in Children's Services gave him the file on the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. He feigns sympathy for her, and then lies and says that Emily had come out of her coma and told them everything. Jamie tearfully confesses to what she did to her daughter, claiming that she did not mean to hurt her. Jamie is then imprisoned for abusing Emily, who is in a persistent coma.
External links[]
- Jamie Huntington on the Law & Order Wiki
