Recap: The billionaire CEO of a private military security company (I didn’t catch its name – let’s call it SmackWater) is drugged, kidnapped, sodomized, and left alive but half-naked and bound in a park. The initial suspects are some scruffy Occupy Wall Street protestors, but our detectives soon track the crime to a clean-cut man whose military daughter was gang-raped by four SmackWater employees while she was working in Iraq. The daughter went to a party and was drugged and gang-raped so brutally she can no longer have children. After the rape, the company locked her in an interrogation room for 72 hours, before one kindly guard finally allowed her to call Dad. The U.S. government won’t do anything about the crime because “this company’s got a lot of juice in Washington.” Dad admits he sodomized the CEO with a baton in order to exact his own vigilante justice.
Cpt. Cragen tells the detectives not to go investigating a gang rape that took place outside their jurisdiction, but come on, Olivia’s not going to let that go! With the help of Harry Connick, Jr. (looking dapper as a DA), our detectives hone in on SmackWater. They talk to the army doctor who performed the sex kit on the woman in Iraq. At first, the doc says she witnessed the after-effects of a brutal rape. But when she’s called to the Grand Jury, she does a 180 and claims she doesn’t remember that particular case at all.
The SmackWater CEO is clearly behind this change of heart. He shows up at the police station in a tux and threatens Harry in front of three police officer. “Is this the battle you want?” the CEO snarls. “Because war is my business. And business is good.” (Hm. With all the legal advice this CEO was getting from his voluptuous lawyer, I’m surprised she didn’t tell him, “If you’re going to threaten a DA, do it outside the presence of the NYPD.”)
Immediately thereafter, Dad is shanked in prison, the kindly guard is killed with vodka, Olivia’s apartment is ransacked, and the daughter is brutally attacked in her workplace.
The war is on.
But these quasi-military types are no match for our good detectives. Nick and Ice-T skillfully flip one of the contractors, who finally admits that the CEO gave orders for the daughter to be held and the evidence of her rape destroyed in Iraq. The CEO and all his cronies are finally led away in handcuffs.
Sobbing with joy, the daughter joyfully calls Dad. “We did it!” she exults. (Emphasis on the we.) Nick and Olivia exchange a glance. Although the daughter has just incriminated herself in the CEO-sodomizing activities, SVU gives her a pass. (Another woman behind a sex crime! Check out my nits and some readers’ thoughtful comments about this very topic from last week’s show.)
In the final scene, Harry and Olivia, who have been flirting all episode, kiss on a street corner. Go Olivia! She seriously needs some Elliot-rebound action. But when a taxi pulls up, Harry bundles her into it, and she heads home alone. Curses.
Verdict: B-
What they got right: This was similar to the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, a female contractor with the private security company KBR, who claimed she was drugged and gang-raped four days after the company sent her to Iraq. She also claimed KBR held her in shipping crate for days before allowing her to report the crime to the authorities, and that KBR took other steps to hide the assault. No criminal prosecution was brought, but Jones sued KBR civally in federal court (the facts were more muddled at trial). Jones lost, and is now on the hook for KBR’s legal fees.
There have been all kinds of allegations against employees from companies like KBR and Blackwater, for crimes ranging from the mundane to mass murder. Charges have not come quickly, in part because of the difficultly of prosecuting crimes committed by non-military Americans on foreign soil. Unlike US soldiers, private security companies are not accountable under military law, and there is debate about whether and to what extent American and international criminal and civil laws apply to private defense contractors. As the government continues to use private contractors to conduct our wars, we need new and stronger laws to address the crimes their employees commit.
The scene where the doctor suddenly lied in the Grand Jury was also spot-on. I’ve had countless cases where a witness told me one thing one day, then gave a completely different story under oath in the Grand Jury. Often, they were blackmailed or threatened, just like the doctor here. And sometimes those witnesses were charged with perjury.
What they got wrong:
Actual times a CEO in a tuxedo has shown up in a police station = 0.
In an actual investigation, this case would have ended after they arrested Dad for sodomizing the CEO. “He doesn’t want us looking into what happened in Iraq,” Amanda said. “Neither do I,” Cragen answered wearily. That would have been it, no more paperwork, no more commercial breaks. Most police officers will take any legitimate excuse to stop working on a case. They’ve got enough crime taking place down the street to keep them completely overworked. No officer’s looking for a creative way to get himself onto a cold case that happened in Iraq.
That brings me to my biggest complaint. What was up with the corporate crime spree? At the beginning this company was facing one very old, very difficult-to-prove sexual assault, which the feds had declined and the Manhattan DA didn’t have jurisdiction to prosecute. To cover up that incredibly weak case, the company: (1) threatened Harry, (2) killed the guard, (3) tried to kill Dad, (4) assaulted the daughter, (5) burglarized Olivia’s home and (6) destroyed her property. The mayhem was obviously and traceably perpetrated by SmackWater, which is now on the hook for homicide and obstruction of justice, among other things. In the real world, this company would have fought the caseby deploying an army of pinstriped but nevertheless ferocious lawyers.
One final thing they got wrong: letting Olivia ride away in that taxi alone.
James Pollock says
19 January, 2012 at 4:47 pm“Sobbing with joy, the daughter joyfully calls Dad. “We did it!” she exults. (Emphasis on the we.) Nick and Olivia exchange a glance. Although the daughter has just incriminated herself in the CEO-sodomizing activities, SVU gives her a pass.”
How does this exchange incriminate the daughter in anything?
Allison Leotta says
19 January, 2012 at 5:01 pmI thought it was implied that she helped carry out the CEO kidnapping/sexual assault with her father. Am I the only one who read that into her conversation with Dad at the end?
Josh says
19 January, 2012 at 6:10 pmHow did you get THAT from her telling her father that? Her father commited a criminal activity against them. But how was she behind it just because she told him about her experience? I didn’t see that at all.
James Pollock says
19 January, 2012 at 6:48 pmI didn’t see anything that made her complicit in her father’s attack on the CEO.
Allison Leotta says
21 January, 2012 at 5:31 pmMaybe I read too much into that final statement. We need a blog for what I’m getting right and wrong. James, I’m putting you in charge. 🙂
James Pollock says
21 January, 2012 at 6:26 pmOh. In that case, putting me in charge was wrong. 🙂
Allison Leotta says
21 January, 2012 at 6:32 pmThere you go, your first entry! 🙂
Josh says
20 January, 2012 at 4:46 amBTW I didn’t get the chance to say that I’m a big fan of your blog Allison. It’s nice to have a former sex crimes prosecutor who watches the show, and can also give even handed criticisms of it.
I agree that the biggest criticism about this episode was the crimes that Smackwater committed in the states. The only one I can understand is them killing George Coleman (their only witness beisdes the girl as to what happened). Everything else they did felt like it was done with the kind of tactical brilliance that would make the french army stand up and applaud.
The other thing I had a problem with. According to them they could prosecute the CEO in the states, since he made the call to cover it up from New York.
My question to you is this, Is it true they could’ve prosecuted the CEO in the states IF he made the call to covering up a crime in Iraq from NYC?
Allison Leotta says
21 January, 2012 at 6:02 pmHey Josh, thanks, I’m so glad you like the blog! Love the French army poke. Yes, they could have prosecuted the CEO for covering up the crime from NY. The rape in Iraq was a crime which the feds could have chosen to prosecute (although they didn’t, citing the lack of physical evidence and the survivor’s spotty memory). Trying to cover that up would constitute obstruction of justice, and the fact that he did it in NY would give the NY cops jurisdiction to investigate. And, of course, they could prosecute all the other state crimes (murder, assault, burglary) that the company committed in the course of the cover up.
Alenna says
20 January, 2012 at 1:57 pmI believe the name of the private military security contractor was “Battle Tested”. There was definitely a problem with jurisdiction in this episode – I believe the U.S. federal courts would have any criminal jurisdiction over contractors, although this episode brings up a good point in that there is no real law regarding crimes committed by contractors in a war zone.
I kind of liked this episode but I kind of hated it also. I was in the military (Army) years ago, so I always see the military-portrayal problems. A couple of things that bothered me about this episode:
1. Amaro’s wife is back from deployment. He didn’t pick her up at the airport? He didn’t take time off from his job to be with her? I mean I know the NYPD is busy, but I don’t think they are heartless. Also, she’s not going to be threatened by a contractor. An active duty military person would report something like that to her chain-of-command and there would be an investigation – from the Army. Contractors don’t threaten military members, especially those on active duty. The military has bigger weapons.
2. The doctor. The way the story went, she was in the military in Iraq, then (I assume) she got out and became a civilian VA doctor. In the story she became “intimidated” by the Battle Tested contractor and quit the VA to move to Bahrain. Bizzaro really. One doesn’t just pack-up and move to a Middle-East country in a day. Did she just happen to have a Bahraini work-visa in her pocket? Military medical facilities don’t accept contractors, except in the case of real emergency. If the girl who was raped and went to an actual military medical unit, there would be a record somewhere – not just with the doctor. The doctor also would not be “physically” threatened by a contractor. Maybe with lawyers and a lawsuit, but contractors are not like organized crime groups. In fact this whole contractor-intimidation thing was way over-the-top.
It was nice to see Olivia Benson smiling.
kimsch says
20 January, 2012 at 10:47 pmMy favorite part of the episode was seeing Olivia’s smile in the cab. She hasn’t been happy in a long time.
Allison Leotta says
21 January, 2012 at 6:15 pmAlenna, Kimsch, I agree: it was very nice to see Olivia have a little happiness. It’s been a while.
Alenna, great point about Nick and his wife on leave. How about some flowers, right? And I thought it was crazy that the army was sending her back to the middle east when a military contractor had put a threat out on her life.
And, yeah, there should have been more records at the military base about the rape kit, not just the doctor’s memory. Maybe Battle Tested (good catch!) stole the records in addition to the rape kit? But with computerization of medical records, it would be hard to completely erase the visit. And, you’re right, I don’t think the private contractor would physically threaten witnesses in the States. Most threats to witnesses in the U.S. comes during drug and mob cases. A company relying on contracts with the federal government would not get far if they started hurting witnesses as part of their business plan.
David DeLee says
20 January, 2012 at 2:35 pmI have to say I enjoyed this episode, though I agree Battle Tested’s response to cover up the rapes was over the top and not very realistic.
I also was wondering about that whole jurisdictional tie-in thing, making it a N.Y. crime. Forget that the detectives would never pursue it, it seems to me the best you could hope for would be a conspiracy charge or obstruction.
Also agree its nice to see a little happiness come Olivia’s way, hope it lasts. And finally, Allison, I see your new book is available for pre-order on Amazon. much good luck with it.
David
Allison Leotta says
21 January, 2012 at 6:18 pmHey David, nice to see you here! See my answer, above, about the jurisdiction. Lucky for our good detectives, the company went ballistic and gave them a lot more crimes to work with, far above and beyond obstruction of justice.
Congrats on all the great reviews you’ve been getting! Hope the muse is with you today.
James Pollock says
21 January, 2012 at 6:29 pmI think the point of pursuing the obstruction charge was to get the federal prosecutor(s) to re-examine their prosecutorial discretion… the company has juice in Washington, but that juice would dry up if the charges became well-known.