(male announcer) In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Why didn't Annie's parents call Mommy to come get you?
They did.
The phone just kept on ringing and ringing.
She must be asleep.
When are you moving back in with us?
Soon...I hope, Tommy.
Even though we're not together right now,
Mommy and I love you very, very much.
You know that, don't you?
Mm-hmm.
Can you stay over tonight?
I'll make you a deal.
You go straight to bed, and I'll tuck you in,
and read you your favorite story.
What do you say?
Okay. Okay.
Ugh! Ah!
[gasp]
Mommy!
Wake up! Mommy!
Mommy! Mommy!
[alarm]
The father, Sidney Truex, is still unconscious at Mercy.
Sidney Truex, the mob attorney?
That's right.
What happened?
Blunt force trauma to the head.
Security company said they found him on the floor
when they responded to the panic button.
House alarm didn't go off?
Wasn't activated.
Either Mr. Truex turned it off, or his wife forgot to set it.
Dispatch said she was raped?
Raped, sodomized, and bludgeoned.
She slowly bled to death.
Any DNA?
Not with the way he assaulted her.
He used this candlestick to penetrate her.
Guy's got anger issues. Forensics?
Partial bloody print.
CSU says it's from a tennis shoe.
Does anyone else live here?
A daughter, Charlotte. 16.
But she's not home.
At 1:00 in the morning.
The son, Tommy, says she was spending the weekend
at a friend's house.
Okay, Tommy see the attacker?
He's pretty traumatized.
Patrol held off interviewing him till you got here.
Where is he now?
[knocking lightly]
Hi, Tommy.
My name is Olivia. I'm a police officer.
I'm here to help you.
Can you tell me what happened tonight?
Tommy.
I know you're scared,
but I need you to be a really big boy
and tell me what you saw tonight, okay?
Monster hurt my daddy.
What, no top hat?
Councilman Baker's daughter got married tonight.
Chief of Detectives paged me out of the after-party
for answers on the Truex homicide.
You can tell him it was personal.
I don't think Maura Truex was a random target.
(Cragen) Dissatisfied client of her husband
sending a message?
Or the perp was after Sidney
and didn't know that he and the wife were separated.
And we're sure somebody didn't have a grudge
against Mrs. Truex?
(Benson) Maura was a sales rep for Tauscher-Leto Pharmaceuticals.
It's not exactly a high-risk line of work.
Hard to run a background on the family
this early on a Saturday.
Daughter should be able to fill in the blanks.
Nope. Charlotte's still MIA.
Family phone book was in the kitchen.
We're calling around looking for the friend
she's staying with.
I'll call the CO at the one-five.
Have him post an officer outside Truex's hospital room.
Got something from the address book.
Family friend says Charlotte usually spends her weekend
with her best friend Jennifer Brown.
I don't wanna call with this kinda news.
Why don't we break it to Charlotte in person, huh?
(Benson) Hi, we'd like to speak with Charlotte Truex.
Sorry, Charlotte left before I woke up.
Must've been pretty early, Jennifer.
Where'd she go?
Home, I guess.
Jen, who is it?
Police.
We're looking for Charlotte Truex.
We understand she was spending the weekend here.
Did you lie to these detectives, Jennifer?
Mom! She hasn't been here.
That girl is no longer allowed in my home.
And why is that?
Charlotte used to be a nice girl
until she started lying and skipping school.
I'm sure she's on drugs.
(Jennifer) Mom, that's so unfair!
Stop making excuses for her. Charlotte's not your friend.
She's just using you to cover for her.
Thank you for your help.
You're welcome.
Wait!
Charlotte's not a bad person.
It's her mom.
What about her mom?
Charlotte's been going with this guy Ryan Bedford.
Her mom hates him, won't let her be with him,
and that's why Charlotte has to lie.
Where does this Ryan Bedford live?
The Packard on First Avenue.
Can we come in?
Sure, man. Is everything okay?
We're looking for Charlotte.
Why? What's wrong?
She here?
Am I under arrest?
Should you be?
No.
Look, I know her parents don't like me,
but she's 16 and I'm 19-- that's not a crime.
Where are your parents?
St. Barts.
So you and Charlotte have the whole place to yourselves?
Tell Mrs. Tru Char's fine,
and I'm gonna talk her into going home.
Actually, we'll talk to her ourselves.
Char, wake up. The police are here.
Oh, great!
Let me guess.
My parents sent you here to freak me out.
Charlotte, there's been an accident.
Yeah, right.
This is just one of her stupid tricks.
She's really getting desperate.
Charlotte, please get dressed and come with us.
No, I'm not going anywhere.
Your parents were assaulted last night.
That's why we're here. Get dressed.
Are you kidding me?
Your father's in the hospital. Your mother's dead.
Um, look. I'll go with you.
You shouldn't be alone.
No, stay. I gotta be with my brother.
(Charlotte) Tommy?
Tommy, it's okay. I'm here. No! Get away!
Get away from me!
What's wrong with Tommy?
He saw your father being attacked.
He's traumatized.
Will he be all right?
It will take time.
Charlotte,
um, are there any relatives that you and Tommy could stay with?
My Aunt Amy lives in Riverdale.
Tommy really likes her.
I'll set that up as soon as I go check on him.
How's my dad?
He's still in surgery.
We won't know anything for a few hours.
We're trying to figure out what happened last night.
Anybody been threatening your family?
Are you kidding me?
Half the city hates my dad because of the cases he tries.
He even had to hire a private investigator,
because of all the stuff that kept happening.
What kinda stuff?
Um, curses spray painted on our car,
garbage spread out in our garden.
(Investigator) Bag of crap set on fire on the stoop.
Swastikas on the front doorstep.
And a few days later, cat disappears.
Lizzie shows up in pieces.
You name it, they did it.
Sidney moved out to protect the family.
(Benson) You have any suspects for the harassment?
One good one.
Luccio Ricci. Real sick bastard.
(Stabler) He one of Truex's clients?
No, his father was.
Sidney lost a big racketeering case.
Feds came in, took everything the Riccis owned.
Luccio blamed Sidney, claimed he'd get revenge.
Here. Take a look at this--Hate mail.
"I'll burn your house down where you sleep.
"I'll make you watch while I screw your wife
"and little daughter.
I'll snatch your son."
You can prove that this was Ricci?
The letters are all unsigned.
But I come took 'em to a handwriting analyst.
They match a sample I took from Ricci's trash.
That's enough to make an arrest. You take it to the police?
I wanted to. Sidney wouldn't let me.
Felt bad the old man got convicted.
Didn't wanna jam up the son.
Where does he spend his time?
San Marco Hall. Little Italy.
(Stabler) That's Ricci, hard at work.
I'm out.
How can I help you?
We need to talk, Luccio.
About what?
Sidney Truex.
That scumbag lawyer?
Charged us a fortune for losing my dad's case.
You still managed to send him some nice thank-yous.
I never hurt a hair on that lawyer's head.
You just threatened him and his family.
I was just playing.
You did 18 months for playing.
Jury calls it aggravated assault.
I was framed.
Must run in the family. [cell phone ringing]
So what's the problem, Luccio?
You just going crazy thinking
of this stupid, incompetent lawyer
and his family in that fancy house of theirs
free to go wherever they want, do whatever they want?
I never did nothing to Truex or his family.
Ask him.
We will.
Sidney just woke up.
(Benson) Tommy wasn't hurt.
Oh, thank God.
We heard about the vandalism at your house.
The threats, hate mail.
You're talking about, um, Luccio Ricci.
He's been threatening us ever since...
I lost his father's case.
When I moved out, he, um...
he stopped harassing my family.
Why? You think he killed my wife?
Do you?
I don't remember.
Docs say I may have some temporary memory loss.
Why don't you try to take us through what you do remember
when you and Tommy came home last night?
Let's see.
I, um...
I remember walking Tommy upstairs to his bedroom.
And I felt this horrible pain
in my head.
I fell down,
and I, um, must've blacked out
for a second or something.
[sigh]
When I opened my eyes...
I saw...
What is it? What'd you see?
I saw...
my daughter running down the hallway.
It was Charlotte.
She killed her mother.
I wasn't home Friday night.
(Stabler) Your father said he saw you there.
Well, my father says a lot of things that aren't true.
He's a lawyer. Lies for a living.
Sounds like you two don't get along.
No, we get along fine...
'cause he's never home.
He works all the time.
I find out what he's doing by watching the news.
What about your mom?
Her idea of parenting was to lock me up,
so she wouldn't have to deal with me.
That didn't work well.
I got around her stupid rules.
By using your friends to cover for you,
so you could go out with Ryan?
I had to. She hated him for no reason.
She wouldn't let us be together.
(Benson) You were with him Friday night.
What'd you guys do?
We stopped by a friend's house for a while,
I got pretty wasted, then we left.
Then where'd you go?
We crashed until you guys woke us up.
Okay, that party-- we're gonna need
the names of everyone who was there.
I'm not dragging my friends into this.
Well, do you want us to question
every kid in your school?
No.
Then make a list.
(girl) I don't know why Charlotte would say that.
I didn't go to a party Friday night.
I was babysitting until late.
I stayed in. Watched a ball game with my bud.
We were kickin' it at my place all night.
I have a huge term paper due next week.
I was home all night writing.
I went to a movie with Jane Williams.
Didn't get home till after midnight.
Really?
Jane said she was babysitting that night.
What I meant was
I was watching a movie with her while she was babysitting.
So what was the name of the family?
I wanna check out your story.
All right, um...
w-we had a party.
I knew we'd get caught.
Nice going, Suze.
Yeah, thanks for ratting us out.
Charlotte said she was drunk Friday night.
We may have imbibed a little. Who cares?
We just wanna know what Charlotte did that night.
Baby blues.
You know, Valium?
You moron.
They meant where she was, not what she took.
So Charlotte was on drugs.
I guess.
You guess?
Okay, where'd she get the drugs?
The Valium was my mom's.
(Stabler) So how'd Charlotte get ahold of it?
It was a pharm party.
As in pharmaceuticals.
Yeah, we all bring pills from home,
dump them into this big bowl,
people take what they want.
Like Halloween candy. What'd you take?
Adderall. It keeps you up.
I really am working on a huge term paper.
And you?
Propranolol and Vicodin, to take the edge off.
Susan? Codeine and Percocet.
What'd Ryan take?
He was skittling. Charlotte too.
What's skittling?
Over-the-counter cold tablets, look like candy.
You take a bunch, and you're flying.
Ryan also took some heavy artillery.
Oxycodone.
There were only a few in the bowl that night.
Ryan said our supply was for lightweights.
So he split.
Well, what'd Charlotte do?
She left a little later. Said she had to go home.
You sure she said she was going home?
Well, who knows what she meant?
She was so messed up she could hardly walk.
You know, you guys are lucky you didn't kill yourselves
taking all that crap?
It's medicine from a doctor.
It's not like we're doing crack or heroin.
These kids just don't get it.
It's no wonder.
All they see on the TV and the Internet
is pop a pill and you'll feel better instantly.
Yeah, but Charlotte was on Valium and cold medicine.
It's not gonna make her exactly violent.
Maybe she took something else.
I wonder if she went home
to raid the medicine cabinet for the party.
Mom was a drug rep. Plenty of access.
CSU didn't turn up anything stronger than aspirin
and over-the-counter stuff.
Right, but CSU would've only checked the crime scene.
Maybe the mom has a sample case in the home.
They searched all the bedrooms and the main floor.
It doesn't look like they went down to the basement.
Looks like a bomb went off down here.
(Lu) A pill bomb.
The kids at the party said the candy dish ran out.
Charlotte came home to get refills.
Uppers, downers, antipsychotics.
(Benson) Charlotte could've taken a lot more pills
than her friends knew about.
Well, it's too late to run a tox screen
to see which ones she took.
Would any combination of those make you violent?
No question.
And the more pills she popped, the more violent she'd get.
We might be able to find out what she was on.
How?
There's urine in the toilet back here.
Maybe Charlotte stopped to pee before she murdered her mom.
There's no DNA in the urine, but I ran a tox screen.
The sample came back positive
for benzos, opiates, and dextromethorphan--
cold pills.
Matches what Charlotte had at the pharm party.
She didn't take anything else?
Whatever meds she found in the basement
wouldn't have metabolized in her urine that quickly.
But I can tell you she was drunk.
How drunk?
Blood alcohol was .25. She was wasted.
Wasted enough to attack her mother?
Yeah, and not remember a thing about it.
We know you went back to your house after the party.
We have proof.
No, you're wrong. I would never have gone home.
Why not?
Because I was high!
If my mom caught me that way, she would've killed me.
That's why I went to Ryan's.
But you made a pit stop first to raid your mom's office
so you and Ryan could continue partying
after the candy bowl was dry.
Then your mom catches you, and you beat her to death.
I did not kill my mother!
You sure?
Yeah, I think I'd remember that.
Do you remember what you were wearing that night?
I don't know.
Jeans, an old T-shirt, my green sweater.
(Benson) And where are those clothes now?
(Charlotte) Ryan's. I leave a lot of stuff there.
(Benson) What kinda shoes were you wearing?
(Charlotte) Um, boots, maybe my old sneakers.
Char's tennis shoe.
I'm tired. I wanna go home.
(Benson) Not yet.
When?! (Stabler) About 20 years?
Do you recognize this?
It's my sneaker.
That's your mother's blood.
I was there?
That's why Tommy was afraid of you.
I did it.
I killed my mom.
Ah!
[crying]
(Charlotte) I wanna die.
Get a bus!
SVU to Central. We need a bus at the one-six.
Attempted suicide. She's bleeding out.
It's okay. I wanna die!
Shh, shh.
Mr. Truex?
What'd you do to my daughter? Mmm?
She gonna be okay? She's sleeping.
The doctor says she's gonna be fine.
Oh, fine. Sure, sure.
She's lucky you didn't kill her.
We didn't slit her wrist.
No, but you interrogated her without a lawyer present!
You told her she did it!
You made her suicidal with your accusations and innuendo!
No, the drugs that she was on made her depressed
and her own guilt made her suicidal.
She's innocent, Detective.
Well, you know that's not true
since you're the one who saw her at the house.
I had a head injury. I don't know who I saw.
And stay away from Charlotte.
As soon as she's discharged, I'm taking her home.
She's going to Rikers.
Over my dead body!
(Novak) You can't represent your own daughter, Sidney.
There's not way I'm letting Charlotte go to jail.
I think you're letting your feelings get in the way of your judgment.
She's my daughter. I love her.
And I know what's best for her.
Then don't gamble with her life. I'm not.
And I won't lose.
You see, my daughter's a drug addict.
She's depressed.
She needs help, not prison.
So Charlotte's the victim? I see.
That's how the jury will see her.
And then I'm gonna show the jury
pictures of the crime scene.
With blood everywhere.
And how do you think they're gonna vote
after they hear Charlotte sodomized her own mother
with a candlestick?
They'll see a young girl with serious emotional problems.
That's why I'm pleading on not guilty
by reason of mental disease or defect.
Let our psychiatrist interview her.
And if he agrees with you, I'll consider a deal.
(Huang) Tell me about your relationship with your mother.
We didn't have one. She never had time for me.
Did you get along?
No, we were always fighting.
About what?
Everything.
Curfew, clothes, smoking, parties, boys.
Everything.
How bad were these fights?
Not so bad when I was younger
'cause I was scared of her then.
When I got older, I started fighting back.
Did these fights ever get violent?
One time she threw a pile of dirty clothes at me.
Said I couldn't go out until I did my laundry.
What happened?
She blocked me.
I pushed her out of my way, and she fell down the stairs.
Was she hurt?
She said that she threw her back out.
She popped a few Vicodin, and she was fine.
Would you say that was the only time
that ever got physical?
Last month,
she slapped me for taking money out of her wallet.
I hit her back, and that stopped her.
She never laid a hand on me again.
Charlotte and her mother had a combative relationship
that turned physically violent well before the murder.
Charlotte's frustration and anger
combined with the drugs were a lethal combination.
(Novak) So is she culpable for the killing?
Yes. Well, the drugs may have lowered her inhibition,
but the latent rage was already present.
So Sidney doesn't have a case.
Well, his best shot is to argue that she's a drug addict
who wasn't responsible for her actions.
She could look pretty sympathetic to a jury.
She's young and attractive.
Her parents ignored her,
and her boyfriend got her hooked on drugs.
But she learned how to use violence to solve her problems.
She hit her mother; she got what she wanted.
Murder is the logical extension of that learned behavior.
[phone ringing] With a documented history of violence
between Charlotte and her mother--
I can't accept an insanity plea.
Novak. Sex crimes.
This changes everything.
That was Warner.
She did some more tests on the urine CSU found
in the brownstone.
Hormone levels indicate it's from a man.
Someone else was with Charlotte the night of the murder.
It must've been her boyfriend Ryan.
Tommy said he saw a monster hit his dad.
Let see if he can pick him out.
No.
That's him.
That's the monster who hurt my daddy.
Hey, Ryan!
We need to talk to you.
(Stabler) Ryan, stop!
[tires screeching]
Go around back! Cut him off!
Let me go! Come here!
Let go of me!
Move, move, move!
[grunting]
Ryan Bedford--
Hey... Ryan.
Ryan!
Hey...hey!
Hey!
SVU portable to Central.
I need a bus at 84th and First.
19-year-old male suspect down, stopped breathing.
Breathe, dammit!
Elliot.
He's dead.
[faint sirens]
What happened?
Tried to cuff Ryan, he stopped breathing.
Just like that? Yeah, just like that.
Do you know how he died?
Not yet.
Did Elliot use a choke hold on Ryan?
No. I did not see him do that.
When I got here,
Ryan was on the ground on his stomach,
and Elliot had his knee on his back.
Why was he on the ground?
I punched him in the face,
he fell...
I held him down to cuff him...
flipped him over, he wasn't breathing.
Did you see Elliot hit Ryan's head?
No, but I saw Ryan throw punches at Elliot.
I was blocking the blows until I had to punch him down.
Here comes the rat squad.
Keep your temper in check and answer his questions.
Detective Stabler.
Wanna come with me?
Do you understand you must answer all questions asked? Yes.
Failure to do so will result in your immediate suspension.
I know the drill.
You know you can have your union delegate or attorney present.
I don't need 'em. I didn't do anything wrong.
Then why is a 19-year-old boy dead?
I don't know.
Witnesses say they saw you beat Ryan Bedford.
He attacked me. I restrained him.
I didn't use unnecessary force.
Well, you did something to him because he's laying on a slab
after your little two-step.
Ryan threw five or six haymakers at me.
I punched him once to stop the attack.
I got on top of him to cuff him.
That's it.
Then the eyewitnesses are all lying?
[sighs]
Eyewitnesses, you know, are unreliable.
Ten people saw you beat Ryan.
I think you chased him.
I think your adrenaline was pumping.
He started throwing punches at you,
and you lost control.
You're wrong.
You really should control your temper, Detective.
[clears throat]
What I did, I did in self-defense.
I chased a perp. He attacked me.
I knocked him down. I cuffed him.
Save it, Detective.
I can't risk having a cop with your anger issues
out on the street.
As of right now,
you're on suspension.
I'm not a killer.
We'll let the medical examiner be the judge of that.
The spleen is normal in color.
It has no deformities or disease...
but has a three-centimeter laceration
on the upper portion, located directly below the rib
and weighs 160 grams.
(Benson) Melinda.
I can't talk to you about this.
Do you know what happened?
This is Ryan's spleen.
He bled to death internally because it was ruptured.
How?
Only way to rupture a spleen is by blunt force trauma.
Elliot did not beat him.
I'm sorry. The facts say otherwise.
Melinda, you know Elliot!
You know that he's innocent!
I know what this dead body tells me.
I looked at Ryan's brain, heart, and lungs.
Everything was normal.
I wanna exonerate Elliot as badly as you do,
but the only explanation for Ryan's death
is the ruptured spleen.
So how are you gonna rule?
The cause of death is internal bleeding.
The manner of death is homicide.
Elliot Stabler could never murder anyone.
And if you can't prove that, then I will.
[sighs]
(Benson) Your son put Ryan here the night of the murder.
Forensics confirmed that she wasn't alone.
Now, only Charlotte can tell us what really happened.
She doesn't remember.
That's why I wanna give her a sodium amytal interview.
Let me get this straight.
My daughter's a recovering drug addict.
You want me to let you pump her full of barbiturates...
just so you can save your partner's ass?
It's your daughter's ass too.
She's still charged with murder.
Now, if Ryan is the killer, this will exonerate her.
Why are you suddenly so concerned about my daughter?
'Cause I don't want anyone going to jail
for a crime they didn't commit.
You mean you don't want your partner going to prison.
IAB sees Ryan
as a defenseless kid who was brutally murdered
by an out-of-control cop.
And when the Grand Jury gets the case,
they're gonna see him as an innocent victim.
Unless my daughter points the finger at Ryan
and swings the jury's sympathies over to Detective Stabler.
Hmm.
You should've been a lawyer.
I have no hard evidence of Ryan's guilt.
The only chance that my partner has
is if I prove that Ryan killed your wife.
(Huang) Tell me about Friday night.
I went to the party with Ryan.
What's happening there?
I tell him I'm pissed at my mother.
She says I have to break up with him tonight.
(Huang) What's Ryan on?
(Charlotte) He's X-ing
He wants more drugs, but they're aren't any,
so he leaves.
What do you do?
I go after him. He has my keys.
But he gets into the cab.
I don't have any money, so I walk.
Where do you walk?
Home.
When I get there, the door is open.
I go inside.
Ryan's coming up from the basement
with the pill boxes.
And he runs upstairs.
What do you do?
I follow him.
He's screaming at my mother,
"Give me the good stuff, or I'll kill you."
My mom sees me, says she's calling the police.
Ryan drags her into her bedroom.
I go into my room. I'm so tired.
I lie down.
Then I hear my mom.
Doing what?
Screaming.
I run into her bedroom.
Ryan's on top of her. He's hitting her.
There's so much blood.
Then the screaming stops.
What's happening now?
Ryan has something shiny.
He does horrible things to her.
The door slams.
My father and Tommy are coming upstairs.
Then I hear a crash, and my father's on the ground.
Tommy looks so scared.
I just want to help him,
but he runs away.
I hear the alarm.
And then?
I leave.
Go back to Ryan's.
So I-- I really did see her.
And she saw Ryan kill your wife.
(Huang) She'll probably sleep for a while.
I'll monitor her and make sure there's no adverse reaction.
If Ryan killed Maura,
why did Charlotte confess?
(Huang) She was high that night.
She has no conscious memory of the murder.
She felt guilty, and she confessed.
Charlotte really is innocent.
I was gonna do everything in my power
to get her off...
but deep down...
I thought she'd murdered her mother.
(Novak) Amytal interviews aren't admissible in court,
but it's enough to convince me.
So I'll drop the murder charges against Charlotte.
And what about Elliot?
Will it help him?
IAB's not gonna ruin his career
because some murderer died in his custody.
Casey, turn on Channel Ten.
Thanks.
[reporter on TV] And Ryan Bedford's family
is filing a wrongful death suit
against Detective Elliot Stabler--
Looks like a cell phone video.
They're also demanding that he be prosecuted
for the murder.
This exclusive video was given to Channel Ten...
(Novak) This changes everything.
[phone rings] IAB's gonna have to go after Elliot now.
Benson.
Turn it down?
For the rape and murder...
Yeah, I'm watchin' it right now.
...this video was taken.
The police department promises a full investigation.
I'll be there.
...Detective Stabler used unnecessary force
against Bedford.
(Tucker) How long have you worked with Detective Stabler?
Eight years.
During your relationship, you've seen Detective Stabler
in dangerous and stressful situations.
Yes.
How would you characterize his behavior?
Always professional.
So you support his actions,
and you defend his decisions?
Yes.
Even when he shot an unarmed suspect
during a chase?
(Benson) The suspect waved an unloaded weapon.
That was suicide by cop.
Well, how about when he tricked Dr. Huang
into administering Haldol to a suspect?
It was the only way
to find a kidnapped child.
Detective Stabler
once held a man underwater and nearly drowned him,
didn't he?
He was trying to save a little girl from a pedophile.
And so that justifies attempted murder?
We work Special Victims:
molested kids, rape victims,
the elderly.
We do what we have to do to nail the perp.
(Tucker) Like impersonating a pedophile,
kidnapping a girl,
then almost killing the suspect?
He's saved countless girls
by getting a violent predator off the streets.
Well, who was he saving
when he almost beat his ex-partner to death
in a bathroom?
He saved that cop's son from committing suicide.
And Elliot went into counseling after that.
Detective Stabler has a long history
of violent behavior.
Are you sure you want to keep defending his actions?
My partner is not a killer.
IAB's interviewing Munch and Fin now.
I go in this afternoon.
What are you gonna tell 'em?
(Stabler) You won't have to say anything.
Look, the press has already convicted me.
IAB has suspended me.
Grand Jury will indict.
That's the worst-case scenario.
Well...
it's reality.
Elliot, we can fight this.
I'm not givin' up on you.
It's over.
[knock at door]
I just heard.
I'm so sorry, Elliot.
Well, Melinda, you were doing your job.
And, um...
I wouldn't ask for anything different.
[shouting]
Don't torture yourself.
I have to testify
for the Grand Jury tomorrow morning.
I keep watching that tape,
looking for where it all went wrong.
I never meant to hurt Ryan.
I mean, hell, I tried to save him.
What do you mean?
[sighs]
I gave him CPR when he stopped breathing.
No one told me that.
That wasn't in the EMS report.
Well, I stopped by the time they got there.
Well, that changes everything.
The chest compressions could have ruptured his spleen.
Well, look, I had to do something.
He stopped breathing.
Which means he was dead before you ruptured his spleen.
Okay, so what killed him?
I don't know.
I didn't miss anything on autopsy.
I'm sure of it.
You have a copy of the case file?
Yeah, yeah.
(Warner) Any Juvie records?
(Stabler) Yeah, right here.
What drugs was Ryan on the night of the murder?
"Cold tablets, Oxycodone, and Ecstasy."
He wasn't on those when he died.
What else was in the candy bowl?
"Valium, Ritalin,
"Propranolol...
Vicodin."
Wait a minute.
Propranolol's a beta blocker
taken by people with heart problems.
I need to see Ryan's medical records.
(Fritz) What did you find
in Ryan Bedford's medical records?
Ryan had been diagnosed with a cardiac condition
called Long Q-T syndrome.
Would you tell the Grand Jury
what that is?
An abnormal disturbance in the heartbeat,
which could lead
to cardiac arrest if left untreated.
Why wasn't this in your report, Doctor?
Because you can't
see an arrhythmia on autopsy.
That's why I missed it.
Dr. Warner, does this change your opinion
of how Ryan Bedford died?
Absolutely.
Ryan had a prescription for Propranolol,
but he wasn't taking his meds,
which put him at risk for sudden death.
The combination of his heart condition
and the stress of running from Elliot
caused an arrhythmia that killed him.
How'd you figure it out?
Ryan brought Propranolol
to the pharm party.
That's not your typical recreational pharmaceutical.
So what's the deal? (Fritz) I put it to a vote.
No true bill.
You're cleared, Detective.
Thank you.
Welcome back.
Elliot, what is it?
We need to talk.
I saw the news.
I knew you didn't kill that boy.
It's been a rough couple days.
And I've had time to think about what's important to me.
I love my job...
and I love my family.
And I nearly lost both of 'em.
I wanna come home.
[wolf howling]