- 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.
[thunder rumbles]
- Hoo! I appreciate the pickup, Captain,
but you didn't have to. - Oh, I'm happy to.
And it's on the way.
And you haven't had your car assigned to you yet.
- Oh, how long does it usually take?
- Well, you know NYPD as well as I do.
I mean, your dad's been a cop for, what, 35 years,
a Deputy Commissioner for 10.
- Yeah, and a pain in the ass all my life.
- Ha ha. Well, let me tell you something--
you lucked out because your dad's good police.
- You know, I've been working here for three weeks,
and that's the first time you even mentioned him.
- I didn't want to make a big deal about it.
- So where are you taking me?
[gunfire]
- So, uh, why are we all here, again?
- Because I want to make sure everyone's on their game.
- A lot of tension in the air these days.
- So how often do you guys all go to the range together?
- All of us? Never.
- Silva's not half bad.
At least she can shoot.
- Thanks for letting me try it.
- Pretty nice, isn't she?
- She? - Teresa.
- You named your gun after your ex-wife?
Does Phoebe know about that?
- She's met my ex-wife.
- Res ipsa loquitur.
- "The thing speaks for itself."
- Good. But how does it apply to the legal system?
- When the evidence is so obvious,
it doesn't need further explanation.
- Nice job. Uh, how about stare decisis?
- I always mix that one up. - Uh, okay.
Hint--a doctrine of precedent.
Duh. It keeps our entire legal system stable.
- Damn, I got to read that chapter again.
- You guys took the last clean glass?
- How'd pickleball go? - I went there to meet guys,
but it was just a bunch of little kids.
- So?
- Some little boy's ball rolled onto my court.
I picked it up, handed it to him.
- And? - He said, thank you, ma'am.
- [laughs]
So you got called "ma'am" for the first time?
- It's not funny.
- It's good to know kids still have manners these days.
- Bro, aren't you headed out? - Oh, yeah.
See you losers later.
- Where are you off to? - I got to shower.
I have a date.
Not pickleball.
[pop music playing softly]
- Do I look like a ma'am to you?
- How about another glass of wine?
♪
- Why do I feel like the Captain is testing me?
- Don't overthink it.
- I made grade in Brooklyn Homicide.
- Yeah, I heard.
- Worked late tours for two years.
- Listen, nobody's questioning that, okay?
But you came from Homicide to SVU.
You must be a glutton for punishment.
[gun clatters lightly]
- Yeah, I mean, we missed out on a lot.
- Yeah, mostly because of the pandemic.
- Everyone we know feels the same way, Shelli.
- Didn't even get to enjoy being a teenager.
- Hey, bright side-- we're young, we're healthy.
Nothing's in our way.
- Speaking of...
Teddy's gone.
It's just the three of us.
- It's obvious.
You two have been hooking up.
- No. No. - No.
- Y'all are bad liars.
- Okay, we have.
But it's just for fun.
Maybe...
you could use some right now.
Don't you think?
- Are you guys suggesting what I think you're suggesting?
♪
- Yes, ma'am.
♪
[giggling]
[dramatic music]
♪
[lock clicking]
- Teddy, is that you?
♪
Sorry. Sorry. Wait one second.
♪
[sighs]
Damn. My bad, dude.
Sorry.
[body thuds]
- Damon?
You okay?
♪
[door creaking]
[breathes shakily, screams]
- Detective, what are we looking at?
- Home invasion,
multiple injuries, a sexual assault--
four University of New York pre-law students.
- Roommates? - Seems like it.
- Off-campus housing. - No doorman, no cameras.
Any sign of forced entry?
- Well, from what we can tell,
the first vic took a blow to the head by the door.
He might have let the perp in.
- Okay, and the sexual assault victim?
- They're taking her to Mercy. - All right.
Why don't you go ahead and ride with her, see if you can get
her statement? - On it, Captain.
[siren wailing]
- Is that another roommate? - The one who called it in.
- So he wasn't here at the time?
- He says he came back around 3:00.
- And he just happened to find his roommates
lying on the floor?
- You guys done with him?
- Eh, says he doesn't know anything.
- All right, we'd still like to talk to him.
- We'll take him down to the station.
- All right, so that accounts for three of the roommates.
Where's the fourth?
- [sighs]
♪
- [exhales sharply]
- So sorry, ma'am, you can't go through there.
- My daughter!
Where is she? Where's Shelli? - Hey, hey, hey, hey.
- Oh, ma'am, you can't be in here.
- Shelli? Oh, my God. Is that her?
- Shh, shh. - Let's get you out of here.
- [crying] - Come on, let's get you out.
[crowd shouting]
- [sobbing] She's my baby!
- I'm so sorry.
I need everybody out of here, okay?
I need the street closed.
This whole block is a crime scene.
[dramatic music]
♪
- You sure you don't want one?
- Lightweight. It's only 5:00 a.m.
After all those years of late tours,
this is like the middle of the afternoon for me.
- Hey, how's our vic with the head trauma?
- Damon--he's still in surgery.
- Nurse says he's pretty touch and go.
- Okay, uh, I want you to head back to the crime scene
and widen the search.
We still haven't found the murder weapon.
- On it, Captain. - Okay.
How's the sex-assault victim? - Elodie's still in shock.
They're finishing the rape kit now.
- You notify her parents? - Yeah.
They're driving down from Connecticut.
I heard the murder victim's mother showed up at the scene.
- Apparently, she and Shelli talk every night.
She didn't get a call, so she drove in from Long Island.
- She able to tell you anything?
- She said Shelli didn't mention any problems.
There was no boyfriend. - No exes?
- Not that the mother knew about.
But with all that overkill,
there's no way that this was random.
- Captain Benson. Um, Elodie's finished with her kit.
- And how's she doing?
- Uh, clear signs of sexual assault--tears, bruising.
We'll get this to the lab for DNA.
- I woke up in my room.
I heard Shelli screaming "no."
- And then?
- There was a guy in her room...
standing over her.
It looked like he was hitting her with something.
- Okay, did you get a look at him?
You see his face? - Mm-mm.
No, it was--it was dark.
But he was white, around our age.
- What about the weapon?
- I think it was a hammer.
He was holding her down with one hand
and--and hitting her with the other.
He looked up and saw me.
- Then what happened, Elodie?
- I ran.
- He followed you?
- [sniffles]
He knocked me down.
I fell forward, and...
and he ripped my underwear off
and raped me.
- I'm so sorry, Elodie.
- Why would someone do...
- Elodie, did--did Shelli ever mention
having a problem with anyone?
- No. - A recent breakup?
- No, Shelli-- she kept to herself.
She didn't go out.
[dramatic music]
You know, the saddest thing is...
I think I was her best friend.
- So what time did you say you got home?
- I don't know. 2:00, 3:00.
- Talk us through what happened.
- I saw Damon lying on the floor...
bleeding.
I tried to shake him, but he wouldn't wake up.
- Well, then what?
- Then I saw Shelli's door was open.
I looked in. She was on--on-- on the bed, bloody.
And then I found Elodie. She was in the hallway.
She was breathing, so I woke her up.
- Was she able to tell you anything?
- She was in shock.
She was naked,
so I threw a blanket over her.
- Okay, then what did you do?
- I went outside, called my dad.
- Not 911?
- He said that campus security would get to us faster.
- Not to mention everyone in college hates cops right now.
- And then I waited outside until they showed up.
- You didn't go back in to check on your friends?
- Am I in trouble?
- Should you be?
- Did you get anything from CSU?
- This place has been off-campus housing
for the last 20 years-- what do you think?
- There's got to be prints and DNA in every square inch.
- Yeah, and it'll take the lab weeks to process.
And to what end? - Right.
So we're going to end up with 100 suspects.
- Yeah, most of them alumni.
Any luck on the murder weapon? - Nothing yet.
None of the neighbors heard anything.
- [sighs] - Detectives.
- You got something? - You guys should take a look.
- There was a hidden camera in the smoke detector?
- Yeah, they sell them pre-wired.
You can order them online.
It looks pretty recently installed.
- Do we know how long these kids lived here?
- Since the beginning of the semester.
- If Shelli did set up the camera, why?
- Maybe she wanted to know if anyone went in her room.
- Is it running? - It's got a battery in it.
- Which means Shelli might have recorded her own murder.
- So the victim had a camera set up in her room?
- I mean, TARU's downloading the footage now.
Sometimes you just get lucky.
- Definitely would make my life easier.
My boss is not only an alumni,
she's also a donor to the school.
- Ah, so she's blowing up your phone.
- Yeah, she knows you and I go way back.
- And she wants to know where we are in the investigation.
- Pretty much. - So what'd you tell her?
- I told her you haven't let me down yet.
- Oh, no pressure.
Guys, tell me we have something.
- We do, but not what you were looking for.
- Someone turned the camera off before the murder.
- What? - So what--what do you have?
- What happened a few hours before the crime occurred.
[dramatic music]
♪
- It gets pretty graphic from here on in.
♪
- So you're telling me that on the night
of the assault, rape, and murder,
our victims had a threesome?
- Which Elodie failed to mention.
♪
- Thank you so much.
- So these kids had a three-way
a few hours before the home invasion?
- College is different these days.
- And you think there's some connection.
- Well, whether there is or there isn't,
the real question is, why didn't Elodie mention it to us?
- I don't understand.
You already spoke to our daughter.
- Well, we just--we have a few more questions.
- We're taking Elodie home today.
- Questions about what?
- It may be better to talk to you
without your parents in the room.
- Is that necessary? - Elodie, it's personal.
- Mom, Dad, I'll be fine.
- Honey, after all you've been through--
- Just wait in the lobby.
- It'll just take a few minutes, really.
- We'll be right downstairs. - Thanks.
- Is this about Damon? Is--is he okay?
- Damon is in a medically induced coma.
- [sighs]
Then what is this about? [door closes]
- We found some new evidence
which may or may not have something to do
with what happened. - What is it?
- Well, were you aware
that Shelli had a camera in her room?
- What?
Where--where was it?
- Hidden in the smoke alarm above the bed.
- Elodie, we don't want to pry into your personal life,
but we just want to know why you didn't tell us
that the three of you had a hookup.
- I-I didn't think it mattered.
- Everything matters at this point.
- What we did was private, you know, not just for me,
but for--for Damon and for Shelli, too.
- So you didn't know that-- that Shelli had a camera
above her bed? - No, no, I--
I wouldn't have done...
what we did if I knew it was there.
- Okay.
- Wait, but if-- if there was a camera,
didn't you see who--who murdered Shelli?
- Yeah, unfortunately not.
- Okay.
Well, why don't we talk about Teddy?
- Yeah, what was her relationship like with Teddy?
- Tense.
Yeah, I would describe it as love-hate.
- How so?
- He liked to tease her.
Damon and I used to joke about them just hooking up
and getting it over with.
- So you think that he had a crush on her?
- Yeah, I guess so.
- Did he know that the three of you
were hooking up that night?
- I don't know how he would.
It was a...
spur-of-the-moment thing. - Uh-huh.
Or maybe...
maybe he saw it.
- What do you mean?
- Yeah, it's possible that Teddy installed the camera.
- Yeah, I guess that makes more sense
than Shelli putting it up.
- So Teddy--Teddy said that...
he had a date that night?
- Yeah, that's what he said.
- Did he say with who or where they went?
- No.
[dramatic music]
He never mentioned her name.
- I had a date.
- With who?
- A girl in my class.
- What'd you two do? - Nothing.
She canceled last minute.
- Where exactly is this going?
- We're trying to find out where your client was
between midnight and 3:00 a.m.
♪
- After my date stood me up, I just went home.
- What time was that? - Midnight.
- You see anything unusual?
♪
- Do I have to answer that? - You have nothing to hide.
Tell the truth. - [sighs] Okay.
I was on the sidewalk, about to go in.
I walked up to the door.
The chain lock was on. I looked inside.
They were having a threesome without me.
♪
- How'd that make you feel?
- Left out, pissed off.
Like, how long have they been hiding things like this
from me?
- Did it piss you off enough to kill Shelli?
- What are you talking about?
- We know you had a thing for her.
- You think I hit Damon over the head,
killed Shelli, raped Elodie,
and then pretended to find them?
- That's exactly what we think. - Okay, we're done here.
- No, I didn't do any of those things.
- Then where were you?
- I got a few drinks,
went to the park, played chess.
- With who? - I don't know his name.
He's there all the time. It's how he makes money.
- And that's it. No more questions.
- So what are we looking at here?
- The ME says that the time of death, you know,
was between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m.
But based on the evidence
of, you know, rage and overkill on Shelli's body,
I mean, she's clearly the target.
- Okay. So why rape Elodie?
- Well, you heard him.
He said that he felt left out of the three-way, right?
He took what he felt he deserved.
- Well, that's great for motive,
but where are we with the hard evidence?
- You mean like a murder weapon?
- That or a witness.
- Elodie says that she can't confirm or deny
if it was Teddy that raped her.
- So, as of now, this kid is our only suspect.
- We're going through his credit history
to see if we can link him to the camera.
- You buying this alibi?
- Who plays chess in a park at 2:00 a.m.?
- Evidently somebody who's been shut out
of a threesome.
- Yeah, that's him--Teddy.
- You know his name. He doesn't know yours.
- I hate his guts. - Why's that?
- Grew up playing chess against his computer.
He wins almost every time.
This new crop of kids--
[scoffs] No soul.
- You play against him two nights ago?
- Yeah. Took him for 100 bucks.
He wouldn't quit till he won it back.
We did battle for three hours. - Till what time?
- I didn't get home till after 3:00 a.m.
My old lady still ain't talking to me.
- Seems like you need an alibi more than him, huh?
- [chuckles] - All right, thank you.
Okay, this guy just cleared Teddy,
so we're down to zero suspects. - Maybe not.
TARU said that Shelli was listed as an administrator,
but there was another IP address that had access.
- Who?
♪
[sirens wailing]
[tires screeching]
♪
Sam Ellis? - What?
- Are you Sam Ellis?
- Yeah. Uh, w-what's this about?
- Shelli Henson. You know the name?
- Yeah. We were in class together.
I heard about what happened to her.
- How well do you know her?
- We were study partners. Why?
- You're listed as an administrator
on a camera in her room.
- Yeah, Shelli asked me to set that up for her.
- Okay, can you tell us where you were
the night of her murder? - I was home alone.
- Any way to verify?
- Hey, I know that guy! - Leave him alone!
- Are you arresting me? - No, why would we do that?
- We just want to ask you a few more questions.
- Not without counsel. - Well, that's your choice.
But let's talk somewhere else. Come on.
[crowd clamoring]
- What's happening? - Get back.
- Back up, please. [indistinct shouting]
♪
- Back it up! Back it up!
[thumping on car]
- We're gonna need to call for more backup.
Special Victims Portable Central, 85 forthwith,
location-- Washington Square Park.
Officers in need of assistance now!
- Commissioner, I do understand,
but as I explained to you before,
the student that we picked up
is a person of interest in the UNY case.
Yeah, I can assure you that my detectives
didn't do anything to provoke this--
Okay.
Yes, sir. I will keep you posted.
So, apparently,
the Student Civil Liberties Association
is filing a lawsuit against NYPD.
- Tell them to get in line.
- We have a suspect in the highest profile crime
of the year.
- Ten students were arrested.
That is not a good look for us.
Tell me exactly what happened. - We were escorting Ellis.
Kids came out of nowhere, throwing cups of froyo,
jumping on squad cars. - Defending the suspect?
- Everybody's looking for an excuse
to beat up on the cops nowadays.
- What do we know about Sam Ellis?
- Aside from access to Shelli's camera?
- He's got all of 12 followers on Instagram.
He's got no prior complaints at the school, no criminal record.
- What about his family? - Dad's deceased, aneurysm.
Mother lives in Oregon.
- I just spoke to Sam's academic advisor.
Kid's a 4.0 law student.
- All right, so he's smart enough to lawyer up.
- My gut says he's our guy.
- Well, he lives in a basement apartment on University Place.
No clubs, sports, frats, no girlfriend.
- What about his relationship with Shelli?
- Well, I spoke to the other students
in their Labor Law class.
Apparently they always sat together.
[phone buzzes] - Anything romantic
between the two of them?
- People I talked to said he was friend-zoned.
- TARU says Sam downloaded the recording
of Shelli's threesome, watched it half a dozen times.
His last viewing was an hour before the murder.
- Well, there's our motive.
- Kid wanted out of the friend zone.
- Okay, is he willing to talk?
- As long as his lawyer is present.
- Well, we have our first question--let's go.
[door opens]
- Shelli asked me to set up the camera.
She was worried
that her roommates were taking her stuff.
- That's why you watched the footage of her threesome?
- Multiple times?
- She seemed tipsy.
And I was worried that what was happening was not consensual.
- Oh, so you're her protector?
- Can we keep this on track? - Shelli and I were friends.
I can't believe that I'm never gonna see her again.
- Where were you that night at 1:00 a.m.?
- I was home, asleep.
I'd been studying at the law library until midnight.
- You can check his key card. - Don't worry. We will.
So you're telling me you came home,
watched footage of Shelli having sex with her roommates
over and over again,
and then you just went to sleep?
- Yeah.
- Sam, if you were so worried about Shelli,
why didn't you call her?
- [scoffs]
I--what I saw was awkward.
I-I was her confidant.
I figured we'd talk in the morning.
You're right. I should have gone over there.
If I did, she'd still be alive.
- Is there anybody that can verify your alibi?
Your roommate, your neighbor?
- No, my roommate, Carl, was in Sarasota.
He was visiting his parents.
- Please tell me that you've got something good.
- Ten kids arrested on campus-- DA's dropping the charges.
- [groans softly]
- I'm gonna need more time with my client.
- [sighs]
You getting anywhere with Ellis?
Because as it stands right now,
the only thing we can hold him on is unlawful surveillance.
- He claims that Shelli asked him to install the camera.
- You don't believe that.
- Well, I just don't see her having a tryst
if she knew a camera was on.
Shelli was shy.
Elodie said as much.
- Well, somebody turned it off before the murder.
- Yeah, the murderer.
Campus security got back to us
on their blue-light-call-box footage.
- Does it verify Sam's timeline?
- Not exactly.
So this is 2:15 a.m.
- He said that he was asleep by 1:00 a.m.
And where's his backpack and computer bag?
- What's with the dish towel?
- I mean, you can't just walk around
in the street with a hammer.
- Well, we haven't recovered the murder weapon.
- Show this to Velasco and Silva,
have them search the park.
- Sam Ellis was heading away
from the direction of the vic's apartment.
- Not the library, like he claimed.
- Well, after something like this,
what would you want to do?
- Go home, wash the blood off.
- He lived on University Place. Let's walk north.
- So you always wanted to be a cop like your dad?
- I knew since 2001.
- What, 9/11?
- Yeah, I remember watching the TV,
all those scared people running away from the towers.
Then I saw who was running towards them--
working-class heroes.
And I wanted to be one of them.
- Well, listen, I think this is a waste of time,
since unis already did a grid search.
- Trash cans, sewer grates, subway tracks.
This guy's a law student.
He knows where cops are most likely to search.
- Where do we look, hotshot?
♪
- Excuse me, sir?
Were you here about two nights ago?
- Well, this is my park. This is my park right here.
- Did you happen to see this guy?
- No.
- Just take a good look.
- Um... uh...
nah, man, I don't--no.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, I'm--I'm sure.
I'm sure.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Yo, that's mine--
- Yo, Velasco. - Don't touch my stuff.
I-I found it.
- Where? - Uh...
in--in that pail over there.
Look, I'm--I'm trying to build a house.
both: Okay. - Hey, look, we need this one.
We're going to get you another one, I promise.
We need it for evidence.
- Thank you.
♪
- Reporting from day one of the trial of Sam Ellis--
a first-year law student at University of New York,
indicted for the murder, rape, and assaults
of three of his fellow classmates,
a brutal crime that has struck panic and divided the campus.
And there he is now.
- Sam, why did you do it?
- Shelli was my friend. I didn't do this.
- Your prints were on the murder weapon.
- My client had no idea that what he found on his walk home
was the murder weapon. - Why did he get rid of it?
- A civic-minded law student at a prestigious university--
he disposed of it for public safety.
- You know, we could have come in the back way.
- No, I like seeing the mood on the street.
Gives me a good idea what I'm going up against.
- Well, the blood of two of our victims is on the hammer.
Sam's prints are on the handle,
and we have the jealousy motive.
- Which not even Freud could substantiate
beyond a reasonable doubt.
Look, none of the other roommates could ID him.
There's no video or cell phone hits that put him at the scene.
- So what's his defense?
That the mystery killer's still out there somewhere?
- Never underestimate the power of bald-faced lies
in the halls of justice. - Carisi,
you and I both know that Sam is good for this.
- Yeah, now I just got to prove it to 12 angry New Yorkers
who probably hate the cops as much as this crowd does.
[crowd chanting] Free Sam Ellis! Free Sam Ellis!
- I opened the door, and I knew something was wrong.
- Why was that?
- Because I saw Damon lying in the hallway
in a puddle of blood.
- What'd you do? - I called out...
"Shelli," "Elodie."
I didn't hear an answer, so I looked in Shelli's room.
- What'd you see there?
- Shelli was on the bed, slouched against the wall...
in what I heard the police call
"a defensive posture"...
covered in blood.
She was dead.
- Then what happened? - Then I went to the hall.
That's where I found Elodie.
She was on the floor naked.
But she was alive.
- So is that when you dialed 911?
- I called my dad.
Uh, he said that I should call campus security,
that they'd show up faster.
And then I waited outside until they showed up.
- Thank you, Teddy.
- You waited outside until help came,
even though two of your friends were inside,
alive, probably frightened?
- I was pretty freaked out myself.
- Freaked out or pissed off?
Didn't you see through the door lock
the three of them engaged in a sexual encounter
without you? - Objection.
The witness is not on trial here.
- But he was initially a suspect.
- I'll allow, but move it along.
- Mr. Hall, were you or were you not questioned by police
about your possible involvement in this crime?
- Yes.
But they ruled me out.
- Before or after they found that my client had access
to a camera in Shelli's room?
A camera she asked him to install.
- Objection. The defense is testifying.
- Sustained. Move along, Counselor.
- Mr. Hall, did you or did you not have
an attraction to Shelli?
[dramatic music]
- I liked her, sure.
- So seeing her have a three-way without you,
you must have felt angry, left out?
- I did.
How would you feel?
♪
- I heard noises coming from Shelli's room...
so I went in.
There was...
a guy standing over her with...
a hammer.
She was screaming, "Because I told you no."
Then he hit her with the hammer.
I ran.
- Then what happened? - [sniffles]
Uh...
♪
He chased me up the hall,
threw me down...
tore my underwear off, and he...
♪
He raped me.
- Could you describe this man to the police?
- He was white,
college-aged.
I didn't see him clearly.
- Okay, so you could not pick the defendant
out of a lineup?
- No.
- But you did tell the police
that he was white, college-aged.
- Yes.
- Thank you. No more questions.
- Nothing for this witness.
♪
- I screwed it up in there. - No, you didn't.
You told the truth. You said exactly what happened.
- Then why didn't they question me like they did Teddy?
- Because going after a rape victim on the stand
can backfire with the jury.
- Well, I was ready for her.
I would've told her that Shelli didn't deserve this.
She wanted to be free.
- I know.
- That's why we all fooled around that night.
- Elodie, you were just being a good friend.
- No, I should have never suggested it.
She'd still be alive.
- Will you listen to me, really listen to me?
You did nothing wrong.
Nothing.
- I mean, she was-- she was working on herself.
She dragged me to these women's-empowerment meetings.
She was talking about not attracting negativity.
She--she was saying all the-- - Hang on.
You think she could have been talking about Sam?
- Yes, Shelli Henson was here every week
for about three months.
I heard what happened to her. It is horrible.
- Yeah, so, um, a student by the name of Sam Ellis
is on trial for her murder.
- Yes, I saw it on the news.
- Did Shelli ever mention Sam by name to you?
- No. - No? Are you sure?
Because, Samantha, if you know anything,
now would be the time to tell us.
- Everyone does a private testimonial.
It's a way for the client to track their transformation.
- Right.
- Shelli did one on her last day here.
No one would have seen it but her.
♪
- Thank you. - Of course.
- I'm grateful for so many things--
studying law,
my friends, my mother.
I'm grateful for the courage I found here
in this group.
It's helped me find it within myself.
I will no longer attract negativity in my life.
I will no longer be afraid to say no.
And the first person
I am going to practice saying no to...
is Sam Ellis.
♪
- Well?
- Well, it's gonna be a fight to get this admitted in court.
- You're the best pugilist I know, Counselor.
♪
- I will no longer attract negativity in my life.
I will no longer be afraid to say no.
And the first person
I am going to practice saying no to...
is Sam Ellis.
- People's Exhibit 7.
Captain Benson, do you recognize this?
- Yes, I do.
This was Shelli's private testimonial
at a local female-empowerment group
called Rise and Radiate.
- Again, Your Honor, objection.
This is hearsay.
- An exception to the hearsay rule--
this video reflects the victim's state of mind
and a future intent to contact the defendant.
- I've already allowed this evidence.
Your objection is on the record.
I'll instruct the jury how to consider it
in the final charge.
- How long did the victim attend this empowerment group?
- Approximately three months.
And this video was recorded
on the last day that she attended the group.
- When was that?
- The day before she was murdered.
- Thank you, Captain Benson.
- Any questions?
- No, Your Honor.
- The prosecution rests. - Defense?
- I need a recess to talk to my client.
- I respectfully request the opportunity
to contextualize this evidence now
while it's fresh in the jury's mind.
- Did you know Shelli was going to Rise and Radiate?
- Shelli told me that she was going to the empowerment group.
I supported her.
- Did she tell you why she went?
- She had trouble drawing boundaries--
not just with me, with everyone.
She knew that it would get in the way
of her being a good lawyer someday.
- Did she say no to you? - Yes.
Like she said in the video, she was practicing.
I was her friend. I was her study partner.
She felt comfortable with me.
- Nothing further.
- Mr. Ellis, apart from being friends and study partners,
as you just said,
did you ever ask Shelli out on a date?
- We were both single,
spent a lot of time together, studied the same kind of law.
- So is that a yes? - Yeah.
I did ask her out once.
- Okay, so what did she say?
- She said she was too busy studying.
- So you were friend-zoned.
- Objection. Badgering the witness.
- Rephrase-- uh, she made excuses
to avoid hurting your ego.
Did that, uh, lead to confusion for you?
- No. - Huh.
In your own words, you just said,
um, that she needed to practice creating boundaries.
- Yes. Not just with me.
- Yeah, but when--when did she practice specifically with you?
- I don't see how this is relevant.
- Well, it's relevant because she made that video
the day before she was murdered.
That's a tight timeline.
So did she practice saying no to you
the night before she was murdered or the morning of?
- It was that morning after class.
- Okay, and then later that night,
you watched Shelli having sex with her roommates.
People's Exhibit 8, Your Honor.
In fact, you watched this six times, didn't you?
- I was trying to protect her.
- Recorded on a camera that you installed.
- That she asked me to. - There's two scenarios here.
Now, either you're telling the truth,
which means Shelli knew she was being recorded
and was deliberately trying to hurt you,
or she didn't know the camera was there at all.
- She would never hurt me.
- So you didn't tell her about the camera.
You installed it without her knowledge.
- She was too drunk to consent to that threesome.
- So are you keeping tabs on her behavior?
- Objection. - I'll allow.
- Yeah. Okay...
- Sam, the point is,
you watched her say yes to two other people
on the very day that she said no to you.
[dramatic music]
♪
- She wasn't any better-looking than me.
- So you--you thought you had a chance, didn't you?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- My father used to say
I'd--I'd always have trouble meeting a woman,
that I'd have to work twice as hard
because of how different I am.
- And she still said no.
- I helped her study.
I walked her home when she was out late.
I listened to her problems!
- And you were so blinded by your own desperation
that you could not see that you were one of them.
- Shut up!
- Sam, maybe even the biggest one.
- I did everything for her! - And she still said no to you!
And that's why you killed her! - You're not God!
You're not my professor! You're not my father!
- No, I'm not.
♪
- I'm sorry!
♪
I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
I'm sorry!
I miss her! I'm sorry!
♪
- Nothing further.
♪
- It's all right.
It's all right. - [sniffles, cries softly]
- It's all right.
- [softly] Thank you.
Mr. Carisi, Captain Benson...
- Oh, Elodie.
- I just wanted to say goodbye.
- Let me guess-- Rise and Radiate?
- Shelli's women's group.
- They wanted me to thank you both.
- No, no, we--we didn't win this case alone.
- And we--we could not have done it without Shelli.
- The jury heard her... in her own words.
- It looks like Shelli had more friends than she realized, huh?
How you holding up?
- I'm getting help.
I'm taking the rest of the semester off,
staying with my parents. - Good.
- But next year, me, Damon, and Teddy
are getting a new apartment, getting our degrees,
and becoming kick-ass lawyers...
Like you.
- Well, that's what Shelli would have wanted.
Take care of yourself, okay?
- Thank you.
♪
- [inhales deeply]
There's no feeling like a guilty verdict.
- Never fails to amaze me that 12 strangers in modern America
could ever be unanimous about anything.
- Well, they were today.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪
[wolf howls]