8.30PM THURSDAY / APRIL 10
LAW & ORDER’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACK McCOY MAKES AN APPEARANCE
WHEN A.D.A CASEY NOVAK OVERSTEPS THE PROFESSIONAL
BOUNDARIES.
Detectives Benson and Stabler find an 11-year old kidnapping victim barely
alive in the boot of a rental car. The victim, Sabrina, was raped and hit with
a rock and now lies unconscious in hospital.
The rental car where Sabrina was found is traced to Saul Picard, an eccentric
artist, who claims he returned the car the day before Sabrina was
abducted. The car was stolen off the street, but when evidence points to
Picard again, he’s already skipped town in another rental car.
Sabrina wakes up and easily identifies Picard from a photo line up. She
says he kept calling her Francine and took her from a bookstore. Soon
another girl is kidnapped from the same bookstore, and Stabler realises he’s seen Picard before; he’s a children’s
book author.
The detectives find Picard and the kidnapped girl asleep in the car in a park, and while Benson leads the girl away,
Picard becomes violent and throws Stabler through the rear window of a car. Stabler hits his head so hard that’s he
gone blind. While the doctor says his condition is only temporary, everyone is worried for him.
Meanwhile, Dr. Huang diagnoses Picard with schizophrenia – he suffered a psychotic break when he witnessed his
11-year old sister being attacked and raped. In his mind, when he kidnaps the girls, he’s saving his sister, Francine.
A.D.A Novak is surprisingly sympathetic to Picard’s situation and strikes a deal with his attorney to put him in a mental
institution for life, instead of jail. Novak prepares for trial and persuades Stabler to testify against his attacker,
despite Benson’s concerns that Stabler isn’t up to it yet.
When Stabler is on the stand, Novak changes her line of questioning and asks about Picard’s strange actions, which
causes Picard to have a breakdown in court, and the judge declares a mistrial.
Benson is furious that Novak threw the case and tells her she let her situation with her schizophrenic ex-fiance
impact on her professionalism. Novak was attacked by her ex-fiance when he was off his medication, and despite
being seriously hurt, she feels guilty that she couldn’t help him. When the new D.A. Jack McCoy hears of Novak’s
actions, he threatens to fire her if she misbehaves again. Will Novak be able make up for her mistakes?
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