Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…): Season 10, Episode 12 - Hothouse - full transcript

The death of a teenage mathematics prodigy sheds light on some disturbing and unhealthy practices taking place among a group of competitive students at a prestigious academy.

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.

Let your chi flow.

Does anyone remember
the next form?

Body in water.

No.
Snake Creeps Down.

No. I mean, there's a body in the water!



No ID.

CSU found a purse 50 yards down
the bank, but it was washed clean.

Along with any fluids
on the body.

Do you have any idea
when she went in?

No sign the fish fed on her, so
she couldn't have been in long.

Long enough to get rid of
anything that's going to help us.

Even the river couldn't get rid of this.

She bled from her wounds, which
means her heart was pumping

and she was alive
when she sustained them.

Head bashed in. Puncture
wounds to the breasts.

My God. She's got scars all over her.

Somebody's been working
her over for a while.

Half-naked, jewelry.

Trick gone wrong?



Or angry
pimp syndrome.

That's a Tri-Bar Cross.
Russian Orthodox.

She was beaten and tortured.
She still believed in God.

You'd think he could have
protected her just a little bit.

Any closer
on the ID?

No hit on her prints, and
Missing Persons came up empty.

But I can tell you she's
14 years and two months old.

I carbon-dated the crystalline
proteins in her eyes.

Well, she's just a kid. Do
you know what killed her?

There was no water
in her lungs,

so she was dead before
she went in the river.

Probably from one of the
four blows to her head.

Any other injuries?

Too many.
Over a number of years.

This wrist was fractured
and set with a pin.

Scar tissue to the shoulders
suggests multiple dislocations.

Old cigarette burns?
Yeah.

The only recent injuries are the wounds to
the head and the punctures to the breasts.

Well, she had surgery on her wrist,
so some doctor knows who she is.

Good luck trying to find him. I
ran an isotope analysis of her hair.

It measures oxygen intake
from drinking water,

which varies from
geographical location.

The most recent
growth shows

that she's been in New York
the past couple of months.

Before that, distinct markers
put her in the Ukraine.

Young Eastern European girl.
Severe abuse, wounds to the breasts.

She was trafficked for sex.

Like thousands of other girls
smuggled in here with phony papers.

It's going to be tough
to ID her.

I know a woman who might be
able to better your odds.

She runs an organization that helps
trafficked girls. Her name's Grace Metcalf.

I don't recognize her.

But so few girls escape, and only
a portion of those make it to me.

We believe
she's from the Ukraine.

Well, Kiev to New York is
a major trafficking quarter,

and other countries in the former
Eastern Bloc are close behind.

The economy stinks, and these
girls have very few options.

So enter the traffickers with promises
of glamour and big money abroad.

And what they get
is a life in hell.

Naomi. Abducted
from a playground.

Risa. Drugged at a nightclub
and flown out the same night.

Anna. Her mother sold her and
her little sister for 50 euros.

You got names
on any of these pricks?

Four and five apiece.

They change identities
like you change underwear.

What about other girls
from the Ukraine?

Anyone that our victim
may have arrived with?

Last summer,
we helped a girl from Kiev.

Pulled her out of
a brothel in Queens.

She still
live here in the city?

I wouldn't call it living.

She's too ashamed
to go back home

and worried if her traffickers
find her, they'll kill her.

Look, the people
that we're after

may be the same ones
that pimped that girl out.

So, we get them, she
doesn't need to hide.

Her name is
Veronica Pankovich.

She works in a laundry
on 36th Street.

Pretends she doesn't
speak English.

Veronica?

Veronica.
I'm Detective Olivia Benson.

Veronica, listen to me.

You're not in trouble. I
know that you understand me.

I just want to talk, okay?

I have to
finish my work.

Grace Metcalf sent me.

Is there some place
that we can talk privately?

You found me.
Listen.

So they can, too.

We're going to be
gone in a minute.

Nobody's gonna ever know
that we were here.

Now, do you recognize this
girl? She's from Kiev, like you.

I've never seen her before.
I can't help you.

No, no. You can. By telling
us who brought you here.

He'll find out. How do you know one
of those women inside won't tell him?

He's got people watching everywhere.
And when he finds me, I will die.

Look,
if you tell us who he is,

we'll have Victim Services
relocate you to another city.

His name is Alik. He smuggled
me in and made me a prostitute.

Do you know where he lives?
Where he hangs out?

I have his cell phone number,
but he'll never speak to a cop.

Claudia?
Hello, Alik.

Please, sit.
Let's talk.

Well, like I said
on the phone,

I need eight girls.
Newcomers.

The younger, the better.

I mean,
let's talk about you.

Oh!

Where are you from?
Chicago.

Lots of
pretty girls there.

Yes, indeed.

Can't you shop at home?

I have very important clients
that come here for work.

I need to
service them locally.

Fly your girls in.

Too risky. Half my girls
don't even have passports.

And my clients
like variety.

Who gave you
my phone number?

One of your girls was in town.
I met her. Very impressive.

She told me to phone you.
Are you interested or not?

I might know some girls
looking for work.

Open up.

Okay.
They're clean.

This one's teeth
are a rotten mess.

You've got to get off
the meth, honey. No sale.

You think I let
my girls shoot up?

Not in their arms.

Between their toes, maybe.

Due diligence.
I respect that.

I'll take the first two.

Ten thousand.

Eight. I still need
six clean girls.

Get me another eight thousand,
I'll deliver them tomorrow.

It's a done deal.

NYPD! Nobody move!

Hey, get your hands up!

We're going to
get you someplace safe.

You're going downtown.
You're under arrest.

Bitch, you are dead!

Sorry about that. You have
the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.

Those girls are friends
of my family.

And you brought them here
because you're such a nice guy?

So they can live American dream.
I'm helping them find jobs.

Like you helped this girl?

Wasn't me. I've been in Miami all week.

I flew back this morning.
Check my ticket and hotel.

Were you just trolling South Beach
for more girls to ruin their lives?

You make it seem so tragic.
Their lives aren't terrible.

So what do you call
daily beatings, rape,

exposure to HIV?
The good life?

You think they're better off
in the Ukraine?

Rotting their livers
on grain alcohol.

Trading sex for drugs.

I give them nice clothes,
decent food, a place to stay.

Well, you gave her
a lovely death.

She didn't deserve
to die like that.

Oh, that's sweet. What was
she? One of your special girls?

She wasn't one of mine.
But I do know her.

So who was she?

We need
an arrangement first.

Cough up a name.

Nope. Nothing.

I don't know
if you've noticed,

but your balls are in
a vise right now, pal.

I don't do
American time.

I get deported to the Ukraine,
serve my sentence there.

He'll do a few weeks, buy his way out,
and be back trafficking more girls.

We'll give INTERPOL
our file.

Put him on every
international watch list.

That will at least
slow him down.

Giving him a deal
shows we're soft.

And not finding the killer
makes us incompetent.

The boss lady.

Save the grin,
ass-wipe.

There's no deal unless the name
checks out and your alibi holds up.

It will.

What's her name?

Elsa Lychkoff.

Your friends
pimp her out?

She wasn't a whore.

She was a good kid.

So how does a piece of crap
like you know her?

Because she was in
the Ukrainian newspaper.

One of those
genius math kids.

Always winning awards and
getting her picture taken.

Sad.

I always dreamed of winning the
Bradshaw Prize for Applied Mathematics.

My paper on dense triangle-free graph
conjecture has made my dream come true.

Elsa Lychkoff.
The youngest winner ever.

And she's smarter than
all of us combined.

Any mention of
the proud parents?

No, but this one says that she
went to the Morewood School.

Never heard of it.
I have.

The place is
a genius factory.

Couple of brainiacs from my
old hood got shipped off there.

Kind of like an elite
sports academy? Yeah.

But the kids they take
never come home.

Well, where do they go?

MIT, Harvard, Caltech.

So how did Morewood's top pupil
wind up at the bottom of the river?

This is the most
exciting moment of my life.

This is a tragedy. Elsa was
one of our brightest students.

My source at MIT just told me she
was about to be accepted there.

How long has
she attended Morewood?

One year.

Our forensics show that she was
in the Ukraine six months ago.

For an extended family trip
to visit a dying grandmother.

Elsa's a US citizen.
She was born here.

Explains why her prints
weren't on file at Immigration.

Have you told her parents?
Not yet.

We're going to need
their contact information.

Of course.

Was Elsa
living at home?

No. Our students
board here.

And no one noticed
that she was missing?

She wasn't.

After Elsa finished taking her last mid-term,
she signed herself out for the weekend.

What time did she leave?

Noon, Saturday.
She was due back tonight.

What can you tell us
about her parents?

Mr. And Mrs. Lychkoff
are extremely supportive.

They understand the needs
of a child as gifted as Elsa.

Did they know that she had a broken
wrist and was burned by cigarettes?

Are you insinuating that
happened at Morewood?

Any teachers have
a problem with her?

She outpaces a few of them
intellectually, but there's no animosity.

And how about some of
your other star pupils?

Any hard feelings there?

Our students
may be competitive,

but they're ruthlessly
loyal to one another.

Elsa have any loyal friends
we can talk to?

She was very close to her
roommate, Jennifer Banks.

I can't believe it.
She was my best friend.

Was Elsa upset by anything
recently? Fighting with anyone?

No. She would
have told me.

Problems with teachers?

Are you kidding?
They all love her.

She was the smartest kid in class,
even after she stopped studying.

Stopped?

Everything came easy
to Elsa.

She didn't take notes, and she didn't
cram all night like the rest of us.

She spend her time
playing chess?

I do.

I'm nine points away
from Candidate Master.

The school hired two
Grandmasters to coach me.

That's impressive.

So, if Elsa wasn't spending her
time studying, what was she doing?

I don't know.

Tell me, Jennifer.

She'd sneak out at night.

She have a boyfriend?

No, but
she flirted a lot.

Yeah? With who?

Not anyone here at school.

Then where?

She wouldn't let me go out with her.
She didn't want anyone seeing her be bad.

Bad? How?

When she snuck out,
she dressed kind of slutty.

Will you show me?

Leather pants,
thong, corset...

She didn't wear
that stuff to class.

We have a dress code. She'd
get demerits just for having it.

And if her dad
found out...

Did Mr. Lychkoff
ever hurt her?

Elsa wouldn't
talk about it.

But when she changed, I could
see scars and burns on her skin.

Who did this?
Have you found them?

We're still investigating.

My Elsa.

She had so much potential. How
could she have been stolen from me?

It sounds like you and
Elsa were very close.

Only I understood her.
She was a prodigy, like me.

I was recruited from the Ukraine to be
an aerospace engineer here in the States.

If you were the only one
who understood her,

why did you send her away?

Morewood was the best place
for Elsa.

A superior intellect does not
come around very often.

So Elsa's gift had to be
nourished by experts only.

Mothers.
They coddle too much.

She studied so hard.
She need a mother's care.

Maybe if
we kept her at home...

She needed
a discipline.

What? Like being jerked so hard
that her shoulder dislocated?

Or being burned
by cigarettes?

Like finding out

she was sneaking away from
school, so you discipline her?

I never
raised a hand to her!

Somebody sure as hell did.

Mrs. Lychkoff?

Do you have any idea who
would hurt your daughter?

No.

I loved Elsa.

She was all I lived for!

Stop wasting my time and find the
bastard who killed my shining star!

Guess he needed a shining star
after he crashed and burned.

Lychkoff got fired by
Boeing after six months.

Then hired by Lockheed, and they
dumped his ass four months later.

Sounds like our genius
is one dumb son of a bitch.

How does
he make ends meet?

Insurance scams,
Ponzi schemes.

He has 13 open cases against
him, most of them are for fraud.

Anything violent?

No, but he's got
bank liens up the wazoo.

He's into the IRS
for 100 grand.

That could drive someone over the edge.

But torturing
your only child?

He tortured both of us.

I'm Katrina Lychkoff,
Elsa's older sister.

The one my father
threw away.

He said, "Get with the
program or get out. "

What was the program?

Unwavering dedication
to intellectual superiority

from the moment
we were born.

And academics
weren't really your thing.

My IQ is 135.

That's really high.

Not high enough
for my father.

Elsa's was 165.
That's Einstein territory.

I'm sure you didn't come here to
tell us how smart your sister is.

Elsa died after she left
school to visit my parents.

And you think your father had
something to do with it?

There was a place in our house
where he used to teach us.

We didn't see a classroom.

No one's ever seen it
but us.

I could show you. My
mom called me at work.

She said they were going
to the funeral home.

It's like
an icebox in here.

That's funny,

because my dad called it
"hothousing. "

Gifted children need a devoted
care and attention to grow.

Like raising an orchid in
a hothouse to make it grow.

Yeah. Elsa was Papa's exotic flower.

She needed devoted care
and attention to flourish.

Hard to flourish
without heat.

Cold stimulates
the mind.

It was one of my Dad's
pedagogical techniques.

Two lines are perpendicular
if and only if the product

of their slope
is a negative one!

I learned that
on my sixth birthday.

What's with the rice? Did he
force you to eat down here, too?

No. He made us kneel on it
while he drilled us.

It's not so bad
at first.

But after a while, the grains dig
into your skin and you start to bleed.

How long did you go
to school down here?

Till I was 16. Last year, he
kicked me out of the house.

He wanted to spend
all his time with Elsa.

He said she had
true potential.

He was right. The only job
I could get was waitressing.

Because you were a teenager and you
didn't have a chance to go to college.

Or save my sister.

I wanted to take her
away from Papa,

but Morewood is just as bad.
The pressure is too intense.

We heard that things
came easy to her.

No, the pressure
to make money.

Hold on.
Elsa had to work, too?

Morewood paid my father
to enroll her.

You mean they gave her
a scholarship? Yeah.

Along with a huge bonus
for sending her there.

He also entered her in
competitions for the prize money.

She was the family
cash cow.

What the hell
is going on here?

Katrina!

She's dead to us. You are
trespassing on my property.

I'm pressing charges
against you.

Me, first. You're under arrest
for assaulting Elsa Lychkoff.

You have the right to remain
silent. If you give up that right,

anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.

You have the right
to an attorney.

If you can't afford one,
one will be appointed to you.

I would never hurt Elsa.
She was my pride and joy.

Until she missed
a math problem.

And then you beat her like a
mule that wouldn't pull a plow.

This is how I was taught. And
it worked. I earned my PhD at 23.

He failed his exams and was
kicked out of university.

And then we moved to US and
he started looking for jobs.

Telling everyone
he have his degree.

Liv, hammer him on his
PhD. He never got it.

You sure
you have that PhD?

Because we did some checking,
and there's no record of it.

I'm a very smart man.

You're a liar.

And you're lying about beating
the crap out of your daughter.

No! I love her!

And what about the other daughter that
you kicked out 'cause she wasn't a genius?

Do you love her, too?

I was only trying to
provide for my family.

Katrina would never succeed. I
couldn't waste any more time on her.

He was always getting fired and
going to casinos to play cards.

Losing all our money.

What did
you live on?

I clean offices.

One job,
and then two jobs.

Liv, he's a gambler.

You let your wife
break her back

while you were living
it up in Atlantic City.

Yeah. I count cards.
It's easy money.

That's if
you're good at it.

You lost 80 grand at
blackjack in the last year.

That's why you wanted
Elsa at Morewood.

Their stipends would help you
cover your gambling losses.

I only cared for my
daughter's well-being.

And how's that? By
beating her until she bled?

I never hurt her!

I saw the bruises.

The cigarette burns.

Did you confront him?

No. He said he was doing
what was best for her.

And she was learning.
Her test scores proved it.

I let him do it.

I let him hurt my baby.

I only wanted
what's best for her.

Oh, come on.
She's your meal ticket.

You don't care about who
she is, what she wants.

You just ride her. Getting
her into the best schools.

Honing her into Daddy's
perfect little genius.

Yes, yes. I did this. Yes.

But you rode her
too hard, didn't you?

And she started
acting up.

She started neglecting her
studies, sneaking out of her school.

So you confronted her. Right? You
tried knocking some sense into her?

I'm sorry.

So you
beat her to death,

and you dumped your own
daughter's body into the river.

Oh, God, forgive me!

Sit back down,
Joseph! Sit down!

Forgive me!
Sit down!

Elsa!
Stop it!

Elsa!
Joseph, stop it!

Elsa!
Stop it!

Forgive me!
Captain!

Somebody call a bus!

Have the hospital call us
when he's conscious.

Or if he saves us all
the trouble and croaks.

We still need a formal
confession to close the case.

You'll need to find
the perp to do that.

I called the casinos
down in A.C.

A couple of the pit bosses
say Lychkoff's a regular.

They sent
this surveillance photo.

He was there the day
Elsa was murdered.

But we don't know the exact
time that Elsa was killed.

He was glued to the tables
for two days straight.

The guy's a creep.
He's just not our creep.

This guy must have felt pretty guilty
about the abuse he put Elsa through

to bash his head
in like that.

All right.
So Dad's off the hook.

I guess we take another
look at the school.

Well, not every star pupil
there shines so bright.

Start with
these three rap sheets.

All right.

Take a look at that. The
kid gets an "A" for arson.

You burned down a garage.
What else have you burned?

I was working on
a chemistry experiment.

I knocked over
a Bunsen burner.

Well, the Fire Department said
that accelerant was used.

Duh. I need them to make the organic
compounds I use in my research.

I'm not some little kid
playing pyro, here.

I already have
three patents on my work.

I'm going to Harvard
in the fall.

Breaking and entering.
Armed robbery.

That will impress
the admissions committee.

It was three years ago.

Colleges won't find out,
because I was never convicted.

You robbed
a gas station.

My older brother did.

I only tagged along to
prove that I wasn't a nerd.

It's called accessory
to a crime.

Once I realized what he was doing,
I ran out of the gas station.

And the D.A.
Believed that?

I guess so.

He made a deal with my
parents to send me here.

Because this place
is like a jail.

I didn't do anything.
What do you call rape two?

Fun and games?
There wasn't any rape.

There wasn't even
any sex.

She said she couldn't believe
I was going to be her boyfriend.

I told her it was one and
done, and she flipped out.

So you figured a punch in
the face would calm her down?

I pushed her away. She fell
and hit her head on the bedpost.

She was just pissed at me that I
rejected her, so she called the cops.

Okay. Elsa Lychkoff. She
one of your "one and done's"?

No way.

Girls around here are so
wrapped up in their own heads,

they've got no idea what's
going on with their bodies.

Still, a guy as handsome as you.
You sure she wasn't interested?

Elsa was into older dudes.

How much older?

Not pervy old,
like you.

She used to hang out with this
guy that went to school here.

I think he lives
in Newark now.

Name?
Danny Burke.

You've got the wrong guy. I'm
not interested in little girls.

I'm 23.

Elsa was 14. That makes her jailbait.

Look,
I met her at a party.

She said that she went to Morewood
and that she was really unhappy.

And you offered to make
her feel all better?

Not that way. I was like a big
brother. Someone she could look up to.

You're quite
the role model.

Giving up a promising future
for a dead-end life in this dump?

Yeah. But it's my dump.

I'm not going to live my life the way
those a-holes at Morewood want me to.

Aren't you a little old to be
rebelling against your high school?

"Be the best. Great isn't good
enough. Maximize your potential. "

They even feed their students a
special diet to increase brain activity.

Omega-3s and all that
crap. That place is toxic.

Is that why you dropped out
a month before graduating?

I couldn't take it anymore.
And neither could Elsa.

She wanted to be a kid,
not their effing robot.

She hated Morewood. She
was looking for a way out.

Like through her window,
dressed like a slut?

What are you talking about?

We saw her clothes.
Leather and lace.

You got the wrong girl. Elsa
wouldn't even wear makeup.

You know her roommate
Jennifer?

Yeah. Elsa hated
that little bitch.

Mommy could buy her
admission to Morewood,

but she couldn't buy
Elsa's brains.

So she was
jealous of Elsa?

Pathologically.

Jennifer kept begging Elsa
to tank one exam, just once,

so that Jennifer
could be number one.

And Elsa wouldn't?

It was World War llI
in their room.

Elsa asked for
a new roommate.

And when the Nazi headmistress said no,
Elsa gave Jennifer the silent treatment.

And how did
Jennifer react?

Did you ever see a nerd
spaz out? It's ugly.

Jennifer.
Just a minute.

You lied about the clothes.
They're yours, aren't they?

What? They were
from Halloween.

Elsa liked them, so I let her
wear them. That's what friends do.

But she's not your friend.

And Elsa never would
have worn those clothes.

Who told you that?
Danny Burke.

He's a prevaricator.
Synonym for liar.

Hey. This isn't
a vocabulary test.

Elsa was murdered.
Look.

I don't have time
for this. Okay?

They put me in a tournament next week,
and I need to study Molnar-Nagy 1966.

I'm in zugzwang, but if I can
solve it... Maybe it's h7 to j6.

Hey. The only way you're going
to solve this is by talking to us.

Tell us what happened
to Elsa.

I want my mom.

I'm Suzanne Banks,
Jennifer's mom.

Why is she alone in there?
What did you do to her?

The question is, what did
she do to her roommate?

Elsa?
They were best friends.

Weren't they?

I'm glad she's dead.

Don't say such a thing!

Why not? It's the truth.
Elsa got all the attention.

She was in the newspaper,
she had scholarship offers.

Well, sweetie. You have a college fund.

That's not the point.

It's about the competition. Being
the best. There is no second place.

That's why the school roomed us
together, so we'd push each other.

But Elsa
always came out on top.

It wasn't fair.

She never studied,
and I worked so hard.

But she was
smarter than me.

Baby, that's not true.

It is true, Mom. I'm
smart, but she's a genius.

And she never
let me forget it.

Was she mean to you?

She wouldn't even
talk to me. Not a word.

Like I was too insignificant,
too stupid to waste her breath on.

Oh, baby...
I'm not a baby!

And I'm not stupid. I
just wanted to be the best.

But you just
couldn't beat her.

It wasn't fair.

She didn't want
to go to MIT.

She was going to drop out
like that loser, Danny.

So why couldn't
she let me win?

Just once, so that I could be
the smartest girl at Morewood.

Then every college
would want me.

Did you ever
say this to Elsa?

I told you,
she wouldn't speak to me.

So I followed her onto the ferry
one day when she went to see Danny,

but she couldn't run away from me
in the middle of the Hudson River.

Whoa. Jennifer, that's enough.
I think we'd better go now.

Don't tell me
what to do!

Don't!
Don't tell me what to do!

I'm sick and tired of everyone
always telling me what to do.

What to say. How to think. How to act.

I just wanted to talk
to her. That's all.

I just wanted to talk to her,
and then take the next ferry back.

But she screamed at me.

Why was I following her?
She called me a loser.

She said I was pathetic and dumb,
and that I was only at Morewood

because my family is rich.

That I'd never be able to make
it on brains alone, like her.

She tried walking away,
and so I grabbed her arm.

And she pushed me, so I
jabbed her chest with my pen!

And she pushed me again...
Jennifer, stop!

...and so I pulled her hair, and
I slammed her head into the railing

over and over
and over again!

Did anybody
see you fighting?

Everyone was inside
because it was raining.

She tried screaming for help,
but no one could hear her

because the ferry horn
started to blow.

That's when she fell down, and
I pushed her into the river.

I'm number one now, Mom.

Aren't you happy for me?

She made
a full confession.

And her mother
let it happen?

Well, there was
no stopping Jennifer.

The kid was on fire.

Great. Won't be any
Miranda issues at trial.

But there are
some other issues.

Cue the violins.

She needs to be locked up, but
someplace where she can get help.

You want me to dump the
case on Family Court.

We don't want you to
dump anything.

Jennifer is a killer,
but she's 14.

She's not a hardened criminal.
Try her as a juvenile.

I would, but it's not my call. I got
Warner's results on the tide charts.

Elsa's body went into the
river just off Hoboken.

The horn blew because
the boat was docking.

This isn't a New York case.
It's New Jersey.

Which is bad news
for Jennifer.

They try kids her age as adults,
and send them to prison for life.

No way, Detectives.
She's a troubled girl.

Not a stone-cold killer.

The world is full of troubled
girls. Most don't commit murder.

And the world recognizes the difference
between kids who kill and adults.

You know, the only other
country that gives a child

life without parole
is Somalia.

Now, do you really want
to belong to that club?

I didn't write the law.
I just enforce it.

Right. You've put away three kids
for life in the past eight months.

Two blacks, one Hispanic. Now
you put away a rich white girl?

Kind of makes you
colorblind, doesn't it?

Your rich
white girl has a 160 IQ

and no history of abuse,
addiction or mental illness.

Don't tell me she didn't
know what she did was wrong.

She's 14 years old.

Are you the same person
that you were back then?

At 14, I wasn't a murderer.
Whose side are you on?

Justice, for Elsa
and for Jennifer.

She's not some psychopath that has to
be locked up before she kills again.

She's cold and conniving.
She knew what she was doing,

and she knew
the consequences.

The hearing's tomorrow. I'm
calling you both as witnesses.

When you questioned Jennifer
Banks, did she show remorse

for murdering
Elsa Lychkoff?

Not exactly.

Didn't she, in fact, say,
"I'm glad she's dead"?

Yes.

Was Jennifer defending herself
when she attacked the victim?

She told us
that Elsa pushed her.

Elsa pushed her away, after
Jennifer grabbed her arm.

Then what did
Jennifer do?

She jabbed her
in the chest with a pen.

"Jabbed" or "stabbed"? The M.E.
Report documents stab wounds.

Three of them. She grabbed Elsa's hair
and slammed her head against the railing.

How many times?

Four.

And Jennifer confessed to
all these acts of violence?

Yes.

Did Jennifer board the ferry
planning to kill Elsa?

No, she went there to talk. She
and Elsa weren't getting along.

She wanted to
clear the air.

Her academic achievements,
her IQ,

her accomplishments
at chess.

Clearly,
Jennifer is a brilliant girl.

With the intellect of an adult
and the emotions of a child.

She was forced to compete, forced
to excel in a grown-up world.

At school, at chess, at
everything. She cracked.

Can that crack
be repaired?

Only if she gets help.

Did Jennifer Banks know
that her actions were wrong?

I'm not a shrink.
Your partner testified

that she is
exceptionally bright.

Bright enough to spin a story
to best create a false scent.

Bright enough
to manipulate you

into discovering fake evidence
to cover her tracks. Correct?

Yes.

She almost got away
with it, didn't she?

Nothing further.

I've heard enough.

I'll hear this case in adult
court. Detective, you may step down.

Game over.
Thanks for your help.

Over?

Ms. Banks.
The game is never over.

There's always a way out.
Jennifer.

Counselor, control your
client. Replay the moves.

Look for the crack.
No! Don't!

Quit it! Be smarter.
Bailiff!

Be better. Fight harder!
Remove the defendant.

Jennifer. Calm down.
Best isn't good enough!

Ms. Banks, please!

I see everything!
Calm down.

Order!
I know the rules!

You can't stop me!
Order!

No! Get your hands
off of me!

Don't touch me, you stupid
idiots! You don't understand!

No, you can't understand!
No. No, wait.

Please don't go.
Don't go, please. Wait.

Why am I here? Why am I here?
Why am I... Why am I here?

Jennifer, you killed Elsa.

Did I?

Nothing makes sense.
It's all blank.

And I'm trapped in this
horrible endgame

of a chess match that I don't
remember sitting down to play.

Jennifer, you confessed.

I can remember things,
but then I can't.

Was it me who did this,
or was I dreaming?

But I can't be dreaming.
I don't sleep. I never sleep.

What do you mean,
you never sleep?

I go and go for days
until I crash.

Nobody can survive
without sleep.

I can.

With my secret weapon.

Are you taking something?

Provigil.
It helps me study.

One little pill,
and every synapse firing.

Where do you get it?

I get it from kids
with ADD.

Everyone's on drugs at Morewood.
Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin.

Anything to
help you focus.

Does the school know?

They tell you how to game your
doctor into prescribing it.

Jennifer. Jennifer, how long had you
been up the night before you killed Elsa?

Six days.
I was cramming for exams.

Pop a pill, I could read
four books a night.

And did you take it
after the tests?

I didn't need to.

But then I had to prep
for the chess tournament,

so I bought some more.

And how long
have you been up now?

Three days.

But it's not working
this time.

My mind is like
a jigsaw puzzle,

and all the pieces
are all over the place.

And it's a big mess, and I
can't put it back together.

I need Provigil. Please,
you have to bring me some.

Tell me where it is.

I keep it safe where no one will find
it, so no one can steal my secret.

Take one, and I'm Einstein,
Descartes and Shakespeare.

I wrote a play
in one night.

My brain was finally working.
I could understand everything.

I wrote it all down.

I realized I could
talk to Elsa.

Make her like me again.

This type of hypergraphia is
common with Provigil abuse.

The drug was developed to treat
narcolepsy and other sleep disorders,

then the government discovered
its military value as a stimulant,

gave it to the troops to
keep them alert in the field.

Now kids are using it
to cram for their exams.

When used properly, it is an
effective treatment for ADD.

Properly. Yeah, right. Tell me
those kids at Morewood popping pills

all have attention deficit.

I'll tip off a friend
in the Health Department,

see if we can stop
the pill-pushing.

Okay. So if Jennifer
was abusing Provigil,

she could have been up
for six days straight.

The world record
is 11 days.

Until Guinness stopped
acknowledging the category

because of the health
risks involved.

How serious?

Potentially deadly.

That's why sleep deprivation
is used as a torture technique.

Well, Jennifer was a mess in court
after only three days without sleep.

I'm not surprised.

One study showed that 17 hours
without sleep is the equivalent

of having a. 05
blood alcohol content.

That's legally impaired. So
what symptoms would she have?

Anything ranging from irritability
to delusions to psychosis.

Jennifer was manic
in interrogation

and out of her mind
in the courtroom.

She would have been much worse
on the night of the murder.

An insanity plea? That's the last
stop for every hack lawyer too stupid

or lazy to prepare
a credible defense.

But if the facts support it,
it's a winner.

Your girl missed a nap.
That doesn't justify murder.

Sleep deprivation psychosis
is a clinical condition.

Jennifer Banks was temporarily out
of her mind when she killed Elsa.

I'm sure defense counsel will try it
on the jury. I don't think it'll fly.

You didn't get where you are
without pulling a few all-nighters.

Yeah. I've gone
two days without sleep.

Only thing I murdered at
the end of it was my pillow.

I knew a cop who worked a double
homicide for 41 hours straight,

then went home and went to
bed. He had an asthma attack,

so he reached for his inhaler, but he
grabbed his service revolver instead.

He put it in his mouth
and he blew his brains out.

What do you want from me?

I want you to read
Jennifer's journal.

Sleep on it.

According to the terms
of the plea agreement,

the defendant is remanded to the
Department of Juvenile Justice

for a period
not to exceed seven years.

Change of heart,
Ms. Gil?

Newly discovered evidence shows
the defendant's mental status

at the time of the murder
warrants leniency.

You're
a very lucky young lady.

Don't squander
your good fortune.

Good luck.

You'll be out by 21.

Thank you.

Well, at least
she still has a chance.

My next case. Fifteen.

Raped and murdered his
six-year-old stepsister.

No remorse. Says he'd do it
again. You want him out at 21, too?