Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…): Season 3, Episode 8 - Inheritance - full transcript

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.

Mandibular and
orbital fractures.

Blunt-force trauma to the back of
the head and loss of consciousness.

Five-centimeter knife
laceration below the right clavicle.

He wanted to disfigure
her. And kill her.

Nearly succeeded, too.
I'm surprised she survived.



Radio car found her outside
a warehouse in Chinatown.

Responding to a burglar alarm.

Lucky for her.

Yeah, lucky.

What else?

Distinct fingerprint bruising
above her knees, and these.

Burns, likely from a cigarette.

Maybe abuse, but
it's a strange pattern.

This might interest you.

Maybe a gang member.

Rape kit?

Plenty of fluids, all tainted. Used
some kind of cleaning solution.

Smelled like bleach.
She'll be out of it for a while.

You won't get anything tonight.



Okay. Thanks.

She's gonna have plates in
her face for the rest of her life.

A lot of rage.

Bleach. Guy's meticulous.

And confident.

Squad guys took these.

Alley where they found
her, full view of the street.

So we got a burglary and
a rape in close proximity.

Maybe a dump job.

You believe in coincidences?

According to Robbery, the
perps broke into the warehouse

and made out with 50 grand in
these, high-speed computer processors.

Five masked men, they jumped the janitor
and locked him in the utility closet.

This is the only exit.

Leading to our
second crime scene.

Victim is Helen Chen, 19. She
lives a few blocks down on Hester.

This is where the
uniform found her.

Among a whole bunch of computer
parts, probably dropped on the way out.

Burglary alarm was silent.

By the time the patrol car got
here, she was the only one here.

You got five guys in the warehouse.
Maybe a sixth out here to commit the rape.

Or we're talking two crimes.

Either way, robbery perps
had to see her on the way out.

Our best lead is a possible
gang tattoo on her shoulder.

Women aren't
members of Asian gangs.

They're associates through
a brother or boyfriend.

They use them to
carry drugs and guns.

Women are less likely
to get hassled by cops.

Well, so far our only
witness is the victim.

We'll hit the hospital,
see what she has to say.

The body art suggests
she associates

with some of the more
unsavory elements in society.

I got a guy down in Gang Intel.
He's probably seen every tat in town.

Tattoos, cigarette burns, all could
indicate Chinese gang activity,

but they signify
different things.

The burns could mean initiation,
number of kills, punishment.

What's this mean?

Could be Chinese gang.

Define "could be."

Well, a lot of Chinese gang tattoos
use versions of snakes or dragons,

but I haven't seen
this one before.

For gang intelligence, you
don't have many answers.

Look, I worked two years
in Chinatown undercover.

I barely scratched the surface.

You think you'll get somewhere
with a rape investigation?

Chinatown's got
no love for cops.

Well, they're just gonna
have to get over that.

What's your take on
the warehouse robbery?

Computer parts heist does
sound like Asian gang activity.

We've been building cases against
several gangs of high-tech crime.

Same profit margin as drug
trafficking, nowhere near the jail time.

Only question is, where
does this rape fit in?

A lot of Asian gangs use
rape as a form of punishment.

Maybe your victim
broke the rules.

Helen, we're trying to
find out who did this to you.

So, when you're able, we'd
like to talk to you about it.

Don't make her cry.

She starts to choke and they
have to snap her jaw open again.

I told you, she can't talk.

Yeah, but you can, Johnny.
Come here. Come here.

Okay. What was your
sister doing in that alley?

I don't know. Walking home.

What happened to
your arm? I burned it.

Yeah, with a laser to
remove a gang tattoo.

I'm not in a group.

So it's just Helen?
She rob the warehouse?

I used to be with a group. Ghost
Shadows. But I got out a long time ago.

What about your sister?

She's still in, with
her yuè nán boyfriend.

And what's that? What's yuè nán?

Vietnamese. Dao Tran.
He's the one banging.

Last week, I told him
to stay away from Helen.

Punk said he'd kill me
if I got in between them.

She thinks she can
protect him. Not anymore.

I should've made sure he
stayed away from her permanently.

Dao Tran's boys
hit that warehouse.

Well, how do you know if you're out?
Maybe it was one of your old friends.

Try this on. It was your boys
who robbed the warehouse,

and then they rape the sister of
the guy who turns his back on them.

Ghost Shadows didn't do this.

They know I'd kill anybody
who tried to hurt her.

So where can we
find this Dao Tran?

Pho Hoa Restaurant on Canal.
All the Born to Kill boys hang there.

Born to Kill?

Yeah. From Vietnam War.

It's what the American soldiers
used to write on their helmets.

We closed now. Come back later.

Where's Dao Tran? Not here.

Good afternoon, boys.

Kind of early to be out of
school. What, you all sick?

Let's take their temperature.

No trouble now.

You're closed, we heard.

Hey, wait.

Hey!

See how messy things can get
when you don't cooperate, Dao?

How's your love life, Dao?

I hear you and Helen
Chen have been dating.

We broke up.

Why? She doesn't like
being burned with cigarettes?

I don't know what
you're talking about.

Kind of like you don't know
Helen's in the hospital?

What happened?

She was raped and beaten
and left in an alley for dead.

God, no.

Why don't we stop with
the performance, Dao?

I swear. We haven't seen
each other for a week.

We wanted people to think
we weren't together anymore.

People? Like your
boys in Born to Kill?

Now we know her
brother's in a gang.

Maybe your boys didn't
like you dating a Chinese girl.

They jumped her to
teach you a lesson? No.

Or maybe it had
nothing to do with them.

Johnny Chen said that you're
not good enough for Helen.

He embarrassed you,
made you feel stupid.

But you're not stupid.
You're a smart guy, right?

You raped her while your
friends robbed the warehouse.

I didn't rape Helen. I love her.

Ghost Shadows did the warehouse.

How do you know?

Helen told me.

She was their lookout.

I tried to stop her.

Johnny did this.

So you want us to believe
that her own brother raped her.

He ordered it. Prove it.

Look, Helen didn't want to bang with
him, but he's got this control over her.

I mean, you know those
burn marks on her arm?

Well, Johnny made her do
that to herself, because of me.

Johnny did this.

Okay.

Well, it's still your
word against his.

Ask Helen. She
knows what he can do.

Helen, we can't help you if
you're protecting your brother.

Now, we know he's
involved in your attack.

That's not true.

Well, then tell us what is.

'Cause right now our
best suspect is Dao Tran.

No, it's not Dao. He loves me.

Well, your brother
made you burn your arm.

You think he cares
what happens to you?

Did you see him?

I don't remember.

I got hit. Passed out.

Johnny must have seen you
when he robbed that warehouse.

He was going to let
you die in that alley.

It wasn't him.

Well, it may have
been one of his crew.

Helen, tell us where
he is. Come on.

They have a house,
where they keep scores.

Get off me, man. Get off me.

That's our grieving
brother right there.

Look who it is, Mister Intelligence.
Our friend from Gang Intel.

- It's not what it looks like.
- Looks like a bust to me.

Thanks to our rape victim.

You knew her tattoo meant Ghost
Shadows and you lied about it.

Look, I couldn't tell you.

We had a 15-month
investigation riding on this.

You're talking about
stolen property,

we're talking about a
girl that was brutalized.

Are we going to debate now
about whose job is more important?

No, we're gonna debate about you
helping our guy get away with rape.

You're looking at Johnny
Chen for this, right?

He knows who raped her.

He's yours. Hey.

With our gratitude.

Thanks.

I didn't do nothing. I provide
for Helen. I take care of her.

Did you provide
for her to get raped?

No. Never.

Well, robbery places you at the
scene of her attack there, Johnny.

Do you want to go down for this?

You want to go down for raping
and beating your own sister?

When we went in, she was okay.

Okay.

And when you came out?

I didn't see her. Thought
she got scared and ran off.

But then...

But then what?

I found her.

I thought you said
you didn't see her.

I found her and then she was
so beat up. Nobody was around.

We heard sirens. Then it got
so crazy, and she looked dead.

So you saved your own ass.

Detectives?

Bleach man is back.

When? Half an hour
ago in Chinatown.

The victim get a good look?

She's dead.

Victim's Asian?

From what I can
tell, it's your guy.

Bleach to clean up, beat
her around the face and head.

He's getting a lot
more enthusiastic.

But still had the presence
of mind to get rid of his DNA.

Not necessarily.

Blood under the
fingernails. She fought back.

Must've made him pretty angry.

Imagine carving someone's body.

I'm gonna guess this
slur points to motive.

He's a racist.

Her name was Lucy Zhang. She
was visiting her mother in Chinatown.

She cut across the park to catch
the six train to the Upper East Side.

Gang connections?

Nothing. She was
a CPA, no record.

The ME thinks that the racial
epithet was cut postmortem

with a straight blade
from a utility knife.

Nothing like this M.O. in our
61s. We're back where we started.

Then we need a new profile.

The brutality indicates a tremendous
amount of anger towards Asian women.

Probably was victimized
by Asians at some point.

It took time and effort to
cut up the victim like that.

He's confident enough to
believe he's not gonna get caught.

Yeah, but he wasn't always.

A search through the past few years
should reveal smaller acts of aggression.

Peeping, exposure, violence
with consensual partners,

up to outright assaults.

An awful lot of ground to cover.

Maybe not.

I'll call the bias task force.

Have them send over files on
hate crimes against Asian women.

Anything?

Just reams of complaints about racist
scum. Haven't ruled out anybody so far.

Year ago, a peeping
Tom was hitting Chinatown.

Could be our guy, but he was good at it,
ran away before anybody could see him.

Girl got shoved on East
Broadway five months ago,

perp threw out a racial slur.

No description, then he
disappeared into the crowd.

What is this guy, invisible?

Nothing on the blood from
under the victim's nails?

Still waiting on serology.

For someone careful enough to
clean up his evidence with bleach,

he's careless to leave behind his
own blood. His rage may be escalating.

Still doesn't help us if
he's not in the database.

All right, listen to this.

A woman answered a personal ad
in a Chinese-language newspaper.

Guy pulled a utility knife on the first
date. She dropped the complaint the next day.

Got scared.

Let's go.

Could take hours to
track down a translator.

Doc, can you translate?

What, you just assume
I speak Chinese?

No. I heard you
order take-out once.

Sonja came from China last
summer to live with her aunt.

She didn't know anyone.

She decided to meet people
through personals in the China Sun.

I wrote him a letter. He
wrote back right away.

He said that he was a
engineer from Beijing.

We wrote three or four times a
week. He sounded as lonely as I was.

How did they arrange to meet?

We were going to have
dinner at a restaurant close by.

But when I arrived,
it was all lies.

What does that mean, all lies?

She says he wasn't Chinese.

He was black.

How many African-American males
speak and write Chinese well enough

to fool a native speaker?

Well, he could be a student or
work at the World Bank or the UN or...

Why lie about being Chinese?

Because he knows she'll
never go out with him if he's not,

and then he expects that once
they've met, she'll be so taken with him

that his ethnicity won't matter. Her
reaction to his race is what sets him off.

The P.O. box he used was a cash deal.
Personal ad was done over the phone.

He used a stolen credit card.

Let's follow the money.

Sorry, I have a 4:00
at a brokerage house.

I can't believe they're not online
trading yet. I'm designing their website.

Mr. Tang, how is
it a month went by

before you realized your
credit card was stolen?

Yeah, that sucked.

Well, I was in
Paris and then Bern.

They're dying for HTML
speakers out there,

and I get back and there's
all these random charges.

Do you have any idea
who might have stolen it?

I wish. It was the
week I went out of town.

I was just kind of crazy, so I
guess I just left it somewhere.

Not too worried
about money, I guess.

Well, the credit card company
was cool. They didn't make me pay.

Some weird charges, though.

I mean, whoever took it probably
didn't want his wife to know.

Why? What do you mean?

Well, the guy was definitely
getting some action.

I have the statement right
here. Look, China Girl, 200 bucks.

Massage parlor in Chinatown.

Where no one actually
gets a massage.

Police.

I'll need to see
a search warrant.

Just calm down. We're
not Vice. We're not INS.

We're looking for
one of your customers.

I maintain the strictest
confidentiality policy with our clients.

That's great. Now, if you want
a raid here, I can arrange that.

We're looking for a man that
came in here about two weeks ago.

African-American. He used a
credit card with the name Larry Tang.

Come on, now.
Receipts. Give it up.

No need. I remember this guy.
He tried to kill one of my girls.

Hey. STABLER:
Sorry to interrupt.

Jiang Li? We'd like to
have a word with you.

Can you tell us about the
man who attacked you?

Looked young, like 20s.

Nothing special about him.

Came in for a massage.
Didn't like it, I guess.

We're not looking to set you up.

Just tell us the truth.
It stays right here.

He said he wanted a girlfriend.

Don't understand why the racist
son of a bitch came to Chinatown.

He paid you to
be his girlfriend?

It was fine, just regular stuff.

Except he couldn't do it.

I don't know, I guess I laughed.

I didn't mean
anything. He got mad.

Tells me he want to tie
me up. Sometimes I do that.

But this guy, I had a
bad feeling. So I said no.

Did he hurt you?

Punched me a couple times.

Pull out this little army knife.

Call me names.

What did he do with the knife?

Do you think you could
describe him to a sketch artist?

Faxed the sketch to area schools
with Chinese language programs. Zero.

Nothing door-to-door, either.

So what are we missing?

I mean, here's a guy who
immerses himself into another culture.

Masters the language,
lies about his own ethnicity.

Then destroys the very
culture that he's imitated. Why?

He's chosen a culture
that's traditionally insular,

particularly among
the older generation.

I know that if my sister dated a black
man, my parents would've strongly objected.

So this guy puts himself
in a position to get rejected,

not only as a man,
but as a non-Asian.

It's like he wants an
excuse to get mad.

Very possibly.

None of which helps if we're
working off a bad sketch.

Got a hit on the DNA from under
the victim's nails. African-American.

Sent up on multiple rape and homicide.
Just released from Clinton last year.

So where is he now?

Where can we find him?

That's Starnes.

What's wrong with him?

Progressive MS. This is a halfway
house for men with disabilities.

He's been pretty bad
off for a few years now.

Mistake at the lab?

Maybe.

Mr. Starnes, we're investigating
a series of rapes in Chinatown.

I ain't helping no cops.

But your DNA was all over one
of the victims, and she's dead.

So maybe you
want to help yourself.

I can't even get out
of this chair, boy.

And if I could, it wouldn't be
to get with no downtown bitch.

You got any brothers,
cousins around?

Someone who might
want to set you up?

Mr. Starnes, do you
have any children?

Never had the
pleasure. You offering?

You've raped a lot of women.

So it's possible that
you have kids out there

that you don't even
know about, right?

I suppose so, lady.

PCR typing only looked
at 10 genetic markers.

Sometimes a person can
have a close enough match

to score a hit
within the database.

Can you do another test?

I ran a Y-chromosome
on Starnes and the perp.

The Y-chromosome is passed
from father to son within a family line.

Grandfathers, fathers, brothers, sons,
nephews will have virtually identical Ys.

There's no doubt about it.
These guys are blood relatives.

Well, Halfway House
and prison records

says that Starnes has
no living male relative.

That we know of. He's a rapist.
Our perp could be this guy's son.

Makes sense.
Their DNA is similar.

Well, I guess being a
psychopath runs in the family.

Vital statistics confirm Starnes was not
named on any birth certificate as a father.

So we're left with his victims.

Starnes got sent
up on four rapes.

We ran the victims' names.
One came back. Martha Shelby.

Had a child that fits the
timeframe, no father listed.

All right, let's find her.

Now what about victims
they couldn't pin on him?

He looked good for three
unsolved rapes in Harlem,

but none of the victims had
a child within nine months.

All right, keep
looking. What else?

Starnes had a live-in girlfriend that
alibied him on a couple of collars.

Pamela Tatum. She had a baby
while they were living together.

There's no father on the birth
certificate. He'd be 23 now.

He's old enough to be a suspect.
Track him and the mother down.

What's the odds that both the
father and son turn out to be rapists?

You know, some geneticists
theorize that violence is inherited.

Oh, that's right. It's not my
fault, I was just born to kill.

It's a theory.

Well, it's ridiculous.

It's another way for people not to
take responsibility for their actions.

Let's find the guy first.

We can discuss the
Human Genome Project later.

You all right?

Yeah. Let's go.

Been a long time since
anybody's asked me about Daniel.

I was 17 when I was raped.

Three months later, doctor
told me I was pregnant.

I didn't know what to do.

According to the birth
certificate, you kept him.

I didn't think I could handle an
abortion. But in the end it didn't matter.

What do you mean?

I went into labor two months
early. Daniel lived two hours.

I know this sounds awful, but in
a way Daniel's death was a relief.

I don't know that I could have lived with a
constant reminder of what happened to me.

Thank you for your time.

All right. So now we go back looking at
rapes that Starnes wasn't connected to.

Unsolved rapes from 20 years ago.
It should be easy enough to crack.

You got a better idea?

Yeah, let's continue to
pretend this isn't bothering you.

Elliot, knock it off.

You're gonna tell me what
Professor Shelby said in there,

that's not getting to you?

I'm a child of rape, Elliot.

I've known that for a very long
time, and I appreciate your concern.

I really do.

But I've dealt
with it. So I'm fine.

How'd I know that bastard
would come back to haunt me?

How'd I know it?

When's the last time
you seen Harold Starnes?

Right before he got arrested.
Wised up and threw him out finally.

How long did you live with him?

Let him stay with me two years,

just after he got evicted
from that dump in Flatbush.

Know how he thanks me?

Rapes and kills my best
friend in my own building.

Where was your son at that time?

I had Michael about a year
before I kicked Harry out.

He didn't want much to
do with a baby anyway.

Is Harry Michael's
father? Hell, no.

Mind if I ask who is?

That animal is not
Michael's father.

But you were living with
him when Michael was born.

I had a lot of boyfriends
back in the day,

and if you trying to make me
feel like a whore, forget about it.

We're not trying to
do that, Miss Tatum.

What you want to
know all this for?

DNA found at a crime scene.

Looks like Starnes has a son who
may be following in his footsteps.

Know anything about it?

You kidding me. No.

Would you account for your
whereabouts in the past few days?

I was at my girlfriend's in
DC for the last two weeks.

Just got back this morning.
All right. That's enough.

My son is not a rapist.
I want you to leave.

Why don't you just come with us?

Take a few tests, and we
can clear this whole thing up.

That man is not
Michael's father.

But you don't know
for sure, do you?

Get out.

If you're innocent, you
don't have anything to hide.

He fits the profile. Could
we compel a oral swab?

It's worth a shot. Let's
see what Cabot has to say.

Hey.

Man, I didn't hurt
anybody. I swear.

Then take the
test. It's real easy.

Look, I know what Starnes did,
and I don't want to know if I'm his son.

There's no other way?

Would you be willing
to stand in a lineup?

Yeah. Tell me when and where.

We need an interpreter to
call in Sonja Yung for the lineup.

Cancel it. Michael
Tatum's alibi cleared.

He agreed to do it. His mother
lived with Starnes for two years.

No, he's not our guy. He was seen
in DC when the attacks occurred.

Where are we on unsolved rapes?

Nowhere. We don't have a known
address for Starnes before 1977.

Which means he could've
been active anywhere.

We got five boroughs' worth
of cold cases to wade through.

Not necessarily. Pamela Tatum said that
Starnes lived in Flatbush before Harlem.

Police never looked at
Starnes for rapes in Brooklyn.

Well, that sounds like a
place to start. Get the files.

Where's your son now?

I don't know. Sometimes
Darrell doesn't come home.

Thank you.

Mrs. Guan, our records indicate
that you were a victim of rape in 1977.

Yes.

Did you become pregnant
because of that rape?

Why?

We're investigating attacks
against Asian women in the area.

Here? That man is here?

The man who attacked you will
spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Was he Darrell's father?

Yes.

I found out I was pregnant,

and I thought maybe something good
could come out of what happened to me.

Is this your son?

His 21st birthday.

Mrs. Guan,

blood was found at a murder
scene that may belong to Darrell.

So we need to know where he is.

Darrell would never...
He's a good boy.

We just want to talk with him.

It's my fault.

I had hoped that because he was
my son, they would have loved him.

Who?

My family. Everyone
in Chinatown.

I moved in with my mother and
father because I had no money.

When they saw him, they
told me to give him away.

He's half-devil, they said.

The children in the neighborhood
would hurt him, push him, kick him.

Every day he'd cry, beg me not
to make him leave the apartment.

Why didn't you move away?

I guess part of
me hated him, too.

Have you seen anything that makes you
suspect Darrell's done something wrong?

That photo looks nothing
like the sketch of Darrell.

Those victims had to have
known he was half-Asian.

Why would they lie?

Look at this. Thrill Killing: True
Portrayals of America's Most Vicious Murders.

Hunting Human Beings.

Might explain these.

Blood? Okay. We
gotta get CSU in here.

Oh, my God.

Where is he?

Excuse me, is Darrell Guan here?

No, he's on deliveries.
Be back in an hour.

We'll need to see
those addresses now.

Won't take me a minute.

Should've known Darrell
was up to something.

Why? Well, a couple
of women complained.

Kept asking them out.

Are all your customers
in the computer?

Yeah. May I?

Find anything?

Helen Chen and Lucy
Zhang's mother are both in here.

Along with their home addresses.

Victim's address at
the touch of a button.

Call for back up.

Darrell, stop.

Police!

Stop! Police!

Freeze. Police! Okay.
I didn't do anything.

Liv. All right, we got him.
We got him, we got him.

You got it?

What is it?

It's bleach.

Counselor, I'm
glad I ran into you.

Expect an updated witness list on
the Guan case by the end of the week.

You're representing
Darrell Guan?

Little below your usual tax bracket
requirement, isn't he, Margo?

I'm defending him pro bono.

Looking for headlines.

Looking to save a life. Keep
the death penalty off the table.

Your client planned his attacks
and tried to cover his crimes.

He intentionally
selected his victims

based on race, national
origin, ancestry and gender.

That's five of the nine criteria
under the Hate Crimes Act,

which is an automatic
sentence enhancement.

He's not guilty of murder one.

The victim's blood was
found on Darrell's clothing.

His DNA was found under
one of the victim's nails.

The bottle of bleach used in both
crime scenes was found in his possession.

What exactly is your
definition of guilt?

Guilt, noun. From the
Middle English G-I-L-T.

The fact of being responsible
for the commission of an offense.

Operative word
being "responsible."

Not guilty by reason of
mental disease or defect.

My parents made
me read the dictionary.

Margo Nelson's got a
PhD in molecular biology,

in addition to her law degree.

So what the hell is she
doing defending a rapist?

Trying to set a precedent, I
think. Look at her witnesses.

A geneticist, a biologist,
a genetic psychologist.

All for an insanity defense.

Not guilty by reason
of DNA. Please.

She's trying to get the State to pay for
genetic testing on Guan and Harold Starnes.

Prove the sins of the
father are visited on the son.

Wait, wait, wait.

The Frye standard
precludes scientific evidence

not generally accepted
by the scientific community.

So file a motion in
limine. Just keep it out.

I'm not sure that I can.
Nelson's got science on her side.

It's a generally accepted theory
that violence and genes are linked.

They're linked, not causative.

Do you trust a jury to
make that distinction? I don't.

It's your job to make
sure that they can.

I've got George Huang
doing a psych exam.

Hopefully, he can prove Darrell
knew exactly what he was doing.

Listen to me, if
Nelson pulls this off,

it's a Pandora's box
for criminal prosecution,

because everything can be blamed
on the confluence of bad genes.

And then no one is truly
responsible for their own actions.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Good, then don't let it happen.

Do you know why
I'm here, Darrell?

To see if I'm crazy.

To see if you're competent to stand
trial. Why? Do you think that you're crazy?

If I say no, I get the
death penalty, right?

Usually the lawyers let me make
the diagnosis, not the defendant.

But I'm just wondering
what you think.

You're Chinese.

Why, yes, I am.

So am I.

Actually, you're
half-Chinese, aren't you?

You're tow gee.

You think that I'm the
privileged and spoiled landowner?

Isn't that what the native Chinese
call the American-born Chinese?

But you're American-born
as well, aren't you?

Was it difficult for you
growing up in Chinatown?

No.

You speak the
language very well.

You know the customs
probably better than I do.

But I imagine for many people in
Chinatown, you were still an outcast.

Didn't bother me.

The kids probably picked on
you when you were growing up.

That must have been difficult.

Even your own family must
have treated you differently.

What do you know
about your father?

Enough.

How old were you when you
found out that he'd raped your mom?

I don't remember. Young.
My mother's mother told me.

Why did she tell you that?

Haak gwai.

Black devil. She
called you that?

It doesn't matter.

What about your father? How
do you feel about your father?

I'm nothing like him.

Look at what
you've done, Darrell.

Your whole life you've
tried not to be like him.

But you're violent.
You hurt people.

You rape them.
Like father, like son.

Get out!

Darrell, calm
down. Take it easy.

Okay, okay, okay. Take it easy.

Gee, okay.

Have you discovered what some
theorists term the "violence gene"?

Well, there is no
"violence gene" per se,

and violent behavior can be linked to
the expression of several abnormal genes.

For instance?

A defective DRD2 A1 allele
may lead to pleasure-seeking

or addictive behavior,
as well as violence.

You conducted several
DNA tests on Mr. Guan.

Does he suffer from this
particular gene abnormality?

Yes, he does.

And what about his biological
father, Harold Starnes?

He suffers from the
exact same abnormality.

Mr. Starnes is a
convicted rapist.

Would you say that his son inherited
these violent tendencies from his father?

Objection. No matter how much
research Dr. Coffey has done,

he cannot definitively
answer that question.

I agree. Let's try and keep it out of
the realm of science fiction, Miss Nelson.

Are gene mutations
inherited, Dr. Coffey?

Certainly they can be.

I mean, take for instance the
genetic disease cystic fibrosis.

Both parents must possess the
recessive gene and pass it on to the child

in order for the child
to have the illness.

If they don't have the gene,
the child will not get the illness.

Would a person with cystic fibrosis have
any control over contracting the disease?

No. He will have inherited
the gene at conception.

And like that disease, if a child
inherited genes that made him violent,

he wouldn't have any control
over that either, correct?

That's correct.

So from a genetic standpoint, since
Harold Starnes was a violent man,

it's not completely out
of the realm of possibility

that his son was
born violent, as well.

Objection. How did we go from talking about
inherited genes to inherited behavior?

I apologize. I'll
try to speak slowly

and use smaller words
so you can keep up with us.

Counselor.

Dr. Coffey has not specifically
proven inherited behavior.

Are we just going to make up
new theories as we go along?

No, I think it's better that we take the
word of an assistant district attorney

over that of a
scientific expert.

Objection sustained.
Move it along, Miss Nelson.

Nothing further, Your Honor.

Are all people with a defective
DRD2 A1 allele rapists, Dr. Coffey?

Well, the gene defect predisposes
one towards violent behavior.

That wasn't the
question, I will rephrase it.

If a man has a defect, is he
absolutely going to be a rapist?

No. Not absolutely.

We know with the
cystic fibrosis gene

if a child inherits the gene
from each of the parents,

he or she will have the disease.

Is that the case with the
so-called "violent gene"?

Well, a causative connection
has not yet been established.

But aren't you asserting your
research predicts violent behavior

based on genetic makeup?

No. There are other
factors such as upbringing.

You never mentioned that in your testimony.
It sounded to me as if you were saying

genes are the only
factor in violent behavior.

Well, I can't very well speak
to the influence of environment.

I am a geneticist.

I see. So your testimony now

is that violent behavior is, in
fact, a combination of many factors,

not just genetic. Yes.

So, in truth, you really can't
speak to the topic at all, can you?

Objection. RIDENOUR: Counselor?

Withdrawn. Nothing further.

Complex scientific
evidence aside,

this case is about
the choices we make

and the choices
that are made for us.

Did Darrell Guan choose for
his father to rape his mother,

to be brought up in a
community, in a family,

that every single day berated,
belittled and stigmatized him?

Did he choose to
have a genetic defect?

No.

And now we're supposed to tell him, "Well,
too bad. You should have known better."

Darrell was born and lived in hell.
His grandmother called him the devil.

Well, of course he was.

He was engineered,
by nature and by nurture,

to be exactly what
he turned out to be.

And that is not his fault.

Yes, Darrell Guan
had a difficult life.

He was raised knowing
the only reason he exists

is because his mother
was violently raped.

One could understand why he wouldn't
grow up to be a well-adjusted adult.

But that's not an
excuse for murder.

In a civilized society, we have to
take responsibility for our actions.

If we start to justify all antisocial behavior
under the pretense it isn't our fault,

then the entire structure
of the law is meaningless.

In the end, it comes down to
what it is to be a human being.

We're not just a product
of our genetic programming,

nor are we solely molded and
motivated by our childhood experiences.

The defense would have you believe
Darrell Guan's life was beyond his control.

But the truth is, he was in complete
control at the time he committed his crimes.

He specifically
chose his victims,

not because of some biological
imperative, but because of opportunity.

He knew what he
was doing was wrong,

and he did everything he
could to get away with it.

Darrell Guan chose
the course of his life.

Make him take
responsibility for it.

Come in.

Hey.

The verdict came in on
the Darrell Guan case.

He's guilty on all charges.

I heard.

That was a tough case for me.

Seems to have been a
tough case for you, as well.

My mother was a rape victim.

She got pregnant. She had me.

So, yeah, it was personal.

I think I'd be lying if I didn't admit
that that's probably the biggest reason

that I decided to become a
cop. You know, to join SVU.

I used to think that it was because
I wanted to do something good,

you know, make a difference.

But you're questioning
those reasons now?

I don't know. You know, I...

I mean, look at my job. I'm...

I have to be
aggressive, even violent.

And you think that makes
you like Darrell Guan.

Well, look at Darrell Guan.

I keep trying to convince
myself that he had a choice.

You know, be a rapist, don't be a rapist.
Be violent, don't be violent. But...

If he had this
aggression inside him,

even violence, then,

does he have a choice?

Does anyone?

You don't hurt people, Olivia.

You protect them.

You're proof that
we do have a choice.

Or...

Or maybe I'm just lucky.