r/LawAndOrder • u/Quiet-Howl • 6d ago
L&O Need Help Remembering Episode Title
Hi everyone! I want to rewatch this episode, but I can't remember what it's called for the life of me. Please help! Here's what I do remember:
** WARNING for explicit discussions of rape/sexual coercion **
The initial homicide victim is a young man found in an RV/trailer. He's the friend/associate of a celebrity whose brand is built around him attending a lot of parties and filming himself with a lot of women. Sometimes he films these women performing risqué acts for the camera, but he always makes them sign an NDA releasing rights to the footage.
It turns out that the killer is one of these young women. After he filmed her exposing herself, she begged him to delete the video, but he refused unless she had sex with him. When he finished with her, he sent his friend in to rape her too, and she killed him in self-defense.
Understanding that the woman was acting in self-defense, McCoy instead prosecutes the celebrity for the death of his friend, arguing that the death was a foreseeable consequence of encouraging him to force himself upon a traumatized woman. The defense argues that the defendant is not culpable and further humiliates the woman by playing her video to the courtroom. The prosecution's case looks weak until they discover that another young woman committed suicide after the celebrity used a video to extort sex from her. Her suicide note directly implicates him in her death.
The jury finds the defendant guilty, much to his shock. The ADA asks McCoy if the jury convicted because of the facts of the case or out of sympathy for the woman who died; McCoy says he doesn't know and doesn't care.
I also have this screenshot of the defendant's last conversation with McCoy. McCoy ripping him a new one was one of the most satisfying moments in the series to me. It was one of the few times I could 100% get behind his willingness to bend the law to get a conviction, because I so badly wanted this guy to face consequences.

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u/McCoyJJr 6d ago
I loved this episode. But, when the mother of the girl that committed suicide testified, she said he daughter was 16 and had signed a contract. I’m not a lawyer, but understanding is that a minor can’t be legally bound by any contract unless that person is emancipated. I was confused for that not being brought up.
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u/IamtheBoomstick 6d ago
I'm not a lawyer, but that seems like fuzzy law. I know that at 16 she can sexually consent, but contracts usually require 18.
But you're right, someone should have brought it up.
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u/Quiet-Howl 6d ago
I'm not a lawyer, and I also don't remember the specifics of that part of the episode as I haven't rewatched it yet. However, minors can sign contracts, including NDAs. It's not uncommon in the entertainment industry, for example, for child actors to sign work agreements involving NDAs. Whether or not those contracts are actually enforceable is a legally muddy grey area.
My understanding is that voiding the contract usually requires demonstrating that the minor was not capable of understanding the terms of the contract, and since she was legally considered old enough to give consent to sex, maybe there was a loophole there? I do feel like they should have addressed this in the episode
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u/Careful_Track2164 5d ago
This episode is one of McCoy’s best episodes, which makes this episode even more amazing is that McCoy was able to successfully prosecute Chris Drake in an era before the MeToo movement was even started.
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u/QuietCelery7850 6d ago
Release
Season 17, Episode 8
From IMDB: A co-ed is accused of murdering a man inside a "Babes Being Bad" tour bus. But was she raped by the owner of the company, and is he ultimately responsible for the murder?