Written By Ed Zuckerman
Directed By Adam Bernstein
A rash of gay-bashing against closeted, married gay men is complicated by when the main witness is married to the accused and Barba must navigate the complicated case guarded by a rather unpredictable defense attorney.
Tropes
- Boomerang Bigot: Played with. Barba prosecutes the perp for hate crimes under the theory that he (a gay man) hates gays; his Crusading Lawyer says the statute doesn't apply because he only hates closeted gay men; the jury acquits on everything except false imprisonment and by the end they've moved on from thinking he hates everyone to agreeing he really hates himself.
- The Beard: One victim's wife was fully aware of his sexuality and had no problem with it, only that he never cheated on her with a woman. She admits that it is a dynamic that the cops might have trouble understanding.
- Broken Pedestal: Mason was willing to do whatever it takes to cover for Jeremy, especially with all the affection he's been showing him including a bracelet inscribed with the phrase "Love You Madly". Upon discovering that Jeremy looted that bracelet off of one of his victims prior to his own anniversary with his wife, he agrees to help the SVU by submitting that bracelet as evidence against Jeremy.
- Chekhov's Gun: The "Love You Madly" bracelet Jeremy gave to Mason. Turns out, it never belonged to Jeremy, but was instead an anniversary present stolen by one of the closeted men he killed.
- Hollywood Law:
- Despite what the name might imply, New York's hate crime laws don't require actual hatred. Barba would only have to prove that Jones targeted gay men because they were gay men. Whether or not Jones hated gay men would have been completely irrelevant.
- Barba gets the perp to lose control on the witness stand by leaning right into his face to have a close-talking conversation with him, which attorneys are not allowed to do with witnesses on the stand.
- Refuge in Audacity: Barba attempts to do this to get Jeremy charged with hate crimes against gays, but it's quickly shut down by both Defense and the judge.Benson: You're gonna argue that a gay man married to another gay man hates gays?
Barba: Watch me. - Spousal Privilege: Jeremy Jones and Mason Clark were married in Provincetown. The detectives get Mason to confess what Jeremy did, only to learn that they are married and they can't use what he told them. Trying to argue that the spousal privilege doesn't apply because they were married out of state before New York recognized same-sex marriages doesn't work.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Jeremy is charged with murder at the end, this time with the evidence to make it stick, he goes off on everyone, assuming his defense lawyer was conspiring against him the entire time and throwing harmful slurs at Mason's face.
