Original subtitles

NARRATOR: 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.

More blood.

( radio chatter )

Turn them down.

Floor's clean this way.

Elliot... What have you got?

Print on the wall.

Psst! Psst.... something on the door.

It's locked.

BOY ( distant ): Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!

( siren )

Patrol got the call at 9:50 A.M.,

passerby saw a broken window, open door, thought it might

have been a break-in till they heard shots fired.

We found two dead kids in the gym,

naked except for shoes and socks.

Elliot's inside.

Hey, they get the shooter yet?

Negative, your guy just called

for ESU and HNT.

HNT. Bastard's got a hostage.

Let the boy go and we can talk.

We're not going to hurt you.

I repeat, we're not going to harm you, just let the kid go!

( whispering ): Any other exits?

I don't know. Where's HNT?

On their way.

My name is Elliot. What's your name?

Look, send out the kid,

I'm going to step away from the door...

( gunshot )

Got the kid.

FIN: Shooter's gone!

Might have gone out this way.

( moaning )

Where are you hit?

My head.

Okay. All right.

Everything's going to be fine.

Stay with me.

Gunshot wound to the head.

Kid is passed out.

Manhattan SVU, we got a teenage boy,

gunshot to the head, put a rush...

Captioning sponsored by UNIVERSAL NETWORK TELEVISION

and NBC

No luck?

Lady saw a tall white guy running,

he' jumps into a car a block away.

Make, model?

Black or blue or

green, maybe. Any word on the kid?

Elliot called. Kid is still

unconscious, but the bullet only winged him.

Teacher lives close by, came in when he heard the sirens.

Says the boy's name is Joe Blaine,

ID'd the victims as Luke Rhodes and Tyrell Dent.

School basketball stars.

Patrol's informing the families.

Takes hazing to a whole new level.

What were the kids doing here on a Saturday anyway?

Patrol found a basketball outside.

Probably shooting hoops.

Killer came up, broke a window, and forced them inside.

Captain...

Hector Recincto, school security.

There's a gun missing.

Where from?

My lock-box.

I confiscated it from a student Friday.

Patrol was going to pick it up Monday.

What's the student's name?

Derek Fowler.

He's in the same grade as these boys.

Police! We have a search warrant!

Hands where we can see them!

What'd I do?

Name!

Randy Fowler. I'm clean,

ask my P.O. Shut up. Where's Derek?

In his room.

Don't go smashing down his door.

What the hell?

Where's the gun, Derek? What gun?

The one you brought to school on Friday.

School pigs took it off me. Kicked my ass out.

You stole my gun, you little prick?

I was going to tell you, Dad.

I didn't use it, I was showing off.

Where were you this morning? Shut up, Derek.

You don't have to say anything.

That's right, listen

to your pops.

You can spill your guts at the precinct.

The kid usually lives with mom.

He's been suspended twice for bringing knives to school.

Now he's graduated to guns.

School expelled him, maybe he decided

on a quick revenge.

Or maybe one of the dead boys

saw the piece and turned Derek in.

I checked dad's movements.

He was drinking his breakfast

from 10:00 to 12:00 AM at the local bar.

That gives Derek plenty of time

to go out and do his thing. ( cell phone ringing )

M.E. says that there's no hairs,

no fluids on the victims, so no DNA.

No sexual assault? Doesn't look like it.

FIN: Well, our perp gets

his kicks out of killing.

He could've made those kids

strip just to humiliate them.

That was Elliot.

Joe Blaine is awake. Get down there.

Show him an array.

See if he picks out our little buddy in there.

Joe, do you recognize any of these faces?

He went to my school.

Did he hurt you?

You can do this, honey. You can help them.

How'd you get inside?

Who broke the window?

He made me do it. I cut my hand.

And who is he? Do you know him?

He has a gun,

he has a gun...

oh boy, oh boy,

he's shooting,

bang, bang...

It's okay.

Tell them what you saw.

I can't.

BENSON: Did you see his face?

No, no, no... I don't want to.

You're a really talented artist, Joe.

I bet you could draw his face.

I don't remember.

STABLER: Think back.

He dragged you to the boiler room,

he had a gun...

I know you can do this, Joe.

Just give us his face, that's all we need, just give us

his face.

HECTOR: Sure I know him. George Waddell.

He's the janitor here.

What kind of guy is he?

He's got a temper.

Some kids messed with him last week,

kicked his bucket over.

George went after them

with a mop.

And, uh, what kids were these?

There was a bunch of them,

but you know who started it?

The kids that got shot, Luke and Tyrell.

Call's gone out.

Now you said you kept the gun in a lock-box?

Yeah, we confiscate a gun it goes in here

till the cops come pick it up.

STABLER: Who else has the key?

Only me.

BENSON: And you keep it with you at all times?

Of course. I keep a spare set hidden back here.

Nobody ever comes around this side.

Except for the janitor.

FIN: We know you went to the school today, George.

On Saturday? Why would I do that?

'Cause you wanted a rematch with those kids that pissed you off.

No, sir, they were just having a little fun with me.

MUNCH: Sure you didn't want

to teach them a lesson?

Strip 'em naked? Embarrass them like they embarrassed you?

No way.

You killed these kids, George.

Whoa! I didn't kill nobody.

Sure you did, with the gun you lifted

from the security office. I didn't shoot

nobody with that gun.

Seem to know a lot about it.

I'm not saying anything else. I wasn't at the school.

Yeah, well, this puts you there.

Joey Blaine drew that, after you tried

to put a bullet through his skull.

I would never hurt Joey.

You stole the gun,

you killed Luke and Tyrell,

you dragged Joey into the boiler room,

locked yourself in, then you tried to kill Joey.

Oh, yeah?

So if I locked myself in, how come I'm not still there?

You went out through the window.

Nobody can get out of that window.

FIN: I did.

Look, man. I got emphysema.

Maybe you could wiggle

your pretty little ass out of there. Not me.

STABLER: Well, he could be telling the truth.

It would have taken half-an-hour

for that wheezer George to get out that window.

So how'd he get out?

SIPER: Detectives. We got ourselves a puzzle.

Fire a gun in here, ricochet heaven.

If we trace the bullet backwards,

it ended up at

the base of the wall.

Before that,

it bounced off the furnace,

after it first hit that pipe.

The bullet impact mark is a perfect circle,

means the bullet was fired

straight up, which doesn't make sense.

Unless Joe struggled with the shooter

and forced him to fire straight up in the air.

Could be the reason why the bullet only grazed

the side of Joe's head.

Possible.

How you doing on prints?

We've got hundreds.

At least the kid's are easy,

there's blood all over them.

Sprayed amido-black to bring them up.

Did Joe leave his prints on the inside door lock?

Yep. Shooter must've made him shut it.

So what if the kid and the shooter are the same person?

Joe comes in here, he runs to the window,

it's too high, he can't get out, he hears us on the outside,

he put the gun to his own head,

he shrinks from the shot, bullet goes straight up.

He's bleeding, he panics,

so he looks for a place to hide the gun...

Where else?

( knocking on door )

Detectives, did you find the guy

who did it? Where's Joe?

In his room. Why?

What's wrong?

Tell me.

Tell me!

Joe, it's the police. Open up.

My God, what are you doing!?

What are you doing with guns?

Please don't hurt him!

Please, wait!

Where is he?

I don't know. He was just here.

I guess that's one window he could get out of.

Elliot...

school gym, two bodies on the floor,

shooter standing over them.

He planned the whole damn thing.

It's just a drawing. It doesn't mean he did it.

BENSON: Well, if he didn't do it,

then why did he run away?

He's terrified.

He saw his friends killed, someone tried to shoot him,

and he's afraid the guy's going to come back and get him.

School gym,

two dead bodies, guy with a gun.

Your kid did this.

Nope. Drawing is an outlet for Joey.

He drew what he saw, not what he did.

What he saw?

This is dated July 4th.

Joe did this, Sandra. This is what he did.

You're wrong.

He's a gentle kid.

He's a...

a really sweet kid.

I know he's been depressed recently,

but he couldn't have done it.

Sandra...

Joe could hurt himself.

He could hurt somebody else.

Now, you need to tell us where he is.

I already told you.

We came home from the hospital.

He went into his room.

I had no idea that he'd gone, until

you guys come busting in.

Does he have any friends that he would go to?

He has his art, okay?

That's what matters.

What about family?

What about his dad?

No. It's just Joe and me.

His dad walked out on us three years ago.

So why would Joe pick out Luke and Tyrell?

HUANG: Because they're athletes.

They're the kings of the school.

Joe's a loner. He's socially awkward.

He's been teased and bullied.

After years of humiliation, he snaps.

Like Eric Harris at Columbine.

Walks into the room, shouts, "All jocks stand up,"

and then he starts shooting. ( knocking )

MUNCH: This model citizen has a confession to make.

Spill it, George.

I gave Joey the gun.

Tell them why.

He's always getting picked on.

It was just to scare the other kids.

I had no idea it was loaded, man.

If I'd known, I never would have...

Yeah, right. Thank you.

We got the LUDS from Moms.

Two hours after Joey left the hospital,

someone made a call to MetroNorth line,

passenger information.

WOMAN: Computer logged your boy's call at 4:05 p.m.

It also logged the menu choices he made.

Where's he heading?

Let's see.

He checked the schedule for trains

to Milford, Connecticut.

The first he could have caught was at 5:35 p.m.

So my boys here checked today's cameras from 4:30 on.

Alfonso struck gold.

FIN: Look, kind of hard to miss, isn't he?

5:25 p.m.

Psycho brat caught the 5:35.

I'll call Connecticut state troopers.

Well, hang on. He's not leaving the upper level.

So?

Out of town trains leave from the lower level.

So he's going downstairs.

Not in that direction.

He's headed for the subway.

Staying in the city, not leaving it.

FIN: Well, that kid's not smart enough

to pull that kind of stunt.

I'll say Mama's taking us for a ride.

Sandra can't really think

she's going to get away with this.

One of your kids got into serious trouble,

what would you do?

I don't know.

Yeah, you do.

You'd hire the best lawyer that you could,

and you'd tell them to keep their mouth shut.

You know how the system works, Elliot.

She doesn't.

It doesn't make what she's doing right.

It makes her a mother.

There she is.

The subject's getting into a cab

going north on Avenue C.

FIN: Copy that.

Taxi dropped Sandra off here.

She went around back.

Munch followed her on foot.

Store's closed. She got keys?

Service entrance.

Must be where she works.

Any sign of the kid?

MUNCH: He's here all right.

Any chance of back-up?

We're on our way.

Where is he?

Storeroom.

Police. Don't move.

STABLER: Let's see the hands.

Let's see the hands! Up, up!

Leave him alone.

Come on. Come on.

You leave him alone. Talk to me. Talk to me!

Get out of the way, Sandra.

Get out of the way.

He didn't do anything! It's my fault!

JOE: Mom! Mom, help me!

Just leave him be.

Mom, what's happening? Mom!

SANDRA: Talk to me!

I was going to bring him in. I was.

Mom, help me.

Was that before or after your bus trip to Phoenix, Arizona?

Mom! Mom... I'm trying to protect my kid!

Mom!

BENSON: Joe, why did you shoot Luke and Tyrell?

Don't know them.

You don't know them?

You told us that you went to school with them.

No, I didn't.

Joe, Joe, look at me.

You're in serious trouble here,

and you need to help yourself.

Don't want to.

Did you draw this?

Where's my pen? I want my pen!

We can get you one.

I know you drew that.

Now, did you also do this?

You don't have to answer that, Joe.

Didn't draw that. Didn't draw that!

Joe, who-who's this?

Who is this person here?

( quietly ): Zoltar.

Who's Zoltar?

No! No, I won't! Stop!

Come on, Joey, take it easy.

Calm down. Hey, relax.

Stop! I won't!

It's okay.

Zoltar's going to kill you.

Are you Zoltar?

He's going to kill you!

All right, come here.

Get off!

He's going to kill you!

Zoltar's going to kill you!

We're stopping right now. This boy is sick.

He's going to kill you!

Zoltar's going to kill you!

Joe's lawyer argues that he's not competent

to stand trial.

I buy it.

Kid could be acting.

Ah, he's not acting.

He's having a psychotic break.

Okay, the question is,

was he psychotic before he killed those two boys?

Sandra gave me his school reports.

They mention moodiness, irritability,

lack of attention--

these are all signs of depression.

He's probably got Attention Deficit Disorder.

A.D.D. doesn't turn kids into murderers.

HUANG: No, but you've seen his journals.

His mom is right.

He's a really creative kid

with an elaborately dark fantasy life.

Unfortunately today, something tipped fantasy into reality.

So he really believes that he's Zoltar?

I once treated a kid from a Special Ed class

who whenever I asked him a question,

he got under the desk and barked like a dog.

Now did he think that he was a dog? No.

He's just blowing off steam.

Right. It was a displacement activity to release his anxiety,

and that's what Zoltar does for Joe.

It creates an escape.

The question is: what made him turn violent?

Well, George Waddell gave him a gun.

That gave him the means to kill,

but that's not enough to trigger a psychotic episode.

Okay, so what does?

Alcohol, uh, drugs, uh, lack of sleep,

any other stressors.

CRAGEN: Okay, look,

I feel real sorry for Joe,

but I feel more sorry for the two kids he killed.

Now we want a confession here, Doc.

How do we get one?

You let him rest.

You get him something to eat,

you get him a paper and pencil,

and you try again later.

When did you last sleep, Joe?

Wednesday.

This is Saturday.

That was three days ago.

I can't sleep.

I can't sleep!

I get bad dreams.

Are you taking any pills, Joe?

I don't want to.

It's okay.

Why don't you want to take the pills?

'Cause it puts voices in my head.

I can't hear anything else.

They're talking so loud. They're screaming!

Stop! Please tell them to stop.

Please, stop it!

Please tell them to stop!

Okay. Shh...

Please! Please, stop it!

Joe... what are the voices

telling you?

They're telling me to do things.

You mean Zoltar?

No one messes with Zoltar.

Kids mess with you?

All the time.

They laugh at me, they pull down my pants,

they call me a shrimp.

But Zoltar punished them.

STABLER: With a gun.

They're running, and I'm shooting.

There's blood everywhere, but they just won't die--

not till I get close.

Bang! Bang!

They finally stop.

I heard sirens.

I ran to hide.

I went to the boiler room, but the window is too high.

So I put the gun to my head.

I don't remember any more.

Can I see my mom now?

Well, there's your confession.

You want to try him in Family or Criminal Court?

He's only 13, but the murder was premeditated.

The DA will insist on charging him as an adult.

We'll arraign on Monday.

Barry!

Alex, great to see you.

What are you doing here?

Mr. Moredock has taken Joe's case.

But this is a murder case.

There's no constitutional issue here.

Really? What about the freedom

to refuse medication?

Fourteenth Amendment guarantees

the right to privacy.

What are you talking about?

It seems Joey's school made him take Aptril,

a psychotropic

antidepressant.

That's your defense?

Some pills made him do it?

Barry, he confessed to killing

two of his classmates.

You're wasting your time

and Mrs. Blaine's money.

Mr. Moredock is doing this for free.

Before you scoff, Alex,

consult the Physicians' Desk Reference

for the known side-effects of Aptril:

abnormal dreams, anxiety, insomnia...

I suffer from anxiety and insomnia.

I don't go out and shoot people.

Pleased to hear it, Alex,

but you should also look

at the National Drug Administration's

labeling enclosure for Aptril

which lists mania as one of its side-effects.

How can you try a child for murder

when he's got this poison running through his system?

How did you get so well-briefed on the subject?

You can thank the doctor who called me about this case.

What doctor?

What were you thinking, turning this case over

to Barry Moredock?

I'm concerned about Joe Blaine.

I knew Moredock would share my concerns.

So it wasn't enough you had to call him in,

you also handed him his defense.

I'm not against the use of psychiatric drugs to treat children.

I just don't think they should be used

as an instrument of school policy.

Then publish an article.

You had no business interfering in my case.

Thousands of children are being forced

to take powerful drugs without psychiatric supervision.

Before you crucify Joe Blaine,

maybe you should hear what your detectives found out.

What, now you're working on Joe Blaine's defense, too?

Alex, you weren't there-- this kid is seriously troubled.

We spoke to his school counselor.

She said that Joe was exceptionally creative yet extremely disruptive.

They suggested counseling, medication,

but Joe's mother always resisted.

Well, she said he was special, needed special treatment,

so in the end, the school insisted that he go see their shrink.

So that's who prescribed Joe the Aptril?

Apparently not-- Mom wanted

a second opinion, so they went to go see a Dr. Engles.

All right. Find out when Dr. Engles

started Joe on the Aptril.

Then I can decide if I should take this defense

as seriously as Dr. Huang seems to.

MAN: Come on, Detectives, you know I won't discuss

a patient with you. Fine, then we won't discuss him.

Just tell us what you prescribed.

That amounts to the same thing and gets the same answer: no.

Your patient just shot and killed two of his classmates.

The shooting at I.S. 41, that was Joe?

STABLER: Yeah.

Did you prescribe the happy pills?

I didn't prescribe him anything.

Well, he said he was taking Aptril.

He didn't get it from me.

Well, he and his mother came to see you.

And agreed to try a course of psychotherapy.

I thought Joe was bright and willing enough

to be treated by therapy alone.

Obviously you were wrong.

We'll never know.

After the second session, Joe's mother called

and said I was not on her HMO's list of approved doctors,

and they were refusing to pay for the therapy sessions.

Would the HMO have paid for the meds?

Of course.

Therapy takes countless hours, costs thousands of dollars.

Prescribing meds costs a fraction of that

and takes five minutes.

Okay, so why not prescribe the Aptril?

It's a standard medication for children with depression,

but I avoid prescribing meds if I can.

Why? Because, frankly,

we still don't understand...

what impact these powerful drugs have on developing brains.

CABOT: So this whole drug defense

is a fake?

Joe's mental problems aren't a fake.

Both doctors who saw him agreed he was depressed.

Moredock can hardly blame Aptril if Joe wasn't even taking it.

E.R. faxed over Joe Blaine's tox screen.

Negative for narcotics and alcohol

but not for phenyl oxypropylamine.

Aptril. That's the baby.

How recently did he take it?

Well, based on the plasma concentration,

M.E. says he took a pill about 24 hours before the shooting.

But if a doctor didn't prescribe Aptril, then how did Joe get it?

I mean a 13-year-old kid

can't just buy it over the counter.

He might've got it from school.

What do you mean?

Well, you got millions of kids taking psychiatric meds.

School nurse stations have more drugs than some hospitals.

They're not handed out like candy.

Good as. STABLER: And the drugs are being traded.

I've heard of college students snorting Ritalin

just to help them get through exams.

Or to get a good buzz-- they're too stupid

to know they're burning their own brain out.

Well, I know one person I could ask.

CABOT: Did Dr. Engles

give you the Aptril?

I didn't want it.

He said I'd feel better just by talking.

But you stopped seeing him

after two sessions.

Did you go see another doctor after that?

No.

( sighs ): All right.

Did a school nurse give you the meds?

Is there a purpose to this fishing expedition, Alex?

Well, if you and Joe are claiming

that Aptril made him a killer,

I think we should know where he got it.

Joe?

I don't know.

Well, if you won't tell me,

I can only assume that you got it yourself.

Maybe you bought it

from a kid at school.

Maybe from the janitor, George Waddell?

I'm not sure

what you're trying to achieve here.

I think it's pretty clear.

No doctor prescribed the Aptril.

Joe took it himself--

not because he wanted to get better

but because he wanted to feel good.

If that's the best you can do, Alex,

I think we're going to have a nice, short trial.

Let's go, Joe.

WOMAN: Serotonin is one of the brain's

chemical messengers-- it governs our moods.

If it's reabsorbed

into the brain too quickly, people can have feelings

of depression, worthlessness, fatigue.

And reuptake inhibitors, such as Aptril,

can block this reabsorption?

Yes. They boost levels of serotonin,

and it can relieve depression,

giving a sense of general well-being.

Thousands of lives

have been improved by the drug.

MOREDOCK: So what's the bad news?

In an FDA-approved trial of Aptril,

its maker, Tauscher-Leto,

found that a significant percentage-- 1.8% in fact--

of those taking the drug suffered a manic reaction.

MOREDOCK: How many people

might be prone to this "manic reaction"?

Current estimates are that between

three and four million children and adolescents

currently take at least one psychiatric drug.

1.8% of that number?

That's... that's between 50,000 and 70,000, huh?

Yes.

So between 50,000 and 70,000

children and adolescents might, at any time, be subject

to these manic reactions, might feel omnipotent,

invincible... violent?

Yes.

Thank you, Dr. Petrus.

Dr. Petrus, as a child psychologist

and psychopharmacologist, you must be very familiar

with FDA-approved drug trials.

Yes.

This trial that you quoted, how many people were involved?

I mean, actually taking Aptril? Uh, 190.

190. That doesn't seem like a very large number.

Was that the only trial that Tauscher-Leto did?

There were others.

And did they get the same incidence of manic reaction?

No.

CABOT: Isn't it true that in order to have reliability,

a scientific experiment must be capable

of being replicated?

Yes.

Yet the results of this trial

have not been repeated.

There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence...

Dr. Petrus, I thought you were here

as a scientist, not a storyteller.

Your Honor... Nothing further.

JOE: It was like I was in a red fog.

The blood was pounding in my ears.

The medication made you feel this way?

Yes. Like nothing could stop me,

nothing could hurt me.

MOREDOCK: So you killed those boys.

Yes.

And afterwards, how did you feel?

Like I wanted to die.

I put the gun to my head,

but my hand was shaking too much.

Did you want to take this medication,

this, uh, Aptril?

No.

I didn't want everyone to know I was such a screwup.

But still, you took it.

Why was that?

'Cause if I didn't, they said I'd have to leave my school.

Thank you, Joe.

CABOT: Joe, did you do this drawing?

Did you draw this?

Yes.

Dead bodies in a gym,

a masked man with a gun.

What does it mean?

Nothing. It's just a drawing.

When did you draw it?

I can't remember.

Well, you dated it, Joe-- it's July 4.

That's two months before you were referred to the psychiatrist.

So doesn't that mean that you had thought about the shooting,

planned it, even, long before anyone

ever mentioned Aptril to you?

MOREDOCK: Objection.

Are the boy's creative processes

on trial here, Your Honor?

Overruled. Answer the question.

I thought about it...

but I never would've done anything,

not without the drug.

Who prescribed Aptril

to you?

I-I can't remember.

You can't remember

because no one prescribed it to.

Who gave it to you?

I don't know. You said

you didn't like Aptril, you didn't want to take Aptril--

how could you not know who gave it to you?

I told you, I don't know! The truth is, you did want to take Aptril.

You wanted to find out how it made you feel? No!

And the reason that you can't tell us

where you got it is because you bought it

or you stole it at school.

No! Stop it! Well, then how did you get it?

Stop it! Tell me.

Tell me, Joe, where did you get Stop it!

the medication? Stop it!

Leave him alone, okay?

Just leave him alone.

I gave it to him. Okay?

It was me.

CABOT: Sandra, why did you lie to us?

I told Barry Moredock.

He said Aptril was the issue, not where it came from.

So it was your Aptril?

Prescribed by a doctor?

No. It came in the mail.

You sent off for it, ordered it on the Internet, what?

No, it just arrived.

It arrived just like that? When?

Right after I'd heard from my HMO

that they weren't going to pay for Joey's therapy.

I just started a new job...

and Joey was causing all sorts of trouble at school,

and I kept getting these phone calls.

My boss was on my case.

And his counselor calls and tells me

that they're going to expel him if I don't medicate him.

And then this package arrived...

with the Aptril.

Just the Aptril?

No letter, no nothing?

No, there was a letter.

This is on Tauscher-Leto letterhead,

signed by a Dr. Carl Medwin.

Who's he?

That's my doctor from about three years ago.

Well, he recommends you try

this new weekly version of Aptril.

Had he ever prescribed Aptril to you before?

Yes. I got depressed

when my husband walked out.

It helped me.

So that makes it okay to give it to Joe

even though he didn't want to take it?

I love my son. Okay?

I would never do anything to hurt him.

He was going to get thrown out of school,

and I was going to lose my job.

So you forced this stuff on your son

so you could get to work on time?

No! Did you talk to a doctor

or a nurse or anyone?

Yeah, doctors, teachers, the psychiatrists--

everyone said he should be on the Aptril.

So why didn't you get a doctor to prescribe it?

Because I didn't want him to get labeled.

You know, those records, they'll follow you your whole life.

I came home from work one day,

and there it was, sitting on the stoop:

Aptril, like some kind of gift from God.

I gave it to him-- I thought, you know,

it'll make him better.

( crying ): No one will know,

and everything would be okay.

The pharmacy that sent Sandra the Aptril

says it was legitimate:

a licensed physician signed the prescription,

all they did was mail out the meds.

But is there a crime here?

Well, it's pretty sleazy.

Sending powerful prescription meds through the mail blind

is more than sleazy.

STABLER: Tauscher-Leto just gave me

the run-around.

The spokesman for the CEO Dean Reynolds

categorically denies that his company would ever

engage in any unsolicited mail-out

of their fine pharmaceutical products.

So how do they explain the use

of their letterhead?

Ah, yes,

a rogue sales agent who will be disciplined

as soon as he's identified.

They didn't send this stuff out of the goodness of their hearts.

They were marketing it to people they knew might use it.

It's your call, Counselor.

I don't think a doctor would sign a letter to a patient

he hasn't seen in over three years

without some kind of incentive.

Let's find out who was paying Dr. Medwin.

MEDWIN: It's my signature, but I didn't write the letter.

Did you even read it?

Not until now.

You know, Doctor, aren't you the least bit pissed-off?

I mean, they could have used you to advertise crack cocaine

and you wouldn't have had a clue.

The Tauscher-Leto sales rep

told me the letter would be used

to market an improved weekly form of Aptril,

and that samples would be sent only to those of my patients

who had already taken the drug.

Right. How many of these letters did you sign?

Maybe two dozen.

Did you also give the company

copies of your patient lists?

Only those with a history of depression.

With or without their consent?

I did not consult them.

STABLER: Oh, what the hell.

You make a couple easy bucks

off their medical problems, right?

I got paid nothing.

They guaranteed a three-month supply of essential drugs

for my clinic.

Most of these patients have no insurance.

If I don't help them, no one will.

So you made a deal with the devil.

If it means giving

poor patients the medicine they can't afford, then yes.

Anyway, Aptril is a well-established drug

with an excellent record for treating depression.

So what harm could it do?

CABOT: That's what one

of your patients who received it thought.

So she gave the Aptril to her son,

who had a psychotic episode and shot

two of his classmates.

Oh, my God.

STABLER: What's the name

of this Tauscher-Leto sales rep?

Jane Wellesley.

STABLER: Ms. Wellesley?

Yes?

I'm Detective Stabler, NYPD.

This is Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot.

I'm sorry, I have nothing to say.

How do you know what we're going to ask?

Why did you send prescription drugs through the mail?

I've told you, I have nothing to say.

Did Tauscher-Leto know what you were doing?

JANE: Please, you're in my way.

These your kids?

Give me that! How would you feel

if someone sent a package of prescription drugs to your home

and your girls opened them

and decided to give them a try?

That would never happen.

Well, something very much like it did happen.

Every sample we sent out was to a carefully selected patient

with a genuine need,

together with a letter giving precise instructions.

STABLER: Well, not precise enough,

otherwise a 13-year-old wouldn't have taken them

and executed two of his classmates.

I have an appointment. Excuse me.

Did you say "we sent out"?

So it wasn't just you.

Tauscher-Leto did know.

( knock on door )

I need your advice.

Lie down on the couch.

Not that sort of advice.

What's up?

I think that Tauscher-Leto's direct marketing tactics

were responsible for Joe's manic episode,

which led to his shooting Luke and Tyrell.

The company disclaims all responsibility.

All the sales reps

are taking the Fifth.

The trial re-starts tomorrow and I think I'm going to win

and I'm... I'm not sure I want to.

Then plead Joe out.

How does that get justice for Luke and Tyrell?

It doesn't.

You can't help them, but you can help Joe.

Plead him out and he'll get time

in a psychiatric institution

where his treatment will be decided by doctors,

not insurance and drug companies.

That's justice.

CABOT: Your expert witness

imploded on the stand,

and Joe's drawings show clear intent to kill.

Take the deal.

I think I'd rather take the win.

All right, let's say you do win and Joe walks.

What happens then?

MOREDOCK: What do you mean?

Sandra, you do acknowledge that Joe has problems.

Yes. They're not all his fault.

But they are the reason that we're here.

If Joe is released, then what happens?

He is dumped right back

into the same hopeless situation:

HMOs that won't pay for his treatment,

schools that demand he go on medication.

How is he ever going to get better?

MOREDOCK: What do you propose, Alex?

Joe pleads guilty

to manslaughter.

He goes to a psychiatric

institution where he gets the proper treatment.

Do you understand what she's saying, Joe?

Yes.

You have to decide what you want to do.

Wait... we're not going to do this right now.

CABOT: We have to.

The trial starts again tomorrow morning.

No, I have to think... I have to talk to Joe.

Mom, it's okay.

You know what you want to do?

I want to get better.

( knock on door )

Alexandra, did you do a deal with Joseph Blaine?

He pled guilty to man two.

Man two for a double murder?

I think you let that oily-tongued,

Tennessee weasel Barry Moredock

out-maneuver you.

Mitigating circumstances came to light during the trial.

What mitigating circumstances?

A particularly egregious instance of corporate greed.

Corporate greed is the beating heart of America, Alex.

I'm not accountable to corporate America.

But you are accountable to me,

and I won't let two innocent boys die

without punishing someone for their murder.

Do you believe this bleeding-heart nonsense

that Aptril made Joe Blaine kill?

Tauscher-Leto put that medication

into Joe Blaine's hands, substantially diminishing

his responsibility for his actions.

So who's guilty?

I don't know yet.

Then find out.

And I don't care how high you have to go.

CABOT: Jane? Jane?

Don't you give up?

There's someone I want you to meet.

I'm not talking to anyone.

It's just two minutes of your time.

Jane, this is Joey Blaine's mother,

Sandra.

Ms. Wellesley, you sent Aptril to my home.

You told me it was safe and I gave it to my son.

That was your fault.

You shouldn't have given it to him.

Why? Because Aptril can cause psychotic episodes in children?

Did your letter warn Sandra of that?

Those reports are unproven.

No! My son proves them.

I-I didn't come here to attack you.

I know what I did.

I know what my kid did.

And I have to live with that.

But you and your company,

you have to share some of the guilt, too.

The letter gave you clear instructions.

You didn't follow them. I'm sorry.

You have children, don't you?

Yeah? Can you imagine what it's like

to know your own kid is a murderer?

Two boys are dead,

their families are destroyed.

And I keep asking,

why didn't I do something to prevent it?

How could I fail my own kid?

Please, if you love your children,

please, don't let these people destroy any more lives.

What do you want from me?

REYNOLDS: In 2000,

direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals

was worth over one billion in the U.S. alone.

Now, that figure can only rise,

and we're going to rise with it.

What's this, a hostile takeover?

Funny man. Are you Dean Reynolds,

Chief Executive Officer of Tauscher-Leto?

I am. And you are?

The police.

This is Alexandra Cabot of the DA's office.

What are you doing here?

Uh, this memo approves a direct marketing scheme

wherein Aptril would be mailed directly to patients' homes.

Do you recognize your signature, Mr. Reynolds?

Where did you get that?

This approves of giving doctors off-patent meds

free of charge in exchange for their patient lists.

Is that your signature?

I don't have to listen to this.

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll resume later.

And this third memo threatens Tauscher-Leto employees

with breach-of- contract lawsuits

if they talk to either the press or law enforcement

about the Aptril direct mailing scheme.

Is that your signature?

That's enough. I'm calling my lawyer.

Tell him to meet you down at our lock-up.

Dean Reynolds, you under arrest for reckless endangerment

and for criminal diversion of prescription medication.

You have the right to remain silent...

But I haven't done anything.

Stop it, you're hurting me!

Take some Aptril, that'll make you feel better.

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( wolf howling )