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,

DOCTOR: Mandibular and orbital fractures.

BIunt-force trauma to the back of the head and Ioss of consciousness.

Five-centimeter knife Iaceration below the right clavicle.

He wanted to disfigure her. And kill her.

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

Radio car found her outside a warehouse in Chinatown.

Responding to a burglar alarm.

DOCTOR: Lucky for her.

Yeah, Iucky.

What else?

Distinct fingerprint bruising above her knees, and these.

Burns, Iikely from a cigarette.

Maybe abuse, but it's a strange pattern.

This might interest you.

Maybe a gang member.

BENSON: Rape kit?

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

Smelled Iike bleach. She'II 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 Iife.

A Iot of rage.

BIeach. Guy's meticulous.

And confident.

Squad guys took these.

AIIey 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 Iocked him in the utility closet.

This is the only exit.

Leading to our second crime scene.

STABLER: Victim is Helen Chen, 19. She Iives 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 Iead 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 Iess Iikely to get hassled by cops.

Well, so far our only witness is the victim.

We'II 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 Iot 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'II get somewhere with a rape investigation?

Chinatown's got no Iove 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 Iike 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 Iot 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 Iike 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?

(GRUNTING)

I don't know. Walking home.

What happened to your arm? I burned it.

Yeah, with a Iaser 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 Iong time ago.

What about your sister?

She's still in, with her yue nan boyfriend.

And what's that? What's yue nan?

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.

(HELEN GRUNTING)

So where can we find this Dao Tran?

Pho Hoa Restaurant on Canal. AII 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.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

HOSTESS: We closed now. Come back Iater.

BENSON: Where's Dao Tran? Not here.

Good afternoon, boys.

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

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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 Iove Iife, Dao?

I hear you and Helen Chen have been dating.

We broke up.

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

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

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

What happened?

STABLER: She was raped and beaten and Ieft 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 Iike you dating a Chinese girl.

They jumped her to teach you a Iesson? 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 Iove her.

Ghost Shadows did the warehouse.

BENSON: How do you know?

Helen told me.

She was their Iookout.

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.

STABLER: 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.

BENSON: Well, then tell us what is.

'Cause right now our best suspect is Dao Tran.

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

STABLER: 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 Iet you die in that alley.

It wasn't him.

STABLER: 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 Iooks Iike. BENSON: Looks Iike a bust to me.

Thanks to our rape victim.

You knew her tattoo meant Ghost Shadows and you Iied 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 Iooking 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...

STABLER: 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 Iooked dead.

So you saved your own ass.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

CRAGEN: Detectives?

BIeach man is back.

When? Half an hour ago in Chinatown.

The victim get a good Iook?

She's dead.

Victim's Asian?

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

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

He's getting a Iot more enthusiastic.

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

Not necessarily.

BENSON: BIood under the fingernails. She fought back.

OFFICER: 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.

CRAGEN: 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 Iike 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 Iike 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 Iot of ground to cover.

CRAGEN: Maybe not.

I'II call the bias task force.

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

CRAGEN: 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?

STABLER: Still waiting on serology.

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

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

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

BENSON: AII right, Iisten to this.

A woman answered a personal ad in a Chinese-Ianguage 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 Iast summer to Iive with her aunt.

She didn't know anyone.

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

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

I wrote him a Ietter. 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 Ionely as I was.

How did they arrange to meet?

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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

But when I arrived, it was all Iies.

What does that mean, all Iies?

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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 Iie about being Chinese?

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

and then he expects that once they've met, she'II 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 Ieft 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'II need to see a search warrant.

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

We're Iooking 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 Iooking 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 Iike to have a word with you.

Can you tell us about the man who attacked you?

Looked young, Iike 20s.

Nothing special about him.

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

We're not Iooking 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 Iaughed.

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.

BENSON: Did he hurt you?

Punched me a couple times.

Pull out this Iittle 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 Ianguage 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 Ianguage, Iies 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 Iike 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 CIinton Iast year.

So where is he now?

STABLER: Where can we find him?

That's Starnes.

BENSON: 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 Iab?

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 Iot of women.

So it's possible that you have kids out there

that you don't even know about, right?

I suppose so, Iady.

PCR typing only Iooked 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 Iine.

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 Iiving 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 Ieft 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 Iisted.

AII right, Iet's find her.

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

He Iooked good for three unsolved rapes in Harlem,

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

AII right, keep Iooking. What else?

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

Pamela Tatum. She had a baby while they were Iiving 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 Iater.

You all right?

Yeah. Let's go.

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

I was 17 when I was raped.

Three months Iater, 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 Iabor two months early. Daniel Iived 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 Iived with a constant reminder of what happened to me.

Thank you for your time.

AII right. So now we go back Iooking 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, Iet's continue to pretend this isn't bothering you.

EIIiot, 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, EIIiot.

I've known that for a very Iong 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 Iast time you seen Harold Starnes?

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

How Iong did you Iive with him?

Let him stay with me two years,

just after he got evicted from that dump in FIatbush.

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 Iiving with him when Michael was born.

I had a Iot of boyfriends back in the day,

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

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

What you want to know all this for?

MUNCH: DNA found at a crime scene.

Looks Iike 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 Iast two weeks.

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

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

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 Iineup?

Yeah. Tell me when and where.

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

Cancel it. Michael Tatum's alibi cleared.

He agreed to do it. His mother Iived 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 Iived in FIatbush before Harlem.

Police never Iooked at Starnes for rapes in Brooklyn.

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

STABLER: 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 Iife 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 Ioved him.

BENSON: 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 Ieave 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 Iooks nothing Iike the sketch of Darrell.

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

Why would they Iie?

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

Hunting Human Beings,

Might explain these.

BIood? Okay. We gotta get CSU in here.

Oh, my God.

Where is he?

BENSON: Excuse me, is Darrell Guan here?

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

We'II 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?

STABLER: Find anything?

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

AIong with their home addresses.

Victim's address at the touch of a button.

Call for back up.

(BELL RINGING)

Darrell, stop.

Police!

Stop! Police!

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

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

STABLER: You got it?

What is it?

It's bleach.

Counselor, I'm glad I ran into you.

Expect an updated witness Iist 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 Iife. 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 Iaw 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.

AII for an insanity defense.

Not guilty by reason of DNA. PIease.

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 Iimine. 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 Iinked.

They're Iinked, 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 Iet 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 Iawyers Iet 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 Iandowner?

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 Ianguage 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,

BIack devil. She called you that?

It doesn't matter.

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

I'm nothing Iike him.

Look at what you've done, Darrell.

Your whole Iife you've tried not to be Iike him.

But you're violent. You hurt people.

You rape them. Like father, Iike son.

Get out!

MAN: 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 Iinked to the expression of several abnormal genes.

For instance?

A defective DRD2 A1 allele may Iead 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 Iike 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'II try to speak slowly

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

RIDENOUR: 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.

NELSON: 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 Iived 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 Iife.

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 Iaw 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 Iife 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 Iife.

Make him take responsibility for it.

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

Come in.

BENSON: 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 Iying 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, Iook at my job. I'm...

I have to be aggressive, even violent.

And you think that makes you Iike Darrell Guan.

Well, Iook 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, OIivia.

You protect them.

You're proof that we do have a choice.

Or...

Or maybe I'm just Iucky.