Intoxicated (29 Mar. 2005)

When Denise Eldridge finds her fifteen-year-old daughter Carrie in bed with twenty-one-year-old Justin, she immediately calls police to have Justin charged with statutory rape. Benson ... See full summary »

Director:

Marita Grabiak

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Jonathan Greene

Stars:

Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Meloni	...	Detective Elliot Stabler
Mariska Hargitay	...	Detective Olivia Benson
Richard Belzer	...	Detective John Munch
Diane Neal	...	A.D.A. Casey Novak
Ice-T	...	Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
BD Wong	...	Dr. George Huang
Dann Florek	...	Captain Donald Cragen
Cathy Moriarty	...	Denise Eldridge (as Cathy Moriarty-Gentile)
Danielle Panabaker	...	Carrie Lynn Eldridge
Jon Foster	...	Justin Sharp
Mike Doyle	...	Forensics Tech Ryan O'Halloran
Joanna Merlin	...	Judge Lena Petrovsky
Peter Hermann	...	Trevor Langan
Joel de la Fuente	...	TARU Tech Ruben Morales
Tamara Tunie	...	Dr. Melinda Warner

Storyline

When Denise Eldridge finds her fifteen-year-old daughter Carrie in bed with twenty-one-year-old Justin, she immediately calls police to have Justin charged with statutory rape. Benson intercedes on behalf of Carrie, calling a children's rights lawyer to assist her, but when Denise turns up dead, Carrie and Justin both end up on the suspect list. Benson tries to get some help from Simone Bryce, but Bryce is obligated to protect her client.

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Plot Keywords:

statutory rape | detective john munch | reference to romeo and juliet

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 March 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, NBC Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Benson returns to the murder scene during the trial, the bloodstains on the walls are still bright red. In the real world these would have oxidized and turned brown long before then.

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Quotes

Detective Elliot Stabler: Romeo and Juliet killed themselves, not their parents.

User Reviews

Correction

To the user above, I liked your summary, but here is a correction: The brutality of a Eldridge's death had nothing to do with the homicide charge. Homicide is decided based on the level of intent. The manner or painfulness or wrongfulness of death doesn't determine the gravity of the charge.

If you shoot a gun at someone intending to kill her, that's murder in the first degree.

If you shoot a gun at someone intending to wound her but you unintentionally kill her anyway, that's murder in the second degree.

If you shoot a gun intending only to scare but not hit the person at all and you end up hitting and killing the person, that's manslaughter.

See the difference? Murder 1 you intended the act (shooting) and the consequence (death). Murder 2 you intended the act but not the consequence. Manslaughter you didn't intend the act or the consequence. As I recall, New York, where SVU is premised, doesn't have a Murder 2 or rather they blend Murder 1 and 2 together.

So the charge that fits her crime under the law was Murder since her confession indicated intent -- for both the act and the result.

Even though the ADA is bound by the facts, she chose to offer Carrie a plea deal and she didn't have to (because the confession had nailed all the elements). But the State Attorney's office is allowed discretion to appraise the evidence and make a plea. So she gave Carrie a gimme.