(*SPOILER WARNING*)
People who've seen enough of Danielle Panabaker on The Disney Channel might be surprised to find her in a role like this. Here she plays 15-year-old Carrie Lynn Eldridge, who's on the verge of losing her virginity to her 21-year-old boyfriend, Justin Sharpe(Jon Foster). Before they can do so, her mom(Cathy Moriarty) walks in on them and calls the NYPD to charge her boyfriend with statutory rape. But Carrie refuses to charge him with anything, even going as far as to refuse a rape kit. Suddenly, a children's rights lawyer named Simone Bryce steps in to stop the procedure. Glenne Headley plays as Ms. Bryce. She hasn't aged well. She was also secretly called in by Olivia Benson to defend Carrie. Little do they know that her mother is an abusive, raging alcoholic, who was forced to raise Carrie alone when her husband left. With no charges, they all seem to go home, until Stabler & Benson tried to follow up on the case. Suddenly they find that within the Eldridge apartment is the brutally mutilated body of her mother. Both are on the run, and her boyfriend is the prime suspect. But not for long. A few e-mails and computer chat-room boards, and all evidence leads to Carrie. Neither she nor Justin will do anything to incriminate each other, even going so far as to risk jail time.
Suddenly, her defense team tried to plead temporary insanity due to extreme PMS. They also try to smear her mother as the raging drunk that she truly is. Benson goes to the Eldridge apartment to investigate this claim, and boy does she find out how right they are. She also finds evidence that the "twinkie defense" they wanted to use was utterly bogus, as they all tend to be.
NOTE: It was only when her mother was drinking and started slapping Carrie around that she killed her. This is why despite the brutality of Denise Eldridge's death, Carrie shouldn't have even gotten manslaughter and sent to juvi, let alone the murder conviction the jury wanted. We also find that Benson was in a virtually identical situation when she was young. Were it not for the mature subject matter, this would be just another standard tear-jerking role for Miss Panabaker. Truth be told, however, any young actress could've played as this girl and the situation would remain the same.
People who've seen enough of Danielle Panabaker on The Disney Channel might be surprised to find her in a role like this. Here she plays 15-year-old Carrie Lynn Eldridge, who's on the verge of losing her virginity to her 21-year-old boyfriend, Justin Sharpe(Jon Foster). Before they can do so, her mom(Cathy Moriarty) walks in on them and calls the NYPD to charge her boyfriend with statutory rape. But Carrie refuses to charge him with anything, even going as far as to refuse a rape kit. Suddenly, a children's rights lawyer named Simone Bryce steps in to stop the procedure. Glenne Headley plays as Ms. Bryce. She hasn't aged well. She was also secretly called in by Olivia Benson to defend Carrie. Little do they know that her mother is an abusive, raging alcoholic, who was forced to raise Carrie alone when her husband left. With no charges, they all seem to go home, until Stabler & Benson tried to follow up on the case. Suddenly they find that within the Eldridge apartment is the brutally mutilated body of her mother. Both are on the run, and her boyfriend is the prime suspect. But not for long. A few e-mails and computer chat-room boards, and all evidence leads to Carrie. Neither she nor Justin will do anything to incriminate each other, even going so far as to risk jail time.
Suddenly, her defense team tried to plead temporary insanity due to extreme PMS. They also try to smear her mother as the raging drunk that she truly is. Benson goes to the Eldridge apartment to investigate this claim, and boy does she find out how right they are. She also finds evidence that the "twinkie defense" they wanted to use was utterly bogus, as they all tend to be.
NOTE: It was only when her mother was drinking and started slapping Carrie around that she killed her. This is why despite the brutality of Denise Eldridge's death, Carrie shouldn't have even gotten manslaughter and sent to juvi, let alone the murder conviction the jury wanted. We also find that Benson was in a virtually identical situation when she was young. Were it not for the mature subject matter, this would be just another standard tear-jerking role for Miss Panabaker. Truth be told, however, any young actress could've played as this girl and the situation would remain the same.