Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Intent (2017)

Raúl Esparza: ADA Rafael Barba

Photos 

Quotes 

• Olivia Benson : [about Heather]  She instigated a rape, Rafael.

  Rafael Barba : Out of boredom. She had no motive.

  Olivia Benson : How is stupidity a defense?

  Rafael Barba : It's not, but this is just a bad case. The girl doesn't have a malicious bone in her body.

  Olivia Benson : Oh, my God.

  Rafael Barba : No motive means no story for the jury. This was the most exciting thing in her life.

  Olivia Benson : And the most painful for Katy.

  Rafael Barba : If I was on that jury, I'd vote to acquit out of pity alone.

• Rafael Barba : [to Heather]  How many Instagram followers do you have?

  Heather Parcell : I don't know.

  Rafael Barba : Ms. Miller has over 200,000. The Monster has 5 million. How many Instagram followers do you have?

  Heather Parcell : I don't know.

  Rafael Barba : You have 6. Sound about right?

  Heather Parcell : I guess.

  Rafael Barba : It isn't fair. He beats people up for a living. She posts sexy photos of herself holding shampoo. They're both famous. They both have lots of friends. You resent them both, don't you, Heather? You work so hard to take care of your mom and nobody cares. Nobody gives a damn what you have to say about anything.

  Heather Parcell : I never meant to hurt Andy.

  Rafael Barba : What about Katy? She's from Pensacola. It's not much bigger than Maysville. She posts near-naked photos of herself and they make her rich.

  Heather Parcell : And I have to rub Mama's feet.

  Rafael Barba : And you wanted to get even.

  Heather Parcell : It's not fair! She gets paid to take a shower and I have to change Mama's poop bag? She deserves what she got! It's not fair.

• Rafael Barba : The Internet has made the world a smaller place, but some people still get lost in it.

• Rafael Barba : Hey, what's going on?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, right after the Monster and Katy agreed to meet up, Heather texted 'em both a picture asking if a friend could tag along. They said no, but does that friend look familiar?

  Rafael Barba : [Carisi shows him and Benson a picture of Heather]  Well, this establishes a possible revenge motive, but not mens rea.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, but if you toss these in the pot as well...

  Rafael Barba : [showing the pictures to Benson]  The human body has a lot of bones.

• Rafael Barba : The Monster didn't intend to rape anyone.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, but the mystery guest did.

  Rafael Barba : In order for that person to be charged as an accomplice, the Monster has to be found guilty. I'd hate to be the schmuck who presents those facts to a jury.

  Olivia Benson : What if it never goes through a jury?

  Rafael Barba : Why would a guy who gets punched with bare knuckles for a living take a plea deal?

  Olivia Benson : Because we're going to hit him with something much harder.

• Rafael Barba : So?

  Olivia Benson : So the person at the other end of that IP address played both of them.

  Rafael Barba : And you want me to charge that person with what? Last I looked, lying on the Internet will put you in office. It won't put you behind bars.

  Olivia Benson : Ah, well, there's criminal impersonation.

  Rafael Barba : In the second degree. You wanna get all worked up over a misdemeanor?

  Olivia Benson : No, but I do wanna get worked up over rape.

• Olivia Benson : My gut tells me that you didn't mean to hurt Katy.

  Andy 'The Monster' McPherson : I... I didn't. It was the catfisher, not me.

  Olivia Benson : The person who did this deserves jail time.

  Rafael Barba : The catfisher can't be an accomplice to rape unless there is a rape.

  Shawn Tompkins : So, again, you want Andy to confess to a crime that he can't be convicted of.

  Rafael Barba : Yes. Otherwise, the law says nothing happened to Katy.

  Olivia Benson : So here we are. You can walk out that door right now without taking any responsibility for what happened.

  Rafael Barba : And reject a very generous deal.

  Shawn Tompkins : Very generous? You're talking about him forfeiting millions of dollars.

  Rafael Barba : Or you could risk doing twenty years.

  Shawn Tompkins : That's crap and you know it. There's no jury in the world that would find him guilty.

  Olivia Benson : No, but Katy will. So if you walk out this door right now, you're saying that nothing happened. And you'd also know, for the rest of your life, that you could've done something to make it right. But you chose not to.