Law & Order/Recap/S16/E06 Birthright: Difference between revisions

At her apartment, holding a small child, Lillie says that the suspect sounds like Traci, her granddaughter.

 

"Since she learned how to walk."|Traci Sands and Joe Fontana}}

 

Van Buren enters and tells Traci that a witness (Hu) saw her at the crime scene, and that Register's wallet was found in Paz's apartment. Traci asks why the police aren't interrogating Paz, then, and Van Buren responds that they found her bloody clothes too. She also states Traci's motive -- this was the day that welfare checks arrived, but Traci didn't get one because Register had Traci's child taken away by the state. Traci says she doesn't need the check and could have another baby regardless. Van Buren just tells her that the blood on her clothes is a type match for Register's, and further testing will surely prove that it's Register's blood, so Traci had better confess if she wants to help herself.

 

"No? You should be."|Anita Van Buren and Traci Sands}}

 

The two glare at each other. Van Buren criticizes her for abusing her own child and for blaming Register for her problems. Traci screams at her to shut up, but she won't. Traci insists that Register had it coming, but realizes this makes her sound guilty and so belatedly states that she didn't hurt him.

 

"Get me a lawyer."|Anita Van Buren and Traci Sands}}

 

Van Buren guesses that Traci might have thought she was just having a routine medical exam, and says that, if this is true, Rhodes is guilty of a lot more than just using an unapproved medical procedure. Green enters and tells the others that Rhodes' clinic, Operation Remedy, gets large contributions from a medical charity, The Center for Population and Hygiene, that supports sterilizations. Van Buren reads a press release from the charity, which says that, without fertility control, America will be overrun by waves of immigrants and their children and then will descend into anarchy. Another officer comes in, saying that the IUD was traced to a medical supplier in Trenton.

 

 

 

Traci's IUD was shipped to the Center for Population and Hygiene.

McCoy cites a case from about fifteen years prior when a judge ordered an abusive mother to go on contraception as a condition for parole. A year earlier, someone promoted coerced contraception as a method to reduce the number of black, lower-class people. Even Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great jurist, supported it. Borgia says that Holmes' pro-eugenics decision is derided by every reputable law school, but McCoy says his point is that even a brilliant jurist was swayed by eugenics arguments, so a juror might be too.

 

"Well, you'll have to convince 'em all of the truth. This is murder."|Jack McCoy and Arthur Branch}}

 

Branch tells the other lawyers that their key witness just self-destructed. Borgia is hopeful that Perez's emotions could buy the prosecution some sympathy, but McCoy worries that she scared some people into agreeing with Rhodes. McCoy wants to offer a plea, and Robinette has agreed to second-degree manslaughter (the original charge). Branch says this won't cut it.

 

"It's not about politics, Jack! I'm outraged!"|Jack McCoy and Arthur Branch}}

 

As court is dismissed, Robinette tells McCoy and Borgia that they'll appeal. McCoy says that they're filing charges relating to the other girls that Rhodes sterilized. Rhodes says that McCoy doesn't understand how badly Traci and the other girls abused their babies.

 

"We found evidence that you performed at least twenty other forced sterilizations, Miss Rhodes. What the world doesn't need is you."|Gloria Rhodes and Jack McCoy}}