Thursday was exceptionally stressful for Rafael, but waking up Friday morning, the day of the grand jury, even more so. He was definitely expecting things to go sideways and was concerned about his chances of actually getting the indictment.

"So, Mr. Syndergaard," Rafael questioned, "you worked with Eric Aquino?"

"Yes," the nurse confirmed. "He's selfless. A gentle soul."

Rafael nodded. "Can you please describe his injuries for the jury?"

"A head wound so severe that he still hasn't regained consciousness," the nurse explained, "and anal trauma consistent with sexual assault."

Rafael let the nurse leave the stand at that point, having Fin take the stand. He knew having the sergeant testify could backfire but he'd had a chat with Fin that morning and was hoping he'd be able to keep the jury under control.

"Was there DNA?" Rafael asked.

Fin nodded without missing a beat. "Joe Murphy's DNA was a match for the semen found in Aquino's underwear."

"Unfortunately, due to his injuries, Mr. Aquino is unable to testify here today." He turned to better face the sergeant. "Can you tell us what happened when the police discovered him?"

"He was bleeding from the head," Fin calmly explained. "His pants were down and bloody. He was able to make a brief statement which led us to proceed with the sexual assault investigation."

He gave a half-nod. "Thank you, Sergeant."

Just then a black woman who was sitting in the second row of grand jurors put her hand up, getting Rafael's immediate attention. "Can I ask a question?"

Rafael took a breath. "You can ask me, and I'll..."

"That's okay," she said, "I'll ask."

"Ma'am," he said, keeping his voice level, "there's a process here, and if you have questions, you need to..."

"I have a lot of questions," the woman shot back.

"And I understand that," he tried to assure her. "I am just asking that you direct your questions through me." Thankfully, the woman nodded relaxing back in her seat some. "Now, what's your question, Ma'am?"

"Did the victim say who had assaulted him?" the juror questioned.

He nodded to Fin. "Sergeant Tutuola, please answer the question."

"No," the sergeant replied, "he did not."

Rafael saw the female juror about to speak again and immediately moved to stop the mess he could see coming in its tracks.

"Sergeant," he prodded, hoping to get ahead of the mess, "can you please tell the jurors why SVU was on the scene?"

"A disturbance had been called in at the location," Fin explained, "and when the officers were on scene, they found Aquino." Rafael nodded. "SVU was immediately contacted and quickly arrived on scene."

"You mentioned an earlier disturbance," Rafael stated, his mind running over how to best continue the questioning. "Please explain what happened."

"A woman, Colleen Reynolds, called in a false report," Fin answered without missing a beat, "although we didn't know it at the time."

"Regardless, Jayvon Brown was arrested for outstanding warrants," Rafael led, choosing his wording carefully. "Was he not?"

"Yes," Fin confirmed, and Rafael saw on a couple of the jurors' faces that he'd started winning them over. They were slightly less angry. Not enough to really help him get the true bill he needed, but it was a start.

"How were both parties acting?" Rafael inquired.

"Mrs. Reynolds was yelling and generally being difficult as was Mr. Brown," Fin said, obviously having decided to cooperate with Rafael. "The scene was chaotic."

"So," Rafael said, "Captain Benson opted to separate both parties, removing Brown from the equation for his safety. What was her decision based on?"

"Mrs. Reynolds had her young son so she stayed with her child talking to the officers who had initially responded," Fin said. "However, Brown had outstanding warrants and we needed to talk to him. Jayvon Brown was arrested according to standard police procedure."

"So he was taken to the precinct due to the outstanding warrants?" Rafael prodded. He was playing a bit dirty and didn't agree completely with his argument, but he needed the indictment. "Not due to Mrs. Reynold's accusations?"

"No," Fin said. "We checked that out, given the situation, but he was brought in due to the outstanding warrants."

"Alright," he said. "Backing up a bit, what did Murphy say when..."

Rafael was more than glad when they recessed for lunch. By the end of it, he'd had a migraine from fighting to keep the mess under control. It was a constant battle to not lose control of the grand jury.

"That was a train wreck," Rafael stated, placing his briefcase on the bench beside him. He was out in the hallway talking to Rollins and Fin. "It could've gone worse though. Thank you for actually following my lead for once."

"We're on the same side here," Fin said. "Mistakes were made, and you know it's not uncommon for police of colour to step back during a frisk. Still, we all know Liv... I've worked with her for over twenty years. Her only bias is for the victim."

Rafael nodded, understanding the point completely.

"She's always been the believe first then verify type," Rollins said. "We know that."

"Agreed." Rafael gave a small sigh. "Regardless, the city's on boil. They're looking for reasons not to trust the police right now."

Just then Ron Freddo walked up. Rafael eyed the man. "I'm in the middle of a grand jury, Counsellor. What do you want?"

"Breaking news," the defence attorney quipped. "My client decided to testify."

"Did he now?" Rafael said, quirking an eyebrow. "Does he understand that he has to waive immunity?"

"He knows," the man replied. "Buckle up, Barba."

Rafael shook his head as the other lawyer walked away. He then turned his attention to Fin and Rollins. "Swell."

"Perp walking into a grand jury?" Fin said, eying them both. "Something's up."

Rafael had to agree and was wracking his brain again for how to handle this.

"Well, whatever lies Murphy tells," Rollins said, "he's locked into a trial."

"If this goes to trial," Rafael swiftly pointed out. "They're rolling the dice that I won't get an indictment." He turned to Rollins. "Get me that recording from his house. It's playing dirty, but now you know why I wanted a wire worn."

She nodded, grabbing her purse. "I'll grab it right now."

At least New York was a one-party consent state. That was going to be their only saving grace right now.

Thankfully, Rollins had been able to get it to him rather quickly.

"Yes, okay!" Murphy said. "I lied to the police. I had met Mr. Aquino in a bar, and he and I did walk into the park together."

"And didn't you also lie," Rafael pointed out, "about what happened once you got to the park?"

"Yes," the man admitted. "And this is not easy for me. The truth is we were drunk, high. He unzipped me, initiated a sexual encounter."

"And so you lied to the cops about that too, right?" Rafael prodded.

"I was ashamed," Murphy said after a second. "My fiancée, my mom, I didn't want them to know... I'm bi."

Rafael fought to keep from rolling his eyes. "I appreciate your bravery in outing yourself here today, but can you tell us truthfully what happened after your sexual encounter with Eric?"

"Nothing," the man said. "Nothing happened after that."

"I would like to remind you that you're under oath," Rafael said.

"I'm aware," Murphy said. "Eric and I had a brief sexual moment. I'm not proud of it, but like I said, I was drunk. I zipped up. I went home to my fiancée. I have no idea what happened to Eric after that."

"Mr. Murphy," he said with forced calm, "didn't you tell the detectives that Eric had gotten aggressive with you, and you pushed him off?"

"Yeah," the man claimed, "well, I was just telling them what they wanted to hear."

Rafael gave him a pointed look. "You mean you lied again?" Murphy gulped slightly. "Okay, so recap. Today, you have admitted to every detail of your encounter until the point that Eric Aquino was assaulted. I'm sorry, but this sounds like you're admitting what you can't deny and denying what you can't admit, so... why should we believe you now? You've lied time and time again."

"The confession was coerced," the man said, a little more emotion entering his voice now that he was being backed into a corner. "One of the cops told me they were mad at me for filming Jayvon's arrest. They got a lot of flack for arresting him, and I was going to have to take the fall."

"So your testimony is that even though Eric Aquino was raped, and is still in a coma, you're the victim here?" Rafael pushed.

"No," Murphy replied. "We're all victims here. Eric, Jayvon, and me."

"Mr. Murphy, we've heard enough," Rafael said. "I want to play something for you that I think the jury might find rather enlightening."

"I hope you're not upset about my video," Murphy said.

"No," came Rollins' voice, "it was very helpful."

"Look," Murphy said, "I know I was all 'BLM' in the park. But really, you cops
didn't do anything wrong. I heard that thug's filing a lawsuit. Do you need me to back you up?"

"Actually," Rollins said, "it would be great if you could come down to the station and just give us a statement."

"Sure," Murphy agreed. "Whatever you guys need."

Ending the tape, Rafael looked at Murphy a bit smugly. "That was after your mother lied about you being home. So you lied, yet again. How many other times have you lied about what happened, Mr. Murphy?"

"Well, I -"

"You just what?" Rafael questioned. "What's your story this time?" He shook his head. "Please step down, Mr. Murphy, I think the jury's heard enough of your lies."

It, blessedly, wasn't long before the jury was dismissed for deliberations, and Rafael still wasn't sure if they were going to come back with a 'true bill' or 'no bill.' He hoped he'd been able to undo enough of the damage, but he wasn't confident it would be enough given how angry a lot of people were due to recent events.

Olivia walked into his office and took a seat. "How are you doing?"

"Not good," he admitted.

She gave him a sideways look. "It's only been a few hours, Rafa."

"For a grand jury," he pointed out, "that is a lifetime. He lied through his teeth. He knew exactly what cards to play."

"And you played some of your own cards," she said. "Tough case, but isn't this what juries are for, Rafa?"

"Usually," he said, "But they're so mad at the NYPD right now, they wanna punish you. This could go either way."

Just then there was a knock on his door and Counsellor Freddo walked in, immediately turning to face Rafael. "Hey, Barba. Well, win some, lose some. Warden just told me they voted to return a bill of indictment."

Rafael gave a little snort, masking the relief he felt. "I don't play to lose."

When the defence attorney left, Rafael put his head in his hands. "For the love of God, never do anything so stupid again."

She gave a half-hearted chuckle. "I'm sorry."

"I know that," he said, reassuring her. "We're not out of the woods yet, though."

Once they were home, Olivia started making spaghetti while Rafael spent some time with Sofía. They'd just come downstairs when Rafael stopped to well, eavesdrop on the conversation his wife and son were having.

"Hey, Noah. Time for dinner, honey. What are you watching?"

"The video of you arresting the wrong guy," Noah said. "Everybody at school's seen it."

"Okay," Olivia said. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Why did you arrest him?" Noah asked. "Are you racist?"

"Noah... Come on," Olivia said, the comment from their son clearly stinging. "Noah, you know that I'm not."

"Did you tell him you're sorry?"

"There's a lawsuit," Olivia tried to explain, "and my bosses told me that I... That I shouldn't talk to him."

"Why? You always tell me to apologize when I do something wrong."

When Olivia grabbed her stuff not long after and headed to the door, Rafael grabbed her hand. "My office is pursuing charges against Colleen Reynolds for filing a false report. Let him know that. Don't try and make excuses, just hear him out."

She nodded, walking out the door to go meet with the man.

"¿A dónde fue mamá?" Noah asked, walking up to Rafael. (Where did mom go?)

"Ella fue a disculparse, Noécito." He then gave his son a sideways smile. "Bueno, vamos a cenar." (She went to apologize, Noah Bear. Well, let's go eat.)