[Interior, outside of questioning room where Alaina is sitting alone, staring]

Elliot
What's the damage?

Munch
Nothing big, but a lot of little things are stacking up. Hardcore porn, streaming rated R sex thrillers from mainstream movie websites, romance novels… Everything with some kind of rape scene or forced sex. She is obsessed with it.

DA
Why wasn't any of this part of the original investigation?

Munch
The cops didn't think they had anything to investigate. They took photos of the roof access panel, where the perp broke in, and of the rooms that he rummaged through. All the rest of the evidence had been bagged up.

Olivia
And now we're treating her apartment as if it belonged to the rapist, not the victim.

Elliot
Maybe if she acted like a victim, we wouldn't need to investigate.

(Tony King, Ken Miter's attorney, enters)

Tony King
She's not acting like a victim because she wasn't one.

DA
Tony King… I thought you were too busy chasing ambulances and filing class actions to put it all on hold for a defense job. You must have grown a pair to allege that our rape victim isn't a victim at all.

Tony
While my client was, admittedly, breaking and entering, Miss Newton seduced him into bed in order to live out a rape fantasy. It was consensual. With your witness, we're sure to have media all over this one. 24 year-old Christian good-girl obsessed with rape porn accusing a burglar with no history of assault, sexual or otherwise… We could drop the rape charge and go with breaking and entering, and keep Miss Newton's private life private.

DA
You know you've got nothing that would make us drop the rape charge. His DNA was inside of her. This is an open and closed case and if you take it in front of a jury, you will lose.

Tony
We'll see. And I'll see you at arraignment.

(Tony Leaves)

Olivia
She doesn't need to take the stand, does she? We've got enough physical evidence that we don't need her to testify against him.

DA
If she doesn't take the stand, then the jury will never see Alaina as a victim. They'll only see her obsession with rape porn and her attempt to keep it a secret from investigators. She had no bruises on her body, no scratches, nothing except tearing inside. It doesn't look like she fought back. They need to see her and associate her with the attack and hear her testimony in order to see her as the victim.

Elliot
Will getting her on the stand help? We haven't even seen her act like a victim yet.

Olivia
So just because she isn't acting the part, means it didn't happen?

Elliot
Come on, Liv. How long have you been working with victims? How many have ever acted so nonchalant about being attacked? This stuff she looks at is pretty sick... she might be some kind of nutcase we haven't seen before.

Olivia
She was attacked, Elliot. The doctors said so, the evidence says so, and she says so. It doesn't matter if she's putting on a happy face to fool everyone, it's not going to fool me. I'm going to go in there and tell her this rape wasn't her fault, no matter what kind of porn she looks at, and convince her to take the stand even though it will be embarrassing and humiliating. That's how you treat victims. Or have you forgotten?

Elliot
Don't accuse me of not knowing how to do my job.

Olivia
Then do it. Get Wong down here so he can sort through this porn obsession and help us figure out why she's acting this way. Wong will tell me if she's a nutcase, not you.

(Olivia turns to enter questioning room. Elliot stops her.)

Elliot
Liv… what's wrong?

Olivia
(after a moment)
I have to tell a rape victim that her personal sexual fantasies that WE uncovered are going to be broadcast to the world in order to put her rapist behind bars. (sarcastic) And it's making me upset. Aren't I "playing the part" and reacting how I should? Or maybe I'm a nutcase, too.

(she stares pointedly at Elliot before entering the room)

[interior, questioning room. ]

(Alaina is staring at her reflection in the mirror)

Olivia
… Alaina, do you understand everything I've told you?

(Alaina doesn't answer)

Olivia
Alaina are you okay?

Alaina
No

Olivia
I know this must be hard for you.

Alaina
You don't know. Everything in my apartment was private. And now everyone in the police station knows. And soon everyone in the country will know. Everyone in my bible study, everyone in every church I'll ever go to, all the parents of the kids I tutor.

(Alaina stops staring at herself in the mirror and looks at Olivia)

Alaina
I wasn't going to report what happened. I was going to take a shower, because of how dirty I felt, and I was going to file a report for the burglary and never tell anyone what really happened. But on Los Angeles Sex Crimes, I always hated the characters who couldn't get their act together, who hid things from the cops and who lied and who accidentally destroyed evidence. I always told myself that if it happened to me, I would gather so much evidence, it'd be impossible for him to go free.

Olivia
Alaina, it will be impossible for him. You did everything right, everything you were supposed to do. He won't get away with what he did.

Alaina
(harsh whisper)
Won't he? Even if he goes to prison for the rest of his life, he'll have taken my virginity, my ability to be alone without totally freaking out, and he'll have taken away my privacy as every piece of porn I've looked at is shown to the world. He wins no matter what I do. How can I continue tutoring kids, or volunteering, when all that parents can think about are my private thoughts and turn-ons? (looks like she will start getting emotional, but she stops the tears) I'd like to go home, please.

Olivia
Alaina, you're allowed to be upset. You don't have to run away.

Alaina
(fighting tears, voice desperate)
Please. Can't I leave?

Olivia
… of course, but it'd be good if you just faced…

(Alaina gets up and rushes out
Olivia exits the questioning room and joins Elliot and Wong on the other side of the one-sided mirror)

Elliot
Is she going to testify?

Olivia
She didn't say. She really hates showing her feelings, though. Wong, any idea what might be up? Why the obsession with rape?

Wong
Rape fantasies are more common than you'd think, especially among women.

Olivia
What kind of woman would fantasize about getting raped?

Wong
It's often due to a desire to not be in control. Normal intercourse involves two people taking action, giving each other pleasure. For someone like Alaina, a virgin who has no sexual experience in a culture where women her age are expected to have sexual know-how… the thought of someone else in control is arousing because then she's free from expectation. She doesn't have to know how to have sex in order to participate in the sexual activity.

Elliot
So she likes the idea of being actually raped? That's why she's not traumatized by the attack?

Wong
For a female, being aroused by rape fantasy has absolutely nothing to do with real rape. It's just as traumatic for her than for someone who doesn't have rape fantasies. The only difference is, she's likely thought about being attacked, for real, more often than women who never think about being attacked. That's why she seems like she's handling it so well… she's probably thought about what she would do if it did happen, thought about how she would react, emotionally.

Olivia
That's what she was saying, That she told herself "if I was ever attacked, I would gather evidence…"

Wong
Part of her emotional recovery was done before the attack even happened. But she probably doesn't know that her rape fantasies have nothing to do with real rape. She might feel like she asked for it, or deserved it, or somehow wanted it.

Olivia
But if forced-sex fantasies have nothing to do with real rape, then how can the defense use it?

Wong
They convince a jury that the fantasy shaped the reality; that she saw what looked like the beginnings of one of her rape porn videos, and wanted to live it out.

Elliot
So the evidence won't even matter if they think it's consensual. She has to testify or he could walk.

[interior, court, arraignment]

Bailiff
Docket ending 424, The people versus Kenneth Miter. One count of breaking and entering, one count of rape in the first degree.

Judge
Mr. King, what does your client plead?

Tony
Not guilty, your honor.

Judge
Bail, District Attorney?

DA
The district requests remand without bail.

Tony
Excessive, your honor! My client doesn't even have a passport – he's not a flight risk.

DA
The defendant has a history of breaking and entering, stealing jewelry and selling it. He possibly has large amounts of undocumented funds. Not to mention the safety of the victim, who had Mr. Miter's DNA inside of her.

Tony
From a consensual encounter. My client has no history of physical violence before this victim's allegation.

Judge
There's always a first time. Kenneth Miter is to be placed under remand without bail. Adjourned. Next case.

[Interior. SVU headquarters. Night.]

(Olivia sits at her desk, fingers pinched between her eyes.)
(Elliot rushes in, carrying a piece of paper)

Elliot
You're here

Olivia
You got one too?

Elliot
We're being called to testify as to Alaina's emotional state at the hospital the night of her attack?

Olivia
It's my fault. I made a note of it on the report.

(Olivia looks down at the paper in disgust)

Olivia
I wrote that she seemed vaguely disconnected and usually happy. I didn't know what else to put down. I… I couldn't put nothing.

(Olivia looks defeated, guilty)

Elliot
Her reactions weren't normal.

Olivia
Who am I to say that they weren't normal? What makes me an expert as to what a rape victim should act like? I should've let it go until we talked to Wong. And I shouldn't have snapped at you when you brought it up... when I was the one who wrote it into the report.

Elliot
You were just doing your job.

Olivia
My job is to help victims. And I feel like we've done nothing but hurt this one. She does everything she's supposed to, above and beyond… and we pull her privacy into the spotlight and question her emotional state. We negated everything she did to make sure we got the bad guy.

Elliot
We'll still get him.

Olivia
If we don't interfere any more than we already have.

[interior. Courtroom. Opening statements]

Tony

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury:

Ken Miter will concede that he did break into Alaina Newton's apartment in the early morning of Wednesday, September 2, but he did so with absolutely no intent to rape her or attack her in any way. Miss Newton, as you will no doubt realize upon seeing the evidence, has an obsession with rape pornography. She was aroused by a man breaking into her home, and asked him to have intercourse with her, in order to sate her sexual desire. Ken Miter complied with her request, with the understanding that she would not file a police report for the burglary.

You will find no sign of a struggle on Miss Newton. No cuts, no bruises, no defensive wounds… Nothing! The only piece of physical evidence that points to rape is vaginal tearing, which could be the result of a virgin's inexperienced first sexual encounter. When my client left, Miss Newton was embarrassed about who she gave her virginity to, embarrassed about someone discovering her obsession with rape fantasy, so she brought the evidence to the hospital herself, to prevent investigators from seeing her hidden obsession, and to avoid responsibility for her sexual conduct.

Yes, Ken Miter broke into her home, but Miss Newton wanted him to stay, and wanted him to perform the sexual acts she'd seen so often in the pornography she attempted to keep secret.

(Tony sits down)

DA

Alaina Newton woke up at 2:22 am to the sound of what she thought was her cat making a commotion, and was horrified to realize that she had woken to the nightmare that every single woman has: A stranger in her apartment. When Ken Miter entered Miss Newton's room, he didn't know she was home… but he saw the opportunity to assert his power over a woman, so he grabbed a knife from the kitchen, came back to her room and raped her, threatening her life and the life of her pet.

She didn't fight back, terrified that anything she did would cause him to kill her, or kill her cat out of spite. When he left threatening her if she breathed a word to anyone, she bravely bagged the evidence, something she'd seen on a cop show on TV, and went to the hospital immediately. She was not hurt on the outside, but she was torn apart on the inside… something that doesn't happen when you're "turned on" and ready and willing to have sex.

Alaina Newton was raped, and her private sexual desires have nothing to do with what Ken Miter did to her.