[interior. Courtroom. Trial part 12]

(Alaina is on the stand.)

DA
Alaina, at what time did you go to sleep on the night of Tuesday, September 1st?

Alaina
I was in bed at 10, then watched TV for about an hour before falling asleep.

DA
When did you wake up?

Alaina
At 2:22 in the morning. I remember there was a noise, and I was still half-asleep; I thought it was my cat. But it wasn't.

DA
What happened next?

Alaina
I saw something move in the hall, and I knew someone was there. I was terrified. The only weapons I had in the house were the knives in the kitchen, and my scrapbooking cutting tools in the second bedroom. My cell phone was in my purse, next to the front door, and I don't have a landline. Well, didn't… I do now… I remember looking around my room, and realizing that I had nothing to protect myself with.

DA
Then what?

Alaina
He opened the door and saw me. He stared at me, like he was thinking. Then he went back into the kitchen, and came back with one of my cutting knives.

(DA holds up bag with green-handled kitchen knife)

DA
The people's Number Five. Is this the knife, Alaina?

Alaina
Yes. I was about to scream, but before I could, he said, "If you scream, I will kill you… and screw your dead body." That's when I knew he wasn't really trying to kill me.

DA
What did you believe he wanted?

Alaina
To rape me. All I could think of was… he doesn't want to kill me, so I won't give him a reason to. I begged him to take whatever he wanted and leave, and not to touch me. He told me if I said another word, he'd cut me "like swiss cheese."

DA
Did you struggle at all to fight Mr. Miter?

Alaina
No. I used that knife to cut my onions for dinner. I was extra careful, because the knife was new, and very sharp. When he held it up, I just kept imagining it going into me, and I couldn't fight back. I felt… paralyzed. I did whatever he told me to do.

DA
And what is it that he told you to do?

Alaina
(voice shaking slightly)
um… he told me to take off my pajamas, and to stand in front of him in my underwear. He stood… he stood behind me and put the knife to my neck, and started smelling my hair and licking my neck. He unclasped my bra, and pulled down my underwear, and told me to lean onto the bed, on my stomach.

(Alaina takes a deep breath, eyes closed)

Alaina
(calmer, more matter-of-fact)
That's when he raped me. When he was done he wiped himself off with my underwear. He said, if I told anyone what happened, he wouldn't rest until he'd killed my cat and then killed me. So I watched and remembered everything he touched, so that once he left I'd know what to bag up. I was afraid he'd get away with it.

DA
What made you think he'd have a chance of getting away with it, with all the evidence he'd left behind?

Alaina
I watch the show Los Angeles Sex Crimes… I know that rapists can get off on technicalities, no matter how strong the evidence… on improper searches, mishandling evidence, bad investigations… I couldn't stand the thought of this guy going free so that he could kill me, like he promised he would. That's why I put everything into Ziploc bags and garbage bags and brought it all with me… I told myself I would never be the victim who messed up: If I couldn't fight back and couldn't scream and keep it from happening, I'd make sure I got a good look at him, that I'd remember his voice, that I knew where his fingerprints would be and where his DNA might be.

DA
Alaina, did you put all of the evidence in bags for the sole purpose of keeping investigators from a thorough search of your apartment?

Alaina
No.

DA
No further questions

(Tony King stands)

Tony
Alaina, as you were leaving your apartment when Detectives Tutuola and Munch were escorting you to the police station to ID the person who broke into your apartment, what did they find on your computer?

Alaina
Pornography.

Tony
Were you looking at pornography after you'd been attacked?

Alaina
No… It was from the day before I was attacked.

Tony
What did this particular piece of pornography portray?

Alaina
A woman being mugged… and then getting raped in an alley.

Tony
Was that your first time looking at pornography that featured rape?

DA
Objection. Relevance?

Tony
I'm establishing a pattern of behavior that has a direct link to her behavior that night

Judge
Overruled. Answer the question, Miss Newton.

Alaina
No, it wasn't the first time I'd looked at porn like that.

Tony
Before September 2nd, had you ever been sexually active?

Alaina
No.

Tony
Were you planning on saving your virginity for marriage?

Alaina
Yes, or at least my fiancé.

Tony
Would you have been disappointed with yourself if you had decided to have sex with someone other than a husband or fiancé?

Alaina
Isn't that conjecture? I've never decided to have sex with someone before!

Tony
You can at least guess your own feelings, though, can't you?

Alaina
I don't know how I would feel. Maybe sex would be so amazing that I'd wonder why I waited so long, and I'd be happy I did it. Maybe I'd feel guilty. There's no way I can guess. All I know is that the first time I DECIDE to have sex with someone, whether it's my husband or fiancé, it will be tainted by my first time being a rape.

Tony
(realizing he's losing ground)
September 1st, the day before you went to the hospital, you were looking at pornography that featured women being burglarized by men, and then being raped.

Alaina
Yes.

Tony
We found 2 books on your nightstand

(Tony holds up two books)

Tony
Do these books also contain forced-sex?

Alaina
Yes.

Tony
And when you were watching TV before bed. What were you watching?

Alaina
Los Angeles Sex Crimes

Tony
And what was the subject of the particular episode that you were watching?

Alaina
The good lawyer was trying to uncover the tax fraud mess --- created by the (stares at Tony, emphasizing the words at him) ugly, sleazy, poorly-dressed defense lawyer with the stupid tie.

Judge
Miss Newton…

Alaina
The actor was wearing a stupid tie, your honor.

Judge
Watch it.

Tony
(straightening his ugly tie)
What was the other storyline? The "sex crime" the lawyer was prosecuting.

Alaina
There was a serial rapist who only attacked actresses who went to a certain gym.

Tony
So, the night before the attack you had been looking at rape pornography, reading books about forced sex, and then you watched a—

Alaina
(to Judge)
Am I allowed to say that I didn't read the books that night? Cuz I didn't.

Judge
You'd just answer the question truthfully, Miss Newton. Continue, Mr. King.

Tony
The night before the attack you had been looking at rape pornography of women being attacked during burglaries, and then watched a TV show about sex crimes with a storyline of forced sex, is that correct?

Alaina
Yes.

Tony
Alaina, are you diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder?

Alaina
… yes?

Tony
Were you on your medication the day you were attacked?

Alaina
I… No. I hadn't taken my meds in 2 weeks

Tony
What is your behavior like when you have not taken your medication?

Alaina
I have trouble focusing. I feel scatterbrained. I talk before knowing what I'm going to say. I interrupt people.

Tony
So, you're more impulsive?

Alaina
Yes.

Tony
So a man enters your home, just like men do in the pornography and tv shows you watched the day before the attack, and that you'd seen on several other occasions in the past… and you haven't taken your medication which leads to you making impulsive decisions.

DA
Objection. Is that a question?

Tony
Withdrawn. Did you resist Mr. Miter when you were having intercourse?

Alaina
No, he had a—

Tony
When you were at the hospital, mere hours after your "attack," were you laughing and joking around with Alex Rodriguez, the nurse on duty?

Alaina
(seething with anger)
Yes. I was afraid of needles and—

Tony
When you were at the hospital, did you treat your attack like a true emergency, or did you allow 3 patients to be treated before you?

Alaina
My attack WAS a true emergency! I was in the emergency room, wasn't I?

Tony
Answer the question! Did you let 3 patients go before you in the ER waiting room?

DA
Objection! Badgering the witness!

Judge
Overruled.

Alaina
Yes. I did. They needed medical attention.

Tony
They needed more attention than you, because you weren't really attacked

DA
OBJECTION!

Tony
Withdrawn. No further questions.

[interior, SVU, several hours later.]

Olivia
Well that was brutal

Elliot
Alaina's holding up, though. Maybe watching those cop shows really does help.

Olivia
All this media doesn't help.

(Olivia looks at one of the televisions, "earlier today" superimposed on video with reporters chasing Alaina all the way from the courthouse to a car. The news story cuts to a still of her, yelling/looking angry and then a shot of blurred-out porn with the words "Fallen Angel?")

(Elliot turns off TV)

Olivia
She doesn't deserve all of this. She deserves justice without giving up her life to make it happen.

(a moment passes. Elliot sighs and shifts)

Elliot
Do you wanna grab a bite before heading home? Tomorrow's our day in court.

Olivia
(gathering her things together)
Don't remind me. I can only hope King will give me an opportunity to make fun of his clothes.

(phone rings)
(elliot answers)

Elliot
Stabler.

(Listens for a few long seconds. Looks at Olivia)

Elliot
We're on it.

(hangs up)

Olivia
What is it?

Elliot
It's Alaina.

(Elliot grabs what he needs off the desk)

She's been attacked again.