Hey Little Voices! Here is part two; episode two of “Special Victims Unit SVU, Let’s Review It Together – Me And You!” Today I will be discussing about a case where detectives Benson and Stabler are having trouble investigating the murder of a young student, because they experience resistance from the college that she attended.
A student named Jeanne Gallagher is found dead in front of her dorm building at St. Raymond's, the local college that Cragen graduated from in the 1960s. St. Raymond's is known for its traditionally strong basketball team. Jeanne was present, as a hostess, at numerous sports parties at St. Raymond's, and she maintained close contact with the basketball players. Benson and Stabler turn their attention to Chuck Mosley and the arrogant and privileged Riley Cougar, a pair of star players on the basketball team, who have led the team to the NCAA tournament and national acclaim. Chuck is attending St. Raymond's with the help of a scholarship.
The St. Raymond's administration tries to block the investigation at every turn, because they're not willing to risk the negative publicity that the investigation could bring to the college and the upcoming basketball game in the tournament. Benson and Stabler must sort through a labyrinth of sex, parties, and the lives of pampered college athletes. Benson and Stabler learn that Jeanne was raped by Riley Cougar two months ago, and that the St. Raymond's administration encouraged her to not press charges, because the administration didn't want the team to lose one of its star players.
Cragen tells Benson and Stabler about another cover-up. When the dean of science won a Mustang in the fall of 1964, a drunk student decided that he had to take it for a spin. He lost control on an icy road, hit another car, and broke the other driver's leg. Campus security decided that the student deserved another chance. Cragen turned out to be the one with the broken leg, and the drunk student who hit his car was Anthony Schlasser, who is now working in the mayor’s office. Cragen talks to the campus security officer who gave Riley an alibi for the rape. Cragen grills the officer and gets him to reveal that although Riley wasn't actually there, he decided to cover him and give him a false alibi for the night in question two months ago because the officer believes that "a girl with a grudge can destroy a man". The officer says he is sorry for giving Riley a fake alibi, and Cragen sternly says he should be sorry.
Benson and Stabler also investigate French Professor James Henri Rousseau, who was obsessed with Jeanne. Shelley Brown, one of Jeanne's friends, tells Benson and Stabler that Rousseau had stalked Jeanne, but the administration had decided not to intervene. Benson and Stabler learn that, before Rousseau became a professor at St. Raymond's, he was a student there. In 1976, he forced himself on a girl. While she was passed out, Rousseau took her to his place, and let the girl perform oral sex on him while she slept. After she came to, the girl was given cab fare to Bronxville, and the St. Raymond's administration wrote the incident off as "boys will be boys."
Benson and Stabler learn that Rousseau had altered his entire schedule to fit Jeanne's. After searching Rousseau's home, they arrest him. Rousseau tells the detectives and ADA Abbie Carmichael that he had indeed stalked Jeanne, and that he saw her on the night of her death. He revealed that she'd fallen down the stairs and hit her head. After carrying her body into the bushes, he made love to her.
Carmichael makes a deal with Defense Attorney Vargas to take out the homicide charge, and let Rousseau plead guilty to having sex with a deceased person. With the addition of obstruction and disturbing a crime scene, Rousseau faces three years to be served consecutively. Cougar is charged with raping Jeanne. After the case, Munch and Cassidy visit Chuck as he and his mother are packing up. Munch apologizes for accusing Chuck of the crime, while assuring him that Couger will get his sentence in court. Seeing his sincerity, Chuck shakes Munch's hand in acceptance.
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