When the children are taken by the City because of Simon's criminal background, Benson calls Defense Attorney Bayard Ellis Andre Braugher , with whom she has become good friends, to help Simon and Tracy get the children back. When a judge denies the Marsdens their children back, Simon kidnaps them. Ellis makes a deal to have Simon serve a day sentence, knocking his charge down from kidnapping to a misdemeanor, custodial interference.
One of the conditions of the reduced charges is that he must give up his custody petition and agree to visit his daughter only in a supervised setting for the next three years. Simon is reluctant, but Benson tells him that the deal is better than his daughter visiting him in jail.
Special Victims Unit , portrayed by Mariska Hargitay. Hargitay has said that Connick, who is a friend of hers, improved the show to a more romantic advanced stance. In, a fair amount of relentlessly investigating Benson luck with during a case. The two sometimes argue over the cases they work on; Benson tends to be quicker to side with the victims. They've been doing it for longer than that, so they feel like they're in their own world almost. However, he lied for her, as he had not actually been with her in the same room at the time. NBC to replace Chris and Mariska?!
At the conclusion of the season 15 finale, Benson becomes the court-appointed custodial guardian of Noah Porter, an orphaned baby. The appointment is for a trial period of one year, with the option to apply for legal adoption at the end of that period. Benson blames herself for not checking Munson for weapons before leaving him alone with Dodds.
The investigation was dropped in "Mood".
In "No Good Reason", she brings Benson to family court, accusing her of being an unfit parent; the case is dismissed, but Benson agrees that it's in Noah's best interest that they stop fighting. In "Unintended Consequences", Benson lets her visit and spend time with Noah.
At the end of "Intent", she gets a call from Sheila telling her that Noah had been kidnapped in the mall. Benson goes to Sheila's cabin in Franconia, New Hampshire to rescue Noah, where Sheila attacks her; Benson manages to subdue and arrest her, however, and takes Noah back home with her. Benson is forced to kill a suspect on three separate occasions during her tenure on the show: Also, in Season 6's "Rage", she shoots and wounds serial killer Gordon Rickett Matthew Modine to prevent Stabler from killing him in cold blood.
Many a Law & Order: SVU fan has shipped Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). Though you could. Stabler is partnered with Olivia Benson for 12 years. replaced by a Queens SVU detective, Lucius Blaine (Anthony Anderson).
Hargitay has characterized Benson and Stabler's relationship as "very complicated". Sometimes it's very much like brother and sister, and I think the reason that they're so close is that they share a passion for their jobs and for the people. They have a mutual respect for one another. I think that the average lifespan of an SVU detective is four years because of the difficulty and stress involved. They've been doing it for longer than that, so they feel like they're in their own world almost.
There's also sexual chemistry between them, it's so loaded and layered. People ask me if they'll ever get together—and people want that, and sometimes I think even Olivia wants that—but I don't think that will ever happen. Baer agrees that a romantic relationship between the two is unlikely, though commented: Hargitay has stated that her favorite SVU scene occurs in the season 7 episode "Fault", when Benson is faced with the possibility of losing Stabler: I'm negotiating [with him to drop the gun].
It was a painful, high-stakes scene. Elliot and I have to admit what we mean to each other He is everything that [my character] Olivia has. So this was where we really got that to pay off.
While Stabler has yet to appear again in the series, Benson frequently mentions him in both a professional and personal context; she tells the squad's newer detectives what Stabler would do in a given situation, and says more than once that she is "getting over someone".
In the episode "Closure", Benson refers to it as a drunken one-night stand. It is implied that the relationship continued based on comments in the episode " Disrobed ". Cassidy leaves the precinct at the end of that episode. In the season 5 episode "Lowdown", it is revealed Benson had a relationship with a murder victim who turned out to be gay and HIV positive. In the season 9 episode "Closet", the SVU squad are surprised to find out that Benson has been in a relationship with journalist Kurt Moss Bill Pullman for several months.
It comes out only because Internal Affairs is investigating Benson and Stabler in a case in which the department accidentally outed a professional football player. By the end of the episode, she breaks up with Moss. While Benson has only been portrayed in relationships with men, she has, according to lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.
We know that people are into the Alex-Olivia thing. All the codes are in there. Hargitay has said that Connick, who is a friend of hers, improved the show to a more romantic advanced stance. I think Olivia couldn't have asked for a better companion to take her through a new stage in her life and career. In the episode "Hunting Ground", she decides to take it slow with Haden, claiming she needs time to see if their relationship will last. That night, they end up sleeping together in her apartment.
This makes her late for a case, which is frowned upon in the NYPD. In the season 14 premiere, Benson shares a kiss with Cassidy after she tells him she is not the same person from 13 years before, when they had a brief sexual relationship. Later that season, in the episode "Undercover Blue", it is revealed that Cassidy and Benson had been seeing each other for quite some time. Their relationship hits a rough patch in the episode when Cassidy is accused of rape, which results in their relationship becoming public. The charges against Cassidy are later dropped when the SVU detectives discover that he was being set up.
In season 15, Benson stays with Cassidy as she recovers from her imprisonment by a serial rapist. A few months after she returns to work, they get a new apartment together. They break up in the episode "Downloaded Child", however. Upon the conclusion of their joint operation, the two share drinks before Benson returns to New York. It is suggested throughout season 17 that Benson is in a relationship with Capt. In "Manhattan Transfer", they are forced to confirm their relationship when Tucker is accused — by his own cousin, a priest — of being complicit with a sex trafficking ring that has ties to Vice and the Catholic Church.
Tucker is eventually cleared, and he continues his relationship with Benson. In season 18, Tucker tries to convince Benson to retire with him, though at the conclusion of the episode "Next Chapter", Benson realizes she is not ready to do so, as being a cop is part of who she is.
As a result, Benson breaks it off with Tucker at the end of the episode "Chasing Theo". In the season 9 episode "Undercover", Benson poses as an inmate in a women's prison to investigate an alleged rape by a corrections officer. While there, the corrections officer in question, Captain Lowell Harris Johnny Messner , attacks her and attempts to force her to perform oral sex on him. Later, Benson helps convict the rapist by questioning his earlier victim about distinguishing features on his penis, prompting the victim to recall a mole on it, which Benson later explains to Warner that she had also seen.
When Warner asks Benson if she had been raped, she replies, "It was the closest I've ever come. In season 10, Benson is seen struggling with now being a victim of sexual assault herself. She is attending group therapy, something she has not shared with anyone but Tutuola. In the episode "PTSD," while investigating the rape of a Marine , she is pushed against a wall while trying to break up a fight between a suspected rapist and another Marine.
She subsequently breaks up the fight by holding her weapon to the back of the suspect's head. In the season 11 episode "Perverted," Benson becomes the prime suspect in the sexual mutilation and murder of a biker gang member. As more evidence is found linking her to the crime, an Internal Affairs detective insinuates that she may have committed it while suffering from a flashback to the assault. The other detectives eventually discover that Benson has been framed by a man she sent to prison years earlier.
During the season 15 premiere "Surrender Benson", Lewis makes her watch while he rapes and tortures the mother of his own attorney and kills a police officer who attempted to pull him over. He then beats and tortures her, burning her with cigarettes and wire hangers, and holds her hostage for four days. Just as he is about to rape her, she breaks free, handcuffs him, and holds him at gunpoint. When he taunts her, she loses control and beats him within an inch of his life with an iron rod.
She is rescued by her fellow detectives moments later, and Cragen puts her on mandatory leave so she can recover. She begins seeing a therapist Bill Irwin to cope with the trauma. It is later revealed that Lewis survived and is in prison awaiting trial. He calls Benson as a witness and accuses her of assaulting him because he rejected her sexual advances.
She vehemently denies it, and lies under oath that he had broken free of his restraints and lunged at her. Lewis is found guilty of kidnapping and assaulting a police officer, but the jury voices doubts about Benson's story and acquits him of attempted rape. The episode closes with Benson weeping on the courthouse stairs and, four months later, Lewis being wheeled away on a stretcher.
In "Beast's Obsession", Lewis uses the distraction caused by his self-induced cardiac incident to escape from prison. He then rapes a teenaged girl, kidnaps her younger sister, and threatens to kill her unless Benson tells the truth about her testimony. Benson holds a press conference and admits that she lied on the witness stand.
When Lewis does not release the girl, Benson tracks him down and surrenders to him. With his hostage watching, Lewis at first attempts to rape Benson, but changes his mind when she refuses to show him fear; instead, he forces her to play Russian roulette with him.