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Law & Order Season 22 Episode 19 Recap: Private Lives

A woman (Sasha ALexander) wants a day off from her political career. She finds her home has been ransacked and there is blood on the wall. Her husband is dead on the dloor.

The murder was brutal and the victim was Ryan Bartell, MD. HE was hit on the head with a desk lamp. He put up a good fight. There is no sign of forced entry and security cameras. His wife is a Congresswoman, who Cosgrove says loves being the center of attention.

The Cogressowman says she was the target. She is conservative in a liberal area so everyone hates her. She got a threat, which is traced to a drag queen who does story hour and says that he was standing up to her anti-trans ideas but would not actually kill her.

He has an alibi, leaving them with nothing. Bartell's people have not given them security footage yet.

Street cams show a car circling the block shortly before the murder. The car belongs to Paul Koenig. The cops go to his restaurant where a kid claims Paul is not here but the cops hear nose and find him in a back room. For once they arrest him before the chase begins.

Paul claims he does not have anything to do with the murder. He has a nightstick and photos of Bartell with the word DEVIL on them but he claims he was checking out the area so he could protest outside her home. He doesn't see why he shouldn't protest against her at her home. He refuses a DNA test because he doesn't want to give it to an "authoritarian state" but relents when threatened with murder charge.

Paul is not a match. There is still no footage from Bartell. Dixon sends the cops over to see what was going on. Bartell says that there was a complication because her husband turned the cameras off right before the murder.

A woman who works with Bartell says Bartell called to say he was working from home that morning. She says she can get his personal calendar. She finds he had an appointment at 11 Am with a TM but no name. There were four such footage.

Cosgrove thinks Bartell was having an affair. He didn't turn off the camera for the first meeting. They discover TM was a child, 12 or 13 years old. (Maybe coming for transition care?)

An administrator says the kid is named Taylor and has mental health issues. He is repeating a grade because of extensive absences last year. He also runs away when the cos call his name and almost gets hit by a car. Shaw stops him and asks what he was thinking.

At the station, Taylor claims he doesn't know Ryan Bartell. He says he only knocked on his door to sell gift cards for school. The cops don't buy that as he was there for 40 minutes. He claims he only saw him once and the guy was very talkatie. Shaw says if this man hurt you, you can tell us.  The cops want a DNA sample but the father says no.

Violent discovers Taylor was in with the school counselor during the time of the murder. However the counselor is on bereavement leave — she is Ryan's sister.

Susan says Taylor would not hurt anyone. However he was not in her office.  All she'll say is Taylor won't hurt anyone. She refers to Taylor as her. She explains Taylor is transgender and has always known it. She's been counseling Taylor for years and she was having a tough time. Tyalor was having gener dysphoria and her parents would not allow her to transition. Dr. Bartell was giving her puberty blockers. Cosgrove is disgusted.  The woman tries to explain. Cosgrove says death isn't reversible and storms out angry.

The cops get a warrant for Taylor's DNA. Taylor is innocent — her father not so much.

Marhoun asks for remand. The defense attorney says the man is not a flight risk. Also she is planning to claim the murder was justified because he was defending himself against someone giving his child dangerous meds. The judge says that can be argued at trial.

Price tells McCoy that Myers was violent toward Susan when he learned that Taylor identifies as a girl. Price says Bartell's actions are hard to defend. McCoy says that doesn't matter, he didn't deserve to die.

Price opens. The defendant hit the victim 20 times. He says no matter what you believe about this treatment this is still murder.

The defense attorney claims that Bartell preyed on a confused child to further his agenda and therefore was a criminal conducting experiments on a confused child. And also that Bartell attacked her client not the other way around.

Shaw testifies. The defense attorney asks about a syringe and tries to say the syringe was a weapon.

Price whispers to Marhoun to prep Susan for her testimony tomorrow.

Kristin says Susan left town and doesn't want to face the consequences of her so-called activism. Parents are planning to sue her for violating their parental rights. She warned Ryan not to get involved with that kid. Price asks why she didn't tell them what she knew. She says Myers threatened to kill Ryan. However she won't testify because it will hurt her political career. Price asks is it really worth letting her husband's killer walk free?

Kristin testifies after all.  She says Myers threatened to kill Ryan.

On cross the defense attorney says you're against allowing trans children to transition. Is she opposed to giving puberty blockers or was she lying? She says she believes that. She says it's crazy given this polarized world, but she loved and married a man with opposite political beliefs.  She also says her husband was not violent and would not attack anyone.

Price says how did Myers learn Bartell was treating Taylor? They have to dig deeper and see who created a scene. He is not unsure of the case, but he's worried about the jury seeing Myers as a protective father. He admits he's not comfortable with a child making a huge decision.  He doesn't think a kid can know. Marhoun points out that he never thought he wasn't a boy.

Susan wasn't in school for the last appointment — so how did Taylor get out of school? They find out the mother gave permission. She says that Bartell didn't want to give the child the meds anymore because of Myers. She gave consent.  PRice tries to convince her to testify — otherwise her husband will go free and will coninue to interfere with Taylor's transition. What will that do to Taylor?

Taylor's mother testifies. She had to accept this was the answer. She was terrified that Taylor would try to kill herself. She admits she gave permission. She didn't want to keep hurting Taylor or for Taylor to try to hurt herself again.

The defense decides they're calling Taylor and the judge agrees that the defense has the right to call witnesses.

Myers' mother tells Price that Taylor is fragile and can't withstand this kind of pressure. She's scared Taylor will try to kill herself. Can't he do anything?

McCoy says you can try to have her declared incompetent based on mental health reasons, but suicidal ideation doesn't qualify. The other option is to offer a plea. Samantha thinks this is a good idea because if she breaks down on the stand, the defense will use that to prove that she shouldn't have been given the meds. That would traumatise her for no reason.

The ADAs meet with Myers whose lawyer wants Man 1, 15 years. Myers claims he was trying to save his chilld's life and that he doesn't have a daughter.

Kristen is upset about the plea deal and says he chose politics over justice.  She says thanks to him she will be replaced by someone who doesn't ecen believe transgender people exist.

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