'Law & Order: SVU' Season 23 Episode 16: Velasco testifies in brutal sexual assault case
‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ Season 23 has been treating viewers with hard-hitting stories and the latest episode was no different. In Episode 16 of the ongoing edition, we saw a man named Jackson Wright, creator of a popular dating app, trying to rebrand the app after it was revealed that his app is being used for sexually assaulting women.
The CFO of the company, Cress Gordon, was really happy with the idea of rebranding the app, but one of the social media managers, Lisa, was not happy with what was happening and wanted to say something. However, she chose to stay mum. It was revealed that Lisa used the app and met Detective Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano) at a bar. Lisa drank too much and when he was helping her to reach the front door, Lisa got hysterical and started screaming that “I trusted you”. She got so worked up that she collapsed down the stairs and passed out. Velasco called for an ambulance.
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Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Fin arrived at the hospital and asked Lisa about everything that happened. Lisa said that Velasco did nothing wrong. While talking to Benson, she told her that the app was given to every employee for a trial before releasing it to the public. She got matched with Jackson and they met at his penthouse. However, things got worse when he got aggressive and when she started to fight him, it turned him on. She admitted that he raped her.
Detectives told everything to Cress, who was really shocked to learn about the accusations. She wanted to talk to Jackson about it, but detectives told her not to because they wanted to talk to her first. However, the news came that the stocks of his company went down and at that time, Cress resigned from the company and labeled Jackson a “sexual predator”. Olivia didn’t feel good about this and questioned if these ladies were using the judicial system to get what they want.
Jackson denied the charges, obviously. Cress was called for interrogation and she was told that she would have to testify during the trial. They found the motive as well when they learned that he tried to bribe a woman. Initially, Jackson got the bail and he went on social media to claim that Lisa actually had a date with an SVU cop as well. He also accused her of stealing intellectual property and starting her own dating app company.
Velasco had to testify during the trial as well. It was the first that he was testifying as an SVU detective. He stood his claim and was let go. Now, it was time for Lisa to come to the stand and she revealed that she did not come forward initially because she knew no one would believe her. On the other hand, Benson told Cress that she should testify. When the defense cross-examined her, Cress dropped a bombshell claiming that Jackson had raped her.
The trial was stopped for a few moments and that’s when Cress told Benson that she was given the post of CFO to remain silent about the incident. When Jackson took the stand, he was asked about his wife as well and when he got frustrated with the questions, he admitted that his wife was unhappy with him because she “banged” Cress and then her god-daughter.
Jackson was found guilty of rape.