Jessica Brady, the new lieutenant of the 27th Precinct Law and order, maybe new in the teambut she has already collided with a llegend from the franchise.

Brady, played by Maura Tierneyfaced Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in a special crossover episode from season 24 of the original show. The episode, titled “The Perfect Man”, focused on a murder case so controversial that Benson testified for the defense.

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Although after that, Brady is still getting used to her new role as district boss taking over for Lieutenant Kate Dixon (Camryn Manheim), the simple lieutenant proved she has what it takes to rub shoulders with some of the NYPD’s best cops when she refused to back down despite Benson’s objections about the police’s handling of the case.

The complicated case began after the body of app developer Tyler Miller was discovered in Central Park. Miller invented an app that promised women the “perfect man,” but his own dating skills were far from perfect.

“I’m not Dixon,” Lt. Jessica Brady clarified

After detectives discovered the victim’s wallet in a dumpster, they discovered that there were two different sources of DNA on the evidence. One sample matched Miller, but the second sample was unidentified. Detectives ran the DNA through the national CODIS database, but after no hits were found, Brady instructed them to run it through a “local” database.

“Dixon always told us to stay away from the local database,” said Det. Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) objected. “Lawyers enjoy it, judges hate it.”

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“I’m not Dixon,” Brady replied. “This is where we are and this is what we have, so let it pass by the locals.”

After running it through the system, investigators discovered that the DNA matched Laura Kingsbury (Emily Meade), a woman who had been raped in a separate case and assaulted by police in that earlier incident. Miller stalked her, sent her lavish gifts, showed up unannounced, and refused to back down even though Kingsbury had repeatedly rejected his advances.

After Kingsbury’s arrest, Benson showed up in Brady’s office, convinced that a “mistake” must have been made.

“I’m trying to give meaning to this. I know this woman and she is not a murderer, she is actually a victim,” Benson insisted. “Laura Kingsbury was brutally raped. I haven’t spoken to her in probably a year, but at the time I helped her and her family through an extremely difficult time because no one would listen to her.”

Although Brady and Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy), who came by to discuss the case, were sympathetic to Kingsbury’s past, noting that the evidence against her was solid. The murder weapon was found in her apartment and her DNA was found on the victim’s wallet.

“Her DNA? Why would her DNA even be in a federal database? Benson asked.

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Price intervened, insisting that the evidence against Kingbury had been obtained legally.

“Well, let’s see what a judge says about that,” Benson said, making it clear she had no plans to step down.

Benson testified for the defense in the Laura Kingsbury case

Rita Calhoun (Elizabeth Marvel), a lawyer previously seen Law and order: SVUpicked up the fight in court, arguing to a judge that Kingsbury would never have agreed to provide her DNA after she was raped if she knew it would later be stored in an unregulated database. Because of that factor, she argued that the DNA evidence should be thrown out.

But the judge ruled against the defense and agreed with prosecutors that the database was a useful tool for solving violent crimes.

However, the issue was far from over. During the trial, Price and Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun (Odelja Halevi) were shocked when the defense called Benson to the stands.

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After the surprise, Calhoun explained in the judge’s chambers that the defense planned to use Benson as an expert witness to testify about sexual trauma.

“We intend to argue that the shooting was in self-defense. And that Tyler Miller had been stalking my client for months before the incident in question,” she explained. “My client will testify that she believed Mr. Miller was going to kill her that morning.”

On the stand, Benson testified that the trauma victims of sexual assault feel “can last for years” and can often cause them to “see the world as a more threatening place.”

“They have a heightened perception of danger, of threat, of things that someone else might find harmless,” she testified.

Benson also told the jury that Kingsbury had tried to get a restraining order against Miller, but police were of no help because they did not believe there was enough evidence to suggest he was dangerous, and believed he was merely “flirting” with her.

During his cross-examination, Price pointed out that Benson had not spoken to Kingsbury the morning she shot an unarmed Miller, so there was no way she could have known what she was thinking at the time.

While later confronting Kingsbury on the stand, Price also pointed out that before getting a gun, she had not attempted to purchase a non-lethal form of self-defense such as pepper spray, and had never attempted to render any assistance after killing Miller shot or called. 911.

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“You shot Mr. Miller in the eye and then ran,” he told her. “You left him to die and you went home, hid the murder weapon and prayed no one would ever find you.”

Nervous about the direction the case was taking, Benson went to District Attorney Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) to see if he and Price would be open to making a deal with Kingsbury.

Baxter was already feeling resistance to the case after Benson leaked the story to the press, leading to a front-page story with the headline: “Can Crime Victims’ DNA Be Used Against Them?”

As a result, Baxter told Price to offer Kingsbury a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a ten-year prison sentence.

Benson tried to encourage Kingsbury to accept the deal, arguing that it was a “good deal,” but Kingsbury refused, insisting she had done nothing wrong.

“I did what I had to do because he was going to hurt me. That was him. And if the police had done their job at every stop along the way, if the system had believed me when I was raped or stalked, we wouldn’t be here today,” she said.

Kingsbury’s gamble yielded no results and she was ultimately convicted of manslaughter.

Benson was clearly frustrated with the outcome of the trial, but she was later able to reach an agreement with Price after he told her that the district attorney’s office would hold a press conference the next day to announce that she no longer intends were taking advantage of the process. the local database to solve unrelated crimes.

He asked Benson if she would appear at the press conference and despite some unresolved tensions, she agreed.

“I’ll be there,” she said.

To stay up to date with the latest drama in season 24, watch Law and order Thursday at 8/7 p.m NBC or stream new episodes the next day on Peacock.