Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

In Loco Parentis (2018)

Peter Scanavino: Detective Dominick 'Sonny' Carisi, Jr.

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Quotes 

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : [to Olivia]  So is this where you tell me I'm off the case?

  Olivia Benson : Officially, yes. And unofficially... don't screw it up.

• Mia Morino : Uncle Sonny, I don't want Ethan going to prison or a restraining order or anything like that.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mia, he threatened you.

  Mia Morino : Yeah, but he was upset.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mia, what's going on?

  Mia Morino : What Ethan did... he moved too fast and I wasn't ready. I didn't want to. I said yes. And then Renata was asking me about him. And I didn't want her to be mad, so I told her he raped me and then she went to the RA. And then the school got involved. And then I couldn't take it back. I'm sorry.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hold on. Hold on. What are you saying? Are you are you telling me that you lied? To the school? To the police? Do you know how serious this is?

  Mia Morino : I'm sorry!

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mia! It's not me you should be apologizing to. It's Ethan.

  Mia Morino : I didn't I never thought things would go this far. I never thought he'd get kicked out of school. I'm sorry. I ruined his life. I don't know what to do.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What you do? You make this right. That's that's what you do. Do you understand me? Okay. Okay, listen. Listen. You made a mistake. I get it, but you can fix this. All right? You can make this right. It's gonna be okay.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : What are you telling me, Teresa? That... that my niece was raped? When?

  Teresa Carisi : December. She was drunk, woke up, boy was on top of her. It was a mess. A complete mess.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : December? Why didn't you tell me about this?

  Teresa Carisi : The university's handling it. There's a hearing right now. Mia didn't want the police involved.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mia didn't want the police involved? She's 18 years old, Teresa. You should have called me.

  Teresa Carisi : I'm trying to trust her judgment. Be a better parent.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Be a better parent than who? Mom and Dad? Does... does Tony know about this?

  Teresa Carisi : No. It's not like we talk. We're divorced 15 years.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : He's still Mia's father, Teresa. And I'm her uncle. I'm a cop, for God's sake. Where is this hearing? Is it somewhere on campus?

  Teresa Carisi : I don't want you making things worse.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Then why'd you even call me?

  Teresa Carisi : Because I'm scared to death. They don't let parents in. Mia's alone, talking about being sexually assaulted in a room full of strangers.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I'm here now.

• Teresa Carisi : [to Carisi]  What are you gonna do?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What I would have done in the first place: open up a police investigation and arrest this son of a bitch.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Mia, what happened?

  Mia Morino : I tried to make it right. I... I asked Ethan to come over. I apologized, but he said it was too late. He pushed me on the bed and he raped me.

  [crying] 

  Mia Morino : When it was over, he said, "Now you know what rape really feels like." I tried to do what you said, Uncle Sonny. I... I tried, I really did.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I know, I know. I know you did. I know.

  Mia Morino : And now nobody will believe me.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yes, they will. Yes, they will because because we are not gonna say anything about what really happened the first time. Do you understand? We're not gonna say anything, okay?

  Mia Morino : I'm sorry.

• Arlene Heller : [to Carisi]  Can you tell us what Mia told you about the first rape?

  [Carisi doesn't answer] 

  Arlene Heller : Detective, can you?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : There was no first rape.

  Arlene Heller : So Mia lied to the school tribunal?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yes.

  Arlene Heller : She lied to your fellow officers?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yes.

  Arlene Heller : She lied to this court.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah.

  Arlene Heller : I'm done. We could all go home now.

• Olivia Benson : [to Carisi]  What the hell were you thinking?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I screwed up. I'm sorry.

  Olivia Benson : That's it?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What do you want me to say? She's my niece.

  Olivia Benson : Then she should have been honest with you from the beginning.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : She was raped, Lieutenant.

  Olivia Benson : Carisi, you know as well as I do that the only thing that matters in these cases is the credibility of the parties. And right now, on the credibility meter, your niece is hovering at about a zero.

• Peter Stone : [to Carisi]  We've all got family secrets, Detective. The important thing is, you spoke up when it counted.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : You know, you're not such a bad guy for a lawyer.

  Peter Stone : I do my best.

• Mia Morino : [to Carisi about Ethan]  So what's gonna happen to him?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I figure the judge will give him seven years.

  Mia Morino : In prison?

  [sighs] 

  Mia Morino : This is all my fault.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hey, listen. Mia, don't you ever think that. Whatever you did, you didn't deserve what he did to you, do you understand that? Come on. So what'd your mom say about you leaving school?

  Mia Morino : She's thrilled.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : You didn't tell her.

  Mia Morino : When I was 14, she made me go to class with pneumonia.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, you deserve some time off. She'll understand.

  Mia Morino : Right. After she kills me.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I'll help you break it to her.

  Mia Morino : Then she'll hate you too.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : She's my big sister. She's supposed to hate me. Hey, come here, Mia. You're gonna be good. You'll be good.

• Teresa Carisi : [to Carisi about Mia]  You saying you don't believe her?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : No, I do, but a jury might not.

  Teresa Carisi : This boy raped her. What am I supposed to tell Mia now?

  [Olivia enters the room; to Olivia] 

  Teresa Carisi : Thanks for nothing, Lieutenant.

  [storms off] 

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hey, Teresa.

  [to Olivia] 

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Sorry, my sister's very Italian.

  Olivia Benson : Look, her daughter did go through a trauma...

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : But?

  Olivia Benson : I'm not sure what happened in that dorm room was assault and I'm... I don't think she's so sure, either. She... she's not gonna make a convincing witness, Carisi.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Why? Because she left out parts of her story? Victims do that all the time. The... the school found this kid responsible.

  Olivia Benson : And unless they know something that we don't, we may not have a case.

• Peter Stone : What are we looking at?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : The sexual assault happened three months ago at Hudson University. The victim never went to the police. It was handled internally by the school.

  Olivia Benson : So there's no rape kit. You know, untrained investigators, but Hudson University did find the male student responsible.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : The guy was only suspended. For a year. And he made threats. I think he's a danger to the victim. Who, full disclosure, is, um... she's my eighteen year old niece.

  Peter Stone : Good to know. Anything else?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah. I believe her. And the school did, too.

  Peter Stone : Okay. But despite Betsy DeVos, New York's "Enough is Enough" law is still on the books?

  Olivia Benson : It is.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Under Title IX, the school only needs preponderance of evidence to convict. The State needs beyond a reasonable doubt. We understand that.

  Peter Stone : Good. I've heard enough.

  Olivia Benson : [he stands to leave]  That's it? You're leaving?

  Peter Stone : I'm going to get you a subpoena for the tribunal transcripts. It's a start until you can get me enough evidence to charge rape.

• Amanda Rollins : Just because Stone doesn't think we have enough evidence, we can keep investigating.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Um... either way, my sister's probably never gonna speak to me again.

  Amanda Rollins : You were just trying to help her out. She's got to know that.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, you've obviously never met my sister.

• Mia Morino : They arrested Ethan?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : He's being arraigned. And if he doesn't make a deal, then we're gonna go to trial.

  Mia Morino : And I'd have to testify.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah.

  Mia Morino : What if they ask me about the first accusation? I lied, Uncle Sonny.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Look... I'm not telling you to perjure yourself on the stand. But if nobody asks, you don't volunteer. Do you understand?

• Mia Morino : [to Carisi]  Am I a bad person?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : No. No, of course not. Hey. The first time I met you, you were three months old, and, uh you wouldn't smile for me, no no matter what I did. You just stared at me. You're very serious, but you were so cute that I started smiling. And then all of a sudden, like like somebody flipped a light switch. Your face lit up and and you smiled at me. That was all you needed. You just wanted me to be happy. You've always been like that, Mia and I promise you, I'm not gonna let anything bad happen.

• Amanda Rollins : So Mia didn't disclose to her roommate until after she was asked about Ethan.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : So what?

  Amanda Rollins : Well, so... I don't... maybe nothing.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Or... or what, Rollins? What... what... are you saying you think my niece made this up?

  Amanda Rollins : No, that's not what I'm saying, but you know, we both know that these cases are not black and white. They're... they're kids. They're immature, sexually inexperienced. And you throw drinking into the mix?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What are you... what are you saying?

  Amanda Rollins : I'm saying we need to take a look at the tribunal tapes.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : I'm sorry, my sister's very... Italian.