Alexandra Cabot

Alexandra "Alex" Cabot is a fictional character within the Law & Order universe portrayed by Stephanie March. She is a primary character in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Conviction.

Character overview

Cabot first appears in the SVU episode "Wrong Is Right", when she is hired to work with SVU as their permanent ADA overseeing the legality of its arrests, following a rotating mix of ADAs (among them Abbie Carmichael of the original Law & Order).^[1] She is a graduate of Harvard Law School,^[2] and has an "uncle Bill" who is a federal judge.^[1] While Cabot empathizes with the sexual assault victims she deals with, her strict code of legal ethics often forces her to make harsh decisions and judgments that go against her personal feelings. Her moral strictness has garnered her respect within the SVU squad, notably with Captain Cragen.

She does occasionally bend the rules to suit her own notions of justice, however, often with unpleasant results. In one case, she is so determined to put a serial child molester in prison that she aggressively pressures one of the molester's victims to testify, going so far as to threaten the boy with legal action if he does not comply. The victim later attempts suicide, leaving him with severe brain damage and thus unable to testify. She then lies to the detectives about having a search warrant for the molester's home, which results in his conviction on a technicality, but gets her in trouble with her superiors. She is let off with a one-month suspension, but is left feeling responsible for the victim's plight.^[3]

Executive producer and head writer Neal Baer has said that there is an unaddressed sexual tension between Cabot and Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). Baer said, "We read the fan sites. We know that people are into the Alex-Olivia thing. All the codes are in there."^[4]

Departure from SVU

After three seasons, Cabot makes her departure from SVU in the season 5 episode "Loss", in which she is prosecuting a rapist named Rafael Zapata Gaviria, who worked for the notorious drug lord Cesar Velez. Zapata had brutally raped and murdered an undercover NYPD officer who was working with the DEA. Cabot receives a threat on her life, as well as that of her mother. Despite warnings from the rest of the SVU squad, Cabot continues to prosecute the case, unwilling to let Zapata scare her. Timothy Donovan, a key witness and DEA special agent, is murdered in a car bombing right before Cabot's eyes. Cabot initially wants to try Zapata, even with no witness and her own life on the line, but after pressuring from the SVU detectives and District Attorney Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson), she drops the charges. However, Zapata is immediately arrested by federal agents for the witness's murder and is subsequently killed in his cell.^[5]

At the conclusion of the episode, she is apparently killed in a drive-by shooting while saying goodnight to Benson and Stabler. In the following scene, a cold, quiet SVU squad room is shown with Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) reading a newspaper proclaiming her death. Benson and Stabler are called to a deserted area by federal agents where Cabot emerges from the car. She tells the stunned detectives that she insisted on telling them the truth before she disappears into the Witness Protection Program.^[5] She is replaced in the following episode by ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal).^[6]

First reappearance on SVU

In the season six episode "Ghost", events surrounding the arrest of Liam Connors, the assassin who shot her, lead to Cabot's return from the Witness Protection Program as Connors is arrested for her murder while being pursued for several others and an attempted murder of a young boy who witnessed one of his crimes. She reveals that the assumed identity she was given was an insurance salesperson originally from Tulsa, that she was living and working in Wisconsin under the name "Emily", and that she missed her mother's funeral in New York due to what happened. She is reluctant to see him convicted of a murder he did not commit (he does not know she is alive either), but still wants justice and testifies against him in court. Connors goes to prison, having been found guilty under two counts of attempted murder (Cabot and an eight-year-old boy), plus five counts of murder. Upon winning the case, the SVU squad goes to Novak's office to celebrate, awaiting Cabot to join them. She does not show up, as the Federal Agent informs them that she has moved under a new identity and she asked him to say goodbye.^[7]

In Conviction

About a year after her reappearance on SVU, Cabot returns to New York and resumes her work at the District Attorney's office as the Homicide Bureau Chief (replacing Tracey Kibre from Law & Order: Trial by Jury) in the Law & Order spinoff, Conviction. She plays a tough, but understanding supervisor to a young group of ADAs. Her attitude and personality in this role was much different than that of the young ADA that prosecuted cases in SVU. Cabot's departure from witness protection and return to New York as a Bureau Chief was not explained during the show's airing, as she was a last-minute addition to the cast and most of the early episodes had already been written before she was added. There were plans in later episodes to explain Cabot's return to New York, plus a greater exploration of her personal life and past, but the cancellation of Conviction made this a moot point.^[8]

Second reappearance on SVU

The explanation of Cabot's return from Witness Protection to the DA's office in Conviction was finally revealed in the SVU Season 10 episode, "Lead", where she reveals to the SVU detectives that she has been asked by DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) to step in for Kim Greylek (Michaela McManus), when Greylek was called back to the Justice Department. At that point, she had not told her former colleagues of her return; it is implied, and later confirmed, that she is still traumatized by her attempted murder. The detectives learn she had left Witness Protection after Velez died in prison and Connors was extradited to Ireland. Sometime between 2006 and 2007, she stepped down from the position of Homicide Bureau Chief and is replaced by Christine Danielson (Gloria Reuben). Cabot begins work in the Appeals Bureau until her return to SVU.^[9] She remains at SVU for the remainder of the season, in which she appears in six episodes in what Cabot calls a "temporary" role. She replaces Greylek.

In the Season 11 premiere, it is revealed that Cabot is training in Albany, and will eventually work back to the Appeals Bureau. McCoy asks Executive ADA Sonya Paxton (Christine Lahti) to assume Cabot's role.^[10] Paxton is ultimately fired for showing up to trial drunk,^[11] and Cabot returns to her old job, commenting that she had "clawed her way" out of Appeals to return to SVU, to prosecute a man running a pedophile advocacy group. In this episode, Stephanie March is added to the Season 11 opening credits as a series regular (though only in episodes in which she appears).^[12] Benson and Stabler are later informed that Cabot had been accused of withholding evidence and is being investigated by Liam Black, a member of the State bar association. In that same episode, Paxton returns to give Cabot some "much needed advice".^[13]

In another episode, Cabot tries a rape case with an illegal immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as her star witness. The witness was herself raped in the Congo, and Cabot works to help her get asylum, as well as trying the rape case, which then becomes a murder case after the victim dies from an infection caused by injuries sustained during the rape. Cabot succeeds in getting the rapist convicted and gets the witness a visa that would allow her to remain in the United States without fear of being deported. However, the case affects both the witness and Cabot; the witness decides to return to the Congo to help rape victims there, while Cabot decides to take a leave of absence and joins the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes sex crimes and other human rights abuses in areas such as the Congo.^[14] She is replaced by ADA Jo Marlowe (Sharon Stone).^[15]

Third reappearance on SVU

ADAs Alexandra Cabot and Casey Novak both returned to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for the show's 13th season.^[16] In the season premiere "Scorched Earth", Cabot makes her first appearance in the squad room since Season 11. She is the lead prosecutor in a rape case against a man who is the favorite to become Italy's next prime minister. When the accuser, a hotel maid, is caught on tape admitting she could make money off her alleged rapist, Cabot's new boss, SVU's Bureau Chief ADA Michael Cutter (Linus Roache), says that they are dropping the charges. Cabot fights Cutter, however, and the case does make it to trial, with mixed results; the jury finds the defendant guilty of unlawful imprisonment, but are deadlocked on the rape charge.^[17]

In the episode "Spiraling Down", Cabot is convinced by the detectives to set up a sting operation to catch johns after they rescue an underage prostitute. They arrest former pro quarterback Jake Stanton and both Cabot and Benson seek to make an example out of him, but Cabot is unexpectedly forced to face off with defense attorney Bayard Ellis at trial, after Benson tells Stanton's wife to call him. After the case takes a turn for the worse, Cabot berates Benson after court when Benson defends Stanton. Cabot implies she knows Benson had something to do with Ellis defending Stanton. Cabot ultimately loses the case after the jury finds Stanton not guilty due to mental instability caused by the numerous concussions he suffered during his career.^[18]

Cabot is the prosecutor in seven episodes of Season 13, sharing the ADA duties with Novak, Cutter, and Haden. The character last appeared in "Learning Curve", in which she helps the investigation of sexual abuse in an exclusive prep school.^[19]

Credits

March has been credited in 96 episodes of SVU (appearing in 92),^[20] making her the third-longest ADA in the Law & Order franchise history, surpassed by Casey Novak (SVU), and Ron Carver (Law & Order: Criminal Intent). Additionally, she is credited in all 13 episodes of Conviction, bringing her total episode count to 109.

References