Directed by James Quinn
Written by Robert Palm
Six-year-old Didi Lowenstein collapses at school and is taken to hospital with serious head injuries. It emerges that her parents, Jacob and Carla Lowenstein, are heavy cocaine users; Jacob frequently beats his wife, and the local authorities have extensive evidence of Didi being abused by her parents. With a neighbor's evidence that Didi was beaten by her mother hours before collapsing, the Lowensteins are arrested. Subsequently, Didi dies in hospital and her parents are charged with her murder.
In exchange for a plea deal, Carla confesses to abusing Didi under threat of violence from her husband, and the influence of drugs he plied her with. Despite her testimony, and the revelation that Jacob sells cocaine to the patients at his psychotherapy practice, he continues to deny all accusations against him. Eventually, Stone produces photographic evidence of a pool of blood on the Lowensteins' floor. He convinces the jury that Jacob Lowenstein came home to find his daughter fatally injured but did nothing to help her. Both parents are found guilty.
This episode contains examples of:
- Abuse Discretion Shot: Logan and Greevey broke into the Lowensteins' apartment just in time to stop Carla from "teaching" her three-year-old son to stay away from fire by forcibly sticking his hand into boiling water.
- Abusive Parents: Aside from the Lowensteins, it's also revealed that Logan's mother physically abused him.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Stone delivers a fantastic one to Jacob Lowenstein after showing him the photographic evidence of the blood stain on their living room floor during questioning. Jacob can't even bring himself to answer it, because he knows he'll condemn himself if he does.Stone: So when you saw your unconscious daughter on the floor and that stain on the same floor, did you pick up a phone and call 911?
Dr. Lowenstein: I already—
Stone: Did you pick up a phone and call her pediatrician?
Dr. Lowenstein: You're twisting everything I say!
Stone: Did you even bother to pick up Didi, or did you leave her in a pool of her own blood? - Big "NO!": Carla shouts this right as Jacob lunges at her for admitting to the detectives about his abuse. Thankfully, they save her from him.
- Coitus Interruptus: Greevey and Logan happen to walk in on Jacob Lowenstein about to get very friendly with a female patient.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Logan hints at his for the first time, although the full extent of it wouldn't be revealed for another 15 yearsnote .
- Department of Child Disservices: A realistic variation. They're doing their best, but the level of need far surpasses the capacity they're set up to handle.
- Good Victims, Bad Victims: Logan views Carla Lowenstein (and his own mother) as "bad" victims where domestic violence is concerned. (In his defense, given that his mother took it out on him and then some, it's not hard to understand why he has a hard time feeling any sympathy for her, and he clearly identifies Carla as being similar to her.)
- It's All About Me: Carla and Jacob Lowenstein have major cases of this.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: At least twice, Carla refers to her son Ezra as "it" or "that" instead of "him", showing just how deep her abuse toward her children goes.Carla: Ezra's not well. I have to watch it.
- Jerkass: Didi's principal, Mr. Babcock. He downplays the abuse that she suffered at the hands of her parents to protect them and cover his own poor handling of the situation and even takes umbrage with her teacher Miss Perez trying to report the abuse, saying how it's "a cultural thing".
- Murder by Inaction: It turns out that Carla is the one who caused the injuries that led to Didi's death; but Jacob Lowenstein also gets a murder charge for leaving his child to die.
- Nobody Ever Complained Before: Didi's principal admits that the school had filed reports of suspected abuse toward her; but the school has a policy of not going to the police in such situations, as they don't want to be seen to accuse parents. He seems surprised that Greevey and Logan are objecting to this.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Both Didi's principal, and the social worker who tries to explain why the school's reports of Didi being abused were never escalated or acted upon.
- Offing the Offspring: The Lowensteins' abuse leads to Didi's death.
- Oh, Crap!: Both Greevey and Logan had this reaction after learning that Carla was released from the hospital, Jacob was at home, and their son Ezra was alone with them. Both of them ran to the apartment Just in Time to stop further abuse from happening.
- Parental Incest: Jacob Lowenstein sexually abused Didi.
- Parental Neglect: On top of everything else, it's mentioned that Didi was severely malnourished and regularly went to school without shoes. Her father also didn't even bother to check on her when he came in to find her bleeding on the floor.
- Precision F-Strike: After Miss Perez testifies in court about the signs of abuse Didi showed, she spitefully calls Carla a bitch as she's leaving the stand.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The judge's summation is one of these for the Lowenstein parents.
- Ripped from the Headlines: So obviously inspired by the Lisa Steinberg case that it concludes with a long disclaimer both displayed and spoken about how the real case differed from the story just shown.
- Tranquil Fury: During his questioning of Dr. Lowenstein while he's on the stand, Stone is absolutely livid at this man for what he's done, but manages to keep his composure.
