When a cult leader flexes his power against his followers, who’s responsible for a member’s death?
Law & Order Season 22 Episode 18 raised this question but didn’t provide many answers.
Jocelyn went to jail for 12 years, while “Lodestar” was killed in prison. Samantha said someone had to answer for what had happened to a promising young girl, but was justice served?
This case was difficult to make, no matter who the DA tried to hold responsible for Ava’s death. Ava was no longer around to tell anyone her state of mind or whether she was coerced into remaining at the cult site rather than seeking medical attention for her infected wound.
As the defense attorney said, this case was based on inference, and on top of that, the girls were so loyal to Jocelyn and Zach that getting anyone to testify was nearly impossible.
If the purpose of this story was to show how dangerous cults can be, it was highly successful.
Ava’s death was an entirely preventable tragedy. If she’d gotten prompt treatment for her infected wound, she would have felt better within a few days. Instead, she died of sepsis — and Jocelyn threw her away like she wasn’t even human after she was gone.
Ava’s mother: What the hell happened in there?
Samantha: It’s only the arraignment.
Ava’s father: I thought they would hold her.
Samantha: Bail is only to ensure the defendant returns.
Ava’s mother: I don’t need a lecture from you. I know how the system works. The woman who killed my daughter, rolled her body up in a carpet, and threw her in a dumpster gets to go home to her comfortable loft while our daughter lies in her coffin in Woodland Cemetery.
Ava’s parents had every right to be angry, disgusted, and want to throw the book at someone. So did the DA’s office.
But the DA’s tactics to get there didn’t feel ethical.
It felt unfair to offer Jocelyn immunity and renege because Zach was killed in jail. It’s also a bad idea because if word spreads that the office doesn’t keep its word, defendants will be reluctant to enter into plea agreements in the future.
It hardly seemed just for Jocelyn to do 12 years. She’d confessed to her part and was interested in breaking Zach’s hold over her and the other girls.
Yet Samantha was right that someone needed to pay for the events that led to Ava’s death.
A better compromise would have been to let Jocelyn plead to illegally disposing of the body and blackmailing the girls and be sentenced for those crimes.
That way, she could be held accountable for her part in coercing girls, including Ava, into doing things they didn’t want to do, yet be given a break on Ava’s death in light of the fact that she had been coerced too.
Instead, the DA’s office came off as vindictive and dishonest by handling Jocelyn’s deal this way.
The prosecution also engaged in coercion of its own when it gave Sienna a choice between testifying and being charged as an accomplice to Ava’s death.
TV cops and prosecutors do this with alarming frequency. It’s not exactly a violation of the uncooperative witness’ Fifth Amendment rights if they immunize them in exchange for testimony, but it feels like it.
Threatening to charge and prosecute if someone doesn’t testify is technically the same as making a deal in exchange for testimony, but it’s far less appropriate.
It’s framed as a threat, so how can that testimony be admissible? We don’t know how the defense attorney responded to this. We weren’t privy to how the defense attorney cross-examined her after she testified that Jocelyn was under Zach’s control.
For all we know, he felt that the prosecution had handed him a perfect defense and didn’t cross-examine. Still, he knew she was unlikely to testify, judging from his response to learning she was on the witness list.
He was an aggressive defense attorney who was pulling out all the stops for Jocelyn, so it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he didn’t demand Sienna’s testimony be stricken from the record unless he planned to use her claims about Zach as his defense.
The defense’s claims that the girls were free to come and go as they pleased were undercut by the circumstances of Ava’s death. If the cult leaders weren’t concerned about Ava telling the doctors how she got that wound, why didn’t they insist she see a doctor when she was clearly ill?
Sienna’s testimony was strange, too. That shouldn’t have been the first time anyone heard of “Lodestar,” especially since that was the guiding force behind the cult.
The DA’s office keeps falling down on the job. McCoy and Price both need to do more research before moving forward with cases or witnesses!
After that surprising testimony, the case quickly shifted to finding Zach and convincing Jccelyn that he had raped her.
This would have been a perfect Law & Order: SVU crossover storyline. Convincing a reluctant defendant that she was the victim of a sex crime is Benson’s domain!
At the very least, I’d have loved for someone to consult with her about how to get Jocelyn to acknowledge the reality of what Zach had done to her and agree to testify!
Instead, Jocelyn’s refusal dragged on and on until she was almost convicted, and then as soon as she agreed to testify, Zach’s death negated her deal. What a sucky outcome!
Maroun was right about one thing: too many victims become abusers. Rather than sending victims to jail for years, getting people help before they become criminals is essential.
Instead, Maroun pushed for an excessively long sentence for Jocelyn and called it justice.
What did you think, Law & Order fanatics? Was Jocelyn’s punishment justice? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!
Law & Order won’t air again until April 27, but you can watch Law & Order online while you are waiting for the next new episode.
Law & Order airs on NBC on Thursdays at 8 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
