Character overview
Casey Novak is a young and focused senior-assistant district attorney who's been with the Manhattan DA's office since 2001. It is revealed in early season five that she graduated from Harvard Law School, as seen on a plaque in her office. While sometimes deeply affected by the horrific crimes she deals with on the job, she does not often reveal her emotions. Although she quickly loses her innocence when dealing with sex crimes, she still shows uneasiness when dealing with the gray areas of human involvement, preferring the letter of the law to the messiness of each individual reality. Nonetheless, Novak has a 71 percent success rate in the cases she prosecutes, whereas the average for prosecutors is 44 percent. [1] Novak is prone to blur the line between ADA and detective, as exemplified in the season 9 episode "Impulsive," where Novak essentially leads the investigation.
It is revealed that in her final year of law school, Novak was engaged to a man, Charlie, who had schizophrenia. [2] She ended the relationship when his symptoms became so severe she felt she was no longer safe with him. In 2002, Charlie attacked her in her home during a psychotic episode. She convinced the police not to press charges, but ended the relationship. He eventually became homeless, and was found dead as a "John Doe" in the spring of 2007. She developed a deep compassion for the mentally ill afterward. [3] While prosecuting a case, she deliberately sabotages a competency hearing for a schizophrenic child rapist to avoid him being extradited to Louisiana where he would face the death penalty. Manhattan's new DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) calls Novak into his office and threatens to fire her and have her disbarred if she abuses the authority of the DA's office again. [3]
In the season 6 episode "Goliath", Novak states that she is a big supporter of the U.S military. She explains that her father was an M60 door gunner on a Huey during the Vietnam War. His helicopter crashed three times, and he received a Purple Heart. [4]
Novak lives in an apartment in the Upper West Side of New York City. She is Catholic. [1] She used to work serving tables in order to pay for her college tuition. [5] Sometimes, she rides her bicycle to work. [6]
Novak is a redhead, although she had her hair dyed strawberry blonde and blonde for some of her appearances. She is also an avid softball player and a batter.
SVU prosecutor (2003–08)
Novak prosecuted white collar crimes before being assigned full-time to the 16th Precinct in October 2003, after Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), thought to be dead, transfers into the Witness Protection Program. During her first case, Novak helps the SVU team save a little girl from a pedophile. Following her first case, Novak asks District Attorney Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) to reassign her because she feels she cannot handle the intensity of prosecuting sex crimes, especially those committed against children. Branch refuses, saying that he had been eyeing her for the job for some time, and thought that she was a perfect choice for the position. [7]
Novak arrives on the scene with guns blazing, intent on leaving her mark on the bureau, and immediately antagonizes detectives Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) by taking a hands-on approach, second-guessing their detective work and interfering with their interrogation of a suspect. Her intuition leads to the rescue of a child locked in a cooler on her very first case, and wins her the respect of the squad. [7] She remains aloof and demanding with the detectives, however, until Capt. Don Cragen (Dann Florek) has a candid conversation with her about the necessity of working as a team, as she had previously worked with different cops in each case. [8] By the sixth season, however, she has a good relationship with the SVU detectives, particularly Stabler, who is especially enraged when she is attacked and beaten up, and risks his career by threatening the man he believed to have done it. [9]
Novak has an adversarial relationship with her former supervisor and mentor, Elizabeth Donnelly (Judith Light). In one case, Novak forces her (acting upon a directive from Branch) to recuse herself from a case. [10] Occasionally, she finds herself opposing attorneys with whom she has worked before. Like her predecessor, Alexandra Cabot, she has, at various times, run afoul of stern, by-the-book Judge Lena Petrovsky (Joanna Merlin).
Departure
Toward the end of the ninth season, it was announced that Diane Neal was departing the cast. Days later, it was rumored that she had been fired from the series. Neal said she "did talk to the crew" about her departure; she declined to say whether she was fired. She commented: "Rumors are rumors ... I love the crew. The crew loves me. We've really gotten along and bonded over these past five years. And they're always looking out for me and watching my back." [11]
I've lasted longer by several years than almost any other ADA [in the Law & Order universe]. So every year I've been like, 'Is this going to be the one when I leave?' Dick Wolf is known for replacing his cast regularly. And the truth is, I'm really looking forward to the future.
—Neal on her departure from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in April 2008 [11]
In the season 9 finale "Cold", Novak violates due process by violating the Brady rules while prosecuting a corrupt police officer who raped two 14-year-old illegal immigrants, killing one. Donnelly, now a judge, calls Novak into her chambers and informs her that the DA had declined to refile charges against the defendant because of her actions. Donnelly informs Novak that she is facing censure by the Bar and a suspension of her license to practice law for at least a year. [12]
In the second episode of season 10, ADA Kim Greylek (Michaela McManus) asserts that Novak was disbarred for the violation. [13]
Return to SVU (2011–12)
Novak returns to SVU in the season 12 episode "Reparations", and reveals she was censured but not disbarred; her license was suspended for three years. In her first case after being re-hired by the District Attorney's office, she finds herself at odds with Law & Order: Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Joe Dekker (Terrence Howard), who is the defendant's lawyer as well as his cousin. Dekker cites Novak's previous misconduct several times throughout the episode. When the case goes to trial, the presiding judge is Lena Petrovsky, whom Novak lied to in the season 9 finale. When Dekker's cousin goes against the deal in place at the allocution hearing and says he only broke into the woman's house and did not rape her, Petrovsky asks Novak if she is trying to railroad another defendant into custody; a shocked Novak replies that both the defendant and his attorney agreed to the deal. In the end, Novak and Stabler realize that the accuser made the rape story up because her grandfather told her to. Novak subsequently makes a deal with Dekker for his cousin's breaking and entering charge and has the accuser arrested for perjury. [14]
Novak, along with ADA Alex Cabot, returned to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for its 13th season. [15] She is first seen in the season's third episode "Blood Brothers", in which the SVU squad is investigating the teenage son of a high-profile political couple. She gets into a heated argument with Benson after she tells her that she is "off," to which Benson replies that Novak and her office have "lost their nerve." [16] Novak is the prosecutor in four episodes during season 13, sharing the ADA duties with Cabot, Michael Cutter (Linus Roache), and David Haden (Harry Connick Jr.) She is last seen as the lead prosecutor in "Valentine's Day", in which she goes up against Defense Attorney Marvin Exley (Ron Rifkin), who is defending a woman who seems to have fabricated her own abduction. [17]
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. The first spin-off of Law & Order, it starred Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler until Meloni left the series in 2011 after 12 seasons, and Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson, now the commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit after originally having been Stabler's partner in a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department. Meloni has since reprised his role as Stabler in the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021–present). Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the style of the original Law & Order in that some episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention.
Diane Neal is an American actress. She is best known for portraying New York Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak in the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2003 to 2012. She is also known for portraying Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Special Agent Abigail Borin in the NCIS franchise.
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.
Consuela Rubirosa is a fictional character, portrayed by Alana de la Garza, who joined the cast of long-running NBC drama series Law & Order during the 17th-season premiere episode "Fame". She is the only second-chair assistant district attorney (ADA) of Law & Order to have appeared in four complete seasons and the last ADA on the show before its eventual cancellation in 2010. She later appeared on Law & Order: LA as a series regular until the show's cancellation in May 2011. In January 2014, she appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where she became an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York.
The eighth season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 19, 2006 and ended May 22, 2007 on NBC. The series remained in its 10pm/9c Tuesday timeslot. With the introduction of a new partner for Detective Stabler, early episodes of season 8 took on a significantly different focus when compared to those of previous seasons.
Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly is a fictional character from the NBC crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Judith Light. She made her first screen appearance during the third season episode "Guilt", which was broadcast on March 29, 2002.
The fifth season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 23, 2003, and ended May 18, 2004, on NBC. Law & Order: SVU moved away from its Friday night slot to Tuesday nights at 10pm/9c. Casey Novak, the unit's longest-serving ADA, was introduced in the fifth episode when Diane Neal joined the cast to fill the absence left by Stephanie March.
The sixth season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 21, 2004 and ended May 24, 2005 on NBC. It aired on Tuesday nights at 10pm/9c. In January 2005, when the season was halfway through airing, Mariska Hargitay won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama becoming the first regular cast member of any Law & Order series to win a Golden Globe.
The fourth season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 27, 2002 and ended May 16, 2003 on NBC. This was the last season of the series to air on Friday nights at 10pm/9c.
The ninth season of the police procedural/legal drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 25, 2007 and ended May 13, 2008 on NBC. It aired on Tuesday nights at 10pm/9c. Mariska Hargitay, having won a Golden Globe Award in 2005, received her second Golden Globe nomination for her work in the ninth season.
"Cold" is the nineteenth episode and season finale of the ninth season of the police procedural television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the 202nd episode overall. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 13, 2008. In the episode, Detective Chester Lake refuses to cooperate after fatally shooting a police officer during a gunfight, causing the Special Victims Unit squad to investigate what he is hiding. The investigation and subsequent trial lead to Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak facing censure and Detective Tutuola (Ice-T) requesting a transfer out of the Special Victims Unit.
The tenth season of the police procedural/legal drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered September 23, 2008, and ended June 2, 2009, on NBC. It was the last season of the show to occupy the Tuesday 10pm/9c timeslot.
Kim Greylek is a fictional character on the NBC crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Michaela McManus.
The twelfth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered in the United States on NBC on September 22, 2010, and concluded on May 18, 2011. This was the first season that the show did not air alongside the original Law & Order. Episodes initially aired on Wednesdays between 9pm/8c and 10pm/9c Eastern, except for the season premiere, which aired from 9pm/8c to 11pm/10c. After the winter hiatus, SVU returned with another two-hour showing on January 5, 2011, before the broadcast time switched to the 10pm/9c time slot the following week.
The thirteenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit debuted on NBC on September 21, 2011, and concluded on May 23, 2012. With Law & Order: LA and Law & Order: Criminal Intent having ended in July 2011 and June 2011 respectively, this season of Law & Order: SVU was the first to be broadcast without any other running U.S. Law & Order series, a position the series has held until the nineteenth season, when Law & Order True Crime premiered.
"Scorched Earth" is the thirteenth season premiere of the police procedural television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the 273rd episode overall. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 21, 2011. In the episode, which was inspired by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, an Italian diplomat is arrested when a hotel maid accuses him of rape. The District Attorney's office then brings the case to trial, which becomes increasingly complicated as the defense questions the maid's credibility. Meanwhile, Detective Olivia Benson struggles to cope with the aftermath of the squad room shooting.
Joanna Merlin was an American actress and casting director who worked with Stephen Sondheim and starred in the original Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. She wrote two acting guides and was a faculty member of New York University's graduate acting program. From 2000 to 2011, she was known for her recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Judge Lena Petrovsky.
Rafael Barba is a fictional character portrayed by Raúl Esparza, who joined the cast of the long-running NBC crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on a recurring basis during the 14th season episode "Twenty-Five Acts". The character was promoted to a series regular for the 15th season and exited the series during season 19. He has since made guest appearances in the 21st, 22nd and 23rd seasons and a brief appearance in the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime.
