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| “ | I'm probably the only guy she was ever with who actually cared for her. I felt I was very kind with her. I can't understand why Maria would say she was afraid of me. | „ |
| ~ Powell making excuses for raping Maria Berragon |
Jack Powell is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Sisters of Mercy". He is the director of a drug rehab center who rapes several of the teenage girls who stay there.
He was portrayed by William H. Macy, who also portrayed Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo, Trevathan in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Lefty Maginnis in Everyone's Hero, and Edmond Burke in the 2005 film adaptation of Edmond.
Overview[]
Powell is the youth services director of Haven House, a rehab facility for homeless teenage girls who suffer from drug addiction. He gives the girls clerical jobs in his office as part of their therapy - in exchange for sex. He keeps them from exposing him by threatening to throw them out on the street if they say anything. His victims keep quiet because many of the girls who leave Haven House end up dying of drug overdoses or AIDS, making expulsion a de facto death sentence.
Shortly before the events of the episode, Powell impregnated a 15-year-old girl named Pat Morill who had been staying in the shelter. After she left the shelter upon turning 18, he started paying her off to keep her baby's paternity a secret, even from her husband.
"Sisters of Mercy"[]
When Powell's latest victim, Maggie Corson, tries to kill her boyfriend while high on meth, NYPD Homicide Sergeant Phil Cerreta and Detective Mike Logan arrest her for attempted murder. Sister Bettina, a nun who works with Haven House, tries to take her back to the shelter, but Maggie curses her and accuses her of molesting her; unbeknownst to Cerreta, she is only accusing her because she is afraid of Powell.
Cerreta and Logan speak to Powell, who says that Maggie's roommate Maria Berragon - another of his victims - had seen Sister Bettina showering with Maggie and touching her inappropriately. Maria then accuses Sister Bettina of molesting her, as well, which gives Cerreta and Logan probable cause to search Sister Bettina's room, where they find Maggie's underwear. Powell hypocritically speaks in her defense, but then insinuates that she is a lesbian.
On orders from Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone and Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette, Cerreta and Logan arrest Sister Bettina for sexual abuse. When Robinette questions her about the night of her assault, however, she admits that she does not remember what happened. He and Stone then question Maria, who says that Powell is her and Maggie's actual abuser, and that she only accused Sister Bettina because she was afraid of what he would do to her.
Maggie tells Robinette about Powell abusing her and Morill, which gives Stone enough evidence to charge Powell with first-degree rape. Powell dismisses his crimes as "indiscretions", while his lawyer argues that, since Powell did not threaten his victims with physical harm, he cannot legally be guilty of rape.
During the trial, Powell testifies in his own defense that he is the only person who has ever cared about his victims, and that they seduced him. During cross-examination, Stone brings up Powell's victims who died on the streets after Powell threw them out of Haven House, and then argues to the jury that Powell was using the threat of near-certain death on the streets to pressure his victims into having sex with him. Afterwards, Powell is found guilty and given a long prison sentence.
External links[]
- Jack Powell on the Law & Order Wiki
