Jake O'Hara

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“	I'm sorry for what happened, sir - I really am.	„
	~ Jake's insincere apology for killing Henry Morton, and his last words.

Jacob "Jake" O'Hara is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Conscience". He is a 13-year-old sociopath who kidnaps, and murders his five-year-old neighbor Henry Morton, just for fun.

He was portrayed by Jordan Garrett.

Biography[]

Jake O'Hara first appeared when the NYPD's Special Victims Unit start investigating the disappearance of a five-year-old boy named Henry Morton. He tells Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler that he saw Henry the morning of his disappearance. Henry's body is later discovered, the killer having asphyxiated him to death by shoving pebbles down his throat. At first, a convicted child molester named Billy Turner is suspected of murdering him, but he is eventually proven innocent.

When the forensic testing revealed Jake's fingerprints on the pebbles that were found inside Henry's trachea, he and his mother, Leslie were brought in for questioning. Jake tearfully confesses to killing Henry because the boy witnessed him "accidentally" killing a cat and he was afraid that his mother would send him back to Rhinebeck Survival, a behavior modification camp for problem children that Henry's father, Dr. Brett Morton, recommended he attend because he had started acting out following his father's death. Jake claims that he was abused by the other boys there, showing the detectives several cuts on his arms that he claims the other patients inflicted upon him while sodomizing him. Morton takes pity on Jake despite what he did, and he asks that the boy be tried as a juvenile in family court so he can get the help he needs.

However, when Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak and forensic psychiatrist George Huang speak with the camp's director, Dr. Burt Gleason, and the other boys, they learn that Jake cut himself while he was at the camp. and that he was in fact the abuser; he regularly beat, burned, sodomized, and tormented the other boys, and forced them to watch while he tortured and killed animals. Gleason also reveals that Jake had been expelled from two private schools in Brooklyn, New York for arson and violent behavior. He then says that Jake is a sociopath and should be institutionalized.

During Jake's family's court hearing, Novak interrupts and tells the judge that he lied about what happened to him at the camp. Novak asks for Jake to be tried as an adult instead of a juvenile, but the judge declines. When Morton learns the truth about Jake, he flies into a rage and has to be taken out of the courtroom by Stabler and the court officers, while Jake smiles cruelly at him.

Outside of the courtroom, Morton tells Stabler that Jake will kill again once he is released from juvenile detention when he turns 18. As Jake is leaving the courtroom with his mother and attorney, he taunts Morton by "apologizing" in a menacing tone. Jake then begins to walk away, only to turn and give Morton another malevolent smile. Morton suddenly grabs a court officer's gun and shoots Jake in the chest. Morton is quickly apprehended as Jake collapses to the ground.

Jake is then taken to a hospital, where he dies in surgery. Morton is charged with Jake's murder, but he is acquitted of the charges after claiming in court that he had been in a delusional state due to the loss of his son after learning that Jake killed Henry on purpose. When Stabler and Novak confront him afterwards, Morton, who is protected by double jeopardy from being charged again with the murder, admits that he was completely in control when he killed Jake, having waited for the right moment to take the gun and shoot him. Morton then justifies his actions by claiming that Jake would have killed again, whereas he won't.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Jake is inspired by real-life teenage child killer Josh Phillips. The difference is Phillips did in fact have a traumatic background due to having an abusive father whereas Jake's story is a lie.
His portrayal has been criticized as inaccurate as the episode misrepresents childhood sociopathy as something that's unfixable when in fact it is possible to treat.

External Links[]

Jake O'Hara on the Law & Order Wiki

Navigation[]

Villains

Exiled: A Law & Order Movie
Gianni Uzielli