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| “ | It was by accident, so that's not really murder, right? | „ |
| ~ Johnson callously trying to justify murdering Ceranda |
Sam Johnson is a supporting antagonist in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Welcome to the Pedo Motel".
He was portrayed by Nuri Hazzard.
Biography[]
Early life[]
He was raised along with his half-brother Antonio, to whom he was very close because their mothers got along. Unlike Antonio, Sam never committed petty crimes, so his DNA was not in the system.
"Welcome to the Pedo Motel"[]
Antonio's racist parole officer Roy Eastman tries to blackmail him into sexually assaulting a teenage girl named Ceranda Zajmi, in order to get his stepdaughter's Black ex-boyfriend Lonnie Liston, a registered sex offender, sent back to prison. When Antonio refuses, Eastman threatens to send him back to prison, so Sam decides to commit the crime instead in a misguided attempt to help his half-brother.
To that end, Sam gets the same jacket as Lonnie and abducts Ceranda. However, Ceranda's screams unnerve Sam so much that he gets high to block it out, and in his stupor hits Cernada with a brick, killing her. Panicked, Sam makes it look like she had been raped and flees the scene. The police suspect Lonnie, especially since he had no alibi. This later leads to Lonnie being lynched and burned alive by a gang of neo-Nazi bikers, at Eastman's orders.
After Detective Amanda Rollins of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit and Sergeant Hasim Khaldun question Eastman and note on his racist hatred of Lonnie, they suspect him of outsourcing the murder to one of his parolees in order to frame Lonnie. They examine the DNA left on Ceranda's body, deciding to run it through the system in hopes to find a match. Their search leads them to a partial match in Antonio Johnson, who reluctantly incriminates his brother.
While playing basketball, Antonio begrudgingly identifies Sam before hiding himself in guilt as SVU arrest Sam for the murder of Ceranda while noticing he has the same jacket as Lonnie. During his interrogation, Sam admits to the kidnapping, but says that Ceranda's death was an accident, trying to downplay it but an observing Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi, Jr. acknowledges it was still murder and hopes Sam doesn't ask for a lawyer. Sam says that Eastman set up the attack by threatening to send his brother back to jail and that he only to frame Lonnie. He then begs SVU and Carisi not to prosecute his brother, despite acknowledging his betrayal.
After Eastman is arrested, Carisi arranges for Sam and his brother testify to against him in return for leniency and reduced prison sentences respectively. Sam is then incarcerated for kidnapping, murder, and accessory to hate crimes.
External links[]
- Sam Johnson on the Law & Order Wiki
