| “ | I am smarter than ALL of them! They had it handed to them! I had to work for it! They think I was trash! They don't know anything! | „ |
| ~ Stephanie denouncing her victims |
Stephanie Harker (nee Stevens) is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "True North".
She was portrayed by Bellamy Young, who also played Monica Jarrow in Law & Order: LA and Monica West in CSI: Miami.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Canadian-born Stephanie Stevens worked as a receptionist at her father's souvenir stand in Niagara Falls. She had dreams of leaving Niagara Falls and becoming rich by any means necessary. As a teenager, she dated a boy from a wealthy family, only for him to unceremoniously dump her after she got pregnant; afterward, she had an abortion, and began denouncing men as "penises with wallets".
Stephanie had several flings with married men, one of them with used car salesman Pete Barnett. She used him to obtain possession of one of his cars, a red Ford Escort, which she later used to run over and kill Rhonda Harker, the first wife of wealthy businessman Ron Harker.
A year after killing Rhonda, Stephanie married Ron, and she used her husband's riches to maintain her hard-partying lifestyle. Ron eventually realized that Stephanie only wanted him for his money, and began filing for divorce. Stephanie confided in her friend, Doris Nichols, and another of her lovers, Gerald Petoskey. She later devised a plan to kill her husband, and she paid Doris $50,000 to kill not only Ron, but his daughter (and Stephanie's stepdaughter), Caitlin. Doris committed the murders at the Harker household, but later on, Stephanie shot and killed Doris to keep her quiet.
"True North"[]
When Stephanie was found by NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis, she claims that she killed Doris in self-defense. She also claims that Doris was Ron's mistress, but when interviewing Ron's friends, they all deny it. Stephanie attempts to flee back to her native Canada, but she is arrested and indicted for all of the murders, including that of Ron's first wife.
During her trial, Stephanie denies all of the charges against her, but while being cross-examined by Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy, she reveals her true colors, accusing her husband's rich friends of looking down on her and screaming that she is better than all of them. Stephanie is later convicted in the murder-for-hire plot and for killing Doris.
During her sentencing phase, Stephanie tries to charm the jury into sparing her the death penalty, trying to convince them that she is a good person who made bad decisions. The jury does not except this excuse, however, and sentences Stephanie to death.
External links[]
- Stephanie Harker at the Law & Order Wiki
