Stark and Poe prosecute a rape case; and Julie gets Stark to defend her when she’s threatened with expulsion from school.

At a raucous college party a young girl stumbles through the revels in tears, disheveled and with torn clothes. Stark is called in. The girl, Sydney Blair, says she was raped by three football players. She only knows the name of one of them: Josh Carpenter, top college quarterback in the country. Madeline has every football player who was at the party woken up and pulled into a lineup; this will also give them a chance to question Josh without a lawyer present.

Sydney IDs the other two rapists: Seth Taylor and Brent Freeman. Josh claims he didn’t see Sydney at the party, and denies everything. His lawyer, Ted Jeffries, bursts in and quickly ushers Josh out. Stark’s got Josh’s DNA from the water bottle he was sipping on. The DA and Stark meet with the university’s Chancellor, Dr. Flynn. Flynn wants to keep the incident out of the press. The DA wants to cooperate, as Flynn represents a lot of donations to her campaign; but Stark does not.

Stark meets with his team, and goes over the story. Sydney had a few drinks, and was taken to a room downstairs by Freeman and Taylor. She emerged later, and called the campus police. She had torn clothes and bruising, and overwhelming evidence of forced intercourse… and Josh’s DNA was found inside her. The bad news is that she was inebriated, went with the guys willingly, and asked for a condom during the rape. That doesn’t constitute consent, but that doesn’t matter: it all comes down to what the jury thinks. It’s he said/she said, so it’s all about Sydney’s credibility. A very upset Julie stops by the office, and tells Stark she’s been suspended. She’s been accused of plagiarism. Stark promises to take care of it. Later she asks him if he’s going to ask if she did it. Stark says he doesn’t have to.

Casey and Madeline visit the scene of the crime. Casey has doubts about the case. A college teammate of his was accused of date rape by a girl with whom he’d just broken up. Madeline snaps at him that that has nothing to do with this case. She tries to get some of the jocks who live there to talk, but they all claim they never saw Sydney. Madeline notices one guy, Nelson Moore, who can’t meet her eye. She confronts him. He says he saw Sydney at the party, but didn’t see what happened. Jeffries calls a press conference to say that the charges against Josh are baseless. Stark decides to one-up him by tipping off the press to Josh’s impending arrest. At the arrest Stark covers Josh with a jacket, and claims to the reporters that he’s actually trying to protect the privacy of the accused.

At the preliminary hearing Josh reveals that he and Sydney had been involved in a sexual affair for the last few months, and says that his DNA was inside her because they had sex that morning. Afterwards Stark is livid: Sydney now admits that Josh did not rape her, but still says the rest of her story is true. Stark rages that her credibility is completely shot. Sydney says she knew Josh was just using her, but she had really fallen for him. That morning after sex, she asked for a real relationship, and he broke up with her. She went to the party to try to talk to him, and change his mind. Then the other guys asked her to “party” with them… she went downstairs with them to make Josh jealous, but swears she never wanted anything to actually happen. Stark no longer believes her, and wants to drop the case. Madeline asks for 24 hours. Stark relents.

Nelson tells Madeline that Josh is a “player,” keeping a scorecard of girls he’s slept with. Off the record he tells her he saw the guys take her downstairs, and was there when they came out. She was crying, her shirt was ripped, and Seth and Brent were laughing. Madeline forces him to agree to testify. Stark comes home and finds Julie’s friend Eddie there. He offers to take the fall for Julie. He’s captain of the track team: there’s no way the school will throw him out. Julie declines his offer.

The DA wants Stark to drop the case. Half the city council are alumni of the school, and they don’t want the star quarterback taken out. Casey has found that the players in that house have a history of DUIs, fights, and sexual misconduct. The DA gets a warrant to have Dr. Flynn let them see Brent and Seth’s records. Campus security, rather than the police, handles student complaints. It takes Stark threatening to go to the newspapers to get quick results. Raina discovers that in ‘04 Brent and Seth trapped a student named Tandi Parker in a room, and tried to force her to have sex with them. Raina and Madeline interview Tandi, who confirms that they raped her. She didn’t go to the police because the day she filed her complaint, a huge scholarship came in. She kept her mouth shut. On the stand Sydney testifies about her rape. Defense attorney Vivian Anderson browbeats her, and makes her look like she was deliberately promiscuous. She is trying to get revenge on Josh for dumping her. Tandi is watching from the back. She’s horrified, and decides not to testify after all.

Stark meets with Mr. Saunders of the review board at Julie’s school. Saunders tells Stark that Julie had no problems until her mother left for New York. Stark is insulted, and threatens Saunders with a civil suit alleging defamation and slander. He’ll drop it only if Julie is reinstated at school pending her hearing. In the bullpen Martin finds that Tandi’s original statement mentions a lookout. If they’ve used the same M.O., there’s an unknown eyewitness. Casey and Madeline confront Nelson again. He doesn’t want to talk. Madeline tells him she was molested by an uncle for months when she was a child, until one day her brother caught him and called the cops. It takes just one person who isn’t afraid. Nelson, overwhelmed, says that the lookout was Josh Carpenter.

Josh prevented Nelson from entering the room, telling him everything was cool; this makes Josh an accessory to the rape. Stark points out that they need Josh’s testimony; otherwise, if it doesn’t go well, all three will walk. He instead suggests using the accessory charge to force a testimony out of Josh… in exchange for Josh’s immunity. Sydney is horrified, but this is the only way. Josh takes the deal. That night Julie is going out. Stark asks where she’s going, which surprises her; he’s never seemed to care before. She’s going to the movies. He allows her to go, but tells her not to get home too late. Julie is surprised at Stark’s newfound parental instincts.

Casey compliments Madeline on her bravery in handling this case, especially in revealing such an intensely personal story about herself. Madeline says she made it up because it was what Nelson needed to hear. Casey is thrown by this, and declines Madeline’s invitation to go grab a drink. Stark tells Julie that he’s going to be more involved in her life from now on. Julie tells Stark that he’s the only person who believed in her. All her teachers and friends thought she was guilty. She then tearfully admits that the charges are true; she did plagiarize that paper.

19th April 10pm On Five