Dr. Faith Sutton (Law & Order: SVU)

Dr. Faith Sutton (Elizabeth McGovern) is the villainess of "Harm", episode 9.05 of Law & Order: SVU (airdate October 23, 2007). She was a psychiatrist who was recruited by the army to help interrogate suspected terrorists following the September 11 attacks. She worked for Helios Defense Industries alongside George Tomforde, an unstable soldier with a history of becoming violent with detainees. Faith oversaw many interrogation methods, many of which had long-lasting physical and psychological damage on the people they were used on. Some of her methods included stress positions and ice baths.
One of Faith's Iraq detainees was Haroun Abbas, who re-encountered her and George when he ran into them at a diner. Haroun became frightened and fled the restaurant, later being accosted by Tomforde, which led to a fatal heart attack partially caused by the heart damage Haroun suffered from Faith's dangerous methods. After learning that Haroun had been talking with Kate Simes, a woman working for a clinic specializing in torture survivors who was working on a book exposing was had happened to him and other refugees, Tomforde murdered Kate and stole her work laptop to silence her. He was later sent out of the country to avoid prosecution, with Faith's possible complicity in Tomforde's crimes being left unknown.
When questioned by detectives Benson and Stabler regarding her practice, Faith claimed that her methods left no long-term damage and were vital for gathering information. ADA Casey Novak eventually was convinced to charge Faith with criminally negligent homicide, and Benson and Stabler arrested her at work. When on the stand, Faith continued to claim that her interrogation methods were benign and subtly tried to justify her actions by revealing that Haroun was the cousin of a terrorist group's leader. When pointedly confronted by Novak the physical trauma that her methods could cause, the evil Faith loudly claimed that interrogation was the only weapon they had in the war on terrorism, showing her callous indifference for the people she had hurt. Faith's trial ultimately ended in a mistrial when a juror suddenly had a heart attack and Faith helped in saving his life. But despite that, M.E. Melinda Warner (who strongly opposed Faith's actions) reported her to the state board for misconduct, resulting in them suspending her license. After the ruling, Faith confronted Warner about how her suspension could potentially end her career, still showing no remorse for her actions, prompting Warner to lambaste her for breaking the Hippocratic oath before leaving with Novak.
==Trivia==
*Dr. Faith Sutton is similar to Dr. Katrina Pynchon from Law & Order: Criminal Intent; both are psychiatrists with military backgrounds who eventually come to start practicing (or helping administer) torture to war criminals, with their actions indirectly leading to a death. A major difference between the two is that Katrina is shown to feel remorse for her actions, while Faith does not. Because thae fact that for some weird reason she is unaware that brutally torturing a suspected terrorist can actually damage a case against them because they can claim the confession was coerced due to them very obviously likely lying in order to get them to stop the torture.
== Quotes ==
* "Ms. Novak, let me ask you a question. How would you protect our country? I have a son in Iraq. How would you protect him? (Novak: "Your Honor....") No, you answer me! Intelligence gathering is the only weapon we have on the war on terror, maybe the only way to fight an enemy we can't see. You think asking nicely is gonna get them to tell us when they plan to fly the next set of planes into our buildings!?" (Dr. Faith Sutton's villainous breakdown in court)
Category:2000s
Category:Brunette
Category:Callous
Category:Conspirator
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Mostly Heel
Category:Mother
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Indirect
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Fate: Humiliated