Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 9, Episode 1

Alternate

Detectives Benson and Stabler suspect that Janis Donovan (Cynthia Nixon), a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder, may have harmed her own daughter. Their investigation is met with initial resistance from her psychiatrist, Dr. Henry Carlisle (Bronson Pinchot). Captain Cragen is temporarily re-assigned due to problems with his detectives last season, and newly promoted Sgt. John Munch is assigned as Acting Squad Commander. The detectives discover that Janis has four other alternate personalities. As the episode progresses, the detectives witness these personalities, culminating when one of Janis's personalities throws a chair across the room. Later in the episode, Janis and her sister are reunited after serving time in jail. The day after Janis and her sister go home together, their parents are found murdered in their beds. Janis's fingerprints are found on the gun. When Janis goes to trial, she displays one of her alternate personalities, choking Novak. Janis is found not guilty by reason of mental defect. Afterwards, it is revealed that everything was an act she and her sister cooked up to create a fake motive to kill their parents. When Stabler and Benson go to visit Janis in the psychiatric hospital, Janis confesses to everything and her sister, who was visiting with Janis, is arrested for being a co-conspirator.