Elizabeth Donnelly

 
Elizabeth Donnelly was a previous senior ADA, now a Judge working in Manhattan, New York City.
Elizabeth Donnelly's career in law stretches back at least thirty years. As an Assistant District Attorney, she gained a reputation for toughness - some would call it bullying - and won most of her cases. One notable loss during those early days was her case against Carolyn Cresswell, a woman who had murdered her abusive husband. Cresswell fled during what was supposed to be a meeting to discuss a plea bargain. This incident humiliated Donnelly and she vowed to bring Cresswell to justice. She still considers that case her one colossal failure, and blames it for having negatively marked her career.
After a couple of years as a Bureau Chief (or Executive Assistant District Attorney), Donnelly was elevated to judgeship. While in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, however, she served as the supervisor of Alexandra Cabot and her successor, Casey Novak. Donnelly has presided over numerous cases Novak has prosecuted.

Donnelly Versus Other ADAs

Donnelly had several heated arguments with her Assistant District Attorneys, and it has been speculated that she is vicious against them because they enjoy success, whereas her own career along those lines has been marked mainly by that one colossal failure. However, on one occasion when Cabot lied to her detectives about having a search warrant in order to convict a serial child molester, Donnelly let her off with a one-month suspension. (SVU:"Guilt") In the case against Jeremy Brice and Zachary Connor, she even had to take Cabot's place in the courtroom, because of her ADA's personal opinion regarding the case. Donnelly is very hard on Brice and feels guilty for it so she brings Cabot back in. Ultimatly Donnelly offers him a plea bargin, but it is refused by his mother because she believes the jury will find him not guilty though Donnelly tries to get her not to take that chance. Ultimatly Brice is found guilty. (SVU:"Juvenile")

Donnelly as a Judge

Though a judge, Donnelly represented both Casey Novak and Detective Elliot Stabler when a man suing for custody of his child opted to sue them for alleged conspiracy and assault. The suits were dropped, however, following the man's arrest on kidnapping charges. (SVU:"Haystack")
During the case against a police officer accused of rape and murder, Novak withheld documents in violation of the Brady Rules. She had been informed that DNA samples from a rape suspect were too degraded to provide anything more than a partial profile, resulting in Judge Donnelly having her called before the Bar association, who seemingly placed a temporary suspension on Novak's license to practice law in New York. (SVU:"Cold")

A Second Chance

Several months later, After an abused young wife named Mia Latimer was stabbed by her husband, Carolyn Cresswell surfaced as Linnie Malcolm, Mia's neighbor and sole confidant, and Donnelly came out of retirement to prosecute her. Donnelly didn't believe Cresswell's story that she was raped as never told it to anyone before she was caught by Bensen and there was no proof of it. Donnelly believed that Cresswell was merley a manipulative woman trying to get away with murder and was playing on Bensen (and in the past Donnelly's) sympathes to that end. Donnelly sought the maximum penalty for Cresswell's crimes, but relented when Cresswell explained - to Donnelly's surprise - that she had fled because she was pregnant with her former husband's child (which she had become pregnant with due to the rape), and desperately wanted an abortion, which would not have been available in prison. She had originally asked for the meeting with Donnelly to agree to plead guilty if Donnelly let her get the abortion, but lost her nerve because of how strong of a woman Donnelly was compared to her. Donnelly claimed that it was a dramatic, and harsh, reminder of why she had even chosen to practice law in the first place, and after Cresswell is found guilty of the escape, but not guilty of the murder, announces that she will be asking for probation at her sentencing. (SVU: "Persona")

Poisoned

Some months later, the SVU caught a murder case in Central Park. An extreme paranoiac named Peter Harrison had killed a young mother in the park, and had left a lot of evidence. However, during the processing of that evidence, CSU technician Dale Stuckey had made a mistake on the paperwork for the murder weapon that would have allowed Harrison's attorney to claim that the police had planted Harrison's prints on the weapon. Though this in itself would not necessarily have gotten Harrison off for the crime, it created a situation whereby any attempt to prosecute Harrison might have set a precedent for other criminals to challenge the DNA evidence against them, and thus the DA's office chose to dismiss the case. Donnelly was the judge that day, and Stuckey attempted to protest the decision to drop the charges. Donnelly loudly and publicly berated him for his incompetence.
Never on the firmest emotional ground to begin with, Stuckey snapped and began killing people associated with Harrison in an attempt to have new charges brought against him. Donnelly was one of the unlucky targets, and received a shot of potassium chloride that had been hidden in a chair in her house resulting in her near death. However, Elliot and Olivia were able to take her to a hospital where she made a recovery. (SVU: "Zebras")
She returned as the trial judge in the case against Defense Attorney Ingrid Block. (SVU: "Confidential")