Rafael Barba is a fictional character portrayed by Raúl Esparza, who joined the cast of the long-running NBC crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on a recurring basis during the 14th season episode "Twenty-Five Acts". The character was promoted to a series regular for the 15th season and exited the series during season 19. He has since made guest appearances in the 21st, 22nd and 23rd seasons and a brief appearance in the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Character overview
Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba transfers from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office to Manhattan after requesting what he refers to as a "lateral move". Barba is brought in to work with the Special Victims Unit at the behest of temporary SVU captain, Steven Harris (Adam Baldwin), due to the aftermath of a case involving sex trafficking and police corruption. He is an aggressive, often ruthless prosecutor who puts pressure on not only the detectives, but also the victims and witnesses, in order to win cases. He is well-read, and fond of referencing authors such as Tom Wolfe and Kurt Vonnegut.
During his time as the Special Victims Unit ADA, he becomes a close friend of Detective (later Sergeant, Lieutenant and now Captain) Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), and they serve as each other’s confidantes during difficult cases. She leans on him especially hard when her adopted son Noah is kidnapped. She affectionately calls him “Rafa”. However, their relationship is badly strained when he represents Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott), the gangster who ordered the murder of Kathy Stabler (Isabel Gillies), the wife of Benson's former partner, Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni).
Character within SVU
In his first case with the Special Victims Unit, he prosecutes a rape similar to a best-selling erotic novel, Twenty-Five Acts by Jocelyn Paley (Anna Chlumsky), who is the rape victim. Barba tells the detectives to uncover anything and everything about Paley and her rapist, talk show host Adam Cain (Roger Bart). After rushing to put Paley on the stand to testify, Barba and the detectives discover that Paley did not write the book, which forces Barba to get creative with the trial. Barba taunts Cain with a belt tied around his neck, resulting in him lashing out and choking Barba from behind the same way he did to Paley. After this, the jury finds Cain guilty.
Barba goes head to head with the Suffolk County District Attorney, Pam James (Jane Kaczmarek), in the episode "Beautiful Frame", after a Manhattan rape victim is charged with the murder of her ex-boyfriend in Suffolk County. Benson questions the charges against the woman and gathers enough evidence for Barba to put corrupt DA investigator Michael Provo (Enver Gjokaj) on trial for the same murder, as Barba and James race to get a conviction before the other. Barba and the SVU detectives uncover a scandal within the Suffolk County DA's office, as Provo set the young woman up for the murder. Barba offers to spare James' office of more embarrassment as long as Provo is convicted for the murder in Suffolk County.
In the episode, "Funny Valentine", Barba and the detectives have a tough time convincing pop star Mischa Green (Tiffany Robinson) to testify against her abusive boyfriend, hip-hop artist Caleb Bryant (Eugene Jones). After a shooting that kills her manager with Bryant as a suspect, Barba and Benson convince Green to testify in the grand jury. But when she finally takes the stand, she tells Barba that her boyfriend was not at the scene and instead says Barba and Benson put those words in her mouth. After Bryant escapes prosecution, the couple flees on a vacation, where Bryant ultimately beats Green to death.