● Is the former Cuban-American ADA assigned to the Sex Crimes Bureau. He replaced Cabot, Novak, Haden, and Cutter as the ADA.

● He resigned from his job after being too traumatized by a case involving an infant with MDDS.

● Is a by-the-book, no-nonsense ADA who requested a lateral transfer from Brooklyn to Manhattan shortly after.

● Barba will put pressure on whomever he needs to win the case, whether it is the victim or the arresting officers.

● Barba grew up in the Bronx, and gained a scholarship to Harvard University, where he studied law.

● He states that he was madly in love with a girl named Lauren Sullivan in the eleventh grade.

● Barba revealed to Jack McCoy that he resented his father, as most people did. Barba's father later entered into a diabetic coma and was eventually declared brain-dead, but Barba refused to remove him from life support even though it prolonged his suffering. Barba was left with lifelong guilt over this afterwards

H I S T O R Y

● In Barba's first appearance, Jocelyn Paley, author of a popular erotic novel of the same name is sexually assaulted twice by a television talk show host named Adam Cain. Captain Steven Harris recommends A.D.A Rafael Barba for the case and Harris introduces Barba to detectives Olivia Benson and Amanda Rollins.

● Barba is blackmailed by rape and murder suspect David Willard into dropping all charges on him when he leveraged one of Barba's worst prosecution handlings: Ashtonja Abreu's mother Marianna was addicted to drugs but also a witness to a double rapist-murderer's crimes. Barba gave her money, which she spent on more drugs, but that ended up making her a more credible witness on the stand. Marianna overdosed and died after the trial, and Barba paid Ashtonja and her grandmother ever since to support them as an endless attempt at atonement for his actions, and to help their struggling income.

● After several women and a young boy were found in a basement, Barba helped SVU in investigating the case. He noticed Benson was uneasy, no doubt from her recent experience but she assured him that she was fine. After SVU caught the perp Michael Williams and accomplice April Hendricks, the squad begged him to take in consideration of Hendricks' mentality from her previous life. Barba agreed to show leniency on her and get her institutionalized but vowed to ensure Williams was imprisoned for the remainder of his life.

● Barba turns off the life support of an infant boy suffering from MDDS, a disease which left the child brain-dead and would have required machinery to keep him alive for the rest of his life. Charged with second-degree murder despite the sympathies of both Benson and Jack McCoy, Barba hires Randy Dworkin to represent him. On the stand, Barba defends his actions as justifiable since the child was essentially dead already, but he admits that he felt guilty for having done so. Barba is ultimately acquitted of murder and exonerated. However, he is too traumatized by the case and resigns from his career as an A.D.A. after 21 years of working as a prosecutor.

● Barba returned as a defense attorney representing a military veteran, Mickey Davis, on trial for the murder of his daughter's rapist, Ajay Sharma, at the request of Odafin Tutuola and Benson. He faced off against Dominick Carisi, Jr., who once shadowed Barba and considered Barba his mentor and now has taken over Barba's old position as SVU ADA.

● Barba represented Richard Wheatley in court after he was charged with the murder of Kathy Stabler. After Benson and Kathy's widower, Elliot Stabler, found out, they were both furious, with Benson believing that Barba betrayed them. He would also have to face his mentee Carisi in court for a second time.

● Wheatley later offers Barba a position within his organization, to which Barba turns down immediately. Barba later meets Wheatley in jail and tells him he is free. Wheatley asks Barba again to come work for him and Barba says no again.

● SVU wanted to get a good defense attorney for a domestic violence victim named Delia Hackman who killed her husband, Ty Hackman. Benson reached out to several other lawyers, including Rita Calhoun, Bayard Ellis, and Elana Barth, for help, but to no avail. Rollins however points out that Benson did not reach out to Barba, indicating that their relationship is still in a bad state after he defended Wheatley. Rollins then reached out to Barba on Delia's behalf and Benson thanked Barba at Forlini's for taking the case.

● After Barba gets Delia a plea deal, he meets with Benson again at Forlini's and she thanked him for defending her. She then told Barba she wished he hadn't defended Richard in court. Barba told Benson he was dead and asked why she felt more anger at him than she ever felt towards Stabler, to which Benson hotly responded that she had known him for 23 years and that he always had her back. Barba replied that Benson didn't have a father to protect her. Benson angrily said that this wasn't about Stabler or her father and that it was about how he betrayed her by defending Richard in court and not to tell her how to feel but Barba responded that in this case he could because he knows what it's like to love somebody unconditionally before telling her to contact him when she stopped feeling betrayed by him and proceeded to leave. Benson stopped Barba in his tracks and told him that she missed him too. Barba then left Forlini's, leaving an upset Benson alone.