Joanna Morgan and Amber Stanton

Minor Character: New York
Name	Joanna Morgan (right) Amber Stanton (left)
Gender	Both female
City	New York
Occupation	Book editor (Stanton) Advertising publisher (Morgan)
Pathology	Vigilantes Murderer (Stanton) Attempted Murderer (Morgan) Killing Team Conspirators
Modus Operandi	Stabbing (Stanton) Shooting (Morgan)
No. of Victims	1 killed 1 attempted 1 framed
Status	Incarcerated (Stanton) Deceased (Morgan)
Portrayed By	Lauren Stamile (Stanton) Suzanne Reed (Morgan)
First Appearance	Commuted Sentences

Joanna Morgan and Amber Stanton are two rape victims turned vigilantes who targeted aggressors of women who got away with sexual assault, as they were fed up with the justice system. They appeared in Season Four of CSI:NY.

Background

At a different point in their lives, both Joanna and Amber had been victims of sexual assault, with their respective perpetrators having gotten away with the crimes: Amber was raped seven years prior the events of Commuted Sentences, with the aggressor having never been identified, while Joanna was raped five years before the events, with her aggressor having been later released on a technicality, Both women later met on a train, developing a strong friendship (and in the case of Amber, a possible romantic attraction to Joanna), as they would confide and relate to each other about being victims of similar crimes. They would later discuss other crimes they found about and were appalled by: Steve Kaplan murdering and raping a model back in 2004 and getting acquitted being found by Amber, and Joanna having an acquaintance in a support group, nurse Fern Lazlow, who never saw justice to being raped by Mitchell Bentley III. With a strong resentment with towards the justice system favouring and releasing these perpetrators, just like it happened to them years ago, they made a pact to get justice for each other's crimes they heard through the grapevine by murdering both Kaplan and Bentley.

Commuted Sentences

Joanna bought a gun and set up a date with Kaplan at the restaurant Kalergios Grill after contacting him via Internet, while Amber equipped herself with a set of knives to target Bentley, setting up a meeting with him on the restaurant Casa del Matador Grill (the same place in which he and Fern met before he attacked her) under the guise of publishing a story about him. Amber easily killed Bentley, stabbing him multiple times with the knives attached to her tied hair to pass them off as "hair handlers", and left the corpse near the entrance of Lazlow's apartment building, in the park in which Fern took shortcuts through and in which Bentley raped her. Later at home, Amber would reluctantly throw away the shoes she was wearing at the crime scene (a gift from Joanna) to avoid being incriminated. Fern later found Bentley, trying to check for a pulse and took the fall inadvertently from being covered in his blood and running away from the scene to her apartment after realising in horror she found her rapist's body. Joanna, however, failed her plan with consequences. During the date, and after the restaurant neglected their procedure and gave her and Kaplan food poisoning, Morgan took Kaplan to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where Matt Fella, the fiance of Kaplan's victim, worked) with promises of sex, then pulled a gun on him, resulting in Kaplan struggling with Joanna for the gun, and to prevent going to jail again, Kaplan forced themselves against each other, aiming the gun at her chest from behind, and shot her, the bullet being lodged in Kaplan's shoulder as a result. Kaplan was tracked down from an ER visit for the poisoning and asking for painkillers, but despite self-defense claims, Jessica Angell arrests Kaplan for murder. Amber is later tied to her crime and confesses, saying Fern was just supposed to found Bentley dead, not be framed for the murder. She is arrested and incarcerated as well, leading Lazlow to be released.

Known Victims

• November 6-7, 2007:
  • Mitchell Bentley III (stabbed four times by Stanton in front of Fern Lazlow's apartment building)
  • Steve Kaplan (attempted to shoot by Morgan; was killed by Kaplan instead in a struggle)
  • Fern Lazlow (inadvertently framed for Bentley's murder)

Appearance

CSI:NY
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Season 4	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	N/A				1
Total																										1