David Zayas stepped into a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit role originally intended for Timothy Busfield after the episode was reworked ahead of its planned airing on January 15, 2026. Busfield, who faces two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse, had been set to appear in the episode titled "Corrosive" as a judge but was replaced by Zayas ahead of its new air date on February 26, 2026. According to the episode's description, it will be about "an attempt on a respected judge's life [that] is connected to an anonymous video posted to the SVU tip line." As Us Weekly previously reported, Busfield has been accused of misconduct with a child actor on the set of The Cleaning Lady in alleged incidents that happened between late 2022 and early 2024, per the Albuquerque Police Department affidavit obtained by Us in January 2026. (Busfield has denied all allegations of child sexual abuse and misconduct.) Timothy Busfield during a hearing in the Second District Judicial Court at the Bernalillo County Courthouse on January 20, 2026. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) Get to know the actor replacing Busfield on Law & Order: SVU: David Zayas Is Widely Known for His Role on 'Dexter' David Zayas portrayed Detective Angel Batista on the original Showtime series, which spanned eight seasons from 2006 to 2013. The actor reprised his role in Dexter: New Blood and Dexter: Resurrection. Zayas also had a number of guest roles over the years, including on New York Undercover, Person of Interest and NYPD Blue. Who Replaced Timothy Busfield on 'Law and Order' Amid Child Abuse Case? He notably appeared in Sylvester Stallone's 2010 film The Expendables, while also snagging roles in HBO's prison drama Oz and in the 1998 movie Rounders. More recently, he appeared in seven episodes of the TV series Blue Bloods as Governor Martin Mendez and for three episodes of The Bear as David Marrero. He also starred in The Running Man, a 2025 film about a game show in which contestants can flee anywhere in the world - while "hunters" who are hired to kill - chase them down. David Zayas Has a Military Background and Worked as a Real-Life Cop Zayas joined the United States Air Force when he was only 19. He also served as a police officer with the New York City Police Department before his acting career took off. He revealed that watching Al Pacino in the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon gave him the motivation he needed to try out his own luck in Hollywood. "I sat in the front row and [my cousins] all went to the back and they had their girlfriends and I was by myself in the front row," Zayas said, according to a 2015 report from NPR. "I was fascinated. This was the art that was attractive to me." "The moment I was involved in that world, it electrified me and I realized that it was something that I wanted to do," he continued. Zayas said he mostly tried to keep his acting pursuit under wraps but his partner knew. "I remember riding in the cars with him during the midnight shifts and he would run lines with me for my audition the next day," Zayas shared. "And he was a pretty good actor so it was a good time." David Zayas Has a Wife and Child David Zayas has been married to actress Liza Colón-Zayas since 1998, and they share a son named David Zayas Jr.