Jack McCoy quotes from Law & Order

McCoy

Haas tells one patient she's got a cure, it's a little white lie. She tells two patients, it's unforgivable. She tells three patients, she's a murderer. She tells four patients, she's a damn murderer, and it's all admissible!

McCoy

If you're gonna play stickball in Canarsie, learn Brooklyn rules!

McCoy

[about Forrest] She'll be in prison until 2003. The 60s should be over by then.

McCoy

Justice is a by-product of winning.

McCoy

Well-meaning people can disagree, especially about the most socially divisive issue to face our country this century. Drew Seeley has an opinion about abortion. He thinks that his opinion entitles him to kill people. Here's what he did. He hunted down a woman named Eileen Reid, he gave Randall Jenkins a gun and told him to shoot Eileen Reid. And he did. Drew Seeley is a self-appointed executioner. If you let him go, you better just pray that one day, someone like him doesn't find some fault with you.

McCoy

I'm Jack McCoy. I'm the Assistant District Attorney for New York County. You are invited here to talk to me about the murder of William Prescott. And make no mistake. You will talk to me. You're going to tell me everything you know about Colin Harrigan and Stuart Barclay's roles in that killing. If you don't, if you lie, I'll add a new word to your vocabulary. Conspiracy, to commit murder. You could serve as many years in prison as you have candles on your birthday cake. Who wants to speak first?

McCoy

It's over, Stuart. Even your father realizes it. I've got you for conspiracy, and if I eat my Wheaties, I can get you for second degree murder. And I won't care that Colin actually pulled the trigger.

McCoy

If you kick a dog enough he'll stop barking. He might even do tricks for you. But I don't know anyone who would call it humane.

McCoy

He knew the therapy wasn't working, and instead of admitting he was wrong, he just turned up the voltage.

McCoy

Shelley Cates could convince a jury that Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder.

McCoy

Over the past two weeks, I put on a near-perfect case. I proved the defendant had access to the materials used to make the bomb. I proved he was on the subway the day the bomb exploded. You heard testimony that someone fitting his description committed a similar crime using the identical toxic gas five years ago in Baltimore, which just happens to be his hometown. A near-perfect case. And still, there's a chance I could lose; that's why I tossed those law books. And that's why Mr. Le Clair is absolutely right when he says black fingers are pointing at us. Where else are they going to point? No, none of us ever dragged anyone here in chains. We never hanged anybody's grandfather from a tree for looking too long at the master's daughter. We're a lot smarter than that and subtler. Instead of chains, we use reasonable doubt; instead of restricted bathrooms, we use unanimous verdicts. Yes, we can send a message. We can say, The racial divide in this country has grown, and is growing, and here's another example of just how unfair it gets. Or we can say, Enough. Equal protection under the law means exactly what it says.

McCoy

Did he say he was going to marry you? [places 2 morgue shots of Michael's previous wives in front of the witness] This is what happened to the first Mrs. Dobson, and this is what happened to the second Mrs. Dobson. Do you really want to be Mrs. Dobson #3?

McCoy

Archer's making history. He's the first lawyer to claim a white defendant is being persecuted by the Black power structure.

McCoy

A murder goes unpunished, it's bad for business.

McCoy

I remember how it felt when I realized my father was a son of a bitch. I can't imagine what it must feel like to realize you raised one.