Jack McCoy quotes from Law & Order

If all they think about is getting the conviction, nothing's to stop them from kicking in our doors in the middle of the night.

McCoy

That's not happening, Danielle, and you know it.

Yet.

The police are out to get me!

McCoy

With three dead bodies, can you blame them?

I'm going to offer evidence that the commonly accepted version of the Second World War is wrong. That there was no Holocaust, there were no death camps, and there certainly was no Final Solution.

McCoy

Your Honor, please!

Did hundreds of thousands of Jews die? Yes. And not only Jews, but gypsies, Poles, Russians, yes. But those deaths weren't murders, they weren't genocide, they were the inevitable result of disease, of starvation, of war.

McCoy

Every respectable historian in the world would disagree!

There are distinguished academics who think otherwise.

McCoy

Holocaust deniers. Cranks, anti-Semites disguising their real agenda. Meretricious nonsense does not become expert testimony just because it comes wrapped in a Ph.D!

Why don't we let a jury decide what's fringe nonsense and what's not?

Why don't we let a judge decide first?

We would happily accept an evidentiary hearing, Your Honor. Nothing would please us more.

McCoy

Your Honor can't entertain this disreputable, evil theory! If someone insists that the Earth is flat, and the sun circles around it, despite all evidence to the contrary, are we supposed to engage the argument on their terms? This is is a conversation with a lunatic!

Hold your horses, Mr. McCoy. I agree. No rational, unbiased person could look at the historical evidence and doubt the fact of the Holocaust. It cannot be disputed. Nor will it be in my court.

Serena

You think Anders is telling the truth, that he didn't have anything to do with Leah Glaser's murder?

McCoy

They knew a guilty man when they saw one.

You want me to testify against these guys?

McCoy

Libretti, Biscotti and Tortomassi.

I'll need to go into witness protection.

McCoy

You'll testify and go to jail, and if I'm in a good mood I'll consider arranging segregation from the general population.

So I suppose Sonny Keane will have plenty of time to work on his next book.

McCoy

A few years in prison should provide him with many interesting real-life experiences.

The covenant the father broke was with both of them.

Serena

Even after everything he did to her, she forgave him. Asher didn't.

McCoy

He felt more betrayed than she did.

He may have married into the family, but he'll never be blood.

Serena

We could've just ducked the whole issue instead of trying to set policy.

And I can't believe I have pusillanimous pussyfooters on my own staff.

McCoy

I don't think Spiro Agnew is the person to be quoting here, Arthur.

If the shoe fits.

Serena

I was doing catch-up on discovery.

Discovery? You're halfway through trial.

McCoy

The defense disclosed dozens of boxes of paperwork. They're trying to drown us.

Serena

They have nine paralegals, and we just have me. But I don't think they meant to disclose this. [hands McCoy a piece of paper]

McCoy

[reading it] Miss Southerlyn, you've outdone yourself.

Do I get to see it? [McCoy hands him the paper, he reads it] Well, let's see if Dr. Cedars can wiggle his way out of this one.

You and Detective Green are both good at making people believe what you want them to believe.

We're good at our jobs.

Does your job include breaking the law?

Technically. I've bought drugs from drug dealers and guns from gun runners.

Guns and drugs.

[sarcastically] Sometimes I even break the speed limit in the pursuit of a criminal.

Find this amusing, do you, detective? This is all just a big joke to you?

McCoy

Objection!

Sustained.

Is it fair to say as an undercover you would do whatever it takes to catch the so-called "bad guys", even if it means breaking the law?

We don't break the law. The law allows us to pose as bad guys and lie to bad guys, in order to catch the bad guys.

[yelling] And if you can't catch them, you just kill them? Take the law into your own hands and gun them down to die like dogs in the street? How many people have you killed doing "your job", detective? How many?

McCoy

Your honor!

You are the bad guys, officer! You!

Serena

You're going to argue that spousal privilege should only apply to heterosexual relationships?

McCoy

To put a murderer behind bars? Yes.

Serena

Are you sure those nuns didn't get inside of your head, Jack?

McCoy

That has nothing to do with it. I suggest you leave your opinion on sexual politics at the water cooler and help me win this case.

My client's looking for a big drop-down from the top count.

McCoy

Let me explain the facts of life, Mr. Laval. We go up the food chain, not down. Wheel man, shooter, button man, [gestures to Andropov] chief.

You think Mr. Andropov is all there is to this?

Unless you're offering up Vladimir Putin.

McCoy

So, which is it, Mr. Khaeel. You deny ordering the murders, or the United States government authorized you to do so to protect your identity as a drug dealer?

I don't understand your question.

McCoy

Of course you do. Make a choice in front of this jury. You ordered the murders, or you had no hand in them.

Every day in my part of the world, the United States drops a bomb or fires a missile in order to kill terrorists. Do other people die as a result? Yes, regrettably. But for the greater good. I ordered no murders. I simply dispatched a subordinate to retrieve a product that was stolen from me.

McCoy

Using any means necessary.

I will not answer that.

McCoy

I believe you just did, Mr. Khaleel.

McCoy

Mr. Peters, did you ever see an old movie called The Third Man?

Your Honor?

Mr. McCoy?

McCoy

The defendant says he couldn't foresee any substantial risk to his actions. I'd like to explore that state of mind a little further.

Witness may answer.

The Third Man, with Orson Welles. It's been a long time.

McCoy

Orson Welles plays a black marketeer who steals penicillin, and then dilutes and sells it with tragic consequences. Death, amputation, children dying.

Objection.

McCoy

It's a parallel situation, Your Honor. I think the analogy is apt.

Overruled.

McCoy

There's a famous scene on a ferris wheel.

I remember that scene.

McCoy

Orson Welles goes on a ride on a ferris wheel with his friend, and it stops when they get to the top. His friend, who's played by Joseph Cotton, asks, "Why? Why did you do this?" Orson Welles says, "For the money." Joseph Cotton is horrified. "Have you no conscience? How do you live with yourself?" Orson Welles points to the people on the ground far below, and the people on the ground are very small, walking around in the square. And Welles says, "Would you really feel anything if one of those dots down there suddenly stopped moving?" What was your expectation when you labelled your saline solution as flu vaccine and then sold it in bulk to people like Sklar?

That they'd sell it to someone else.

McCoy

And it would eventually be used as vaccine?

[chokes up] Sure, eventually.

McCoy

And you couldn't foresee the risk to those patients? They were just dots to you, weren't they? Far away, insignificant.

Objection!

McCoy

And if they suddenly stopped moving, who'd care? Not you!

Your Honor!

All right, Mr. McCoy. You've made your point.

McCoy

Nothing further, Your Honor.

McCoy

She pleads to Man-1 and testifies against Miranda Shea. 10 years.

She's gonna hand you the person who masterminded the murder, Mr. McCoy.

McCoy

She's the one who pulled the trigger.