Benjamin Stone quotes from Law & Order

What about the prostitute eyewitnesses saw you with, Miss Tammy White? They reported that you got very angry towards her-

That bitch deserved it!

Which bitch is it, Sir? Lieutenant Hagen or Tammy White?

She uses an out-of-date prison library, and her work is better than I've ever seen from a Wall Street law firm.

Schiff

"The truth is ugly, so we put our prophets in prison".

Oscar Wilde?

Schiff

Charles Manson.

I taught her to speak. I taught her to present herself. She couldn't even order a meal in a restaurant.

Mr. Bryce, please, you talk about her as if she was a trained seal.

This trial's a hummer. I don't know how you look yourself in the mirror.

I'm Catholic, I can feel guilty about anything. But I bet my conscience is easier to live with than yours.

[after a phone call] Tunney has been out on the streets since 4:00 this afternoon.

Schiff

What?!

Where's our notice?

Some clerk's dog ate it!

There are exigent circumstances here. Tunney could be pulling the trigger while we're talking.

If he's your killer. Mr. McCoy's motion made the point that one of these murders was committed while Mr. Tunney was in jail.

By a copycat, and he's not linked to the killings that Tunney's charged with.

I suggest you take your argument to the appellate division.

Because you won't admit you made a mistake?

Keep up that tone, Mr. Stone, and I'll put you in contempt.

[worried] Ben...

You'll jail me, and you won't jail a mass murderer?

Ben! I'm sure Judge Rodriguez will hear an appeal expeditiously.

We don't have time for that.

We can get an order in half an hour. I used to work for him.

Fine.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Give her a raise, Ben. You were about to walk out of here in cuffs.

I don't mind when you want to make new law, Norman, but next time I wish you'd choose a more deserving client.

We can't always choose them, Ben.

So it doesn't concern you that justice won't be done?

My only concern is the law. I'll leave justice to a more majestic authority.

[after Danielle Keyes beats a guilty verdict on appeal] Is there ever a point where this actually stops bothering you?

[sighs] No, there really isn't.

This whole story plays both ways. The father had accidents. The son was abused, or it was the other way around. But the father's not here to defend himself, so the jury could give this kid a college going-away party.

Schiff

Kills his father, the mother defends him. Doesn't the sister have a stake in all this?

We scheduled her for a statement. She didn't come in. Should I try again?

Why? She didn't say anything before, why would she start now?

Schiff

Before, her father was just bruised. Now, he's buried.

You claim that you loved your father.

I did. I did love him.

How did you show that love? By hiding him from your friends? By telling him he's nothing? You may call that love. Most of us call it shame.

Schiff

Next, I'd like to see you yank out the tablecloth and leave the glasses standing. No way you should have won this case.

I just sold them a bit of my own snake oil.

Mr. Swann, do you routinely list killing people as part of your daily calendar?

Mr. Stone, do you routinely lack a sense of humor?

About murder, I have none, sir.

I guess you just weren't clever enough.

I got this far, Ben.

A lot of effort to wind up right back where you started. And in polite society, sir, you don't call people by their first name unless they ask you to. I didn't do that. You're not a friend, and you're certainly not a colleague.

I spent eight years earning the right to call you whatever the hell I want! So who makes the next move?

I want a confession. Not just for the murder of Russell Bobbitt, but for Sid Cohen as well.

And give away my greatest victory?

Take this man back to his cell.

You give up so easy? It doesn't make any sense, Ben. You're being totally impractical. And it's not like you.

Obviously you don't know me. You never did.

Schiff

You can't force the other side to play. You put a check in the win column and you count your blessings.

In any other circumstances, that's exactly what I'd do.

Schiff

Why does this kid deserve such special attention?

Because he's pleading for the wrong reason. His lawyer tells him that he's born bad. We tell him he's raised bad. He buys both stories. Sees his life as a dead end.

Schiff

Maybe he knows his life better than you do. Your job is to convict, not to rehabilitate.

He's a 14-year-old kid who gave up.

Schiff

So you're doing him a favor.

If he gave up his illusions, right, but he gave up hope and I drove him to that. Now anything might happen to that kid in prison.

Schiff

Gary Gilmore. Westley Dodd. Two unrepentant killers. Everybody wants them dead until they agree, and then we turn them into folk heroes.

We had nothing to do with their fates.

Schiff

You want them to start naming churches after you, I'd get another profession. Take the kid's plea. Move on to the next case.

We ask that the defendant be sentenced to a youth facility until his 18th birthday, then transferred to Attica.

Why?

We're trying to save your life, young man.

What's the point?