Michael Cutter quotes from Law & Order

Cutter

Jack, you grew up with Woodward and Bernstein. I grew up with Geraldo.

Cutter

This was a playground dispute between teenage boys over a $30 ball. We expect teenage boys to be impulsive and irresponsible. But teenage boys didn't turn this dispute into a tragedy. Their parents did. Gretchen Steel, who bullied her boys into going back to get their ball, who in defiance of common sense carpooled them to a street fight with baseball bats. Ray Manning, who, on impulse, ran out of his house with a loaded gun, who without warning, without thinking and with callous disregard, fired into a public street. Any reasonable adult would have kept their kids at home. Any reasonable adult would have found a way short of lethal force to get his son out of harm's way. You may think that this white woman and black man have nothing in common. But they share blood, the blood on their hands. Now you've watched them point the finger at each other, shirk responsibility, acting like children. No more, ladies and gentlemen. Make them take responsibility.

Cutter

I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Yost. I can't imagine what you've been through. But it doesn't justify what you did. [facing the jury] The defendant coolly and deliberately tracked Dr. Garrison down, filled with a rage he knew might easily spark to violence. This wasn't post-traumatic stress. This was a thirst for revenge, the revenge he couldn't have against Lionel Hartigan. Now, we all saw what's left of Mr. Hartigan in this courtroom. Wasn't that enough retribution? Did killing an innocent man bring back the defendant's family? Or is it just another wasted life? Mr. Yost knows better than anyone in this courtroom the person responsible for the pain and the sadness inflicted on Dr. Burns' family should pay. And pay dearly.

Cutter

Little Orphan Annie doesn't have anything on you, Miss Kim.

Cutter

My first accountant serial killer.

Cutter

My summation's ready. I can win this.

McCoy

Famous last words. I've even said them myself from time to time.

Cutter

Now that we can establish Yost's motive, the defense is likely to do something unconventional.

McCoy

Such as?

Cutter

Putting lethal injection on trial. An appeal to the jury's political beliefs.

McCoy

It shouldn't be a problem.

Cutter

[sarcastically] Because Lord knows something like that never works!

Connie

Timmy came off as an opportunistic, criminal piece of crap.

Cutter

He is an opportunistic, criminal piece of crap.

You learn that in law school?

Cutter

Right out of law school. Nothing but drug cases for five years. Would you feel better if I offered her a lollipop?

I'd feel better if you hadn't roughed her up.

Cutter

How do you think her mother got her to lie? I'm playing to win, detective, and winning means Katherine Waxman in jail.

Is this some kind of sport to you?

Cutter

[pause] Stick with your law books, detective. On the page, the law is a much purer thing.

Connie

[about Waxman representing herself] She's emotional and erratic, with no background in the law. By all rights, it's a slam dunk.

Cutter

People v. Fisher. Mr. Fisher crushed his fiancé's head with a hammer. Five people saw him do it, he was covered in blood and brain matter... he was acquitted. It wasn't my first case, or my tenth. It happened four years ago. No such thing as a slam dunk.

Connie

Would you sleep with a suspect to get a conviction?

Cutter

[smiles] I might go on a date.

McCoy

A training camp for religious fanatics.

Cutter

One that isn't in the Middle East.

Cutter

You know he killed Dresner.

Connie

As Jack always says, I only know what I can prove in court.

Cutter

Crossing the line was one thing when Adam Schiff had your back. Now, you're out there all by yourself.

McCoy

It doesn't bother me.

Cutter

No. It just makes you more stubborn.

Cutter

He'll plead on Cardenas and implicate Big Chuck, but no deal on Rick Devon. What did you get?

Connie

Big Chuck says he rolls at the clubs and he rolls at the Bowl-More, but he don't roll on his homeboys.

Cutter

So I win.

Connie

You know, just because you tell them it's a contest doesn't mean it is one.

Cutter

How come you're such a sore loser?