Law & Order · Season 4
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.
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?
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.
My mother used to beat me with one hand and hold a rosary with the other. The next time I enter a church, it'll be in a pine box carried by six of my friends.
My old lady had a rosary in her left hand while she beat the crap out of me with her right. The next time I go to a church, six of my closest buddies will be carrying me.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
A defence lawyer is attempting to discredit the Prosecution's Korean-American eyewitness with expert testimony that Cross-Racial Identification is unreliable.
You have an expert witness?
I do, judge: a psychologist.
Why didn't we hear about this in pre-trial motions?
Gee, Ben, I'm sorry. I was a little late with my legal research.
You knew about this weeks ago; you warned me that this witness would be a problem.
[Hurried] I don't recall that.
Off the record, please. [His scribe stops typing] I can't prove this, Tom, but I think you're lying.
Your honor, I don't think --
Don't play dumb with me. You didn't want Ben to know where you were going. I'll let you have your witness, but one of these days, you're gonna get caught, you'll get disbarred, and I'll be there to applaud.
Quick, lock the door; someone might walk in with a case we could win.
Come on, Adam, the jury didn't buy it. Cross-racial identification, it's bogus.
I wouldn't count your chickens; your omelette just hit the fan.
Young people get impatient with old people. Especially cantankerous ones.
Oh yeah? Speaking from personal experience?
I'm a sweetheart. And I'm middle-aged.
That girl's lawyer ought to send you a thank you note.
She'll do two years, Adam.
Uh-huh, and when she gets out, she'll be what, 24?
25.
I'd do two years in Attica happily if I walked out 25.
Before him, the last white guy seen around here was Clinton. And he had the Secret Service.
Mr. Bregman, in all my years of prosecuting, you are possibly the stupidest criminal I have ever met.
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