Law & Order (TV Series)

Shangri-La (2002)

Sam Waterston: Executive ADA Jack McCoy

Quotes 

• A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : I thought you said no jury would convict Little Orphan Annie.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : I did. Lizzie Borden is a different matter.

  [walks away] 

  Dr. Emil Skoda : This girl really got under his skin.

  A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : Ya think?

• Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Never get Freudian with a man with a pickle.

• Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : What confuses me, Mr. Bergan, is that if the bartender actually pressed charges, as a first-time offender, Fiona would have drawn... a suspended sentence, with a $250 fine. Yet you chose to pay the bartender $1,000 to make it all go away. To me, that seems an odd choice. Considering a teacher's salary.

  Gary Bergan : Fiona insisted. She told me that a criminal record would hurt her chances of getting into a good college.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Sure, that is one possibility. Another is that Fiona was scared.

  Jessica Sheets : Well, of course she was scared.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Scared that the parole board down in Florida might issue a warrant for her arrest if her fingerprints ever happened to hit the system. That would put a quick end to your game, wouldn't it?

  Fiona Reid : I don't know what you're talking about.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : That's right, I forgot. You're insane.

  Jessica Sheets : [standing up to leave]  All right, I think we are done here.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : So insane that you went to Milford, Connecticut. So insane that when you were carded in that bar in Milford, you used your old Marguerite Sampson driver's license. Pretty strange, wouldn't you say? Considering you testified you'd never heard of her.

  Fiona Reid : [smirks]  You're good.

  Jessica Sheets : Fiona?

  Fiona Reid : But you see, Mr. McCoy, what I'm good at, what my special talent is, is to make people see what they want to see. And it's carried me this far in life; I doubt it'll let me down with twelve people unable to avoid jury duty.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Without an attorney, it might. Fact is, unlike you, your lawyer is bound by a code of ethics. She can't knowingly let you lie on the stand, nor can she lie to the jury in her closing.

  Fiona Reid : You think I need her to win? The jury already sees me as a poor, abused, abandoned child. All they're concerned about, all they really hope for, is to save my soul.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Until Mr. Bergan takes the stand.

  Fiona Reid : Him? As far as they're concerned, he's a child molester. Who's gonna believe him?

• A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : So being sixteen forever wouldn't be so bad.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : That must've been one hell of a prom night.

• Jessica Sheets : [about Fiona]  She's 16, Jack. When you were 16, you were sneaking into ball games and swiping cigarettes from a local bodega.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Neither of which is a Class A felony.

• A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : You know what irritates me to no end? It's how law has become a tool to assuage society's guilt. "Not my little Suzie with the cute little dimples. That dirty old man must have talked her into it. Let's lock him up and throw away the key."

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Fiona isn't just getting a free pass.

  A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : Okay, let's assume she's telling us the truth. She and Bergin conspired to kill Valerie Keenan. What happens now? Fiona goes and spends three years in a juvenile facility. Her record's expunged, she goes to college. She lives happily ever after. While Bergin, on the other hand, he gets to wear gray pajamas for the next 25 years or so.

• Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Forget it, Serena. No jury in the world will convict Little Orphan Annie.

• A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : [to McCoy]  You know, not to get into specifics, but I was escorted to my junior prom by a college senior. I suppose you'd lock him up.

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : That would depend on the specifics.

  A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn : Good. Go arrest him. He's in the State Senate now.

• Jessica Sheets : So that's the bastard, huh?

  Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy : Now that's the Jessica I remember.