Anecdotes

Adam Schiff's quote "Back then they had lynch mobs and bull-whips; now they use toilet plungers" is a reference to the beating and sexual assault of Abner Louima at the hands of the NYPD. The case made national news in August 1997, a few months before this episode first aired.

On August 9, 1997 Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was arrested outside a nightclub in Brooklyn. Responding officers Thomas Bruder, Charles Schwarz, Justin Volpe, and Thomas Wiese viciously beat Louima during the ride to the precinct with their nightsticks, radios, and fists.

Once Louima was in a holding cell he was stripped naked and searched, then the beating resumed. Louima was cuffed and led to a bathroom where Volpe forcibly sodomized him with a broken broomstick. Volpe then jammed the broomstick into his mouth, breaking several of his teeth.

Louima was hospitalized for 2 months following the brutal attacks and required 3 surgeries to repair the damage wrought by the officers.

• Volpe initially pleaded not guilty, but was convicted in 1999 of the charges and sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $277,495 restitution and a $525 fine
• Schwarz was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 15 years in prison
• Bruder, Wiese, and another officer, Sergeant Michael Bellomo were indicted for trying to cover up the brutal sexual and physical assault. They were initially convicted, but this was overturned by a federal judge in 2002.

This episode appears to be based on the following: The life of Anatole Broyard, a light-skinned man born to a Black Louisiana Creole couple. Anatole and his older sister had light skin and "European" features whereas his younger sister had dark skin. He experienced constant bullying as a child; the white children wouldn't play with him because they knew he and his family were black, and the black children wouldn't associate with him because he looked white. Anatole saw his light-skinned parents "pass" as white and decided to do the same thing in order to avoid discrimination. When he joined the military he was categorized as white during enlistment and he received promotions that would have been denied to him if they knew he was Black. He attained the rank of Captain and was honorably discharged, after which he became a writer, editor, and critic. Throughout his career he purposely avoided political causes and refused to write about the Black experience. While he told his wife of his ethnicity, he hid it from his children and demanded his wife do the same. His children did not find out their heritage until 1990, when he was 70 years old and dying of prostate cancer.

The "Baby M" case referenced dealt with surrogacy law. There are two types of surrogacy: gestational: a fertilized egg is implanted into the carrier and no surrogate-DNA is present traditional: surrogate's own egg is fertilized and is the biological mother of the child In the case of Baby M, the surrogacy was traditional. Mary Beth Whitehead (surrogate) was impregnated with William Stern's sperm; child, a daughter (b. 27 Mar 1986) was to be raised by Stern and his wife. Instead, after handing over the child to the Sterns, Mary Beth Whitehead kidnapped the child and refused to return her, naming her Sara Elizabeth Whitehead. The Sterns sued Whitehead for custody, resulting in a protracted legal battle as she was the biological mother. The courts eventually awarded legal custody to the Sterns but Whitehead was granted visitation rights. Baby M was renamed Melissa Elizabeth Stern. Upon reaching legal age, Melissa Stern moved to legally terminate Whitehead's parental rights, then had the Sterns legally adopt her. Whitehead later married and had two more children. She wrote a book about her surrogate experience and the trial.

Desyrel is a brand name for the serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor (SARI) class antidepressant and sedative drug Trazodone. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders and insomnia.

Parlodel is a brand name for the dopamine agonist drug Bromocriptine, which is used to treat hormonal issues caused by pituitary tumors, Parkinson's disease (PD), hyperprolactinaemia (a disorder that causes women who aren't pregnant to lactate), neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.

Halcion is a brand name for the benzodiazepine class drug Triazolam. It can be used to treat anxiety, although because of its potency it is mainly used to treat severe insomnia. Other shorter acting and less potent benzodiazepines are preferred for the treatment of anxiety, the two most common being diazepam (Valium) and Alprazolam (Xanax).

On the stand, 'Frances Houston' refers to golfer, Fuzzy Zoeller. At that year's US Masters (1997), former winner Zoeller, made racist comments about 21-year-old Tiger Woods, who had won the title, becoming the first non-white champion in its history.