Tinsdale: "I did they job they sent me to do."
McCoy: "What about Joe Eastman? Who sent you to do that?"
Green: "I thought black widow spiders were the only ones who killed their mates and ate their young."
McCoy: "Apparently not."
Defendant: "Oh, they were guilty, EVERYBODY KNEW THAT!"
McCoy (calmly): "These people didn't know until you told them that."
"You can't spend your millions when you're doing 25 years in prison."
"It's one thing to play a thug on the cover of a CD, Mr. Collins. It's quite another to do it in Sing Sing."
"I don't want to sacrifice a man to perpetuate a myth."
"Apparently, two careers are worth more than a person's life."
"We got dissed."
Serena: "The dismissal hurt Collins more than the indictment. When his fans found out he wasn't the killer, his CD dropped ten places on the charts."
Jack: "At this rate, he might actually have to go out and shoot somebody."
"I'm sorry. This defense would be laughable is it weren't so dangerous. We live in a world where people commit unspeakable violent acts against other people. Terrorists. Racists. Anyone who kills out of hate. Do we hold them accountable? Or do we excuse their acts and sit them down for a chat to tell them that it's wrong? In the world the defense would create, murderers would never be held responsible. In that world, right and wrong would lose all meaning. Killers would become victims. The only one who would benefit from the defendant being found mentally ill is the defendant. Not society. Certainly not the victim. Not Thomas Reddick or his family or anyone else with his skin color. To excuse Ray Burrows because of his prejudice only promotes racism. What happened to Thomas Reddick is a crime of hate. To call is anything else is to deny justice."
"To kill out of hate, then to be exempt from punishment--that would be the real insanity."
Serena: "I thought you were brought up Catholic."
Jack: "Which is why I'm bending over backwards to treat this man like any other witness."
"When you think about whether you would have done the same, I want you to think about what would happen if we all did. If we all killed every time we were faced with a decision we thought was unfair. How many of us would be safe then? I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the victim. Because Warren Slater was a family man too. A husband who was planning a surprise for his wife's birthday on the night he was killed. It's easy to hate insurance adjustors, just as some of you may have thought differently about the police until we saw them run into collapsing buildings to save lives. You may disagree with Warren Slater's decision, but he made it because he honestly thought it was right. Why? So that there would be health insurance and health care for people like you when you needed it someday. One can only imagine the pain of a parent forced to contemplate the death of a child. But nothing that Warren Slater did made him deserve to die. . . To be beaten to death. . . with a hammer. . . In the street! You can't place the blame for this child's illness on his shoulders as her father did. And you can't condone what he did unless you're willing to soak your hands in the same blood as his. When this defendant chose to take matters in his own hands, chose to kill. . . out of. . . desperation, he spurred the very thing that he was fighting for for his own daughter: the sanctity of life. And no one has the right to do that, not even a grief-stricken father."
"If no one ever pushed the limits, the rest of us wouldn't know what they are."
"There's no question that what Serena Southerlyn did saved a life. She probably also saved the life of the man whose rights she's accused of violating. How could you think of disbarring her with that result? A D.A. is an officer of the court, like all other lawyers. But when he or she goes to work, it's also with an obligation to protect the public against people who break the law. Because in addition to a Bar Association card, Miss Southerlyn also carries a badge. Police officers use deception to apprehend criminals every day. The law lets them, because the law understands that they are on the front lines, that their lives are at risk. This was a unique situation when an Assistant District Attorney put her life on the lines to protect us. And when it was over, everyone walked out alive. This lawyer had a moment to choose between being a lawyer and being a person. What would we have all thought if she'd made another choice?"
Nora: "Is that scotch?"
Jack: "We're lawyers. What else?"
"We can't let someone get away with murder just because it might make catching someone else tougher down the road."
"So much for chatting with my college roommate in London for the price of a local call."
"If people have to choose, they'll trade privacy for safety every time."
Serena: "The adoption agency thought Janet Weston was a dream come true."
Jack: "Complete with pillows and blankets."
"We don't pick our victims, Nora."
"What kind of a message does that send? When things get bad, hire a hit man."
"All I can do is try the case in front of me."
"What I'm going to show them is a woman who knew she had friends she could go to for safety and instead used them to kill her husband."
"Just the encouragement abused women need: Don't seek help, don't leave -- hire a hit man instead!"
Serena: "It reinforces the notion of a helpless female, forced to enlist a man to solve her problems."
Jack: "Not that helpless -- she got away with murder."
"Your offer is a list of promises with no means of assuring that you won't loophole your way our of them the first chance you get-- and it's rejected."
Talbot: "Risk-return analysis isn't reckless. It's responsible business."
Jack: "So is keeping your customers alive."
Serena: "Four years until he can play pro ball. A lot can happen to a kid."
Jack: "If he doesn�t get his hands on an 18-year-old's birth certificate."
"If we're going to have a revolving door in front of the courthouse, maybe it's time we tried spinning it in our direction."
"You can come down from your soapbox, Mr. Teague."
"You lit a fuse you couldn't put out."
"So we all turn our backs when a cold-blooded murder is committed? We do that, we turn into the very thing we're fighting. The word 'terrorism' loses its meaning."
"Justice isn't a moving target."
"The moment we agree to use a person's origin as a litmus test for terrorism is the moment that terrorism turns us into racists."
"It's our job to keep fear out of the courtroom."
"Fear's in, commonsense judgment goes out the window."
"Miller's not on trial in this case, Nora. We are. How do we plea bargain that?"
Miller: "If we don't kill them first, they will kill us."
Jack: "Which would make who the terrorist?"
"We all fear the threat of terrorism and the simple fact is that our lives have changed. But what we do with that fear will ultimately define who we are. Do we let it overwhelm us, until we become so consumed with dread over what might be that we no longer give thought to what should be or what we stand for? Being afraid can't justify murder. Nor can calling yourself a patriot. People in this country are innocent until proven guilty. We've sent men off to die in order to protect that right. Don't let's be the first generation to succumb to fear. Not when so many who came before us stood their ground. When Frank Miller took on the role of judge, jury, and executioner, his actions diminished us all. When, in our name, he took it upon himself to kill a man, we all lost a measure of our humanity. But this jury has a chance to get it back. Because this jury has a chance to answer the question: How much of ourselves as a country are we willing to surrender to terrorism?"
"'Give us your tired, your poor, . . . your terrorists.'"
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