50 Best ADA Paul Robinette Quotes

Paul: [to Astria] I'm sending a social worker by.
Lester: Look, we don't need any more help from *you*!
Paul: [Stands up] That's not an option, Lester. You beat her again, I'll come at you every way I know how.

[last lines]
Ben: Ned Loomis destroyed every life he touched; we didn't change that one iota.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: At least we gave them justice.
Ben: [watching the murdered woman's parents embrace] Justice doesn't give you grandchildren.

D.A. Adam Schiff: "Ministers of God..." Unbelievable. But this isn't motive.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: It establishes intent and state of mind.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Congratulations. You have flour and water. Get an oven, you can make bread. What connects state of mind to the crime?

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: What do you say to people who think somebody committed a criminal act, but don't think they're a criminal?
Paul: Easy, a criminal IS someone who commits a criminal act, no matter the reason.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: But up until Roe V. Wade, the abortionists were the criminals. If the law hadn't changed, there wouldn't have been a bombing.
Paul: If the law hadn't changed, I would've been a slave. You can't turn back the clock.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Judge Pate thinks the Constitution was written on a laptop. You don't like what it says, push a button, rights appear out of nowhere.
D.A. Adam Schiff: The crying towels are in the closet down the hall.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: We had that kid dead to rights. Now we can't use any of the evidence, not even his name.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Oh, I didn't know that the Bill of Rights was written to make your life easier.

Sergeant: You have no idea what it's about.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: We think we do, you're gay too.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: We need you to testify.
Sergeant: My parents have no idea, this would be a hell of a way for them to find out.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: If you let these men walk, then next time you can die in an alley, alone, just like Newman.

Arraignment: Do we have a plea?
Steven: Not guilty, your Honor.
Arraignment: Paul?
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The defendant savagely murdered an elderly woman, your Honor.
Arraignment: Wait, wait, wait, wait: it says here now that Mrs. Spiegleman was 61.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: That's correct your honor.
Arraignment: My 61st birthday, you were cramming for a torts exam. I'd advise you to choose your adjectives a little more courteously. Counsel?
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The People request bail at 500,000.
Sally: My client can hardly afford cab fare to Brooklyn your Honor. Why not make it a million?
Arraignment: Why not?
[pauses and smiles]
Arraignment: And they say the elderly lose their sense of humor.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: [grins wryly]
Arraignment: Bail is set at 250 cash or bond. Next.

Paul: It's not for me to say, I'm not for abortion, I'm for birth control.

Paul: Education. It's a wonderful thing.

Paul: So what's the story? What's with this pro se nonsense?
Simon: [loftily] I want my day in court, to show what that bastard did to us.
Paul: But you didn't kill McFadden.
Simon: Nope. But I'd make a hell of a scapegoat. Me and my big mouth.

[last lines]
Paul: You never answered Woodleigh's question, the one we had stricken.
Ben: You mean would I have done what Woodleigh did if it were my daughter? God I hope not.

Paul: You saw where Rydell was going. You should have stopped her cross completely.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: The more I object, the more it reinforces *her* strategy. The more Roy looks like a victim.
Paul: But still, letting her play the jury's heartstrings...
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: We knew it was coming. She's got nothing else.
Paul: And if they buy it, he walks. No manslaughter charges, no safety net.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Last I looked, you were very adamant about this. You knew that if we included anything less than murder, she'd pull out the sympathy, and the jury would opt for manslaughter.
Paul: Ben, I agree I didn't want to give the jury that option. Only...
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Only you looked over the edge, and you didn't like the view.
Paul: I looked at the box; I didn't like the jurors' faces.

Mike: 14 shots from under 10 feet away.
Paul: Somebody wanted to be sure.

Mrs. Anna Rivers: I talked to Shambala, the lawyer.
Paul: Miss Green is a Legal Aid lawyer. Legal Aid loses two-thirds of its cases; the district attorney wins two-thirds. Do you want to gamble with Miss Green?

Shambala: Carla, this is very serious.
Carla: I know that! I'm accused of murdering my own daughter, isn't that it?
Paul: Yes. Yes, you are. We have a witness who saw you roughing Dierdre up that night, but only you and your husband know which of you hit her. Maybe you didn't hit her. Maybe your husband...
Carla: Nobody hit Didi.
Paul: Okay. Pushed her down. Maybe she wouldn't stop crying, so he picked her up and h...
Carla: He picked her up.
Paul: And then he threw her?
Carla: And then he laid hands on it.
Paul: What do you mean?
Carla: To fix it. To make it better. Jacob says that healing is a matter of adjusting your mind to God's will.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: We gave him immunity as quid pro quo for his testimony. He lied. That's got to break the deal, common sense!
D.A. Adam Schiff: Common sense has nothing to do with it. A man waives his Fifth Amendment rights by testifying.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Whether he tells the truth or not!
D.A. Adam Schiff: It doesn't matter, he's entitled to immunity. Do you think he killed his brother?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: No, I think he's protecting someone.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Uh huh. Alright, then we threaten him with perjury. The idea of four years in Attica should scare the hell out of him. He'll talk.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The alternative might scare him a lot more. I don't think he's protecting a friend. The man's scared.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Well I can't say that I blame him. He saw what happened to his brother.
D.A. Adam Schiff: A man is desperate enough to steal from his own family? Subpoena his personal records and find out who he owes money to.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Adam, banks kill with a thousand cuts, not with a whack on the head.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Some lenders are in a bigger hurry. Ezra dies, Isaac gets the business. It's a very good way to ensure prompt payment.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Do you think of yourself as a black lawyer or a lawyer who's black?
Paul: Depends on the context.

Paul: Pregnant mother... She'll carry a lot of weight in the jury room.

Ben: If we plead him out, he only serves 3 years!
Adam: If you don't plead him out, he serves NO years.
Ben: Fine! Take a plea! YOU tell the Bartletts the news.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: 'Your daughter's life for 3 years'?

Carla: What about my baby? Is he all right?
Paul: He's okay. He's in a foster home until this thing gets resolved.
Carla: Oh, Ezra.
Paul: Yes, of course. What baby were you referring to? Your husband? Is that who you're thinking about at a time like this?

Captain: [watching interrogation] Little nose-wipe's holding up.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Why not? We don't even have enough to hold him for stealing time from Ma Bell.

Adam: The gun dealer was in the yard at Riker's; had his throat cut. Buenaventura was strangled in the kitchen at Dannemora. And Manuel Ortega's mother fell out of a window.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: What about the little girl?
Adam: She was picked up at school by her uncle.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: She doesn't have an uncle!
[cut to Schiff's horrified expression before the credits roll]

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: What amazes me is that he almost convinced his son to do 25-to-life.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Must've given him quite a lecture on family values.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Bunker spent 30 years defending the Constitution. I wonder if he ever read it.
D.A. Adam Schiff: I doubt if he ever got past the Declaration of Independence: "All *men* are created equal."

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: I don't know, I think 25 to life is pretty good.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: I know two people that would call it a gift.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Maybe this would cheer them up.
[hands Paul a newspaper]
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The obituaries?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Richard Speck murdered 8 nurses and died in prison, he was 49. Cheney's 42.

Ben: Look at the bright side.
Paul: What bright side?
Ben: We are not in Boston.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Cristobal's son, 19, police report says Gaitan put three bullets in the back of his head. Maybe Frank Hoover has a point.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Terrific. You don't like the system, go get a gun. We can paint the courthouse steps red.
Adam: A lot of people would rather give him a medal than a sentence. Frank Hoover has a case for extreme emotional disturbance.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: I'm not hard hearted, but I don't get this one. It's premeditated, it's wrong.
Adam: I'm not up on my Catholic theology, but is self-righteousness a mortal or a venial sin?
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: You killed a man who killed your son, to a jury it doesn't matter how premeditated it was.
Adam: Let him do four to 12.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: OK, just as long as you take the press conference.

[last lines]
[Arthur Gold has just lost a case to Stone]
Arthur: Call me for lunch.
[Gold drives away]
ADA: You'd really eat lunch with him?
EADA: Only if he orders 'crow'.

D.A. Adam Schiff: No, only your most crucial evidence...
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Half the precinct knows who wrote that memo. How can I prove it? She could've let it in.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Judge Larkin? Her politics aren't with you when the law is against you.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: We have to connect the memo to Rhodes.
D.A. Adam Schiff: What about the kid that brought it in? The partner?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: He says he didn't know.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Tell me you believe him.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: I put him on the stand, he'll lie. He's scared of what the other cops will think.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Is that what he's scared of?

Paul: Never seen you like this before.
Ben: I've never done anything this potentially stupid before. I just pray to God that when I get out of here, I'm not competing with Melanie Cullen for an uptown cab.
Adam: Jury just finished dinner catered from Walter's. Hope you don't have a lousy six days.
Ben: Well, it's four hours and it's already lousy.
Adam: Good night, gentlemen.
Paul: Good night.
Ben: [Phone rings] Stone.
[Listens to phone]
Ben: Just a minute.
[to Schiff and Robinette]
Ben: It's Lehrman. He's pacing too. He'll take two counts of man one. She'll do nine years.
Adam: It's more than four.
Paul: Less than 25.
Adam: [Stone looks to Schiff] It's your case.
Ben: And my stomach.
[Picks up phone]
Ben: Deal.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Eye for an eye's worked for thousands of years.

Paul: Was it real, Mrs. Crawford? Was any of it?
Mrs. Thelma Crawford: [pause] Astria's pregnant.
Paul: [thinks] The Hill kid.
Mrs. Thelma Crawford: But we're Catholic, so we thought if we said 2 white cops raped her, that her father would...
Paul: Let her have an abortion.
Mrs. Thelma Crawford: We didn't think it would go this far.

Jules: 8-1/4% tax on $14,000. That's over 1100. My customer says to me: ship a dummy box to New Jersey or I'll buy my stones in Palm Beach. What am I supposed to do?
Paul: Tell him our jails are nicer than Florida's.
Jules: State hit me with a $100,000 fine. I love New York.
Paul: Looks like you're surviving. Your record on that necklace?
Jules: Is it really that important? My customer comes in angry, I want his business.
Paul: If your customer comes in again, call Geraldo. He's dead, and this is a murder investigation.
[both walk over to file cabinet]
Paul: Mr Cullen paid cash, right? And the necklace was sent to an Alexandra Becket?
Jules: Just barely. Mr Cullen had bought several pieces for his wife over the years. Smaller pieces. There was a cretinous new shipping clerk who called Mrs. Cullen by mistake. She was not expecting a necklace. Very embarrassing. If Mr Cullen had found out it would have cost me his business.
Paul: Cost him a lot more than that.

[last lines]
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: They beat you, they starve you; makes me wonder what I would have done.
D.A. Adam Schiff: There's no Supreme Court of Ethics, my friend. Sometimes the only yardstick is: Can you look yourself in the mirror, the day after?
Paul: Well, what about Mara? By insisting we seal the files, she was still protecting her father.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: She wasn't protecting her father. She was protecting her son.

Ben: [on the phone, covers mouthpiece] It's Lehrman, he wants to make a deal, 2 counts of Man 1, 9 years.
Adam: It's more than 4.
Paul: But less than 25.
Adam: [Stone looks at him] It's your case.
Ben: [into receiver] Deal.
[hangs up]

Leslie: The night I was born, "Hair" opened on Broadway. Guess whose premiere Daddy attended?
Paul: Doesn't sound like you've patched things up.
Leslie: Oh, as far as he's concerned, I'm a show that closed on opening night.

D.A. Adam Schiff: Slavery. When I got up this morning, I *thought* it was the 20th century.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: In *some* countries.

Judge: Miss Green. Delightful to see you. You grace my courtroom so rarely.
Shambala: Certainly not by choice, Your Honor.
Judge: Tell your client it's time to say the magic words.
Shambala: [Whispers] Not guilty.
Angela: Not guilty.
Paul: Your Honor, with a case this strong, the People see a substantial flight risk. We request $250,000.
Shambala: The defendant has custody of her daughter, Your Honor. High bail would be a serious hardship.
Judge: She should've thought of her child before she became a prostitute.
Shambala: Did it ever occur to Your Honor that some women become prostitutes in order to support their children?
Judge: How stupid of me. God forbid you should get a regular job. And let me point out, Miss Green, for your next visit, that's a table, not a soapbox. Bail is $150,000. Short date. In honor of motherhood.
[Bangs gavel]

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Life is hard, Otis, it's even harder when you're stupid.

Adam: Cloudy, muddy, murky. The jury has enough reasonable doubt to bottle it and sell it.
Paul: You can hear Willis in summation: "The defendants lied because they were scared. Yes they owned a gun, but did they use it?"
Ben: Marian Borland. What did she tell the cops? "The kids were competitive, it was unhealthy." The only unhealthy competition was hers, for her son's glory.
Adam: Are you prosecuting or preaching?
Ben: She pulled the trigger. Not physically...
Adam: Oh, metaphysically.
Ben: She harped on the Chong kid every day. Why did Randy kill him? You kick a dog long enough, it bites.
Paul: You want to try that in your summation?
Adam: It won't get you a conviction.
Ben: Might get us a deal.

Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: You know the difference between Auster and a serial killer?
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The weapon.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: You don't believe I can win, do you?
D.A. Adam Schiff: I believe that you've got a hell of a mountain to climb in your summation. Isaac's lack of credibility translates into reasonable doubt!
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The jury could find Tashjian technically not guilty.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: And we all know he killed Ezra Shorr.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Our knowledge is a long way from proof.

Paul: It's like a fairy tale.
Ben: Which one?
Paul: Mirror, mirror, on the wall...
Ben: She looked at her daughter and saw herself.
Paul: Somehow I don't think she'll ever realize what she did was wrong.
Ben: No, you're probably right, but it's scary.
Paul: What is?
Ben: That an emotion like love can do so much damage.

Paul: Attempted homicide? Those 53 people are homicides. They're dead.
Attorney: He didn't mean to kill anyone, Paul!
Paul: Don't tell me you're even thinking about negligent homicide. Now, look, if he's only a messenger boy, he'd better start naming names or he's going down alone.
Attorney: He says if he goes to prison, the man'll have him killed.
Paul: [as he pins Pescador against the wall] Listen to me, man! You don't go to jail, there's about 500 grieving relatives out there who'd be happy to kill you! You hear what I'm saying?
Cesar: I'll take my chances with them.

[last lines]
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Anything worth knowing cannot be taught in a classroom.
Paul: Oscar Wilde?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Sister Mary Frances. She wielded a hell of a paddle.

Joe: Forget it, Stone. You don't come running with your hat in your hand from a position of strength.
Ben: You call this a position of strength, counselor? We're offering a deal so we can wrap this up, but if you want to play games...
Joe: What games? You've got the unsubstantiated testimony of a little psycho who can't shoot straight.
Michael: Let's get something straight here, Mr. Stone. I'm not in short pants. T-Ball's testimony isn't enough to convict me.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Probably not. But Ned Kay's will.
Michael: [Smiles] Ned Kay? He won't mess with my thing. I'm going back to my cell.

Paul: So what? So what-what, we sit back and watch him tear the city in half? He's already set back race relations 30 years! I work with these people. I know how they feel, there is no cover-up! You know me! You think I'd be a party to it? This is unbelievable! I become a lawyer, turn down Wall Street, go into the one area I think I can help, and everybody thinks I'm a damn Oreo! Excuse me, Father.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Could be he's lucky.
Capt. Donald Cragen: Could be next week I'll be doing shampoo commercials.

[last lines]
Paul: How many times have you given me the "you don't win every time" speech?
Ben: I don't mind losing, Paul.
Paul: Could've fooled me.
Ben: What I do mind is that twelve honest citizens knew that he was guilty, and acquitted him.
Paul: Well, they were flim-flammed on the self-defense.
Ben: They knew they were being flim-flammed, and they still acquitted him... and that's frightening.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: How long should this imaginary call take?
E.A.D.A. Ben Stone: Oh, let 'em stew. Ten or fifteen minutes should do it.