Top 150 Quotes From Executive ADA Ben Stone

Ben: I guess you just weren't clever enough.
Phillip: I got this far, Ben.
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.

[last lines]
Ben: Adam, this isn't what I wanted.
Adam: I have no complaints. Let's go tell the mayor.

Ben: She kept the printouts from Bryce's DTT for the last 3 years, including the death threat to Kathy McKenna the day of the murder.
Adam: Next time I bypass the switchboard operator entirely.

EADA: You knew all along. With your testimony, we could have gone to trial three weeks ago.
Edward: Watch your tone, sir. I pick up the phone, and your license to be holier than everybody else on this planet can be used to wallpaper the sewer.

Ben: In your new film, was Priscilla Blaine expected to perform sex acts on screen?
Director: Tastefully, yes.

[Laura Winthrop's arraignment]
Court: How does the defendant plead?
Laura: Not guilty, Your Honor.
Court: [to Auclair] I assume you are requesting bail?
Roger: We are, Your Honor.
Ben: Prosecution does not consider Miss Winthrop a flight risk, Your Honor. However, the 35-woman prostitution ring which the defendant ran is one of the largest and most lucrative of its kind uncovered in recent years.
Streetwalker: [yelling across the courtroom to her pimp, Andrew] Listen up, Andrew, and get some pointers!
[Andrew gives her a cold stare as the courtroom gallery laughs. Judge Harper bangs his gavel for order]
Court: [to Stone] I gather this is alleged to be an efficiently run business?
Ben: Thoroughly computerized, with a client list that includes doctors, diplomats, CEOs of some of the city's largest corporations...
Court: [cuts Stone off] Get to the point, Mr. Stone. Despite the impressive list of assets, promoting prostitution is still merely a Class D felony.
Ben: This office requests bail commensurate with the serious impact of the crime on the moral fiber of this community.
Streetwalker: [to Andrew] Ya hear that, Andrew? Fiber! I told you we ALL need fiber!
[Andrew glares and points a small wooden club at her threateningly as the gallery laughs again. Judge Harper bangs his gavel for order once more]

[to Dr. Reberty]
Ben: That was very cute. "A little over a million." A million over a million, sir.

Adam: So they might believe the girl committed suicide, but the defense will appeal. Admission of the tape was reversible error.
Ben: Judge Hale didn't think the tape was overly prejudicial.
Adam: Even if the girl did kill herself, it's tough to prove that the mother's behavior was the proximate cause of her death.
Ben: And we're almost there. The tape went a long way to prove that. Mrs. Blaine knew that acting in those films was making her daughter suicidal.
Adam: Yeah, but if she doesn't take the stand, you've got no way of proving what she knew or didn't know. And Pollard's no fool. He's been around. No way he's gonna put her on the stand. No way you're gonna make your case.
Paul: What if it wasn't suicide after all? At the probate hearing Mrs. Blaine said that when Priscilla was nervous about starring in a film, she told her to talk to Angel about it.
Ben: At trial, Angel said Mrs. Blaine didn't want Priscilla around her.
Paul: Maybe she knew Angel was getting drugs to get through the performance.
Ben: So Mrs. Blaine sent Priscilla to Angel to get the rugs to help her have sex on camera. So we change our theory? Priscilla didn't commit suicide, she OD'd? Mrs. Blaine not only forced her daughter to have sex on camera, but she gave her the drugs to help her do that. Ergo, she is guilty of her daughter's death.
Paul: And with her prior testimony, we don't even need Mrs. Blaine on the stand.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: I don't care if you were there to buy a nuclear bomb, you're not the one on trial.

[last lines]
Phillip: So... who makes the first move?
Ben: I want a confession. Not only for the murder of Russell Bobbitt, but for the murder of Sid Cohen.
Phillip: [laughs in disbelief] And give away my greatest victory?
Ben: [to corrections officers] Take this man back to his cell.
Phillip: [confused, then angry] You give up so easy? It doesn't make any sense, Ben, you're being totally *impractical*! That's not like you.
Ben: Obviously, you don't know me. You never did.
[smirks]

Ben: I want you to put Marty Lake back on the street.
Jerry: What for? So he can resume his service to the community?
Ben: As bad as Lake's crimes are, they pale by comparison to these murders.
Jerry: Ben, unless this advances my department's prosecutorial interests =
Ben: Jerry this is not about servicing anyone's body count.
Jerry: Well, my obligation is to keep scum like Marty Lake off the street.
Ben: And to protect the innocent.
Jerry: Do you have any idea of what kind of crap I'd get into if I went along with this?
Ben: You can always duck. I'll take the hit.
Jerry: If you've got a bullet-proof vest, Ben, then I hope you plan to sleep in it.

Ben: [trying to establish a threat of death for girls kicked out of Haven House] If he would've threatened to throw her out on the expressway...
Adam: But he didn't.
Ben: Times Square is just as dangerous in her mind.

Ben: The appeal is based on the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights. You didn't have a warrant when you searched his place of abode.
Det. Mike Logan: "Abode" huh? It was in the damn bushes!

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: We ask that the defendant be sentenced to a youth facility until his 18th birthday, then transferred to Attica.
Chris: Why?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: We're trying to save your life, son.
Chris: What's the point?

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.

EADA: Better to light a match than curse the darkness.
Adam: Be careful you don't light a fuse.

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]

Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: He can just disregard the jury's verdict?
Ben: If he feels the jury disregarded the facts presented, yes, he can.
Adam: Yep, we should have seen it coming. The Honorable Keith Silver. Wrote the book on the rights of the accused. He thinks Miranda is five pages too short.

Cobb: You give us immunity on this case. On the federal counts, three years each, nine years total.
Ben: Nine years? It's hard to imagine the US Attorney will settle for that.
Cobb: Well, it's hard to imagine my client will help you if they don't. Make your call.

Joanna: Mr. McDaniel is going to be a very wealthy man.
Ben: With only one kidney.
Joanna: Just like I have, Mr. Stone. The hope is we'll both live long and happy lives.
Ben: Please believe me. I'm glad you're healthy again. I know how close to death you were. But Miss Woodleigh, do you really think your father would have acted any differently if you'd needed a heart instead of a kidney?
[Joanna turns and leaves his office]

Ben: I hope there's an afterlife. For some crimes, the penal law is inadequate.

Adam: No excuses, you screwed up!
EADA: I thought...
Adam: Brains were not involved here!

Janet: [when she accuses her husband of molesting her daughter] She took showers with him and his live-in girlfriend, naps with them when she was naked. My child was living in terror.
Ben: Mrs. Silver, we are sorry for your daughter, but an accusation is not enough for us to prosecute.

D.A. Adam Schiff: A woman was murdered in our jurisdiction. That's our only priority.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: So we shield him?... Poland is not entitled to punish him for the greater evil?
D.A. Adam Schiff: Greater evil? Since when did you get so philosophical? This office doesn't care about Poles, or Nazis, any more than it does about Serbs or Croats. We're not in the evil business; we're in the crime business.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Adam, I may be wrong, but... I thought, of all people, you would want...
D.A. Adam Schiff: The man killed his wife? Try him; convict him. That's all I want.

Jack: What gives you the right to decide how I should live the rest of my life?
EADA: Unfortunately, you did. Not once, not twice, but three times.

Laura: How about involuntary manslaughter? I'd be out in 5 years, right?
Ben: 2 and a half with good behavior.
Laura: I'm always on my best behavior.

Ben: The statute also covers threats to damaged property. And if, as you state, a fetus is not a person at any point in its gestation...
Judge: I don't want to hear the end of that argument, Ben.
Ben: I understand, Your Honor. But this case...
Judge: Deserves to leave skid marks on the bowl.
Jane: Thank you.
Judge: Don't hold a tickertape parade just yet, Miss Schuman I'm going to let the state take its case to a jury.
Jane: This is ridiculous.
Judge: If I get reversed, so be it. But I have a feeling your client is exactly the sort a panel of judges would love to use to make new law.

Bill: Anyone would make up a story to cut a deal. The police won't find any evidence to support it, because there isn't any.
Claire: The thirty-five hundred dollar deposit to Weiss' account was a check from your client.
Edward: Do give me some credit. I almost won the Nobel Prize; you think I'd pay a hired killer by check?
Ben: With your attitude, sir, you might think yourself too smart to get caught.

Ben: Mr. Lang, I get the feeling that you did this for hire. Now, I can charge you with murder, and if you don't start talking you're the one who's going to be serving a life sentence.
Joey: Well, if I'm going for one, I might as well go for the deuce.
Ben: Is that a threat, sir?
Joey: I could be over this table and crack your head before that clown could do anything about it. See, I'm not going down for something I *didn't* do.
Ben: Sir, you just threatened a man who could charge you with murder. And right now, I don't give a damn about your innocence. So what good did that do you?

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: The conspiracy is a house of cards. The slightest breeze, and it all comes tumbling down.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Only no little piggy has started huffing and puffing.

[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.

Danielle: [to Stone] You've been humiliated in court once and that was with a Ph.D. on the stand. Can you imagine what happens with a psychopath and a drug addict? Please, Ben, drop the charges against Dr. Merritt. Consider saving your own career.
Ben: When I was a boy, I collected baseball cards and there was this one kid who convinced me to trade a Duke Snider for a Gene Hermanski. He said it was a good deal.
Danielle: What the hell does that mean?
Ben: I learned the hard way. For a deal to be good, there has to be equal consideration and there's no way you can cough up enough consideration to justify a deal for him.

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.

EADA: What is all this rage against a father who loves him and dotes on him?
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: It's a fairly common behavioral trait among children of highly successful parents. They love the perks, they hate the price.
EADA: Let's just hope justice is blind.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: Excuse me?
EADA: He's the only witness I have. And God willing, that jury won't see what a sniveling, conniving little weasel he is.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: Well, if telling the truth is a way he can humiliate his father, I think he'll be very motivated. He should be quite persuasive.

Ben: Ms. Fermi, the jury made a mistake. The system let you down. I'm sorry.
Andrea: So am I, Mr. Stone.

Adam: Twenty people in that restaurant. No ID. We say he's Gaitan, they say Esteban. Without fingerprints, they can say he's Peter Pan.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: The State Department buys dictators over breakfast, they can't get prints from the Colombians?
Adam: Billions of dollars, the cartel is an underground nation. They kill judges down there for sport!
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Adam, is there an agenda here?
Adam: The US Attorney's office did call. They say that Gaitan can make federal cases into the next century.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: He'll get six months, testify in three cases, and go home.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Adam, that is nuts. We convict, the feds get leverage, and I think facing 25 years, he'd sell out anybody.
Adam: The feds would like us to talk to Gaitan. You'll do it.

D.A. Adam Schiff: We're making a deal with the wrong side! This dealer shot two people, paralyzed a kid.
E.A.D.A. Ben Stone: But we can't get him for murder.

[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'.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Everyone who dances with the devil thinks they can walk away. You can't.

Ben: I can't let you testify now.
Alex: What?
Ben: The law won't let us introduce his prior bad acts.
[to Elise]
Ben: Even if he'd been convicted of your assault, it would be very difficult.
Alex: So this guy can just go around hurting people, and they won't listen?

Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: We got what we needed from Dr. Simonson.
Dr. Edward Auster: An intern, Mr. Stone. Are you planning on asking the cleaning lady to testify, too? About the time I threw the tissue into the wastepaper basket and missed?

Ben: Either she's evil, or she's two years old. She wants what she wants when she wants it.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: You made a decision based on something from within. You live with it, you examine it, that's all you got.

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.

Ben: Starvation is a natural cause in Somalia. In New York, it's murder two.

Ben: She fooled a lot of people, Elizabeth.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: But not for the same reason she fooled me.

Edward: I'll not end my career in disgrace.
Ben: I understand, sir - but the alternative is letting your wife's murderer go free.
Edward: One single human life, on the timescale of the universe... You and I have different priorities.

Danielle: [to a witness] You were scheduled to be deported, were you not? But in exchange for your testimony...
Ben: Objection! That's a lie!
Judge: Approach.
[They do]
Judge: All questions of fact will be for the jury to decide, Mister Stone.
Ben: If I'm slandered, Your Honor, I have to defend myself.
Judge: Ms. Melnick, any remarks which further provoke Mr. Stone will also provoke me - and you will regret it.

Ben: The last time conspiracy was easy was Judas and the romans.

Ben: The Court of Appeals is moving with the Supreme Court.
Leonard: The Court of Appeals changes its mind more often than I change my socks. That permit was for the Borland business. The warrant was for the Borland home. Any idiot can see the cops were relying on the phone call.
Judge: I'm not even an idiot, I can see it.

Ben: I'm not the one on trial here, and I'm the one who asks the questions!

Ben: [Hendricks revealed bleeding palms after his conviction] Thumbtacks in his palms, at least he didn't try to walk on water.
Adam: Next I want to see you pull the tablecloth out and leave the glasses standing. There's no way you should've won this case.

Ben: [about Ramona Stark] We got a Chinese menu here: column A, she's the savior of all molested children, column B, she scares innocent men into giving up their kids.

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]

E.A.D.A. Ben Stone: Why don't they take a few more dollars out of sanitation and hire more inspectors?
D.A. Adam Schiff: In politics there's always two choices, do nothing, do something, nothing has fewer risks.

Horace: In the eyes of the law, I believe, Mr. Tunney is an innocent person - unless you've already had a trial and convicted him, without inviting me.
Executive: Uh, no, Horace; we wouldn't think of havin' a trial without inviting you.

Ben: He wants a slap on the wrist.
Adam: So start slapping.

D.A. Adam Schiff: You can't force the other side to play. You put a check in the win column and you count your blessings.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: In any other circumstances, that's exactly what I'd do.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Why does this kid deserve such special attention?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: 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.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Maybe he knows his life better than you do. Your job is to convict not to rehabilitate.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: He's a 14-year-old kid who gave up.
D.A. Adam Schiff: So you're doing him a favor.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: 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.
D.A. Adam Schiff: Gary Gilmore. Westley Dodd. Two unrepentant killers. Everybody wants them dead until they agree and then we turn them into folk heroes.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: We had nothing to do with their fates.
D.A. Adam Schiff: 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.

Adam: What is it, greed? Power? Evil!
Ben: I thought you didn't believe in evil.
Adam: I never met Janet Ralston before.
Ben: She's either evil or she's two years old. She wants what she wants, when she wants it.
Adam: That's cute.

Ian: May I ask you a question, sir? How, with the map of Donegal on your mug, did you ever end up with a name like Stone?
Ben: Happenstance, sir. Same way you ended up with the name of a real Irish patriot.,

Defense: What's it going to take to make you happy, Stone?
EADA: The Mets in the Series, peace on Earth, and Dr. Reberty in Danamorra.

Sharon: My client would have surrendered, Mr. Stone. The humiliation of a public arrest was hardly called for.
EADA: I'm sorry, I missed the "Emily Post" chapter on the "etiquette of arrest.

Sgt. Max Greevey: [Smiling] Congratulations. How did you know?
Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: My father. Every day at lunch.

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.

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.

[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.

[a witness has a mental condition causing him to sometimes act irrationally]
Ben: Your psychiatrist tells us that you have moments of rational thought. We're going to take care of you, and you're going to go back in there and have one of those moments.

[last lines]
Ben: [after convicting a talented physicist of second-degree murder] On the other hand, he killed a woman, so I had to play it by the book.
Adam: You feel bad about that?
Ben: Twenty-five years - he's not your typical killer.
Adam: He is - he killed somebody.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: When I was in school, they taught the ABCs.
DA: Now they've added the D, for depravity.

E.A.D.A. Ben Stone: Nothing is real to her. We're all just actors in her play. Foster didn't die; he just lef the stage.

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.

Ben: Well, he's certainly going for the jugular. Tax returns for the last 10 years. Puts my life on the dissecting table, and he drools over it.
Claire: He is good. I don't know many lawyers who can recite chapter and verse on collateral estoppel.
Ben: [Animated] What did he say right after that?
Claire: "It's not like this is my first case."
Ben: Waiter, check please.

D.A. Adam Schiff: Who said your case is made by prepping the witness?
E.A.D.A. Ben Stone: You did, about four hundred times.

Adam: If Judge Markham doesn't dismiss; the whole thing is circumstantial. The girl works for a priest, no less. To a jury, she's practically got a halo.
Ben: Do you have any helpful suggestions?

Claire: She's being very literal.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Judge Barry? She thinks we should give the defendants nice clothes so the jury won't be prejudiced.

Ben: True love! They'd trade each other for a nickel.

ADA: [Claire, thinking her assignment as Ben's assistant D.A. is over due to her mistake] I'm preparing a calendar of pending cases. I'll forward it to your secretary. For all the problems we had, I do want to thank you for a learning experience.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: These working relationships, they can be very difficult. I remember one assistant, he stapled an internal memo to a document that he then sent to defendant's counsel and that case was lost. I thought it was a career-ender but they gave me another chance. So, see you in the morning?

Scoler: Mr. Tatum, has the CIA ever tried to assassinate you?
Christian: Yes.
Scoler: When was the last attempt on your life?
Christian: Tuesday.
Ben: Objection, your honor.
[Judge waves dismissively]
Scoler: Why would the CIA want to kill you, Mr. Tatum?
Christian: Eastern Europe. I briefed Mikhail Gorbachev several times lat year, before it all happened.
Scoler: So you made them look bad?
Christian: Yes, they don't like that.
Scoler: Thank you, Mr. Tatum. No further questions.

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

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'?

[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.

[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.

Daniel: You cannot survive without me.
Ben: Oh quite the contrary, Mr. Hendricks, we will not only survive without you, we will endure.

Ben: [to Dr. Merrick] Do you frequently have sex with patients?
Danielle: Objection!
Judge: Sustained.
Ben: Do you call all your patients bitches, doctor?
Danielle: Objection!

ADA: He'll be protected.
Horace: The only way to assure that is to drop your opposition to my motion for bail.
Executive: Then he'd be safe, but nobody else would.
Horace: If he's your killer! I've seen stronger evidence that Eisenhower was a communist!

Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: You said 'Here's your taste'. Sounds rather cool!

Bill: Plagiarism isn't larceny.
Ben: Well, I'll let a jury decide that. But don't think I won't show that jury every detail of Professor Manning's deceit.
Edward: Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a charge of larceny presuppose that the thing allegedly stolen have value? Weiss's idea was flawed, amateurish and worthless; that's why I rejected his proposal. No serious physicist would have wasted an hour on it.
Ben: That's awfully convenient for you to say that, sir.
Edward: Yes, quite convenient. I'll be happy to testify about this at length. I'm the leading authority in the field. Ask anyone.

Adam: You and the girl's lawyer want to pressure her into pleading to a lesser charge that she might *not* be guilty of so she won't be convicted of a more serious charge that she *might* be guilty of? Does that make sense?
Ben: With our system and imperfect knowledge? Yes.

Ben: Adam, if you were a defense attorney, and a prosecutor came to you with evidence that tended to prove that your client was innocent, what would you do?
Adam: I'd celebrate up and down Center Street, and then move to set aside the plea.
Ben: Until we withdrew the charges, there wasn't a peep out of Miss Knight.
Adam: If we took the license of every incompetent lawyer in the city, we wouldn't have to recycle the New York Times.

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.

Adam: If Manning swears that the theory is worthless, you gotta prove that it isn't. Now, what the hell's the theory?
Claire: That protons eventually fall apart.
Adam: Is this something to be worried about?
Claire: It means all matter in the universe will eventually disintegrate, in a certain way.
Adam: Terrific. Now, all we gotta do to win a larceny trial is prove how the universe will end!
Ben: No, all I do is get my own group of expert witnesses.
Adam: Well, who are you gonna get? The Almighty?
Ben: Physics professors! That's all Manning is.
Adam: Oh - physics professors. You better get a jury of insomniacs.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Mr. Parker, are you teaching your son about what's right by getting a witness shot?

Det. Sgt. Maxwell "Max" Greevey: [after Stone was punched in the mouth] How's the jaw?
Ben: It only hurts when I prosecute, so find something to keep me out of the courtroom until the swelling goes down.

Chet: You may not like my style, Mr. Stone, but this I believe: You don't put people in prison for defending their loved ones.
Ben: Defending or avenging?
Chet: I'll let the jury split that hair.

EADA: My father wanted me to be a doctor. I went so far as to study organic chemistry.
Adam: What happened?
EADA: I grew up.

[last lines]
Ben: She uses an out-of-date prison library and her work is better than anything I've seen from a Wall Street law firm.
Adam: "The truth is ugly, so we put our prophets in prison."
Ben: Oscar Wilde?
Adam: Charles Manson.

Joe: This cash you allege came from the defendant: You said you used it to bail out one of your own projects, is that right?
Edward: Yes.
Joe: Well? Did you?
Edward: Yes. At least I tried, but...
Joe: But what? Did your habit interfere with business, Mr. Kay?
Ben: Objection, your honor.
Joe: Sidebar, your honor.
Judge: What's this about?
Joe: I'm going to impeach his credibility, judge. He's a cocaine user.
Ben: Your honor, the People are aware of Mr. Kay's '86 arrest, but he was not convicted. It's not relevant, it's not admissable.
Judge: Do you have an offer of proof, counselor?
Joe: Why don't we just go to the record? Mr. Stone.
[Shows file to Judge and Stone]
Judge: Go ahead, Mr. Anson.
Joe: Mr. Kay, under the name Edward M. Kayman, you were convicted of possession of a controlled substance in the state of Connecticut in 1984? In fact, it was cocaine, was it not?
Judge: Answer the question, Mr. Kay.
Edward: Yes.
Joe: And then later you legally changed your name to Ned Kay, didn't you?
Edward: Yes.
Joe: Do you still use cocaine, Mr. Kay?
Edward: I respectfully refuse to answer on the...
Joe: Are you invoking the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination?
Edward: Yes, sir.
Joe: Did you pay for cocaine out of any of the $300,000 that you stole from Mr. Ingrams?
Edward: I respectfully refuse to answer for the same reason.
Joe: You refuse to answer. But you expect us to believe that Mr. Ingrams threatened to kill you!

Ben: Benny Williams was never that Pat's father. He just happened to be in the room when he was conceived.

Ben: The commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill". It does not say, "Thou shalt not kill *nice* people".

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.

Adam: There's a reason for the Reverend Otts of this world.
EADA: To promote anti-Semitism?
Adam: To remind us that we still have a long way to go.

D.A. Adam Schiff: [When Julia decides not to testify in court] Yeah, well, it's for the best. You'll have a hell of a time explaining what that girl was doing in his room after midnight.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: But does the 70-year-old mugging victim have to explain why he was riding alone on a subway at night?
D.A. Adam Schiff: Well, it'd make our job easier.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Of course it would. We wouldn't have any more victims.

Ben: [to Andrea] Did you say the boys would like your costume if they liked little girls?
Andrea: It was a joke.
Ben: Gary will testify.
Andrea: So now it's not just my word against Ted and Joel's? It's against Gary, too? You don't want to go through with this.
Ben: Do you?

Adam: Young people get impatient with old people. Especially cantankerous ones.
Ben: Oh yeah? Speaking from personal experience?
Adam: I'm a sweetheart. And I'm middle aged.

Ben: I'm a Catholic - I can feel guilty about anything.

Gordon: It's a crime of passion, Stone. Pure and simple.
Ben: A crime of passion is never pure, and it's certainly not simple.

Ben: [to Mr. Savitt] We both know what kind of girl Debra Elkins is, sir. And don't think you're any better.

Bill: You'll fly in witnesses from all over the country to prosecute a class E felony?
Ben: If your client doesn't testify in a trial involving the murder of his wife, I'll fly 'em in from Jupiter - and tell him he can't worry about his reputation anymore; he doesn't have any.
Edward: You're ruining me as a man of science.
Ben: Sir, you did that yourself. I'm just asking you to tell the jury how you did it.

Ben: Sanctuary? What is this, medieval England?
A.D.A. Claire Kincaid: You really plan to argue this in front of a judge?
Shambala: And the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, if necessary.
Ben: So your client is going to stay in this church until your exercise in futility is completed?
Shambala: Considering the alternative, you bet. That is, of course, unless you'd like to save us all a lot of time and energy.
Ben: Well, what does that mean?
Shambala: Man two, he serves the minimum.
Ben: Your client savagely killed Mr. John De Santis on the local news. We call that murder two.

Shambala: We're pleading temporary insanity.
Ben: What, yours or your client's?

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.

Ben: Miss Elkins, how does this con game work? When you found out you were pregnant, was the first call to your lawyer to find out what you could or could not say to these people?
Debra: As a matter of fact, yeah.

D.A. Adam Schiff: Steve Green is filing an appeal.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: On what possible grounds?
D.A. Adam Schiff: Coercion of a witness, Ann Madsen.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Given the witness is dead, the Appeals Court should be amused.

Elizabeth: [about Priscilla] But I loved her. She was my life!
Ben: No, she was your daughter. She had a life of her own.

Chris: I want to go to jail.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Why?
Chris: Doesn't anybody listen? I killed John, I'd do it again. I get mad enough, I don't know what I do.

Rick: Who are you? I speak for the people. I gave the Fishers their real day in court. You're a public servant. Your system gave a molester...
Ben: You serve the public better than I do? I didn't arrange to have him killed!
Alice: Neither did my client. He had no motive.
Ben: Your client saw an opportunity, Alice.
Rick: I'm an opportunist? Thirty-eight people were shot in courtrooms last year. The show you're staging is no different than mine.
Ben: Mr. Mason, please focus. This is not a show. You have a camera, I have Attica.
Rick: Take a rest. I didn't get my nap today either. Geraldo had Nazis on the show and started a brawl, nobody indicted him.
Ben: Nobody got shot on his show. Now I'm willing to discuss a plea at the lowest charge.
Rick: Go ahead, pick that scab. I'll see you in court. Don't be late. It's live.

Edward: So what?
Ben: Uh, Dr. Manning - the, uh, link between Dr. Weiss and your wife? We lost it. Now you're the only person who can testify that you saw Dr. Weiss at your wife's apartment. And you're also the only person who can supply a motive.
Edward: Can I? What motive is that?
Ben: I don't play games with you, sir; don't play games with me. We know what you did to Dr. Weiss.
Edward: Oh, I see. So you want me to announce to the world that I'm a scientific thief and a fraud.
Ben: No, sir - I want you to tell the truth.
Edward: The truth, Mr. Stone, is that I am near the end of a career that I had the good fortune - or misfortune - to begin very brightly. I used to look around at meetings and laboratories; I was always the youngest person in the room. Then, one day at a conference, I looked around and I was the older person. Thirty years had slipped by. People were gathered around one of the stars - he was twenty-nine. I was the fourth speaker in the five o'clock panel. I know I have something more to contribute to physics.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: They were moving Ann Madsen out of her apartment, she was shot in the street.
Claire: Surrounded by cops?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: They shot the guy who killed her, he had no ID. They still don't know who the hell he was. She never even made it to the hospital.

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.

James: Twenty-five? I can't do twenty-five.
Ben: Then do as much as you can.

Phillip: About that deduction, Ben. You should have gotten yourself a better divorce attorney.
Ben: You little creep. This isn't a game.
Phillip: You don't like me, Ben?
Ben: You just waking up to that?
Phillip: Could that be the reason that you used perjured testimony to convict me in the first trial?
Ben: There's no proof that Russell Bobbitt...
Phillip: Think again, counselor. I was acquitted in the second trial. Therefore, a fortiori, Bobbitt must have been lying in the first. Ergo, you are collaterally estopped from trying to prove otherwise.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: So, let's suppose that it's true what Defense Attorney Schell implies that each of you, all of you, sympathize with the defendants, trapped as they are in their fears; that, in fact, more people hate homosexuals than are willing to admit, then I venture to say that somewhere in your family history, someone somewhere hates you or your relatives for no other reason than that they are black or white, Slovak instead of Czech, Protestant instead of Catholic, left-wing not right. And are you going to let officers of the law determine which of you they will help based on who and what you are? If so, then don't dial 9-1-1, even if you think you're one of them because you may end up being Officer Newhouse. These defendants let a man die and, for all of us, you must hold them responsible.

Ben: I think I can trust Doxsee.
Adam: You "think"?
Ben: I can't afford not to.

[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.

Claire: He'll testify, won't he?
Ben: Yeah, I think he will.
Claire: He'll put a noose around his own neck, to defend a theory that maybe 500 people in the world understand.
Ben: I don't know; I'm beginning to think *I* understand it. Our murderer is one helluva teacher.

Carla: First of all, you've got to get a jury to buy it.
EADA: After the judge instructs them about the weight this evidence should be given, your client will be convicted of several counts of larceny by extortion.
Carla: You're dreaming.
EADA: Well, if you want something badly enough, dreams have a way of coming true.

Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: If abortion is murder, then no matter how you feel about Mary Donovan, aren't you guilty of the murder of her unborn child?

ADA: Horace McCoy is a member of the Harlem Defense League - now he's defending a racist killer?
Executive: Yeah - well, someday, a rapist might be lining up to hire *you*.

Ben: [a former judge has pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and is elocuting his guilt. Stone's lost his patience] Your honor, this is insufficient. The defendant is behaving as if someone else committed this crime...
Arthur: You want him on his knees, Ben?
Judge: Walter...
Judge: *Judge Schreiber*, to you. Now, I've heard all the dodging and weaving I can take on this one. You wore the same robes I do- you know the drill. Now, if you want to dance, you can come back and dance at a trial, so let's hear it. *All* of it.
Judge: [takes a deep breath and begins] In an effort to convince Janet Rudman of my love... of the sincerity of that love...
Ben: [not letting him drift this time] Judge Thayer, please answer the question. Did you threaten Molly Rudman?
Judge: [Thayer is silent. Gold, his lawyer, looks slightly panicked. And Schreiber has had it] *I require an answer.*
Ben: Judge Thayer- sir, for the last time- for the *very* last time- did you threaten Janet Rudman's child?
Judge: Yes.

Ben: Masucci would kill his own sister?
Katherine: What do you think I was trying to tell you that day in court?

Janet: You don't scare me, Mr. Stone.
Ben: Oh yes I do, Mrs. Ralston. I scare you a great deal. And I should.

A.D.A. Paul Robinette: Himes really does love her.
Ben: Maybe he loves manslaughter two more.
A.D.A. Paul Robinette: If we don't find out how it went down, we may have to offer it to him.
Ben: Well then let's find out how it went down.

Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: You don't have a problem?
Adam: It's not my problem to have.

Dr. Edward Auster: When you practice medicine, Mr. Stone, sometimes the patient dies.
Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: And when you're a lawyer, Dr. Auster, some of the people you prosecute are convicted.

Danielle: Come on, Ben. They had a little fun in the afternoon. It cannot be rape when both parties consent.
Ben: I saw the bruises. I heard the tape. I didn't hear consent.
Danielle: Mmm-hmm, and you didn't hear something else, either. You didn't hear the word "No." The woman gets naked, she spreads her legs and then she turns on a tape recorder? Didn't I read that in last month's "Penthouse Forum"?
Ben: Danielle, she suspected something would happen.
Danielle: Gee, Ben, now I know why you're living alone. Fact: The only woman who would knowingly put herself in a position to get raped is a policewoman. So please, go ahead, fellows, use the tape. You will open a can and a hell of a lot more than worms are gonna crawl out. I will give you a hint: it begins with "E," it ends with "T" and I do not mean "entertainment."

EADA: Mr. Bregman, in all my years as a prosecutor, you are possibly the stupidest criminal I have ever met.

Adam: You can't expect an 8-year-old to tell you she was brainwashed.
Ben: I know, Adam, but maybe we can make the jury *see* it.

Roger: [facing six counts of murder two] All right, Mr. Stone, I'm a businessman. I've made deals before. What are you offering?
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: I'm not a businessman, Mr. Cleary. I'm offering you nothing.

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.

Claire: [on a scientific paper] "Potential Supersymmetric Models for Higgs Scattering: An Experimental Overview", by Max Weiss.
Ben: You know what I took for my science requirement? Physics for Poets.

David: Heinrich, an SS officer - he came to our home. He gave us cake; we barely had bread. He told me that if I could convince my neighbors to cooperate, none of us would be harmed. I was 19; if I didn't do it, somebody else would have. People lived a few months... weeks... days longer; that's what it was about. People who were not there... they could never understand.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: Your wife was there, sir; she understood very well what you did. And that's why you killed her.

Ben: How many prostitutes have you received services from?
Kurtz: About 2,000.
Ben: Any of them more than once?
Kurtz: A few, most of them weren't worth doing once, let alone a second time.
[jury laughs]

[Stone and the police are searching a suspect's apartment. Stone comes upon a locked chest]
Elizabeth: It's my hope chest.
[the chest is unlocked. Stone, absolutely stunned and dumbfounded, pulls out an assortment of S&M gear]
Executive A.D.A. Benjamin "Ben" Stone: What were you hoping for?

Gordon: It's not his fault that the streets are a war zone, Ben.
Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone: It is his fault that he joined the army.

Claire: At least
[Mason]
Claire: is off the air.
Ben: Oh, I don't know. Five hundred cable channels coming? He could start the Prison Channel.

Adam: You may be right about Swann.
Claire: The papers are turning him into a folk hero.
Adam: When he gets acquitted, I might offer him a job. You try dealing with him?
Ben: Adam, if you want me to plead him, you take me off the case.
Adam: Don't tempt me.

Ben: Ms. Boyd, you knew what you were doing when you committed the murder. I will give you manslaughter one, provided you get psychiatric treatment.
Susan: That's absurd. There's absolutely no way that I will agree to a plea of insanity. Do you think for one instant that Dr. Donald Walsh would love somebody who's insane?
Dominick: Susan, it's not insanity, it's diminished capacity.
Susan: I'm fully aware of the penal law, Mr. Keith. The implication is that I'm not of my right mind.
Dominick: Susan, it's the difference between eight years and 25 years in jail.
Susan: That's meaningless to me. This is a conspiracy to keep me from Donald.
Dominick: Susan, you need help.
Susan: You're fired. Prepare yourself, Mr. Stone. I'm taking charge of my own case.

EADA: In a perfect world, we wouldn't have discovery. We wouldn't have pre-trial motions. Just go to trial and let the chips fall where they may.
Adam: In a perfect world, people wouldn't get shot in a parking lot.

Ben: [to Olivet] What the hell is going on?
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: I was raped. That's all you needed to know.
Ben: It would've helped to know the alleged victim was lying.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: I never lied to you.
Ben: The only reason you went to Merritt is for Diane Perkins.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: That has nothing to do with me being drugged and raped.
Ben: It had a lot to do with why you were raped.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: You want to know why I went back? I sent Diane to Merritt. My gynecologist wouldn't see her and I bought into his reputation: the awards, the articles. I was responsible.
Ben: But you did it the wrong way. If you suspected she was molested, you should have gone to the police.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: With what? She refused to come forward. I didn't know whether to believe her. She's been delusional and she certainly couldn't have testified against the esteemed doctor. She tried to kill herself, Ben.
Ben: You of all people should know the importance of full disclosure. You had a legal obligation.
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: I had an obligation to my patient and in my profession, that's all that counts.

EADA: Nobody's willing to draw a line in the sand! Nobody's willing to say that the law is the law and if you break it you will be prosecuted, win, lose or draw.
Adam: Except you.
EADA: It's better to light a match than to curse the darkness.
Adam: Even if it lights a fuse that could blow up the city?
EADA: What do you want? Peace without justice?
Adam: I'm trying to straddle a fence so that this city can heal. Can you understand that?
EADA: [quietly] Yep. I understand.
[after a long pause]
EADA: I understand that the cure is worse than the disease.
[goes to the door]
EADA: And that it's a solution I just can't be part of.