Law & Order

Season 5

Second Opinion

1. Sam Waterston's first episode as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy, full name John James McCoy. The character would remain with the series until 2024 (nearly two years after the show's return following a twelve year hiatus).
2. When A.D.A. Claire Kincaid first meets E.A.D.A. Jack McCoy, he tells her he had relationships with three former assistants in 24 years in the DA's office. This means the character began with the DA's office about 1970, so by the time the series ended in 2010 he would have been with the office about 40 years.
3. Lieutenant Anita Van Buren discusses with Detectives Mike Logan and Lennie Briscoe what she would do if she found out she had cancer. In the final season of the series it is found out that Van Buren has been diagnosed with cervical cancer and a number of episodes devote time to showing how her character deals with her illness. In real life S. Epatha Merkerson was a spokesperson for lung cancer awareness and appeared in a number of public service announcements speaking about the risks of smoking and cancer and also encouraging women to regularly check themselves for breast cancer. She decided to start working for cancer awareness after her sister was diagnosed with lung cancer due to a life-long habit of smoking, a habit she had as well. Both sisters worked together to quit smoking and were also stop smoking advocates.
4. The ability to smell cyanide is actually a genetic trait, only about 10% of the population has it. Hydrogen cyanide has an odor similar to bitter almonds, but other cyanides like sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide have different odors such as dirty socks like the nurse described.
5. This episode appears to be inspired by two different incidents including:
   • The controversy surrounding the use of laetrile to treat cancer. Laetrile was a substance offered as an alternative treatment to cancer in the 1950's. It contained a substance called amygdalin, which is a naturally occurring chemical compound found in plants, but most notably in the seeds (kernels) of apricot, bitter almonds, apple, peach, and plum. Amygdalin is classified as a cyanogenic glycoside, which is basically a sugar molecule bound with a cyanogen, a precursor to cyanide. When ingested the chemical changes amygdalin undergoes during digestion can cause it to release hydrogen cyanide, which is the most toxic type of cyanide. Since the early 1950's, both amygdalin and a modified form named laetrile have been promoted as alternative cancer treatments, often using the misnomer vitamin B17. It was banned in the United States and most other countries shortly after due to a large number of deaths from cyanide poisoning.
   • The 1994 death of Gloria Ramirez. Ramirez was an American woman from Riverside, California who was dubbed "the Toxic Lady" or "the Toxic Woman" by the media when several hospital workers became ill after exposure to her body and blood. An investigation by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory proposed that Ramirez had been self-administering dimethyl sulfoxide as a treatment for pain, which converted into dimethyl sulfate, an extremely poisonous and highly carcinogenic alkylating agent, via a series of chemical reactions in the emergency department. This must be what Rogers is talking about when she mentioned "the lady in California".
6. Dr. Haas mentions "cancer clusters here on Long Island". This is actually true, as Long Island, New York has abnormally high rates of breast, lung, and colorectal cancer, with some townships counting 70% more cases of lung cancer than the rest of New York state.Another cluster was found in 2008 where "statistically significant rates of leukemia, bladder, lung, and thyroid cancers" were found in 3 Long Island townships. One study showed the rate of lung cancer on Long Island was 56% higher, bladder cancer 50% higher, thyroid cancer 43% higher, and leukemia 64% higher than the rest of New York State.
7. Claire retorts to Jack during their argument, "Is that why the Wonderbra is the hottest selling product on the market?"The Wonderbra was actually designed and patented named back in 1935 by a man named Israel Pilot, and was initially called the Wonder-Bra.In 1939, the Canadian Lady Corset Company was created and its founder obtained the license to manufacture and sell the design, marketing it without the hyphen as the Wonderbra. Its unique design and ability to provide comfort and support without elastic led to its popularity during World War II, when certain materials were rationed for non-military use.The brand experienced the normal ups and downs, but enjoyed a massive worldwide resurgence in the 1990s. Women in the UK suddenly started buying up Wonderbras, especially the plunge style, and models like Eva Herzigová and Kate Moss helped popularize them even further, right around the time this episode was filmed.
8. The closing line uttered by Claire Kincaid, "I checked; you've only had 3 women assistants" alludes to the fact that Jack McCoy made a habit of initiating sexual relationships with his assistants. This includes Diana Hawthorne, who makes an appearance in Trophy (1996), and Claire Kincaid herself.His and Claire's relationship is heavily hinted at throughout seasons 5 and 6 and is outright confirmed in season 9, after Kincaid's departure from the District Attorney's office. Claire was also his final office dalliance; after her death by drunk driver in Aftershock (1996) Jack swears off relationships at work.
9. Jan Maxwell, who played alternative cancer treatment Doctor Nancy Haas actually died of a cancer related illness in 2018.
10. Many years earlier, Sam Waterston starred with Michael Moriarty, whom he replaced in the role of the Manhattan Executive Assistant District Attorney, in The Glass Menagerie (1973).
11. The victim was using alternative treatments for her cancer because her health insurance refused to cover cancer treatments as it was a pre-existing condition. When the Affordable Healthcare Act was passed in 2014 it became illegal for health insurance companies to either deny patients coverage, or charge them increased premiums and copays, for pre-existing conditions. When this law took effect in 2016 there was an estimated 52 million Americans under the age of 65 (nearly a quarter of the US population) with pre-existing conditions that had previously been unable to get healthcare insurance.
12. Jan Maxwell has played four different roles over the course of the series:
    • Episode 5.1 Second Opinion (1994) - Dr. Nancy Haas.
    • Episode 8.2 Denial (1997) - Mrs. Sarah Talbert.
    • Episode 11.3 Dissonance (2000) - Marian Reger.
    • Episode 14.7 Floater (2003) - Judge Ruth Alexander.
13. Some of the scenes must have been deleted because some of the people who are credited don't appear in it.
14. While the toxicologist is talking to Claire Kincaid, he's eating a cheeseburger and small bag of fries from McDonalds. The arches logo is clearly visible on the burger wrapper, and on the brown paper bag.
15. Mark Lotito has played six different roles over the course of the series:
    • Episode 3.20 Securitate (1993) - Bailey.
    • Episode 4.4 Profile (1993) - Policeman #1.
    • Episode 5.1 Second Opinion (1994) - Paramedic.
    • Episode 6.18 Atonement (1996) - Nance.
    • Episode 8.21 Bad Girl (1998) - Detective Mallory.
    • Episode 8.22 Damaged (1998) - Detective Mallory.
    • Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Detective Mallory.
    • Episode 13.7 Open Season (2002) - Bartender.
16. Jeff Brooks has played three different characters over the course of the series:
    • Episode 5.1 Second Opinion (1994) - Steven Cooper.
    • Episode 10.1 Gunshow (1999) - Victor Colby.
    • Episode 13.1 American Jihad (2002) - Charles Scott.
17. The ER doctor mentions that cyanide can smell like either bitter almonds or dirty socks. There are a few different types of cyanide, it exists in a solid form as potassium cyanide which is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, electroplating, and applying gold coatings; potassium cyanide smells like dirty socks. Hydrogen cyanide is the liquid form, small amounts are given off as a vapor from potassium cyanide, hydrogen cyanide is also the most toxic form of cyanide as it can be lethal from multiple routes including ingestion, skin absorption and inhalation; it smells like bitter almonds. Not everyone can detect the odor of cyanide, those that can smell it are able to do so because of a genetic trait that is inherited. It used to be thought this trait was rare and only found in around 10% of the population, however more recent and thorough studies have found that around 50-60% of people are capable of detecting the odor of cyanide.
18. Mrs. Hurst is credited as Abigail Hurst. Her husband calls her Gail on the stand.
19. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Jan Maxwell (Dr. Nancy Haas) also worked together on two episodes of The Good Wife (2009), as Peter Florrick & Camilla Vargas respectively.
20. Chris Noth (Detectove Mike Logan) & Mark Lotito (Paramedic) also worked together on Innocents (2015) (episode 7.2), as Peter Florrick & Marty Pintarello respectively.
21. Chris Noth (Detetive Mike Logan) & Jeff Brooks (Steven Cooper) also worked together on Targets (2016) (episode 7.15), as Peter Florrick & a Clerk respectively.

Coma

1. Michael Dobson (Larry Miller) would return in the episode Encore (1996) to face similar charges involving his next wife.
2. Kincaid scoffs, "A junkie comedian?" and McCoy replies, "Ever hear of Lenny Bruce?"Lenny Bruce was a notorious funny man throughout the 1950s and 1960s, purposely violating various obscenity laws with his frank and cynical comedy. He thought Freedom of Speech should extend to comedy performances and the police disagreed. This led to frequent arrests and notoriety.He was also dogged by an opiate addiction, eventually succumbing to a morphine overdose in 1966 at the age of 40.
3. During the cold open, a couple is walking their dog, with the wife holding the leash; however, when the wife runs down the street to assist her husband, she doesn't have the dog with her.
4. David Pittu has played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.2 Coma (1994) - Walsh.
   • Episode 11.13 Phobia (2001) - Donald Albers.
   • Episode 14.4 Shrunk (2003) - Stephen Cane.
5. John Cunningham has played five different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.11 His Hour Upon the Stage (1991) - Cobb.
   • Episode 3.18 Animal Instinct (1993) - Donald Walsh.
   • Episode 5.2 Coma (1994) - Max Weston.
   • Episode 7.14 Working Mom (1997) - Daniel Metzler.
   • Episode 9.7 Venom (1998) - Daniel Metzler.
   • Episode 9.22 Admissions (1999) - Mr. Crowley.
   • Episode 12.12 Undercovered (2002) - Daniel Metzler.
   • Episode 18.4 Bottomless (2008) - Daniel Metzler.
6. Debra Monk has played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.2 Coma (1994) - Kathleen O'Brien.
   • Episode 12.16 Born Again (2002) - Dr. Madelyn Stahl.
   • Episode 15.23 In God We Trust (2005) - Judge G. Proctor.
7. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & David Pittu (Walsh) also worked together on two episodes of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florick & Spencer Roth respectively.
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & John Cunningham (Max Weston) also worked together on Feeding the Rat (2011) (episode 3.4), as Peter Florrick & Gene Osterman respectively.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Debra Monk (Kathleen O'Brien) also worked together on Judged (2016) (episode 7.13), as Peter Florrick & Tracy Mintz respectively.

Blue Bamboo

1. When Detective Mike Logan is going over the list of stage names/real names of the women on the victim's list of auditions, he says that Toni "with an I" Curtis was really Bernice Schwartz. Tony Curtis' birth name was Bernard Schwartz.
2. When it's revealed that a female pubic hair was found caught in Hayashi's watch band, Briscoe remarks, "I thought they got caught on soda cans." This is a reference to the 1991 dispute between Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill. When President George H. W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court, Hill claimed that Thomas had sexually harassed her while he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In addition to discussing pornographic films and his own sexual prowess, Hill said that Thomas once examined a can of Coca-Cola on his desk and asked her, "Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?"
3. McCoy mentions Kenneth Bianchi. Bianchi was a serial killer, who, along with his cousin, Angelo Buono, were known as the "Hillside Stranglers", who raped tortured and murdered at least 12 female victims in the Los Angeles area in the late 1970s. As of 2025, he remains in prison having served 46 years of a life sentence.
4. As McCoy mentions in his motion argument, when a U.S. citizen is in another country they are subject to the laws of that nation and the rights conferred by their version of a constitution, including their laws regarding being interrogated by law enforcement; meaning a U.S. citizen is not entitled to the rights & protections afforded to them by the United States Constitution if they are not on U.S. soil. So any statements made to the law enforcement officers of another country are admissible in a U.S. court of law, unless they were obtained by methods that are considered to violate basic human rights, such as coercion, torture or other methods that violate international law as set forth by the United Nations. Martha Bowen was interrogated in Japan, whose constitution grants essentially the same rights as the U.S. Constitution when it comes to criminal procedure, with a few notable exceptions. Article 38 of the Japanese Constitution prohibits a person from being compelled to testify against themselves, just like the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution's guarantee that a person cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself, which is the basis for a person's right to remain silent. Article 34 of the Japanese Constitution guarantees the right to be represented by counsel for those accused of crimes, and the state is obligated to provide legal assistance to those who cannot afford it, similar to how the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to counsel. However unlike the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to consult an attorney at any point in a criminal investigation, the Japanese Constitution only confers the right to consult an attorney once a person has been indicted and formally charged with a crime, meaning that they do not have the right to speak to an attorney, or have one present, when being questioned by police. So Ms. Bowen's rights under the Constitution of Japan were not being violated when she was being questioned by the Tokyo Police without having an attorney present, and she wasn't coerced or tortured, so her statements are legally admissible in a court of law in both Japan and the United States.
5. NYPD forensics determined that the person who killed the Japanese victim was 'a natural blonde'. The accused, Laura Linney is not a natural blonde.
6. This episode appears to be inspired by the Japanese use of comfort women during World War II.
7. Parry Shen who plays Brad Cooper on General Hospital posted a picture on Twitter of himself sitting behind Laura Linney in a courtroom scene in this episode.
8. Tibor Feldman (Kendrick) previously played the role of Jerry Silbo in Jurisdiction (1993) (episode 3.16).
9. Chuck Cooper has played five different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.21 Sonata for Solo Organ (1991) - Drew MacDaniel.
   • Episode 5.3 Blue Bamboo (1994) - Art Samuels.
   • Episode 11.6 Burn Baby Burn (2000) - Rolando August.
   • Episode 6.14 Custody (1996) - Walters' Attorney.
   • Episode 19.11 Lucky Stiff (2009) - Judge Lester Poole.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Tibor Feldman (Kendrick) also worked together on Nine Hours (2010) (episode 2.9) and Contract (2008) (episode 7.12).
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Chuck Cooper (Art Samuels) also worked together on Landing (2016) (episode 7.19), as Peter Florrick & Gerard Gallo respectively.
12. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Barbara Christie (Irene) also worked together on Dramatics, Your Honor (2014) (episode 5.15), as Peter Florrick & Suzi Grant respectively.

Family Values

1. While a guest on "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" in 2016, Sarah Paulson talked about how inexperienced she was when filming this Law & Order episode: "It was my first on-camera role, and it was back when I didn't know anything about what it was like to be on camera. I'd only ever done only a little bit of theater in New York. I'd just graduated from high school in 1993. And, yeah, it was back in the days when I didn't know you could move your body, your head on camera, so I moved a little bit like I had been in a car accident and I was wearing a neck brace. So it's very humiliating to me that you [Terry Gross] have seen this, and I hope for my $2.93 residual check and all the humiliation that goes with knowing that it's out there for people to see."
2. First credited appearance for Sarah Paulson's in TV or film. She also appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
3. This episode appears to be based on several cases/incidents:
   • The 1992 Amy Fisher (a.k.a The Long Island Lolita) case. Amy Elizabeth Fisher became known as "the Long Island Lolita" by the media in 1992, when, at the age of 17, she shot and severely wounded Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her illicit lover, Joey Buttafuoco. Initially charged with first-degree attempted murder, she eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated assault and served seven years in prison. Paroled in 1999, Fisher became a writer, a webcam model, and a pornographic actress.
   • The 1993 death of Anne Scripps. Scripps was an American heiress to the E. W. Scripps Company; she was the great-great-granddaughter of James E. Scripps, founder of The Detroit News. In 1993, she was bludgeoned by her estranged second husband, Scott Douglas, as she slept in her Westchester County, New York home on December 31, 1993. Scripps had suffered domestic abuse at the hands of Douglas before her death and gone to a judge to kick him out of her house but the judge refused. After Scripps's death Douglas was later found dead, washed ashore in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. This episode has many similarities to Scripps case, her first husband was Anthony Morrell (the victim's husband in this episode is the similarly named Steve Martell). Martell is a house-painter/womanizer, Scripps' second husband was also a house-painter. In this episode, the victim's Mercedes is found abandoned on the 59th Street Bridge over the East River; Scott Douglas' BMW was found abandoned on the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River.
   • The 1990 Jessica Wiseman/Douglas Christopher Thomas case.14- year-old Jessica had her 17-year-old boyfriend, Douglas, shoot and kill her parents. Thomas was executed in 2000, when the death penalty for juveniles was still a legal punishment.
   • The 1943 Wayne Lonergan case and the related 1946 novel The Big Clock.
   • Based on the 1955 novel "Lolita".
4. Victor Raider-Wexler, who plays Defense Attorney Wheeler, is one of the most prolific voice actors in animation and video games, having provided character voices and narration for dozens of productions.
5. Sarah Paulson plays a 17-year-old in this episode. At the time of the taping of this episode, Sarah Paulson was actually 19 years old.
6. After listening to the 9-1-1 recording of the domestic violence call, Logan says that Laura Conner's ex-husband plead "nolo to misdemeanor assault". "Nolo" is an abbreviation for nolo contendere, Latin for "I do not wish to contend", it is a term used in the United States legal system that is commonly known as a no-contest plea. Pleading no-contest is another option to pleading guilty or not guilty, it is done as part of a plea bargain. A defendant pleading no-contest is not admitting guilt, but is also not contesting the charges and accepting the punishment the charge comes with. A no-contest plea can only be entered if the court agrees, while it confers the same consequences as a guilty plea in terms of the criminal consequences (fines, probation, jail/prison time) it has the advantage of protecting the defendant from civil action, as many states don't allow a no-contest plea to be used as evidence in civil cases, which is why it is a commonly seen plea in domestic violence cases. In this regard the difference between a guilty and a no-contest plea is a guilty plea requires the defendant to allocute to their crimes in open court, this involves them describing the nature of the criminal act they are pleading guilty to; which then goes on the official record and their own words can be used as evidence against them in a civil suit, since it creates an exception to the hearsay rule. On the other hand a no-contest plea does not require allocution, and it bypasses a criminal trial, therefore in a related civil suit, like a divorce proceeding, any evidence that might have been introduced in a trial, or any testimony from a trial or guilty plea, does not exist to be used against the defendant at a later time. Sometimes a person who is innocent of a crime is advised by their attorney to plead no-contest if the state has compelling circumstantial evidence against them, or if the defense doesn't have enough evidence to create reasonable doubt, and believes they stand a decent chance of being convicted at a trial; a no-contest plea could potentially allow them to get a severely reduced sentence, and because they never actually admitted to any guilt, it makes it easier to successfully appeal the conviction in the future if new evidence is found to prove their innocence.A nolo contendere plea is not something that is universal throughout the United States criminal justice system, some states do not allow no-contest pleas, while others only allow them in specific situations. No-contest pleas are allowed in the federal court system, if the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case and the judge agree that it is in the best interest of justice. Some states allow no-contest pleas, but the rules regarding their use and effect in future legal proceedings vary. Indiana, Michigan, and New Jersey do not allow no-contest pleas at all, whereas Alaska, Florida, Michigan, Texas and Virginia allow no-contest pleas, but also allow that plea to be used as evidence in future civil cases; California only gives civil immunity to no-contest pleas for misdemeanor crimes. Some states, such as Michigan and Oregon, only allow no-contest pleas for violent felonies that involve some sort of mitigating circumstance, such as being intoxicated at the time of committing an assault, or being under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance during a homicide (like when a person catches their spouse cheating) and pleading no-contest to manslaughter in the first degree, as opposed to being tried for second degree murder.
7. Bill Cwikowski has played seven different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.18 Cradle to Grave (1992) - Hampton.
   • Episode 5.4 Family Values (1994) - Painter.
   • Episode 7.17 Showtime (1997) - Jerry Vance.
   • Episode 10.18 Mega (2000) - Walter Levin.
   • Episode 12.11 The Collar (2002) - Allan Boswell.
   • Episode 15.22 Sport of Kings (2005) - Mike Tradewski.
   • Episode 20.23 Rubber Room (2010) - Mr. Benson.
8. Chris Noth, as Detective Mike Logan, has a scene with the victim's therapist, played by Mary Beth Peil. Years later, Peil had a recurring role on The Good Wife (2009) as the mother of Noth's character, Peter Florrick.
9. John Ventimiglia has played four different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.4 Family Values (1994) - Gaydos.
   • Episode 6.1 Bitter Fruit (1995) - Nick Capetti.
   • Episode 9.2 DWB (1998) - Officer Frank Dietrick.
   • Episode 19.15 Bailout (2009) - Attorney Dibbens.
   • Episode 20.19 Crashers (2010) - Attorney Dibbens.
10. Thomas Kopache (Defense Attorney Boden) previously played the part of Sam Drucker in Mushrooms (1991) (episode 1.17).
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Josh Pais (Assistant Medical Examiner Borak) also worked together on We, the Juries (2014) (episode 5.12) and Lonelyville (2007) (episode 7.4).
12. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Bill Cwikowski (Painter) also worked together on Whack-a-Mole (2013) (episode 5.9), as Peter Florrick & Ronald Keyser respectively.
13. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Thomas Kopache (Defense Attorney Boden) also worked together on Shoot (2016) (episode 7.17), as Peter Florrick & Liam Meade respectively.

White Rabbit

1. This episode appears to be based on the three different cases/incidents including:
   • The 1975 Sara Jane Olson case. Born Kathleen Soliah, Olson was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in the 1970s, who went into hiding in 1976 after having been indicted in a bombing case. She lived much of her life in Minnesota under her new name, which she changed to be her legal name. She was eventually arrested in 1999, and plead guilty in 2001 to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder, and in 2003 to second-degree murder, both stemming from her SLA activities in the 1970s. She received a sentence of 14 years in prison.
   • The 1993 Katherine Ann Power case. Power is an American ex-convict and long-time fugitive, who along with her fellow student and accomplice Susan Edith Saxe, was placed on the F.B.I.'s Most Wanted Fugitives list in 1970. The two participated in robberies at a Massachusetts National Guard armory and a bank in Brighton, Massachusetts where Boston police officer Walter Schroeder was shot and killed. Power remained at large for 23 years. Power turned herself over to authorities in 1993 after starting a new life in Oregon. She pleaded guilty and was imprisoned in Massachusetts for six years before being released on 14 years' probation.
   • The Weathermen underground anti-war movement. The Weathermen were a radical left militant organization active in the late 1960s and 1970s, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan.
   • The 1981 Brink's robbery. On October 20, 1981, six Black Liberation Army members: Mutulu Shakur, Kuwasi Balagoon, Solomon Bouines (Samuel Brown), Mtayari Shabaka Sundiata, Edward Joseph, and Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson; and four former members of the Weather Underground, now belonging to the May 19th Communist Organization, consisting of David Gilbert, Judith Alice Clark, Kathy Boudin, and Marilyn Buck stole $1.6 million in cash from a Brink's armored car at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York. They killed Brinks guard, Peter Paige as well as seriously wounding Brinks guard Joseph Trombino and slightly wounding Brinks truck driver guard, James Kelly. Subsequently, they killed two Nyack police officers, Edward O'Grady and Waverly Brown, as well as seriously wounding Police Detective Artie Keenan.The first to be tried were Donald Weems (aka Kuwasi Balagoon) and 19 May Communists David Gilbert and Judith Alice Clark amid a heavy police presence. They represented themselves and were given three consecutive 25-year to life sentences. Weems said, "As to the 75 years in prison, I am not really worried because the State simply isn't going to last 75 or even 50 years." He died of AIDS on 13 December 1986. Boudin was sentenced to 20 years to life. She was paroled in 2003. Samuel Brown was sentenced to 75 years to life. Williams was jailed for 60 years in 1988.
2. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a form of dilated cardiomyopathy which is a condition where the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively due to swelling or stretching of the heart muscle. In the case of alcoholic cardiomyopathy large amounts of alcohol have a toxic effect on the heart muscle causing it to become weakened and stretched out. This in turn causes the ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart) to become larger than normal and because you have a larger space that is filled with the same amount of fluid with weakened, damaged muscles the blood is no longer under a sufficient amount of pressure for it to be properly circulated throughout the entire body.
3. Defense Attorney William Kunstler mentions the case of People v. West when saying that once Susan Forest hired him as her lawyer, she couldn't be questioned again without him being present, even if it was 23 years later. People v. West was a case decided by the New York Court of Appeals in 1993, in the case defendant West was arrested for second degree murder and was represented by a public defender at both arraignment and during a lineup identification, who specifically instructed police not to questions his client without him being present. Several months later, after the West had been released due to insufficient evidence, the police used an informant wearing a wire to record incriminating statements made by West, with the police assuming his public defender only represented him for the purposes of the arraignment and lineup, and that he was no longer representing West now that the charges had been dropped. West was convicted of murder in the second degree based on his taped confession, however his trial lawyer appealed the verdict claiming that the police violated his right to counsel by using an informant to elicit a confession, since they knew he had been represented by counsel at the arraignment. The Court of Appeals agreed and vacated the conviction, ruling that once a person has been represented by an attorney the police are not to question that person again, even if there are no pending charges, unless they have confirmed the defendant is no longer being represented by that attorney. However this ruling was superseded by the United States Supreme Court's ruling in the 2010 case of Maryland v. Shatzer, the court ruled that when a person invokes their right to counsel, that invocation is not indefinite, unless a person has signed a contract with an attorney stipulating they are to be represented indelibly by that attorney, and paid them a retainer. Specifically the Supreme Court ruled that once a person invokes their right to counsel, law enforcement generally cannot re-initiate questioning for 14 days. The 14-day period begins after the initial invocation and means that if a suspect invokes their right to counsel and is released from custody, law enforcement cannot attempt to question them again for two weeks. However, if the suspect re-initiates communication with law enforcement after the 14-day period, they can be questioned again, but authorities must re-inform the suspect of their Miranda rights.
4. Briscoe and Logan find a Mickey Mantle Topps rookie baseball card among the stolen property. At that time the card, depending on condition, might sell for upwards of $50,000. Years later, a Near Mint specimen sold for $12.6 million dollars.
5. McCoy offers Susan Forest a plea deal to manslaughter in the first degree because he doesn't feel murder in the first degree is appropriate for her level of involvement, but Kincaide feels something more serious is needed. Since the person killed was a police officer that would allow for Susan to plea to a more serious change than manslaughter one, but less serious than murder one. The charge would be aggravated manslaughter in the first degree, which is charged when someone intentionally causes serious physical injury to a police or peace officer that results in their death, or when someone intentionally kills a police or peace officer while under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance. While aggravated manslaughter in the first degree is a class B felony, like manslaughter one is, it has a higher mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, as opposed to manslaughter one's minimum sentence of 5 years. The most common sentence offered for a manslaughter plea deal is 8 1/3 to 15 years, whereas the most common sentence for aggravated manslaughter plea deals is 12 1/2 to 25 years.
6. When Briscoe and Logan find a feather boa they make a joke about it belonging to J. Edgar Hoover. This was based on a rumor that Hoover like to dress up in women's clothing. This claim was never taken seriously, as it was based on a questionable source and no confirmation for it was ever found.

Competence

1. This is a rare occasion where E.A.D.A. Jack McCoy is shown in the "Law" portion. He is present when Lieutenant Anita Van Buren is questioned by the internal affairs Captain.
2. Detective Lennie Briscoe acknowledges he has 25 years on the job. The title card dates correspond to September 1992, so Lenny began his NYPD career around 1967.
3. The single-bullet theory, often derided and discredited by referring to it as the magic-bullet theory, was introduced by the Warren Commission in its investigation of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy to explain what happened to the bullet that struck Kennedy in the back and exited through his throat.
4. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
   • The 1984 murder of Eleanor Bumpurs. Bumpurs was a mentally unwell 66-year old African American woman who was killed by the NYPD as they tried to evict her from her apartment. Bumpurs apparently held a knife and slashed at one of the officers, causing them to shoot her and sparking controversy.
   • The 1985 Edmund Perry case. Perry was a 17-year old Harlem resident and a graduate from the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy who was shot to death by undercover New York plainclothes police officer Lee Van Houten on June 12, 1985. Van Houten maintained that Perry--and another black youth, later identified as Edmund's brother Jonah--attempted to mug him and that he shot in self-defense. The case briefly generated a firestorm of protest in New York City when it was revealed that Perry was an honor student and was enrolled to attend Stanford on scholarship. However, witnesses backed up Van Houten's claim that Perry and Jonah had attempted to mug the officer, and the shooting was ruled as justified. Jonah was then arrested and charged as an accomplice to the mugging, but he was found not guilty at trial.
5. Lieutenant Anita Van Buren states she has been on the NYPD for 12 years. The air date was November 1994. Since the title cards show Thursday September 10 - which equates to the year 1992 - she began her NYPD career around 1980.
6. Ruben Santiago-Hudson has played four different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.11 Out of the Half-Light (1990) - Mr. Gaines.
   • Episode 5.6 Competence (1994) - Detective Brian Keene.
   • Episode 9.12 Haven (1999) - Defense Attorney Winters.
   • Episode 11.18 White Lie (2001) - Defense Attorney Winter.
   • Episode 14.6 Identity (2003) - Dr. Paul Jackson.
   • Episode 18.14 Burn Card (2008) - Defense Attorney Winters.
7. Marcella Lowery has portrayed four different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.21 Sonata for Solo Organ (1991) - Nurse.
   • Episode 4.13 Breeder (1994) - Sheridan.
   • Episode 5.6 Competence (1994) - Van Buren's Attorney.
   • Episode 13.22 Sheltered (2003) - Lois Barker.
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Marcella Lowery (Van Buren's Attorney) also worked together on Painkiller (2010) (episode 1.12), as Peter Florick & a nurse respectively.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Detective Brian Keene) also worked together on Loser Edit (2015) (episode 6.18), as Peter Florrick & Charles Jinks respectively.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & J.C. MacKenzie (M.E. Hoeck) also worked together on Mind's Eye (2015) (episode 6.14), as Peter Florrick & the Interviewer respectively.

Precious

1. This episode appears to be based on several cases/incidents:-
   • The 1994 Joseph Bales/Helene Lemay case. In which Bales and Lemay, a Canadian couple claimed their baby disappeared and was stolen in central park in New York city.
   • The 1985 Marybeth Tinning case. Marybeth is thought to have killed at least 8 (and probably 9) of her children over a 14-year span. Most of the children had not yet reached the age of one year when they were killed. The deaths were originally thought to have been due to a genetic disease (Reye Syndrome) or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), but suspicion increased after their adopted son Michael died too. Noted pathologist Michael Baden was involved in the initial investigation and subsequent trial. Tinning is still incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women (Bedford Hills, New York) and has been denied parole four times since 2007.
   • The 1965-1971 Waneta Hoyt case. Waneta Ethel Hoyt was an American serial killer who was convicted of killing all five of her biological children.
   • The debate over compulsory sterilization in the U.S.
2. This case of the People v. Willick is discussed again in Falling (2008) (season 19 episode 04) as an example of Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy's attempts at abusing his authority by attempting to have Mrs. Willick sterilized as a condition of her plea agreement. He later admits to Rubirosa that hindsight has shown him that his attempts to legally sterilize her were entirely wrong.
3. EADA Jack McCoy mentions the Joel Steinberg child abuse case, upon which the episode Indifference (1990) was clearly based on.
4. Detective Lennie Briscoe tells Marty that a kidnapping conviction can get a person a life sentence in prison. This is true for kidnapping in the first degree, which is a class A-I felony and carries a minimum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.. Kidnapping in the second degree however is a class B felony with a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison and a maximum of 25 years. An abduction becomes kidnapping in the first degree when a person is abducted for the purposes of: 1. Compelling a third person to pay a ransom, to prevent them from taking a specific action, or to compel them to take a specific action (like kidnapping a bank manager's wife to force them to open a vault); or 2. When the person being abducted is held for a period of at least 12 hours and the kidnapper(s) intent is to: (a) inflict physical injury or sexually assault them, or (b) advance the commission of a felony, or (c) commit an act of terrorism, or (d) interfere with the performance of a governmental or political event; or 3. When a person is abducted or held against their will under circumstances that constitute one of the following criminal acts: unlawful imprisonment in the first degree, labor trafficking, aggravated labor trafficking, custodial interference in the first degree, or kidnapping in the second degree, AND the person being abducted dies prior to them being safety returned to custody.
5. Kevin O'Rourke has portrayed six different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.12 Life Choice (1991) - Kevin Donovan.
   • Episode 5.7 Precious (1994) - Marty Willick.
   • Episode 7.16 Turnaround (1997) - Deputy District Attorney Jerry Weiss.
   • Episode 10.7 Patsy (1999) - Detective O'Malley.
   • Episode 15.9 All in the Family (2004) - Granado's Defense Attorney.
   • Episode 16.11 Bible Story (2005) - Stan Malloy.
   • Episode 19.22 The Drowned and the Saved (2009) - Amato's Attorney.
   • Episode 20.13 Steel-Eyed Death (2010) - Amanda's Attorney.
6. McCoy says he will agree to allow Eileen Willick to plead guilty to manslaughter if she agrees to submit to a tubilligation. Kincaide comments on how forcing people to be sterilized was something Nazi Germany did 50 years earlier. However court-sanctioned forced sterilization is a practice that is used in the United States, and as of 2025 is still legal in certain circumstances at the federal level, and in 31 states. The most common circumstance courts compel a person to be sterilized is when they suffer from a severe mental disability that would prohibit them from being able to properly care for a child and would put it in extreme risk of harm, though it is only used as a last resort, especially when the mentally disabled person has a history of violent behavior. Some states have also been known to compel women with a history of child abuse, and who get pregnant for the sole purpose of getting a state welfare check, to submit to sterilization if they wish to continue receiving state benefits like welfare and Medicaid; the same is true of some states when dealing with women who refuse to use normal contraception and get frequent abortions as opposed to using birth control. There have been various court rulings that have upheld the practice of sterilizing unfit parents, including mentally disabled persons, when it is done as a last resort and the "harm to the state would be greater than potential harm to the individual" if it weren't done. Examples include the Supreme Court of the United States' landmark rulings in the cases of Buck v. Bell (1927) and Stump v. Sparkman (1978); although in Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) the court deemed blanket laws that sterilize habitual criminal offenders to be unconstitutional. Other court rulings that deal with the issue include: Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia (2007) in which the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a statute allowing forced sterilization when the potential benefit to society is greater than the potential violation of the individual rights; Vaughn v. Ruoff (2001) in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit determined that forced sterilization of those with mild intellectual disability, especially those with a support system, was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause. State courts that have upheld force sterilization, while imposing strict requirements include: Alaska Supreme Court (1981), Arkansas Supreme Court (1991), California Court of Appeals for the 4th District (2013), United States District Court for the Central District of California (1978), California Supreme Court (1985), Colorado Supreme Court (1981 & 1990), Delaware banned all forced sterilization in 2003, Georgia Supreme Court (1983), Illinois Court of Appeals (2008), Indiana Court of Appeals (1990), Indiana Supreme Court (1983 & 2003), Iowa Supreme Court (1988 & 2014), United States District Court for the District of Maine (1982), Maine Supreme Court (1985), Maryland Court of Appeals (1982), Massachusetts Court of Appeals (1982 & 1991), Michigan Supreme Court (1982) however in 2022 Michigan outlawed sterilization, New Hampshire Supreme Court (1980), New Jersey Supreme Court (1980), New York Supreme Court (1983), New York County Circuit Court (2002), North Carolina Supreme Court (1985), Oregon Court of Appeals (1972), Pennsylvania Superior Court (1993), Washington Supreme Court (1980), Washington Court of Appeals (1991), and Wisconsin Supreme Court (2001).
7. Amy Hohn has played four different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.7 Precious (1994) - Assistant M.E. Manning.
   • Episode 6.3 Savages (1995) - Assistant M.E. Manning.
   • Episode 7.16 Turnaround (1997) - Canton.
   • Episode 10.14 Entitled (2000) - Delia Woodruff.
   • Episode 15.4 Coming Down Hard (2004) - Laura Dixon.
   • Episode 19.9 By Perjury (2009) - Laura Dixon.
8. Julie Boyd played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.7 Precious (1994) - Eileen Willick.
   • Episode 10.10 Loco Parentis (2000) - Sandra Telford.
   • Episode 20.18 Brazil (2010) - Sharon Lehman.
9. Chris Noth (Detetive Mike Logan) & Amy Hohn (Assistant Medical Examiner Manning) also worked together on Cleaning House (2010) (episode 2.4), as Peter Florick & Helen Donato respectively.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Kevin O'Rourke (Marty Willick) also worked together on Bang (2010) (episode 1.15), as Peter Florick & Martin Knox respectively.
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Julie Boyd (Eileen Willick) also worked together on Live from Damascus (2012) episode 3.15, of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florrick & Anne Newton respectively.

Virtue

1. This episode appears to be inspired by the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy. Anita Hill made history in 1991 when she testified before Congress about the sexual harassment she claimed to have experienced while she was an aide to Clarence Thomas, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee who had been her supervisor on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
2. Joanna Merlin, who plays Councilman Talbert's defense attorney, had a recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) as a trial judge.
3. This episode reunites Sam Waterston and Regina Taylor, who started together in the series I'll Fly Away (1991).
4. Talbert is convicted of grand larceny (by extortion) in the first degree, which is when a person steals property whose value exceeds one million dollars. Grand larceny in the first degree is sentenced as a non-violent class B felony, it carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 1-3 years in prison (the exact minimum depends on criminal history) with a $5,000 fine and a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
5. Sarah Maslin says that she technically consented to having sex with Councilman Talbert, but for all intents and purposes she didn't want to as he threatened to ruin her career if she didn't have sex with him. Which is why McCoy charges him with larceny through extortion, under subsection 2 of Penal Law 155.40: grand larceny in the second degree, which is a non-violent class C felony with a sentence of either 5 years probation and a maximum fine of $5,000, or a prison sentence of 2-15 years. However this also qualifies as a sex crime, specifically rape in the third degree, the statute for it can be confusing to the laymen as to what it entails, and this case is a good example. New York Penal Law Article 130, Section 25, Subsections 1-3 define rape in the third degree as: 1. Having sexual intercourse with another person who is incapable of consent by reason of some factor other than being less than seventeen years old; 2. A person over the age of 21 having sexual intercourse with another person under the age of 17; 3. Having sexual intercourse with another person without such person's consent where such lack of consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent. Rape in the third degree is a violent class E felony and carries a minimum sentence of either 10 years probation and a fine of $1,000, or a prison sentence of 1-4 years for prior offenders; it also requires registering as a sex offender for a minimum of 20 years.The circumstances of Sarah Maslin's sexual assault fall under both subsection one and subsection three, but especially subsection three. Subsection one deals with cases where the victim isn't capable of consenting to sex because the accused is in some position of authority or responsibility over them and can use that authority to coerce or extort sex from them, as Talbert did to Maslin; rape in the third degree is most commonly charged under subsection one when the victim is an inmate in a correctional facility and the accused is a corrections officer, or when the victim is a parolee and the accused their parole officer, or when the victim is a student and the accused their teacher/professor, or when the victim is a patient in a vulnerable state who is abused by their doctor. In subsection three "lack of consent is by some factor other than incapacity to consent" means that while the victim did not explicitly say no, or didn't tell the other person to stop, other things they said or did, and other factors like their body language, mood, or reaction would have lead a reasonable person in the accused's situation to conclude that the victim did not consent to having sex. While Maslin did not tell Talbert no, or tell him to stop, he knew that she did not actually want to have sex with him, but was only doing so because he threatened her; which constitutes rape in the third degree.
6. Joanna Merlin has portrayed two different characters during the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.21 Silence (1992) - Carla Bowman.
   • Episode 3.19 Virus (1993) - Carla Bowman.
   • Episode 5.8 Virtue (1994) - Deirdre Powell.
   • Episode 6.18 Atonement (1996) - Deirdre Powell.
   • Episode 8.12 Expert (1998) - Deirdre Powell.
7. Anne Lange (Evelyn Talbert) also played the role of a Headmistress in Thrill (1997) (episode 8.1).
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Joanna Merlin (Deirdre Powell) also worked together on In Sickness (2011) (episode 2.21), as Peter Florrick & Loni Goslin respectively.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Anne Lange (Evelyn Talbert) also worked together on The One Percent (2014) (episode 5.21), as Peter Florrick & a Fund Manager respectively.

Scoundrels

1. Final performance of veteran character actor Dub Taylor. He has over 260 acting credits listed in IMDb for both TV and movie roles. A very familiar face from Western TV and movie roles. He was a member of the 1937 Alabama football team that played in the Rose Bowl.
2. This episode appears to be based on the following events:
   • The Tappan Savings and Loan Scandal committed by Willard Tappan appears to based on the Lincoln Savings and Loan Scandal involving its chairman Charles Keating, who used the tactic of convincing customers to invest in unsecured securities.
   • Also based on an insider trading scandal involving Ivan Boesky. Boesky was a former American stock trader who became infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s. He was charged and pled guilty to insider trading, was fined a record $100 million, and later became an informant.
3. Actress reprises her role as defense attorney Sally Bell, she first appeared as Bell in the season three episode Mother Love (1993) and later appears in the season seven episode Double Down (1997) and season eight episode Grief (1998). Ms. Falco has also played characters in other series in the Law & Order universe including the recurring characters of Eva Thormann on Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Sgt. Kelly on New York Undercover (1994). She also later stars as real life defense attorney Leslie Abramson in the true crime anthology mini-series Law & Order True Crime (2017).Season one of True Crime is a semi-fictional retelling of the real life case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were both convicted of first degree murder after killing their parents in 1989, which they claimed was done in self defense after they had both been subjected to a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of both their parents, while there was evidence to support their claim they were both convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. While Law & Order: True Crime was put on hold after the conclusion of the first season in 2018, producers Rene Balcer & Dick Wolf said in a 2024 interview that they are still interesting in doing another season and are considering several real life crimes to feature, with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff & subsequent 1993 Waco siege being at the top of the list of ideas.
4. Edie Falco (Sally Bell) and Dan Grimaldi (Carl Pirelli) both appear in this episode. Although they didn't share screen time, these actors would later work together on The Sopranos (1999).
5. Merwin Goldsmith plays Judge Ian Feist in this and ten other episodes. He previously played the part of Trial Judge Gollub in Episode 1.17, Mushrooms (1991).
6. Larry Pine (Edward St. John) also plays the role of Dr. Jacob Weiss in Harm (1999) (episode 9.16).
7. Michael Zaslow (Willard Tappan) died just four years later in 1998 from Lou Gehrig's disease. He was diagnosed in 1997.
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Larry Pine (Edward St. John) also worked together on episode 4.13, The Seven Day Rule (2013), of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florrick & Paul Lampard respectively.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Merwin Goldsmith (Judge Ian Feist) also worked together on two episodes of The Good Wife (2009), as Peter Florrick & Simon Fischbein respectively.
10. Willard Tappan says that Chelsea is probably riding his horse now. He's talking about Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of then-President Bill Clinton.

House Counsel

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1986 Bruce Cutler case. Cutler was the attorney for famed Mafia boss John Gotti, who was removed as Gotti's counsel because he was deemed to be too immersed in Gotti's activities to be an independent counsel. Gotti was found not guilty in part due to the bribery of juror George Pape.
2. Guest stars Ron Leibman and Jessica Walter (Mark & Anna Kopell) were married in real life when this episode was filmed. They were married on June 26, 1983 and remained married until Leibman's death on December 6, 2019 at the age of 82, they had been married for 36 years; Walter died a few years later on March 24, 2021 at the age of 80. They also played a married couple on the adult comedy Archer (2009), which is an animated series that parodies James Bond and other spy thrillers from the Cold War era; Walter voiced spymaster Mallory Archer, who married car dealer Ron Cadillac, voiced by Leibman.
3. Defense Attorney Mark Kopell says that the tape will "go the way of all flesh" meaning it will not be seen. The Way of All Flesh (1927) was at the time of this episode (and continues to be) considered a lost film.
4. When Detective's Lennie Briscoe and Mike Logan are at the ice company interviewing the Lincoln owner, the phone number (212-675-4115) and name (Diamond Ice) of the ice company on the truck are both real and correct.
5. In several earlier episodes, Detective Briscoe says he has two daughters. Although his daughter Katherine plays an important part in the series several seasons later, this is the only episode where his second daughter is named. Detective Logan mentions "the Converse you bought for Julia" as they walk to their car.
6. Vincent Pastore appears in this episode, as a character (John Furini) involved with crime families of New York. Actors Edie Falco and Dan Grimaldi appeared in Scoundrels (1994). All three would later appear on HBO's The Sopranos (1999).
7. Detective Logan calls mob boss Vincent Dosso the *Dandy Don." D.A. Ben Stone uses the nickname for another mob boss, Frank Masucci, in The Torrents of Greed: Part 1 (1991). John Gotti, the real-life head of the Gambino crime family, was referred to as the "Dapper Don" for his expensive clothing and flashy lifestyle.
8. P.J. Benjamin has played three different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.10 House Counsel (1995) - Arthur Gibbons.
   • Episode 12.1 Who Let the Dogs Out? (2001) - Dr. Paul Garrett.
   • Episode 14.3 Patient Zero (2003) - Owen Franks.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Martin LaPlatney (Neal Chadwick) also worked together on The Seven Day Rule (2013) (episode 4.13), as Peter Florrick & a passerby respectively.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & P.J. Benjamin (Arthur Gibbons) also worked together on Death of a Client (2013) (episode 4.18), as Peter Florrick & the Old Captain respectively.

Guardian

1. When discussing Kamen's possible motive, Schiff tells McCoy, "Don't jump over the canyon on your motorcycle". He is referring to an attempt by Robert "Evel" Knievel to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket powered motorcycle in 1974.
2. E.A.D.A. Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) tells Erik Hanson (Holter Graham) that he could get charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance for selling heroin to his girlfriend, a class B felony. Actually, five different degrees of criminal sale of a controlled substance exist in New York: 5th degree is a class D felony; 4th degree is a class C felony; 3rd degree is a class B felony; 2nd degree is a class A-II felony; and 1st degree is a class A-I felony. Which degree a suspect is charged with depends largely on the amount of the controlled substance that the suspect is caught selling. The small amount of heroin that Hanson sold to his girlfriend would normally result in a 5th-degree criminal charge. However, since Hanson's girlfriend was under the age of 21, the charge is automatically elevated to a criminal sale in the 3rd degree. Also, harsher charges could result from selling a controlled substance on the grounds of a school or daycare center or from selling in an area that is accessible to the public that is within 1000 feet of the school or daycare property line. Quantity isn't a factor in the charge either: the criminal sale of any amount of a controlled substance (even a misdemeanor amount) in or near a school will cause a suspect to be charged with a class B felony.
3. Dallas Roberts has played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.11 Guardian (1995) - Matthew Blanchard.
   • Episode 11.16 Bronx Cheer (2001) - Mark Daltrey.
   • Episode 19.9 By Perjury (2009) - Marty Winston.
4. Peter McRobbie plays Herbert Fowler in this episode. He also played three other characters, before settling into the role of Judge Walter Bradley from episode 11.9, Hubris (2001).
   • Episode 1.21 Sonata for Solo Organ (1991) - Manager.
   • Episode 3.9 Point of View (1992) - John Ennis.
   • Episode 5.11 Guardian (1995) - Herbert Fowler.
   • Episode 8.23 Tabloid (1998) - Dr. Thomas Neustadt
   • Episode 11.9 Hubris (2001) onwards - Judge Walter Bradley.
5. Gerry Bamman has played four different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.22 The Blue Wall (1991) - Internal Affairs Lieutenant Kennedy.
   • Episode 5.11 Guardian (1995) - Dean Pollard.
   • Episode 7.2 I.D. (1996) - Stan Gillum.
   • Episode 8.20 Burden (1998) - Stan Gillum.
   • Episode 10.13 Panic (2000) - Stan Gillum.
   • Episode 11.17 Ego (2001) - Stan Gillum.
   • Episode 14.12 Gaijin (2004) - Judge Thomas Everton.
   • Episode 16.11 Bible Story (2005) - Judge Thomas Everton.
6. Isiah Whitlock Jr. played five different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.11 Guardian (1995) - Antony White.
   • Episode 6.12 Trophy (1996) - Simon Brooks.
   • Episode 6.19 Slave (1996) - Fred Oates.
   • Episode 10.10 Loco Parentis (2000) - Fred Oakes.
   • Episode 11.4 Standoff (2000) - Captain Navarro.
   • Episode 15.5 Gunplay (2004) - Gordon Samuels.
7. Guest star Dallas Roberts (Matthew Blanchard) later plays a recurring character and major villain on a crossover event between Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and The Number of Rats (2015). He plays Dr. Gregory Yates, a serial rapist and mass murderer who worked at a hospital in New York City and would abduct female patients no one would miss, then rape and murder them. Benson and Stabler came close to identifying him after they found a few of his victims and identified his signature of painting their toenails green, after this he relocated to Chicago, getting a job at a hospital there and began killing again a short time later. He was first seen in the episode The Number of Rats (2015) when Chicago P.D. finds his first victim in the city, with Benson recognizing his signature from their VICAP report. Yates then kidnaps a Chicago detective and takes her back to NYC in the conclusion Daydream Believer (2015). Yates is seen in four additional episodes when he helps SVU catch another serial killer that Yates knew and used to work with.
8. Ken Land (Carl Bishop) also played the role of Burt Kellerman in Collision (2000) (episode 10.11).
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Dallas Roberts (Matthew Blanchard) go on to play brothers-in law Peter Florrick & Owen Cavanaugh respectively in The Good Wife (2009).
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Dallas Roberts (Matthew Blanchard) also worked together on 14 episodes of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florick & Owen Cavanaugh respectively.
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Gerry Bamman (Dean Pollard) also worked together on The Line (2014) (episode 6.1), as Peter Florrick & Diane's client respectively.
12. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Ken Land (Carl Bishop) also worked together on Message Discipline (2014) (episode 6.7), as Peter Florrick & Warren Plep respectively.
13. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Peter McRobbie (Herbert Fowler) also worked together on Red Zone (2014) (episode 6.8), as Peter Florrick & Professor George Paley respectively.
14. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Antony White) also worked together on The Death Zone (2011) (episode 3.2) as Peter Florrick & Ira Protopapas respectively.

Progeny

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1994 Paul Jennings Hill case. In 1994, Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and Britton's escort, James H. Barrett, because Britton performed medical abortions at the Pensacola Ladies Center. Hill, a former minister, maintained that he did nothing wrong throughout his entire time on death row. He was executed on September 3, 2003. So far Hill is the only person in the US to be executed for the murder of an abortion doctor.
2. This is the 100th episode of "Law & Order."
3. EADA McCoy asks Seely if the Bible condemns abortion, to which he replies no. The Bible has a number of verses condoning the killing of pregnant women and their unborn children, specifically "ripping open" the women.
4. Ken Leung has portrayed three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.12 Progeny (1995) - Forensic Technician Chung.
   • Episode 6.4 Jeopardy (1995) - Forensic Technician Chung.
   • Episode 10.21 Narcosis (2000) - Stephen Wong.
   • Episode 13.9 The Wheel (2002) - Tommy Wong.
5. Drew Seely is correct that the bible has no such prohibition on abortion. In fact, Numbers 5 actually gives instructions on how to cause an abortion if a man suspects his wife has been unfaithful and he does not think he is the father.
6. Jack Gilpin plays Dr. Simon Reed in this episode. He would go on to play Attorney Axtell in four later episodes.
7. Edward Herrmann has played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.12 Progeny (1995) - Drew Seely
   • Episode 9.20 Empire (1999) - Mr. Mosbeck
   • Episode 19.17 Anchors Away (2009) - Frederic Matson
8. This Episode Aired on the 50th Anniversary of the End of the Battle Of the Bulge In WWII.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Edward Herrmann (Drew Seely) also worked together on six episodes of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florick & Lionel Deerfield respectively.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Ken Leung (Chung) also worked together on Great Firewall (2011) (episode 2.16), as Peter Florrick & Shen Yuan respectively.
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Jack Gilpin (Dr. Simon Reed) also worked together on After the Fall (2012) (episode 3.16), as Peter Florrick & Frank Anderson respectively.

Rage

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1993 Colin Ferguson case and the "black rage" defense. Ferguson used the affirmative defense as mitigation in the Long Island Railroad shootings of December 7, 1993, that resulted in the deaths of six people and wounding of nineteen others. During the course of the trial, Ferguson fired his counsel and undertook a "pro se" defense. Upon the jury's rejection of the "black rage" assertion, Ferguson was sentenced to 315 years, 8 months on combined multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
2. Courtney B. Vance would later go on to play series regular A.D.A. Ron Carver on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001), as did Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) during the show's fifth season (which was the final season for Vance).
3. Mike and Lennie are walking along the street when the latter mentions earning money the old-fashioned way. This was a nod to a 1970s Smith Barney commercial with the late (and great) British actor John Houseman who commented, "They make money the old fashioned way. They earn it"
4. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Bernie McInerney (Judge Michael Callahan) also worked together on Death Row Tip (2011) (episode 3.8) and Wasichu (2006) (episode 5.14).
5. Scott Whitehurst (Melman) also played the role of Lester Metcalf in Castoff (1998) (episode 8.13).
6. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Scott Whitehurst (Melman) also worked together on Waiting for the Knock (2012) (episode 4.5), as Peter Florrick & a cable man respectively.

Performance

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1993 Spur Posse case. The posse was a group of high school boys from Lakewood, California, who used a point system to keep track of and compare their sexual conquests. The founder of the group chose the name "Spur Posse" when a favorite basketball player of theirs, David Robinson, was signed to the San Antonio Spurs. The group came to national attention on March 18, 1993, when the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arrested a number of the members for various sexual crimes. Prosecutors later dropped all but one of the charges after determining most of the encounters were consensual, although with underage girls. They had the opportunity to prosecute the considerably older boys for statutory rape but declined to do so.
2. Kate Skinner has an uncredited role as the mother of Ethan Quinn.

Seed

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1992 Dr. Cecil Jacobson case. Jacobson operated a fertility clinic in Virginia, and in March of 1992 was sentenced to five years in prison after it was learned that he inseminated seventy-five of his female patients with his own sperm. Jacobson had led the women to believe they were being inseminated with the sperm of anonymous donors who shared many physical characteristics with their own husbands. He also led many of his patients to believe they had become pregnant and miscarried when in fact they had never actually been pregnant.
2. HCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, a hormone produced by the placenta after a fertilized egg implants on the endometrium (the inner layer of the uterine wall). This is the hormone that most home pregnancy tests detect. Its purpose is to signal the ovaries to produce higher levels than normal of the hormone progesterone during the first trimester, which in turn causes a thick lining of blood vessels to develop in the uterus to supply the placenta with the extra blood and nutrients it needs to develop fully in order to accommodate the ever increasing needs of the developing embryo.
3. George Dzundza, who was in the original line-up of Law and Order, played Dr Cecil Jacobson (upon which this episode is based) in the 1994 movie The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story (1994).
4. Mark Blum has played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 3.16 Jurisdiction (1993) - A.D.A. Frank Lazar.
   • Episode 5.15 Seed (1995) - Michael Aronson.
   • Episode 9.5 Agony (1998) - Frank Lazar.
   • Episode 20.5 Dignity (2009) - Expert Doctor.
5. David Margulies has played four different characters during the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.13 A Death in the Family (1991) - Simpson.
   • Episode 3.20 Securitate (1993) - Tommy Zanescu.
   • Episode 5.15 Seed (1995) - Dr. Jordan Delbert.
   • Episode 15.11 Fixed (2004) - Dr. Jack Clayburg.
6. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Mark Blum (Michael Aronson) also worked together on Unplugged (2010) (episode 1.21), as Peter Florick & Julius Kreitzer respectively.
7. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & David Margulies (Dr. Jordan Delbert) also worked together on Don't Haze Me, Bro (2012) (episode 4.4), as Peter Florrick & Richard respectively.
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) and Zach Grenier (Jim Warren) will go on to work together again on The Good Wife (2009) portraying main characters Peter Florrick and David Lee respectively.

Wannabe

1. The subway scenes were filmed at the World Trade Center PATH Station which was filling in for the Park Place Subway Station.
2. Gary Joseph Thorup (who played bullying victim Vaughan Prescott) had only one other acting credit: in Jumanji (1995), in which he, ironically, plays the bully Billy Jessup.
3. Gary Joseph Thorup's only television appearance.
4. Leslie Denniston has appeared as five different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 4.14 Censure (1994) - Sara Felder.
   • Episode 5.16 Wannabe (1995) - Mrs. Prescott.
   • Episode 8.17 Carrier (1998) - Lenore Kiley.
   • Episode 12.3 For Love or Money (2001) - Elizabeth Dumas.
   • Episode 16.14 Magnet (2006) - Ellen Loomis.
5. Charlie Hofheimer (Andrew Jameson) also played the role of Ben Karmel in Homesick (1996) (episode 6.22).
6. John C. Vennema played three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 3.5 Wedded Bliss (1992) - Victor Shay.
   • Episode 5.16 Wannabe (1995) - Dr. Stephen Prescott.
   • Episode 14.11 Darwinian (2004) - Dr. Aaron Geller.
7. Marin Ireland (Laura Booth) previously played the part of Anais Hutchinson in Zoonotic (2003) (episode 2.22).
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & John C. Vennema (Dean Ian Busch) also worked together on Gloves Come Off (2012) (episode 3.18), as Peter Florrick & Paul Eckert respectively.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Leslie Denniston (Mrs. Prescott) also worked together on Doubt (2010) (episode 1.18), as Peter Florick & Mrs. Price respectively.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Marin Ireland (Laura Booth) also worked together on In Sickness (2011) (episode 2.21), as Peter Florrick & Marjorie Garnett respectively.
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Charlie Hofheimer (Andrew Jameson) also worked together on Blue Ribbon Panel (2012) (episode 3.19) & Pants on Fire (2012) (episode 3.20), as Peter Florrick & Officer Zimmerman respectively.

Act of God

1. EADA McCoy mentions that the defendant was at one time licensed by the Department of Labor to handle explosives for demolition purposes. For obvious reasons the manufacture, possession and use of explosives is strictly regulated by both the state and federal government, in order to legally make, possess or use explosives a person must have a license or permit from both the federal government and state government. Federal licenses and permits are issued by the Federal Explosives Licensing Center, which is a division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). There are three types of licenses and two types of permits: Import license which is for importing explosives manufactured in another country, Manufacturer's license, and a Dealer license which allows a company to sell explosives to authorized personnel; the two permit types are: User permit which allows a person to obtain explosives from any authorized dealer in the U.S. and transport them across state lines, and Limited permit which allows a person to obtain explosives on no more than six separate occasions from a dealer licensed in their state of residence/business. A person applying for such a license or permit must submit proof of completion of proper training and qualifications for handling & using explosives, a thorough nationwide background check is done on a person's criminal and mental health history that includes submitting a photo and fingerprints, essentially the same background check the ATF's NFA (National Firearms Act) Division does for Title II firearm permits (machine gun, short-barrel rifle/shotgun, silencer). The licenses cost $200 (same cost as the NFA tax stamp for Title II firearm permits), are good for 3 years and cost $100 to renew; the User permit costs $100 is good for 3 years and costs $50 to renew, the Limited permit costs $25 is good for 12 months and costs $12 to renew.
2. Residents of New York must also acquire a license from the Division of Safety and Health, which is part of the New York Department of Labor, in order to legally import, manufacture, sell, or handle explosives in the state (separate licenses are required for importing, making and selling). For those that will be handling and using the explosives they must apply for a specific license for their job, so a person who is actually placing explosives, and wiring the fuses must have a pyrotechnics operator license and the person supervising the use of the explosives, including ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, rules, permits, and blasting procedures, as well as the safety of the blasting crew must have a blaster-in-charge license. A separate certificate called a Explosives Magazine Certificate is required for storing explosives at a job site, in order to ensure they are stored safely and securely. The requirements for obtaining these licenses are essentially the same as the federal requirements, before applying for a New York state explosives license a person must already have the appropriate ATF license or permit. They then undergo a state level background check, which also includes submitting a photo and fingerprints, and must submit a Certificate-of-Fitness to prove they have the required training for their role. The New York state licenses are all $100 each and good for three years, and must be renewed at that cost. New York City requires an additional permit for storing and using explosives at a work site in the city limits and is ridiculously expensive as the permit costs $210 per hour, so a demolition job that takes a full 8 hour work day will cost $1,680 in city permit fees; which draws criticism from the industry as the hourly rate can encourage demolition crews to rush a job in order to minimize the amount of time between the explosives being on site and being used.
3. Actor Robert John Burke (Arthur 'Buzz' Palley) also plays Internal Affairs Captain Ed Tucker and boyfriend of Mariska Hargitay's character Lieutenant Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
4. Ralph Byers has portrayed four different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.21 Sonata for Solo Organ (1991) - Judge Barsky.
   • Episode 3.21 Manhood (1993) - Neil Belden.
   • Episode 5.17 Act of God (1995) - Alex Gaston.
   • Episode 8.17 Carrier (1998) - Mr. Kiley.
5. Andrew Pang has portrayed five different characters throughout the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.17 Act of God (1995) - Mr. Kee.
   • Episode 6.18 Atonement (1996) - Mr. Nakiyama.
   • Episode 8.4 Harvest (1997) - Dr. Hsu.
   • Episode 12.2 Armed Forces (2001) - Bao.
   • Episode 20.9 For the Defense (2009) - Judge Gus Ishikawa.
6. Skipp Sudduth has played three different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.17 Act of God (1995) - Henry 'Hank' Chappel.
   • Episode 7.5 Corruption (1996) - IAB Detective.
   • Episode 9.17 Shield (1999) - Officer Cass.
7. This episode appears to be based on real-life cases involving insurance claims involving an act of God.
8. Stephen Singer has played six different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.9 Renunciation (1991) - Aaron Gerstein.
   • Episode 5.17 Act of God (1995) - David Pence.
   • Episode 8.14 Grief (1998) - Defense Attorney Baum.
   • Episode 11.3 Dissonance (2000) - Rafael Kessler.
   • Episode 15.7 Gov Love (2004) - Larry Levine.
   • Episode 19.16 Take-Out (2009) - Nathan Vick.
9. The characters played by Robert John Burke and Skipp Sudduth are both arrested by the NYPD. Both went on to play recurring roles as NYPD officers, Burke on both Person of Interest (2011) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Sudduth on Third Watch (1999).
10. Robert John Burke & Jill Hennessy appeared together in RoboCop 3 (1993).
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Skipp Sudduth (Henry 'Hank' Chappel) also worked together on Poisoned Pill (2010) (episode 2.6) and Neighborhood Watch (2008) (episode 7.20).
12. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Andrew Pang (Mr. Kee) also worked together on Silver Bullet (2011) (episode 2.15), as Peter Florrick & Dr. Huang respectively.
13. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Ralph Byers (Alex Gaston) also worked together on two other episodes, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2011) (episode 3.9), as Peter Florrick & Undersecretary Brattle respectively.

Privileged

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1988/1994 Paul Cox case. On New Year's Eve 1988, Cox broke in to his former home and murdered the current homeowners, the Chervus, while in a drunken rage as they slept. He believed them to be his own parents, with whom he did not get along. He apparently forgot about what he did until he began having vivid dreams about the murders. Four years later, he confessed to the double homicide during an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting.
2. McCoy refers to the Menendez case in California. He is talking about the real life case of Erik and Lyle Menendez who murdered their parents on August 20, 1989 with shotguns they had bought recently. After killing their parents the brothers went to the movies to try and give themselves an alibi, which worked for awhile, it took police over a year to gather enough evidence to arrest them. Their trial received world wide media attention and was televised, it was also unusual in that the brothers were tried at the same time but there were two juries, one for each brother. They used an affirmative defense stating that they killed their parents in self defense believing that their parents were going to murder them. They introduced evidence and witness testimony that showed that they were both physically and sexually abused by both parents their whole life and that they were going to tell people that they had been abused and alleged that their father said he would kill them if they did. The trial ended with both juries deadlocking. Both juries were split down the middle with part of Erik's jury voting to convict on first degree murder and the remainder voting to convict on first degree manslaughter. Lyle's jury all voted to acquit on first and second degree murder and half of them voted to acquit him on all charges and the other half voted to convict him on first degree manslaughter. The judge refused to accept their deadlock at first and kept sending them back to deliberate, after nine weeks the judge finally accepted the deadlock and declared a mistrial. During the second trial both brothers had the same jury and this time around the judge refused to allow the defense to present the evidence about the brothers killing their parents due to the life-long physical and sexual abuse they had suffered at the hands of their parents. He allowed only the brothers to testify about the abuse, he did not allow the other dozen or so witnesses to the abuse testify and he excluded the physical evidence. He also instructed the jury that they were not allowed to consider lesser charges such as second degree murder and first degree manslaughter, that their choice was to either convict the brothers of first degree murder or to acquit. The jury eventually found both brothers guilty and they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the trial the jury said that if they had been allowed to hear the defense's evidence about the abuse the brothers had suffered at the hands of their parents that most of them would have considered voting to acquit but that all of them would have at least voted to convict on first degree manslaughter instead of first degree murder. The jurors stated that they felt the brothers did not deserve to be convicted of first degree murder but at the same time they felt they didn't deserve to walk either so they only convicted on first degree murder because they had no other choice. The judge's conduct has also been called into question for not allowing the defense to present their whole case and for not allowing the jury to consider manslaughter. The verdict was upheld on appeal though and as of March, 2018 the brothers have no appeals remaining, are still incarcerated and have not seen each other since their conviction on July 2, 1996.
3. At the time of this episode's filming testimony based on repressed memories recovered under hypnosis were accepted as evidence in a court of law and a lot of people were convicted based on this type of evidence, most of the convictions were for sex crimes. However a multitude of studies since then have shown that using hypnosis to recover repressed memories, especially memories repressed because of a traumatic experience, is an extremely unreliable process. The main flaw found was in the way the questions were asked to the person under hypnosis, a person under hypnosis is in an extremely suggestible state so if the questions had too much detail they suggested the answer. An example being if a psychologist is trying to help a woman recover repressed memories of a childhood sexual assault and while the subject is hypnotized the psychologist asks "when you were 12 years old did your father grope your breasts". Since the subject is in a suggestible state the question would very likely cause the subject to form an image in her mind of herself as a young girl and her father putting his hands on her breasts, then when she is brought out of hypnosis this image she imagined is stored in the part of her brain where long term memories are stored and she forms what is called a false memory, although to her it seems as if the memory is real. After the findings of these studies were made public a number of people that were convicted based on recovered memory testimony appealed their convictions. Since most of these people were convicted at a time when DNA testing was still in the early stages the evidence in their cases was retested using modern methods that could get DNA from samples that were previously too small to test. In the vast majority of these cases the DNA tests exonerated the defendants and as a result the law was changed and testimony based on recovered memories is no longer accepted evidence in a court of law.
4. Claire refers to how some people seeing stars in a brand's logo believe it to be a sign of Satanism. This is a reference to a 1995 lawsuit involving Procter & Gamble and Amway. Four Amway distributors spread rumors that the company's logo - a bearded, crescent man-in-the-moon looking over a field of 13 stars - was a symbol of Satanism. In 2007, P&G won a $19.25 million judgment against Amway for this falsity.
5. The song Steven is singing while under hypnosis was previously sung by the main character in the episode Discord (1993) (S04E03).
6. The scene where Marge is conferring with the judge was shot in CCNY's Shepherd Hall. A glimpse of the mural "The Great Teachers" (1930) can be seen in the background.
7. Fran Brill, who played the mother of the accused, and Allan Miller, who played the trial judge, played husband and wife on the 1970s soap How to Survive a Marriage (1974). That show ran on NBC from January 1974 until April 1975.

Cruel and Unusual

1. "Facilitated communication" (the technique of "facilitating" the communicative abilities of a person with autism by "guiding" their hands over a communication device) has largely been discredited throughout the psychiatric community. There are still occasional scholarly articles written in support of FC and it continues to be practiced, albeit rarely.
2. The autism management center featured in this episode is based on the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Massachusetts, one of the few autism management centers that uses electroshock as aversion therapy.
3. Steve Burns's television debut.
4. This episode aired the same day the Oklahoma City bombing occurred.
5. Dan Ziskie has played six different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.19 Cruel and Unusual (1995) - George Jeffries.
   • Episode 7.6 Double Blind (1996) - Fred Sawyer.
   • Episode 9.11 Ramparts (1999) - Captain Gene Sayres.
   • Episode 11.23 Judge Dread (2001) - State Police Investigator.
   • Episode 14.12 Payback (2004) - Joshua Kramer.
   • Episode 16.12 Family Friend (2006) - Captain Tom Baden.
6. Socorro Santiago has played seven different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.5 God Bless the Child (1991) - Cora Amado.
   • Episode 5.19 Cruel and Unusual (1995) - Clarice Reynolds.
   • Episode 7.14 Working Mom (1997) - Teresa Regalado.
   • Episode 9.8 Punk (1998) - Alma Cabrera.
   • Episode 11.18 White Lie (2001) - Teresa Martinez.
   • Episode 13.22 Sheltered (2003) - Mrs. Anna Rodriguez.
   • Episode 16.5 Life Line (2005) - Estela Richter.
7. Danny Burstein has played five different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.19 Cruel and Unusual (1995) - Joe Garvey.
   • Episode 8.20 Burden (1998) - Howe.
   • Episode 11.12 Teenage Wasteland (2001) - A.D.A. Lester Rosenfeld.
   • Episode 12.23 Oxymoron (2002) - Peter.
   • Episode 19.11 Lucky Stiff (2009) - Surrogate Murray.
   • Episode 20.12 Blackmail (2010) - Judge Sam Murray.
8. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Jeffrey DeMunn (Norman Rothenberg) also worked together on two episodes of The Good Wife (2009), as Peter Florrick & Chief Justice Virgil Ryvlan respectively.
9. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Dan Ziskie (George Jeffries) also worked together on Hitting the Fan (2013) (episode 5.5), as Peter Florrick & Steve Koesterich respectively.
10. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Danny Burstein (Joe Garvey) also worked together on Bond (2015) (episode 7.1) and Seeds (2007) (episode 7.2).
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Jennifer Harmon (Serena Davidson) also worked together on Taking Control (2010) (episode 2.1), as Peter Florick & Ruth respectively.
12. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Socorro Santiago (Mami) also worked together on Nine Hours (2010) (episode 2.9), as Peter Florick & the Warden's secretary respectively.
13. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Gary Betsworth also worked together on Battle of the Proxies (2012) (episode 4.10). In both episodes Betsworth played the part of a stenographer.
14. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & T. Ryder Smith (Detective Mathers) also worked together on Whack-a-Mole (2013) (episode 5.9), as Peter Florrick & AUSA Figgs respectively.

Bad Faith

1. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
   • The 1993 James Porter case in Boston. Porter was accused of molesting over 200 boys and girls while he was a priest in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. The archdiocese responded by denying the victims' claims of abuse and/or transferring Porter to other parishes. Porter eventually left the priesthood and got married. He was later convicted of molesting a teenage girl who baby-sat his children.
   • The Michael J. O'Hara case involving former Bronx prosecutor and FBI agent Jim Clemente.
2. Directed by former series star Dann Florek who goes on to reprise his role as Captain Donald Cragen on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
3. This episode deals with the different types of sexual abuse, and other criminal charges, for touching someone's genitals through their clothing, versus touching their genitals without clothing on; although they are not all depicted accurately, so what follows are the various charges and what actions constitutes them. Sexual abuse in the third degree is when one person subjects another person to sexual contact without their consent, the most common example is touching another person's genitals, it is also charged when one person is under the age of 17 and the other is over the age of 22, or when one person is between 14-17 years of age and the other person is less than five years older; it is a class B misdemeanor with a sentence of either 1 year probation and a fine of up to $500, and a possible jail sentence of up to 90 days. Forcible touching is when one person intentionally touches another person's genitals or intimate areas (through clothing) without consent and for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire, an example would be a man walking by a girl on the street or subway and grabbing her breasts, buttocks or vulva; it is a class A misdemeanor with a sentence of 2 years probation and a fine of up to $1,000 and a possible sentence of up to 1 year in jail. Sexual abuse in the second degree is when a person touches another person's genitals and the other person is under the age of 14; it is a class A misdemeanor. Sexual abuse in the first degree is when one person touches another person's genitals either: 1. By forcible compulsion, 2. When the other person cannot consent due to being physically helpless, 3. When the other person is under the age of 13 and the actor is over 21, 4. When the other person is under the age of 11; it is a class D felony with a fine of up to $2,000 and a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 7 years.A person convicted of any of these crimes is also required to register as a sex offender for a minimum period of 20 years.
4. This episode also deals with a person being charged with aggravated sexual abuse, as opposed to just sexual abuse, the difference between the two involves penetration with a finger or object, as opposed to just touching. Aggravated sexual abuse in the fourth degree is when one person A. Inserts a foreign object in the vagina, urethra, penis, rectum or anus of another person and the other person is incapable of consenting, or B. Inserts a finger in the vagina, urethra, penis, rectum or anus of another person causing physical injury; it is a class E felony and carries a sentence of either 10 years probation & a fine of $1,000, or for prior offenders a prison sentence of at least 1 year but not more than 4 years. Aggravated sexual abuse in the third degree is when 1. One person inserts a foreign object in the vagina, urethra, penis, rectum or anus of another person: A. By forcible compulsion, B. When the other person is physically helpless, C. When the other person is under the age of 11; or 2. The foreign object causes physical injury and the other person is incapable of consent due to being mentally disabled; it is a class D felony with a fine of up to $2,000 and a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 7 years. Aggravated sexual abuse in the second degree is when a person inserts a finger causing physical injury to another person: A. By forcible compulsion, B. When the other person is physically helpless, C. When the other person is under the age of 11; it is a class C felony with a fine of $3,500 and a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 15 years. Aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree is when a person inserts a foreign object causing physical injury: A. By forcible compulsion, B. When the other person is physically helpless, C. When the other person is under the age of 11; it is a class B felony with a fine of $5,000 and a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 25 years.A person convicted of any of these crimes is required to register as a sex offender for life, although someone convicted of fourth or third degree aggravated sexual abuse can petition the courts to be removed from the registry after 30 years.

Purple Heart

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1991 Anthony Riggs case. In March 1991, Army Specialist Anthony Riggs was shot to death in Detroit shortly after his return from the Persian Gulf War. It was later revealed he had been shot by his wife, Toni Cato Riggs, so that she could collect his life insurance.
2. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) and Dominic Chianese (Judge Paul Kaylin) went on to work together in five episodes of The Good Wife (2009) portraying the characters Peter Florrick and Judge Michael Marx respectively.

Switch

1. This episode appears to be based on two different cases including:
   • The 1993 Karisa Santiago case. In March 1993 Santiago, was a Yonkers woman accused of killing one of her three young children, who died mysteriously during an eight-month period. She had what appeared to have multiple-personality disorder.
   • The 1975 Billy Milligan case. William Stanley Milligan was the subject of a highly publicized court case in Ohio in the late 1970s. After having committed several felonies including armed robbery, he was arrested for three rapes on the campus of Ohio State University. In the course of preparing his defense, psychologists diagnosed Milligan with multiple personality disorder. His lawyers pleaded insanity, claiming that two of his alternate personalities committed the crimes without Milligan being aware of it. He was the first person diagnosed with multiple personality disorder to raise such a defense, and the first acquitted of a major crime for this reason, instead spending a decade in mental hospitals.
2. First of 3 appearances by Francie Swift. Swift has also appeared in SVU as an ADA.
3. Megan reveals her two other personalities three times; Bobby appears twice and Nancy once. We see the triggers the produce the personalities, but never see what happens after the personalities complete their roles. The scenes simply fade to black instead of showing how they revert to Megan.
4. It's established early on that Nancy hates a liar. On the stand during the competency hearing Dr. Cantrel accuses Megan of lying to get the Bobby personality to reveal himself. Yet the lying accusation should have triggered Nancy and not Bobby, who comes out on the stand.

Pride

1. Final appearance of Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan in this series. Logan is not seen again until Exiled (1998), which was a TV movie made to wrap up Logan's story. Logan makes an appearance in Stress Position (2005) when he assists the Major Case Squad in investigating the murder of a corrections officer at the prison where Logan's girlfriend works as a nurse. Captain Deakins, Jamey Sheridan, and Detective Goren, Vincent D'Onofrio, were both impressed with Logan's skill as an investigator and Deakins requested that Logan be transferred to the MCS. Logan became a regular character starting in season five of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001).
2. Towards the end of the fifth season, executive producer Dick Wolf decided not to renew Chris Noth's contract, citing that the interaction between Logan and the similarly jaded Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) lacked enough dramatic contrast. Viewers and critics were shocked at the dismissal of the most popular and only remaining original cast member at that time. Years later, Noth convinced Wolf to produce Exiled (1998) to wrap up the story of Mike Logan, which Noth felt had been prematurely extinguished on the show.
3. This episode appears to be based on the 1978 Dan White case. In 1978, Dan White shot and killed both mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, reportedly due to his fury at what he saw as the rising trend in gay activism - Milk was the first openly gay elected official in San Francisco history. White's lawyers argued that he had been suffering from severe depression which had inhibited his ability to distinguish right from wrong. Over the years, an urban legend has cropped up claiming that White's lawyers used the "Twinkie Defense" (in other words, eating junk food made him do it), but it was never claimed in court that eating junk food was, in any way, responsible for White's activities - his excessive consumption of junk food was used to show just how depressed he had gotten, but was never blamed.
4. When Briscoe was talking to Eddie, the male prostitute in the diner, he asks Briscoe if he was from vice, then when Logan sits down and shows Eddie his badge he says "wait, this is entrapment, you said you weren't vice". The concept of what constitutes entrapment is something people frequently get wrong, police are allowed to use deception to get information out of criminals, the Supreme Court has consistently ruled in dozens of cases in the past century that police are not violating a person's constitutional rights when using deception (like undercover work or lying about their identity), so long as they aren't encouraging that person to break the law they aren't entrapping them. Entrapment is when a police officer, through either words or actions, encourages someone break the law in order to arrest them. For example Eddie is a male prostitute, he agreed to meet Briscoe of his own free will with the intent of committing an act of prostitution before they even met, which is not entrapment; now if Briscoe had went to some random person on the street and said "I'll pay you $100 for oral sex" then that would be entrapment. Police officers concealing their vehicles to catch people speeding is often incorrectly attributed as entrapment, however a person speeding makes the choice to drive over the speed limit on their own without any encouragement from the police officer, ergo it is not entrapment; someone that gets a ticket for speeding has no one but them-self to blame. The only way a police officer would be guilty of entrapment when citing someone for speeding is if they were driving an unmarked car and made some overt action to encourage the other person to drive over the speed limit, like challenging them to a race.
5. After Logan punches Councilman Crossley, ADA Kincaide asks EADA McCoy what will happen to Logan. McCoy says he'll be walking a beat in Staten Island for 2-5 years. Which is pretty much what happens, although for longer than five years. As the TV-movie Exiled (1998) reveals Logan is transferred to the Staten Island precinct, while he isn't demoted back to being a uniform officer he is demoted from detective 2nd grade, to detective 3rd grade. He actually winds up being "exiled" to Staten Island for about 10 years, in 2005 on the Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) episode Stress Position (2005) he assists Major Case detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames on a case and afterwards Captain Deakins transfers Logan to Major Case and promotes him back to detective 2nd grade.
6. Robert Joy (Leo Barnett) also played the role of Louis Dutton in episode 8.18, Stalker (1998).
7. Richard Bekins played four different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.23 Pride (1995) - Councilman Richard Durban.
   • Episode 13.1 American Jihad (2002) - Mr. Landon.
   • Episode 15.16 The Sixth Man (2005) - Basketball Commissioner.
   • Episode 20.20 The Taxman Cometh (2010) - Roger Weil.
8. Nance Williamson has played four different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.23 Pride (1995) - Judge Louise Lessing.
   • Episode 12.1 Who Let the Dogs Out? (2001) - Assistant M.E. Jansen.
   • Episode 14.11 Darwinian (2004) - Assistant M.E Erika Malchiodi.
   • Episode 20.20 The Taxman Cometh (2010) - Paulette Kastner.
9. Daniel Oreskes has played six different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 5.23 Pride (1995) - Durban Campaign Manager.
   • Episode 7.2 I.D. (1996) - Jack Maslin.
   • Episode 8.18 Stalker (1998) - Mr. Wilson.
   • Episode 11.24 Deep Vote (2001) - Jeff Waites.
   • Episode 13.20 Kid Pro Quo (2003) - Merrill Rush.
   • Episode 17.19 Fallout (2007) - Andrei Karpovich.
10. Actor Peter Gerety guest stars as defense attorney Charles Powell. He later plays Detective Stuart Gharty on Law & Order's sister series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), which features several crossover episodes. Homicide is also the series that originated the character of Detective John Munch, played by Richard Belzer who would later reprise his role as Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
11. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Nance Williamson (Judge Louise Lessing) also worked together on Tracks (2016) (episode 7.12) and Weeping Willow (2006) (episode 6.12).
12. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Daniel Oreskes (Durban Campaign Manager) also worked together on episode 1.23, Running (2010), of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florick & Ray Ernesto respectively.
13. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Peter Gerety (Charles Powell) also worked together on three episodes of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florrick & Judge Timothy Stanek respectively.
14. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Richard Bekins (Councilman Richard Durban) also worked together on episode 3.18, Gloves Come Off (2012), of The Good Wife (2009) as Peter Florrick & Dr. Rubich respectively.
15. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Tim Hopper (Mr. Wiley) also worked together on The Wheels of Justice (2013) (episode 4.19), as Peter Florrick & Michael Catalani respectively.
16. Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Robert Joy (Leo Barnett) also worked together on Dear God (2014) (episode 6.3,) Peter Florrick & Wendell Keller respectively.
17. When Briscoe tells Logan about "a guy shooting up the White House", he's making a reference to a Francisco Martin Duran, who, on October 29, 1994, fired 29 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle at the White House in an attempt to kill United States President Bill Clinton.Coincidentally, this episode was first aired on May 24, 1995, the day after another such incident; on May 23, 1995, a Leland William Modjeski was shot and wounded by the Secret Service after scaling a fence surrounding the White House and darting towards the executive mansion, carrying a .38 revolver. This second breach of White House security must have headlined the evening and nightly news before and after the episode's broadcast, which would have added an accidental touch of realism.
18. Jill Hennessy and Daniel Hugh Kelly would reunite to star as Jackie and JFK in Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001).