Law & Order

Season 7

Causa Mortis

1. This episode appears to be loosely based on the 1996 Kathleen Weinstein case. A New Jersey schoolteacher, Weinstien was carjacked and subsequently murdered in March of 1996. She had had the presence of mind to secretly record 46 minutes of her conversation with her killer, thus providing enough details to catch the suspect and prosecute him. Much like in the episode, after the forensics team had found 24 minutes of recorded data on one side of the cassette tape, they later found another critical 22 minutes on the other side of the tape.
2. The literal translation of "causa mortis" is Latin for "cause of death" or "caused by death". In law, a document, such as a will, created "causa mortis" is one written in contemplation of impending death. In this episode, the phrase refers to the audio recording created by the murder victim.
3. The four Rankin children are played by siblings Jillian Bowen, Alex Bowen, Cameron Bowen and Andrea Bowen.
4. Detective Curtis mockingly asks an inmate that is appealing his case if he thinks he is "Claus von Bülow" and refers to his lawyer as "Alan dirt-for-brains." Curtis is referring to Claus von Bülow and his attorney Alan Dershowitz. Von Bülow is well-known for being tried and convicted for the attempted murder of his wife Sunny on two separate occasions. However, the convictions were later overturned on appeal. Von Bülow's wife Sunny experienced two comas within a year; she recovered from the first coma, but the second one left her brain-dead. Both comas were initially determined to be caused by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). During her second coma, doctors became suspicious and ran additional blood tests that showed she had high levels of insulin in her system. However, this testing was only done once and was likely a false positive. Von Bülow was arrested for allegedly trying to kill his wife with an overdose of insulin twice. The main evidence that led to his conviction was a syringe found in his home with insulin on the outside of the needle.After his conviction, von Bülow hired Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz to handle his appeal. Dershowitz was assisted by future New York attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer, who was a Harvard Law School student at the time. Dershowitz discovered that the syringe with the insulin on it was not found by the police but by family members of Sunny. They had hired a locksmith to break into parts of von Bülow's home and conducted an illegal search, which turned up the syringe. The locksmith left the home after unlocking the doors. In the first trial, Sunny's family committed perjury by testifying that the locksmith had been at the home when they found the insulin and syringe. However, in the second trial, they recanted their story and said that the locksmith never witnessed the search of the house. After learning this, Dershowitz had his own experts examine the syringe, and they determined that the syringe only had insulin on the outside of the needle and that no trace of insulin existed inside the syringe or on the plunger. If someone had injected Sunny with the syringe, pushing the needle into her skin, pulling it out would have wiped away any trace of insulin on the outside of the needle and traces of insulin would still exist inside the syringe and on the plunger. Meaning that one of von Bülow's in-laws conjured up fake evidence by dipping the tip of the syringe in a vial of insulin. Dershowitz also had eight expert witnesses, all of them highly respected doctors and medical school professors, testify that Sunny's comas had not been caused by an overdose of insulin but, instead, by chronic abuse of alcohol, aspirin, prescription opioid painkillers, and chronic health issues. It was also discovered that Sunny had been admitted to the hospital three weeks before her second coma and that toxicology tests had shown that she had ingested at least 73 tablets of Percodan (aspirin/oxycodone); she was likely trying to commit suicide.With this newly discovered evidence, the two attempted murder convictions from the first trial were set aside by the Rhode Island Supreme Court. They granted von Bülow a new trial, and, in 1985, the jury in the new trial found him not guilty on both counts of attempted murder.
5. Carey Lowell, who joins the cast as ADA Jamie Ross, was a Bond girl in Licence to Kill (1989). She was married to Richard Gere 2002-2016.
6. The price shown for a gallon of gas is $1.31, which would be equivalent to about $2.75 after adjusting for inflation.
7. Michael Hobbs has played four different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 7.1 Causa Mortis (1996) - Sergeant.
   • Episode 9.13 Hunters (1999) - Spellman.
   • Episode 11.18 White Lie (2001) - Pat Conners.
   • Episode 16.4 Age of Innocence (2005) - Doctor.

I.D.

1. The murder weapon was identified in the original, televised version of this episode as a .25 caliber Ruger pistol. But for some reason in the DVD version of this episode, the word "Ruger" has been dubbed over and replaced with a fictional brand, "Fluger"; also spoofing the German handgun company "Luger". Yet the subtitles show the original "Ruger" brand in the dialog.Note: The DVD and online streaming versions of this season are taken from the VHS cassette version released in 1998 shortly after the Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, Oregon that left four dead and 25 injured. Two of the weapons used by the shooter were a sawed off Ruger 10/22 rifle and a Ruger SR22 pistol. Following the shooting there was civil litigation against Ruger, although it was ultimately dismissed as a judge found that Ruger cannot be held at fault for how their products are used since they were sold in full compliance with state and federal law.
2. Lieutenant Anita Van Buren tells Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis that they have two weeks to identify the dead girl before her corpse is "sent to Potter's field." A Potter's field is a cemetery containing the graves of paupers and unknown and unclaimed people. Hart Island Is New York City's "Potter's Field": the location of a 101-acre (0.41 km2) cemetery, the largest tax-funded cemetery in the world. Burials on Hart Island began shortly after the American Civil War.
3. In this episode, New York apparently was lackadaisical about verifying the identity of the deceased. Other than identification by the victim's purported sister, no mention is made of any any attempt to identify the victim by driver's license, fingerprint, dental record, business associates, or living people. Even after the police get a fingerprint, they do not mention verifying the identity with another source. Finally, only after a month of the trial does the victim's former co-worker appear.
4. Detective Rey Curtis says that the music publisher's office had been closed the previous day for a Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. The most solemn day on the Jewish calendar, it occurred on September 23, 1996, two days before this 1996 episode aired.
5. Julian Gamble has played four different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 6.2 Rebels (1995) - Councilman Jack Rabe.
   • Episode 7.2 I.D. (1996) - Judge Slattery.
   • Episode 8.21 Bad Girl (1998) - Judge P. Slattery.
   • Episode 9.18 Juvenile (1999) - Gerald Fox.
   • Episode 14.14 City Hall (2004) - Ladder Company 66 Chief.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Stuart Zagnit has played three different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 7.2 I.D. (1996) - Harry Shapiro, DDS.
   • Episode 10.5 Justice (1999) - Carson.
   • Episode 12.17 Girl Most Likely (2002) - Jim Roker.

Good Girl

1. Mandamus is Latin for "We command." In the justice system, a writ of mandamus is an order from a superior court ordering a lower court, government institution, or corporation to do (or to forbid from doing) a specific act that said court, institution, or corporation is obliged to do under the law. In the United States, writs of mandamus from a higher court to a lower one, like a writ from the Supreme Court to a Court of Appeals, District Court, Circuit Court, or to a government institution like a District Attorney, has largely been phased out in the criminal justice system. Writs of mandamus are usually only seen in corporate and family law. However, superior courts in the criminal justice system still have the authority to issue a writ to a lower court or institution, if the situation calls for it.A few examples of mandamus writs being the Skokie case; in 1977, a chapter of the Klu Klux Klan wanted to do an organized march in the town of Skokie, Illinois, which is a largely Jewish community and home to a Holocaust museum. The locals filed for an injunction against the march, which was granted by a judge in the Cook County Circuit Court. On behalf of the KKK, lawyers with the ACLU filed an emergency appeal to lift the injunction with both the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court on the grounds of the injunction violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly; in a statement, the ACLU said, while they abhorred the KKK's beliefs, they would defend anyone whose civil rights were being violated. Neither court responded to the motion, essentially hoping the KKK would go away and do their march elsewhere. This led to the Supreme Court of the United States issuing a writ of mandamus to the Illinois Supreme Court, ordering them to grant the emergency hearing; the court said it was critical for courts to immediately deal with accusations of constitutional violations, saying that, while they detest the KKK and everything they stand for, denying a group's civil rights because of those reasons is a slippery slope into tyranny. The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Court of Appeals, who ordered the injunction lifted.Another more recent example is a 2023 lawsuit in California challenging the constitutionality of the state's ban on standard capacity firearm magazines; the lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on the grounds that banning the most commonly-used magazine capacities in the country violates the Second Amendment. Not wanting to deal with the issue, the court continually refused to hear the case. This led to a motion for a writ of mandamus being filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; the Appellate Court granted the motion and issued a writ of mandamus, ordering the Superior Court to hear the case forthwith. The court determined this matter needed to be decided by a higher court, and it forwarded the case to the California Court of Appeals for the Third District, who determined the magazine ban to be unconstitutional. Although, their ruling was overturned by the California Supreme Court, who ruled that, while magazines have a constitutional protection, the Second Amendment's regulation clause allows for restrictions to be placed on them. As of 2025, there are two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of magazine bans under the Second Amendment pending in Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; as well as one pending in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. It is expected these cases will be combined into one single case to be heard before the Supreme Court of the United States sometime in 2026 or 2027.
2. When asked to give her fingerprints, a suspect says "You're not going to run a Fuhrman on me". This is a reference to Mark Fuhrman, the Los Angeles police officer who discovered the bloody glove that appeared to implicate O.J. Simpson in the murder of his ex-wife. Fuhrman's credibility as a witness was later damaged when tape recordings showed that he had recently used racial epithets, something he had denied under oath during the trial.
3. This episode inspired the "Law & Order UK" episode Masquerade (2010). The facts are slightly different. Instead of being African-American, the victim is of Pakistani origin.
4. Guest stars Jennifer Esposito and Giancarlo Esposito share the same surname but are not related to each other.
5. Dennis Boutsikaris has played three different characters throughout the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.4 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1990) - Richard "Dick" Berkley.
   • Episode 3.4 The Corporate Veil (1992) - Richard "Dick" Berkley.
   • Episode 7.3 Good Girl (1996) - Al Archer.
   • Episode 8.13 Castoff (1998) - Neil Pressman.
   • Episode 11.8 Thin Ice (2000) - Al Archer.
   • Episode 12.10 Prejudice (2001) - Al Archer.
   • Episode 14.17 Hands Free (2004) - Al Archer.
6. Jennifer Esposito (Gina Tucci) later played Sgt. Phoebe Baker on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
7. Myra Lucretia Taylor plays Jane Monroe, the mother of murder victim Charley Monroe. That name was previously used as an alias by murder victim Bridget Kaylin in the episode called Girlfriends.
8. This episode appears to be based on the 1964 death of Sam Cooke.
9. Vanessa Aspillaga has played four different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 7.3 Good Girl (1996) - Irene the Librarian.
   • Episode 11.11 Sunday in the Park with Jorge (2001) - Miss Guzman.
   • Episode 12.5 Possession (2001) - Mrs. Ramos.
   • Episode 18.5 Driven (2008) - Detective Carla Sanchez.
10. Actor Giancarlo Esposito guest stars as Mr. Baylor, the attorney representing the victim's family. He later plays the recurring character of Mike Giardiello on Law & Order's sister series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), he also reprises the role in the film that concludes the series' story Homicide: The Movie (2000).
11. Jennifer Esposito and Giancarlo Esposito would go on to appear in several episodes of The Boys (2019), and just like this episode they do not share screen-time together.
12. Danielle Mason's father is credited as Mr. Mason but he is referred to as Henry by her lawyer.

Survivor

1. In 1995, the year before this episode first aired, the World Jewish Congress began negotiations with Swiss banks over dormant World War II-era bank accounts.
2. When Jamie, Briscoe, and Curtis are speaking to Judith in the hallway in front of her apartment door, in one shot, Jamie's dialogue isn't synced to her lip movements.

Corruption

1. Detective Curtis says he is Peruvian on his mother's side. In real life, Benjamin Bratt's mother is in fact of Peruvian descent.
2. This episode appears to be based on two separate incidents of corruption within the NYPD including:
   • The 1967-1972 thefts of heroin from the Department Property Clerk's office of the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
   • Revelations of corruption within the NYPD made by Frank Serpico and David Durk, and the subsequent 1971 Mollen and 1992 Knapp Commissions.
3. Actor Kirk Acevedo (Richie Morales) has appeared in multiple series in the L&O universe, once again carrying on the tradition of guest actors' playing multiple characters. In addition to playing Richie Morales here, he has played three different characters on New York Undercover (1994) and two different characters on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). He is best known in the L&O universe for his role on Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) as D.A. Investigator Hector Salazar. Jerry Orbach, after departing "Law & Order," reprised his role as Lennie Briscoe on Trial By Jury. Briscoe, after retiring from the NYPD, became a D.A. investigator and Salazar's partner. However, Orbach passed away suddenly and only appeared in two episodes of Trial By Jury.
4. When Lt. Flynn's attorney tries to discredit McCoy's witness as being a hooker who also forges checks, he says he doesn't care if she's Ma Barker. Kate Barker, AKA "Ma Barker", was the mother of the men who ran the Barker-Karpis Gang during the "public enemy era" in the 1930's when the American Midwest was plagued with gangs and mobsters, such as Al Capone. The gang her sons led were responsible for a number of bank robberies and kidnappings, as well as several murders; they were on the most wanted list of J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hoover and the FBI described Ma Barker as "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade". In 1935, her oldest son Arthur was arrested in Chicago; a map found in his car led back to a house in rural Florida with Barker and her youngest son Fred inside. FBI agents surrounded the house and called for the occupants to surrender, but Fred opened fire on the agents with a Thompson submachine gun; both he and his mother were killed when the agents returned fire. There is strong evidence that Ma Barker was not actually a member of the gang and never participated in any of their crimes directly; although she had knowledge of her sons' activities and helped them as an accessory before and after the fact. There is no evidence she participated in any robberies, kidnappings, or murders. Many historians believe she wasn't even an active participant in the shootout either; people that actually knew her said that she wasn't a criminal and claimed that Hoover created the allegations about her leading the gang to justify her accidental shooting by the FBI.
5. At the firing range Briscoe mentions that he's practicing with a semi-automatic because the department had switched to automatics. From 1926 until 1986 the NYPD's standard issue sidearms were the Colt Official Police Special and the Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolvers, both chambered in .38 Special. In 1986 the department switched their standard issue sidearms to more modern revolvers with design changes that improved safety and reliability, from 1986 to 1994 uniformed officers could choose between the Smith & Wesson Model 64 .38 Special and the Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum; detectives were issued either the Colt Detective Special or Smith & Wesson Model 36 .38 Special, which is what Briscoe carries. In 1994 the department phased out revolvers and began issuing semi-automatic sidearms, although officers who privately purchased their revolvers were allowed to continue carrying them. From 1994 to 2018 uniformed officers had the choice of being issued either a full sized Gen2 (second-generation) Glock 17 or a Smith & Wesson 5946, and detectives were issued the compact Glock 19, with all three models being chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum. Starting in 2018 the department no longer allowed officers to carry revolvers as their primary sidearm, although there were grandfathered in as approved off-duty carry guns; the department also allows revolvers to be carried on duty as a backup weapon in an ankle holster, the most commonly used backup revolver since 2018 is the Ruger LCR, it has a model chambered in 9 mm so that officers have a backup gun that uses the same ammunition as their sidearm. In 2000 the department starting issuing the Gen3 Glock 17 & 19, they switched to the Gen4 in 2012 and the Gen5 in 2022.Officers that are assigned to patrol cars and have the proper certification are also issued Mossberg 590 pump action 12 gauge shotguns and semi-automatic Colt AR-15 rifles, which are kept in the trunk. Officers with the departments Strategic Response Group, counterterrorism tactical unit, are issued the select-fire Colt M4 automatic assault rifle which has both semi-auto and three round burst fire modes, and officers with the elite Emergency Services Unit (ESU) are the only ones in the department issued fully automatic machine guns such as the Colt M4A1 rifle and the Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun.
6. Judge Hellman and his special investigation of the corruption in the NYPD is roughly based on Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House Un-American Activities Committee. McCarthy used fear and suspicion as weapons during the Cold War to advance his own political agendas. During his investigation, he alleged that numerous communists, Soviet spies, and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, including President Truman's staff, universities, the film industry, and major corporations. His investigation became a nation-wide witch hunt with McCarthy accusing people of being communists with little to no evidence. Often, he would accuse people simply because he disagreed with their lifestyle choices, going after women that were known to have multiple sexual partners and gay men, alleging that promiscuous women and homosexuals were a threat to national security because their "illicit sexual activity made them vulnerable to blackmail by communists". Ultimately, McCarthy was censured by the Senate for abusing his authority and using unfounded accusations to slander his political opponents.
7. 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.
8. Nancy Ticotin portrayed four different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 3.15 Mother Love (1993) - Miss Gomez.
   • Episode 7.5 Corruption (1996) - Club Bahia Hostess.
   • Episode 11.8 Thin Ice (2000) - Alma Nogales.
   • Episode 11.14 A Losing Season (2001) - Detective Reina Perez.
   • Episode 11.15 Swept Away - A Very Special Episode (2001) - Detective Reina Perez.
   • Episode 11.17 Ego (2001) - Detective Reina Perez.
   • Episode 11.20 All My Children (2001) - Detective Reina Perez.
   • Episode 11.22 School Daze (2001) - Detective Reina Perez.
   • Episode 11.24 Deep Vote (2001) - Detective Reina Perez.
9. Michael Medeiros has portrayed six different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 4.20 Nurture (1994) - Detective Harding.
   • Episode 7.5 Corruption (1996) - Internal Affairs Detective Reynolds.
   • Episode 8.19 Disappeared (1998) - Matthew O'Dell.
   • Episode 12.3 For Love or Money (2001) - Vince Renalfi.
   • Episode 14.8 Embedded (2003) - Defense Attorney Stewart Griffin.
   • Episode 18.16 Strike (2008) - Mike Dolci.
10. Benjamin Bratt & Kevin Conway appeared together in One Good Cop (1991) staring Michael Keaton.
11. At the firing range, Detective Briscoe complains about having to switch from a revolver to an automatic. In Navy Blues (1997), he is still seen armed with a revolver during a raid.

Double Blind

1. Mercury fulminate is highly sensitive to heat and friction, which is what causes it to detonate on impact with objects. Throughout the 19th and mid-20th centuries, it was used as the explosive component of black-powder firearm caps as well as rifle and pistol cartridges and shotgun shell primers. The primer is the component of a cartridge that is responsible for initiating the combustion of the primary explosive charge (the gunpowder) in the cartridge. When the primer is struck by a firearm's hammer, the friction caused by the impact causes the mercury fulminate to undergo a exothermic reaction (detonation), and the combustion then, in turn, ignites the gunpowder. Mercury fulminate was replaced as the main component of primers in the late 20th century because it tended to degrade over time; it would break down into its constituent elements, and the mercury in it would react with the brass in the cartridge, weakening its structural integrity. It was replaced with less toxic and more stable chemicals like lead azide, lead styphnate, and tetrazene.Mercury fulminate is also used in military-grade, low-explosive tipped ammunition; when the bullet impacts the target, it causes the bullet to explode, doing massive damage. Explosive ammo is typically used to better penetrate body armor; high-explosive ammo uses more volatile substances, like nitroglycerin. Explosive and armor piercing ammunition is regulated under Title II of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), which considers them destructive devices. This kind of ammo is generally illegal for civilians to own or make, with the exception of civilians with a specific type of Federal Firearms License (FFL). In order to sell firearms (machine guns, short barreled rifles, silencers) regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) or destructive devices regulated under Title II of the GCA, a person with an FFL must also have a Special Occupational Taxpayer status (SOT). SOT has three different classes and is only granted to FFL dealers and manufacturers that pass an extremely thorough background check, who pay the extra tax fee, and own a legitimate licensed business that deals or manufactures firearms. A class 3 SOT costs $500 per year and allows a FFL to legally deal in NFA firearms & destructive devices, a class 2 SOT costs $1,000 per year and allows a FFL to manufacture NFA firearms & destructive devices, and a class 1 SOT costs $2,000 per year and allows an FFL to legally import these firearms and devices for other countries. Explosive and armor piercing ammo can only be sold by a Type 09 - Dealer in Destructive Devices, Class 3 SOT FFL, and it can only be made with a Type 10 - Manufacturer of Destructive Devices, Ammunition for Destructive Devices or Armor Piercing Ammunition, Class 2 SOT FFL.
2. This episode features a crime that is partly inspired by The Anarchist Cookbook.
3. McCoy mentions that each subject in the clinical trial received two PET scans at the cost of $1,500 per scan. PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography, which is an advanced type of medical imaging that uses low levels of ionizing radiation to visualize and measure metabolic processes. It is especially useful for obtaining detailed, high resolution images of the brain and measuring & tracing blood flow. The process involves radioisotopes, which is a radioactive version of molecules and/or elements, being injected into the bloodstream to act as a tracer; fluorodeoxyglucose is used to look for changes in tissues caused by cancer, sodium fluoride-18 is used to obtain an image of bone structure, and oxygen-15 is useful in measuring blood flow. The radioisotopes used for PET scans emit positrons when decaying (hence the scan's name); a positron is the antimatter equivalent to an electron. When matter and antimatter come into contact, the two particles annihilate each other; this process gives off gamma rays that are detected by gamma ray cameras in the imager that measure the speed and energy levels of the gamma rays as they pass through various tissues in the body. Each type of tissue has its own unique effect on gamma rays, thereby allowing for a three-dimensional image to be rendered by a powerful computer using specialized software. PET scans use significantly more radiation than an x-ray, and a fair amount more than a CT scan. Instead of x-rays, a PET scan uses ionizing radiation, which is the most harmful type of radiation. They are also considerably more expensive, which is why PET scans are never used as the first, or even second choice for imagaining; they are only used for detecting serious issues, like cancer, anuesems, & brain damage, and only if the needed image can't be obtained with a CT scan.
4. In the chemistry lab, when Jamie is interviewing Jill, one of the magazines in the wall rack is the March 1995 issue of "Playgirl" with Scott Bakula on the cover. For those who read the articles in "Playgirl", that issue also offers an article entitled 'Read The Unauthorized Biography That's Making Whitney Houston Sing The Blues.'
5. Jennifer Van Dyck has played five different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.21 Sonata for Solo Organ (1991) - Joanna Woodleigh.
   • Episode 4.16 Big Bang (1994) - Shelly Conners.
   • Episode 7.6 Double Blind (1996) - Jill Perry.
   • Episode 9.21 Ambitious (1999) - Morgana Palmer.
   • Episode 12.14 Missing (2002) - Morgana Palmer.
   • Episode 16.19 Positive (2006) - Dr. Elaine Clemens.
6. John Bedford Lloyd has played three different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.14 Blood Is Thicker... (1992) - Jonathan Ryder.
   • Episode 7.6 Double Blind (1996) - Dr. Christian Varick.
   • Episode 16.8 New York Minute (2005) - Prentiss's Lawyer.
7. Vivienne Benesch (Lori Franklin) previously played the role of Delia in Born Bad (1993) (Episode 4.9).
8. 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.
9. The "Tacony" bridge in Philadelphia, where the female research subject jumped to her death, is actually the Tacony-Palmyra, an old, one lane each way drawbridge across the Delaware River. It used to be very popular because, for many years, the toll was twenty-five cents (the access road was chronically backed up). Now, the toll is something like four dollars, but there are still backups whenever anything larger than a rowboat wants to pass and they have to raise the bridge.
10. A double-blind drug trial gets its name from the fact that neither the doctors administering the trial, nor the patients participating in the trial, know who is getting the experimental drug. This is to prevent the results of the test from being influenced by both implicit and unconscious bias. Half the patients in the trial are administered the experimental drug, and the other half act as a control group and are given a different substance. Depending on what stage of testing the drug is in, the control group is administered one of two types of substances. In the first stage of testing, the control group is administered a placebo; this is mainly to determine if the new drug causes any serious adverse reactions and also to discover what kind of side effects the drug has. The second stage of testing is to determine the drug's effectiveness at treating the condition it is intended for; in this stage, the control group is given another similar drug that is already on the market. For example, Dr. Varick's clinical trial is testing an experimental new psychotropic drug for treating schizophrenia code-named T489; so, to judge the drug's effectiveness at treating schizophrenia, the control group in the study is administered another psychotropic drug with a proven track record. In this case, fluphenazine (Prolixin), a drug that has been in use since 1959. Prior to the start of the trial, subjects are assigned to either the test group or control group at random by a computer program; a person from the pharmaceutical company making the drug, that will not be directly participating in the trial and doesn't know the names of the participants (just their subject number), will then put each test subject's assigned drug into prefilled packages with each subject's number labeled on it to be administered by the doctors in the trial. That way, no one directly participating in trial knows which drug any particular subject is being given.
11. Randle Mell and Jennifer Van Dyck previously appeared together in Big Bang (1994). They share no scenes in this episode.

Deadbeat

1. This episode appears to be inspired by two separate cases/incidents:
   • The story of Jeffrey Nichols (a.k.a. "The King of Deadbeat Dads").
   • The 1992 Robert Hendy-Freegard case. Freegard was a British barman, car salesman, conman, and impostor who masqueraded as an MI5 agent and fooled several people to go underground for fear of IRA assassination.
2. First appearance in the Law & Order franchise for Tamara Tunie, who would later have a run as medical examiner Dr. Melinda Warner on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
3. Jerry Stiller (Sam Pokras) previously played the role of Michael Tobis in The Fertile Fields (1992) (Episode 2.19).
4. This marks the second time in the series where an episode has an ill-fated character named Billy Webber. The first was in episode called Savior.
5. Jordan Lage has played six different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 6.13 Charm City (1996) - Jury Foreman.
   • Episode 7.7 Deadbeat (1996) - Charles.
   • Episode 9.6 Scrambled (1998) - Dr. Harvey Purcell.
   • Episode 11.18 White Lie (2001) - Buddy Marks.
   • Episode 13.1 American Jihad (2002) - Jeff Bodner.
   • Episode 19.21 Skate or Die (2009) - William Tyrell.
   • Episode 18.2 Darkness (2008) - William Tyrell.
6. Guest stars Vincent Pastore and Sharon Angela would later appear in "The Sopranos" (1999).
7. Caroline Bennett says Schaefer (Val Avery) is 67 years old. Avery was actually 72 at the time.

Family Business

1. This was Joseph Wiseman's final television appearance before his death on October 19, 2009, at the age of 91.
2. This episode features a Bond girl and a Bond villain: Carey Lowell (Jamie Ross) played Pam Bouvier in Licence to Kill (1989) while Joseph Wiseman (Seymour Bergreen) played Dr. Julius No in Dr. No (1962).
3. Actor David Thornton (Paul Medici) has appeared on several series in the Law & Order universe, once again continuing the tradition of an actor's playing multiple different characters across the series. He appeared in New York Undercover (1994) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). He has played four different characters on "Law & Order." He is probably best known in the Law & Order universe for playing sleazy Defense Attorney Lionel Granger on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
4. David Thornton, who plays Paul Medici, is married to singer/musician Cyndi Lauper.
5. Although they don't share any scenes in this episode, Olek Krupa and David Thornton would work together in the film Home Alone 3 (1997)
6. James Murtaugh has played six different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.4 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1990) - Christianson.
   • Episode 3.11 Extended Family (1993) - Dr. Jenner.
   • Episode 6.2 Rebels (1995) - Dr. Farnsworth.
   • Episode 7.8 Family Business (1996) - David Solomon.
   • Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Newton.
   • Episode 19.5 Knock Off (2008) - Judge Samuel Sorotsky.
7. Victor Slezak has played four different characters throughout the course of Law & Order:
   • Episode 2.22 The Working Stiff (1992) - William Cousins.
   • Episode 4.22 Old Friends (1994) - Steven Green.
   • Episode 7.8 Family Business (1996) - Jeffrey Arbaugh.
   • Episode 11.2 Turnstile Justice (2000) - Philip Andrews.
8. Rochelle Oliver (Judge Oliver) and Richard Venture (Greer) appeared together in Scent of a Woman (1992).
9. The time cards indicate that this episode takes place in 1995.

Entrapment

1. In an earlier episode Conspiracy (1992), Phil Cerreta (Paul Sorvino) and Mike Logan (Chris Noth) investigated the assassination of the leader of the African-American Congress (AAC). In this episode, Lennie Brisco (Jerry Orbach) and Ray Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) investigate the attempted murder of the new AAC leader Roland Brooks. Lennie notes that Logan investigated the previous leader's murder. Joe Morton portrayed Roland Books in the earlier episode; Ron Cephas Jones portrays him in this episode. Other actors reprise their earlier roles.
2. This episode appears to be based on the 1995 Qubilah Shabazz case. Shabazzz was the second daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. In 1965, she witnessed the assassination of her father by three gunmen. She was arrested in 1995 in connection with an alleged plot to kill Louis Farrakhan--then the leader of the Nation of Islam--whom she believed was responsible for the assassination of her father. She has maintained her innocence. To avoid a prison sentence, she accepted a plea agreement under which she was required to undergo psychological counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse
3. When Roland Books mentions the CIA selling crack to black people in Harlem to finance a war in Central America, he is referring to the Iran-Contra affair. In the late 1980s, high ranking members of the United States government and the military were caught selling weapons to Iran and then using those profits to buy cocaine from South America. They then allegedly sold the cocaine on the streets of the U.S. in order to fund a group of Central American revolutionaries, the Contras, backed by the CIA. When the scandal became public knowledge, several members of the Reagan administration faced possible criminal charges. The President himself possibly faced an impeachment hearing if evidence supporting claims of the President's involvment ever came to light. Before an inquiry could be made, a high ranking member of the military, National Security Council member Oliver North, claimed responsibility for ordering the operation. He was indited on sixteen felony charges and initially convicted of three charges: accepting an illegal gratuity; aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry; and ordering the destruction of documents through his secretary, Fawn Hall. These convictions were later overturned on appeal. However, he was brought before a general court-martial and was given a general discharge from the Marine Corps right after being demoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the court-martial for his conduct in the affair. No hard evidence was found (most evidence being destroyed by North) implicating President Reagan or his staff. While some people believed that Reagan and staff not only knew about the affair but that Reagan himself ordered it, no proof existed that he did, and the matter remains unresolved to this day.
4. Agent Fletcher mentions the last time an FBI agent ignored an informant who failed a polygraph test, the World Trade Center got blown up. He is referring to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. On February 26, 1993, a Pakistani terrorist named Ramzi Yousef drove a box van carrying a bomb into the parking garage under the North Tower of the World Trade Center, armed the bomb's time delay fuse, then fled, which, fifteen minutes later, detonated a 1,336 pound urea nitrate-hydrogen gas thermobaric fuel-air explosive device - with an explosive yield equal to roughly 18,000 pounds of TNT. The blast killed six people and injured 1,042, creating a crater 100 feet wide and four sublevels (40 feet) deep. Yousef had intended for the blast to bring the North Tower down and crash into the South Tower, bringing it down as well, but he parked the van next to a column that only supported the floor/roof of the parking structure. Had he parked the van next to one of the building's corner columns, which supported the building's superstructure, experts believe the bomb would have been capable of bringing the tower down as planned. Yousef's stated motive for the attack was retaliation against the United States for supporting Israel against Palestine in their long-standing conflict. The device was extremely complex and was made by master bomb maker Abdul Rahman Yasin; it used 200 pounds of Semtex (a commercial plastic explosive) as a priming charge to set off the bomb, which contained urea nitrate with aluminum, magnesium, and ferric oxide as its main explosive charge and used nitroglycerin, ammonium nitrate, dynamite, smokeless gunpowder, and det-cord as booster explosives, along with three large bottles of hydrogen.As Fletcher mentioned, an informant named Emad Salem, a former member of the Egyptian Army, warned the FBI about an attack on the World Trade Center being in the works, but the FBI did not find him credible. History repeated itself eight years later: the CIA, DIA, FBI, ICE, ISA, NSA, SOCOM and military intelligence all had intel that pointed to al-Qaeda planning a major terrorist attack against the United States. The intel each agency had by itself didn't indicate anything specific, but, if they had shared their intel, it would have been clear that they all had pieces of the puzzle that showed several members of al-Qaeda had entered the United States since 1998 and had been taking flying lessons at various private airports in rural areas of the country. Intel gathered by the CIA and the Army's Intelligence Support Activity showed that the leaders of al-Qaeda (including Osama Bin Laden) and the Taliban had all met in Pakistan six months prior with the goal of planning a major attack on the U.S..
5. The forensic tech mentions finding lead and barium on the door handle of a car, indicating the presence of gunshot residue. Lead is found in both bullets and gunpowder, but barium is specifically found in primers. A primer is the component of a firearm cartridge that ignites the gunpowder in the case, the primer is found on the head of the cartridge case and is struck by the gun's firing pin, igniting the chemicals in the primer, which in turn ignites the gunpowder. A primer contains three types of chemicals, the exact chemicals vary by manufacturer: an initiator which consists of a shock sensitive chemical like lead styphnate or tetrazine, these chemicals are ignited by the force of the firing pin's impact; an oxidizer which is usually barium nitrate, this adds oxygen to increase the temperature of the flame as the initiator chemical isn't hot enough on its own to ignite the gunpowder; finally a fuel like antimony sulfide is added to make the flame burn longer, allowing for consistent ignition of all the gunpowder in the case, this is why rifles use larger & hotter burning primers than pistols since rifles have more powder. Since 2000 a number of ammunition manufacturers have began replacing lead based chemicals as the primary initiator explosive in primers with less toxic chemicals to comply with certain states that have banned the use of lead based ammo, and also because the removal of lead allows for a cleaner burning ignition and gets the gun less dirty. The lead styphnate has been replaced with zinc and titanium based chemicals in some brands, the exact chemicals used are unknown since the formula is proprietary, while others replaced lead-based explosives with a chemical with the brand name of Dinol, made from DDNP (diazodinitrophenol).
6. Angela Roney mentioned being arrested after authorities discovered an assault weapon in her possession. When the episode originally aired, a federal assault weapons ban was in effect; it was passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The ban had a sunset provision that allowed it to expire in 2004. The ban was not renewed by Congress. The advent of 3D printers, especially industrial ones, has made it easier for criminals to manufacture their own firearms.In 2013, New York passed its own assault weapons ban as part of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act; the act banned the sale of AR-15 and AK-47 style rifles and gave those who lawfully purchased them, prior to the ban taking effect, 60 days to register them with the New York State Police or legally transfer them out-of-state. Specifically, the SAFE Act banned all detachable magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds and classified any semi-automatic firearm with any of these features as an assault weapon: threaded barrel, barrel shorter than 16", vertical foregrip, pistol grip, folding or telescoping stock, overall length under 26 inches, and a removable magazine or a fixed magazine with a capacity greater than 10 rounds. The SAFE Act was amended to relax some of the restrictions and allow certain types of AR's to be legal in New York, if a person obtains a semi-automatic rifle permit. Under the revised statute, an AR-15 can have features like a threaded barrel, pistol grip, or adjustable stock, ONLY if it has a fixed magazine; and vise-versa - an AR can have a detachable magazine if it does not have any of the aforementioned features. In 2022, New York City passed an ordinance banning detachable rifle magazines with a capacity over 5 rounds. Several companies have starting making New York compliant AR's, including Colt, Black Rain Ordnance, Dark Storm Industries, Franklin Armory & Stag Arms.
7. Michelle Hurd (Angela Roney) also played Detective Monique Jeffries on Seasons 1 and 2 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
8. William Hill has portrayed seven different characters throughout the course of the series:
   • Episode 2.11 His Hour Upon the Stage (1991) - Hopkins.
   • Episode 2.19 The Fertile Fields (1992) - Hopkins.
   • Episode 3.12 Right to Counsel (1993) - Milgrim.
   • Episode 4.7 Apocrypha (1993) - Hines.
   • Episode 7.9 Entrapment (1997) - Eddie Page.
   • Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Kusevitsky.
   • Episode 10.12 Mother's Milk (2000) - Beltran's Lawyer.
   • Episode 12.5 Possession (2001) - Havel's Lawyer.
   • Episode 19.4 Falling (2008) - Eddie O'Connor.
9. Michael Gaston has played five different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 4.22 Old Friends (1994) - Wheeler.
   • Episode 7.9 Entrapment (1997) - Ron Fletcher.
   • Episode 9.16 Harm (1999) - Mr. Delany.
   • Episode 11.18 White Lie (2001) - Major Jim Wyman.
   • Episode 19.15 Bailout (2009) - Pete Gardner.
10. Both Michelle Hurd and Michael Gaston would later play in Blindspot (2015).

Legacy

1. Mark Margolis portrayed three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 3.8 Prince of Darkness (1992) - George Lobrano.
   • Episode 7.10 Legacy (1997) - Bronson.
   • Episode 12.3 For Love or Money (2001) - Frankie 'Threads' Polito.
2. The wife is allowed not only to trample the crime scene, but to lay her head on him! The female cop who is right there does nothing to stop her.
3. This episode shares its title with the Season Twenty-One episode Legacy (2022).

Menace

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1995 Deletha Word case. Deletha Word was a Detroit woman who in 1995 was beaten so severely by a man that she jumped off a bridge into the Detroit River to escape him even though she couldn't swim. Ms. Word drowned and her attacker was convicted of second-degree murder the following year.
2. Road rage has become an increasingly worse problem since this episode aired; two years after this episode aired, a man in Austin, Texas shot three truckers in the same week. Fifty-five year-old Douglas Fellman was a member of a major biker gang and had a history of violence; he shot and killed 36 year-old Robert Everett after his truck cut Fellman off. On the way back to his house, Fellman saw another 18-wheeler being driven by 62 year-old Nick Velasquez stopped at a gas station; Fellman stopped and shot Velasquez dead. A week later, he shot 33 year-old Antonio Vega at a truck stop; Vega survived and was able to get Fellman's license plate. Fellman was indicted in 1998 for capital murder, and the DA announced that he was seeking the death penalty, calling Fellman the "poster boy for the death penalty after showing no remorse & blaming his victims for what happened". Fellman was convicted in 1999 on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, three counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of resisting arrest, one count of assault in the first degree, one count of aggravated assault on a police officer, one count of attempted murder in the first degree, and two counts of murder in the first degree. The jury sentenced him to death by lethal injection; Fellman exhausted all of his appeals and was executed in 2013.The years during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic has seen some especially bad road rage incidents. In 2022, an Arizona man named Chris Pelkey was shot and killed in a road rage incident by Gabriel Horcasitas. In a plea deal, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10-1/2 years in prison. In 2023, Geoffrey Hammond in Portland, Oregon shot and killed Ryan Martin, after Hammond stopped his car in the middle of the road to get a dropped cell phone, and shot and wounded a bystander who was filming the incident. In 2024, he was convicted of attempted murder in the second degree & murder in the second degree, and he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. In October of 2024, a North Carolina man named Terrell Eugene Giddens was rear ended by Jeffery Guida; when Guida got out to exchange information, Giddens shot him with a rifle, killing him in front of his three children aged 13, 11 & 2, then he fired several shots at Guida's van. He was charged with three counts of attempted murder in the first degree and one count of murder in the first degree. In May 2025, the Catawba County District Attorney announced they would be seeking the death penalty. In April 2025, a Syracuse, New York man named Ezell Hicks Jr. ran a red light and hit a car that was turning left; Hicks got out of his car and began yelling and cursing at the other driver, even though he was at fault. After the other driver said he was calling the police, Hicks ran back to his car, got a knife and ran at the other driver, who pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot Hicks, killing him. The gun was legally registered to the driver, who also possessed a valid New York Concealed Handgun License. The other driver has not been identified for his own safety, but, on May 11, a Onondaga County grand jury cleared the driver of any criminal wrongdoing, unanimously determining that the shooting was self-defense and legally justified.
3. This episode features a rare instance of the subject of a grand jury investigation testifying; while a person under investigation has a legal right to testify before a grand jury, the prosecution is under no obligation to inform them. Often a person does not know they are the subject of a grand jury investigation unless they are indicted, and, in the cases where a person is aware of the investigation, their attorney will almost always recommend against testifying. Grand jury proceedings are secret in order to protect the identity of witnesses testifying and to protect the reputation of the subject of the investigation in the event the grand jury votes not to indict them. The only people allowed in the room, besides the bailiff, jurors & prosecutor is the witness who is currently testifying; no one else is allowed in the room. A person who is testifying is allowed to consult with their attorney before they testify and during breaks but not while the hearing is in session. Which is why most attorneys recommend against their client testifying before a grand jury, since the only person asking questions is the prosecutor, since it's just a hearing to determine probable cause for a felony indictment, and not a trial. There is no judge present to present objections to, and the attorney is not allowed to ask rebuttal questions; a skilled prosecutor can sometimes provoke or trick the subject of the investigation into making an incriminating statement. When a person testifies before a grand jury, anything they say can be used as evidence against them in a trial. The only time an attorney will recommend their client testify before a grand jury is if the attorney believes they have sufficient evidence to present to the grand jury to prove their client's innocence or, at the very least, prove that the prosecution hasn't met their burden of proof.
4. John Cullum (Harold Dorning) also played the role of Bernard Powell, Sr. in Soldier of Fortune (2001) (Episode 12.4).
5. John Cullum (Harold Dorning) will later play defense attorney and Supreme Court Judge Barry Moredock on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).
6. The picture of Karen Whatney on a shelf in her mother's apartment appears to be a picture of the late actress Christine Cavanagh.

Barter

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1995 Leonard Owen Mundy/Premium Commercial Services Corp. case.
2. Filmed on November 27-December 10, 1996. Production Code: #K1110.

Matrimony

1. This episode appears to be based on the 1996 Anna Nicole Smith inheritance case. Smith had wed a much older man who died shortly after the wedding, then spent years fighting his son in court for the inheritance.
2. This episode features Chris Orbach son of Jerry Orbach.
3. Arija Bareikis (Kim Triandos) is 9 years younger than Anna Holbrook (Velma Darcy) who portrayed her mother.
4. The victim had an antique shotgun along with ammunition and brochures in a glass display case on his wall. The writing on the brochures is difficult to make out but can be read on the HD version of the episode. The shotgun is a double barrel hammer fired, and one of the brochures appears to say "H&H", which is short for Holland & Holland, a British luxury firearm and clothing manufacturer that was founded in 1835. They make some of the highest quality and most expensive long arms in the world; H&H has had a royal warrant, since 1850, and has made rifles and shotguns used by British royalty and aristocracy for the past 170 years. H&H makes double barrel shotguns and bolt action rifles, but they are best known for their double rifles used for hunting large and dangerous game. H&H firearms are works of art and investments as much as they are a weapons; each firearm is made entirely by hand, and their top-of-the-line Royal Deluxe models are custom tailored to fit the person purchasing it. A new H&H shotgun costs about $20,000, their rifles start at $50,000, and a custom Royal Deluxe starts at $100,000. H&H antiques are some of the most valuable in the world and can sell for over $250,000; an antique H&H Royal Deluxe shotgun holds the record for most expensive shotgun sold at $1.2 million USD.Another brochure is labeled Eley Limited, a British ammunition company founded in 1820, and they are one of the oldest ammunition makers still in operation, just recently celebrating their 200th anniversary. Eley has made a wide variety of ammunition over the centuries, including black powder, musket balls, percussion caps, and they made some of the first pinfire cartridges. They are best known for making high quality, .22 Long Rifle and shotgun ammunition; owners of Holland & Holland shotguns typically used Eley shotshells due to their high quality and reliability. Eley ammunition is one of the most commonly used by Olympic skeet and biathlon shooters. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, six of the twelve medals for pistol and rifle shooting were won using Eley ammunition.
5. Kim Triandos (Arija Bareikis) and her mother Velma Darcy (Anna Holbrook) are from Wichita Falls, Texas, a north Texas city of about 100,000 people.

Working Mom

1. McCoy refers to Lanie Stieglitz as "the Betty Friedan militia". Betty Friedan was a leading American feminist and writer whose 1963 book, "The Feminine Mystique", is considered by many to have directly inspired and led to the 1960's feminist movement.
2. The name of the golf club where the victim worked is "Bernum Woods". This is a particularly clever allusion to the forest in "Macbeth"--Great Birnam Wood--where Macduff and his soldiers hide before attacking Macbeth's castle and killing him.
3. An interesting bit of casting in this episode is Richard Bright as the victim's police captain. Bright is best known for his role as Al Neri in The Godfather (1972) & The Godfather Part II (1974), a police officer turned mob hit man.
4. McCoy comments that defense attorney Lanie Stieglitz was trying to become the patron saint of prostitutes; while McCoy was being facetious, there actually is a patron saint of prostitutes. In the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church, Saint Vitalis of Gaza (circa 7th century AD) is considered to be both the patron saint of day laborers and prostitutes. Vitalis was a monk in the monastery of Seridus in Palestine, located in close proximity to the Gaza Strip. Legend has it in the final years of his life Vitalis traveled to the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a city known far and wide for having some of the best prostitutes in the known world. Vitalis would work as a day laborer to earn money, he would take his day's wages to a different prostitute at the end of each day and hire her for the night, he would spend the night praying with the girls he hired in an attempt to save their mortal souls. Vitalis was killed in 625 AD when a man mistook his reasons for hiring prostitutes, feeling that a monk hiring prostitutes was committing blasphemy, he struck Vitalis in the head with a club. Vitalis barely managed to make it back to his home before dying from the head injury. During his funeral the town's large number of prostitutes came and led a procession while he was being buried, and explained to the townspeople Vitalis' true reason for hiring them.
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. 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.

D-Girl

1. Referring to the actor running on the beach with the character Evan Grant, Briscoe says, "(Bill) Cosby used to be his sidekick on that show." The actor is Robert Culp (uncredited and playing himself), who actually co-starred with Bill Cosby in the hit 1960's TV comedy-drama I Spy (1965).
2. The first episode in a three-episode story-arc which continues in Turnaround (1997) and concludes with Showtime (1997).
3. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases:
   • The 1994 O.J. Simpson murder case.
   • The 1947 Elizabeth Short (a.k.a. "The Black Dahlia") case.
4. D-Girl is a derogatory Hollywood term referring to a female producer who believes she has more power than she actually does.
5. This episode features Lauren Graham and Scott Cohen, who will later play Lorelai Gilmore and Max Medina on Gilmore Girls (2000).
6. Actor Scott Cohen has appeared in multiple series across the L&O universe. In addition to three episodes of this series, he also appeared in New York Undercover (1994) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). He also played D.A. Investigator Chris Ravell on Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).
7. Janeane Garofalo also guest-stars in D-Girl (2000).
8. The name of the murder victim here, Heidi Ellison, is also used in "NYPD Blue" 2.11, Vishy Vashy Vinny, where it is the name used for the first victim of the Webster serial killer five years before. A common element is Gardner Stern, listed as a writer on this episode and as doing the teleplay for the NYPD Blue episode.
9. Elizabeth Peña was considered for the role of Lisa Lundquist.

Turnaround

1. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases:
   • The 1994-1995 O.J. Simpson murder case.
   • The 1947 Elizabeth Short (a.k.a. "The Black Dahlia") case.
2. DA Adam Schiff tells EADA McCoy and ADA Ross that, no matter what it takes, he wants Eddie Newman convicted, even if they have to dig up Thomas Dewey. Thomas E. Dewey (1902-1971) was a noted New York attorney and politician who previously held Adam Schiff's position; he made a reputation convicting some of New York's biggest mob bosses. In November of 1933, Dewey served as the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; from January 1, 1938 - December 31, 1941, he served as the 33rd District Attorney of New York County, and, from January 1, 1943 - December 31, 1954, he was the 47th Governor of New York.Dewey began his career as a federal prosecutor for several years before President Herbert Hoover appointed him as a special prosecutor with the title of Chief Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1930-1935. He was tasked with prosecuting some of New York's largest bootleggers in the latter years of prohibition. In 1935, he was appointed by New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman as a special prosecutor for New York County to investigate allegations of corruption, namely that New York County District Attorney William C. Dodge was hesitant to prosecute members of the mob due to being on their payroll. Dewey made a name for himself, successfully prosecuting a number of mafia members for racketeering, extortion, loan sharking, prostitution, and illegal weapons trafficking. His biggest victory was convicting gangster Dutch Schultz, whom he had unsuccessfully prosecuted as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for racketeering, extortion and violations of the newly passed National Firearms Act of 1934's regulation of machine guns, short barreled rifles, and sawed off shotguns. He also convicted Lucky Luciano, one of New York's biggest pimps, on numerous charges of promoting prostitution, operating a house of prostitution, and illegal gambling. Luciano was sentenced to 30-50 years in prison. In 1937, Dewey was elected the 33rd District Attorney for New York County; he continued battling organized crime, taking down the president of the New York Stock Exchange for embezzlement. His biggest victory was in 1939, when he personally tried and convicted American Nazi leader Fritz Julius Kuhn for embezzlement, crippling Kuhn's organization and limiting its ability to support Nazi Germany in World War II. Dewey's office had a 94% conviction rate, one of the highest in the nation, and his popularity made him a major Presidential candidate in two elections. He was the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1944 election, but he was defeated by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide victory. He was the Republican nominee, once again, in the 1948 election, and polls favored Dewey to win by a 16% margin, but, in a major upset, he lost to Democratic nominee Harry S. Truman by a margin of 4.5% in the popular vote and by 114 electoral votes.
3. 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 Defense Attorney.
   • Episode 20.13 Steel-Eyed Death (2010) - Amanda's Defense Attorney.
4. 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.
5. The psychiatrist in court, Dr. Dietrich Parks, is probably a play on the name of celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz.

Showtime

1. This episode appears to be based on two separate cases:
   • The 1994-1995 O.J. Simpson murder case.
   • The 1947 Elizabeth Short (a.k.a. "The Black Dahlia") case.
2. As Dr. Duvall points out, all of the drugs Eddie Newman was prescribed have legitimate medical uses, but, as Dr. Olivette points out, a responsible doctor would never prescribe these medications in such combinations and quantities. Some of the doctors who work as personal physicians for the rich and famous are little more than drug dealers with a medical license and a DEA controlled substance permit; doctors and patients that abuse controlled substances in this manner make it extremely difficult for people that have an actual, legitimate need for them to obtain their medications. Newman was on at least three different opiates: Demerol, morphine, and oxycodone; while more than one type of opiate can be prescribed for chronic pain (long acting & short acting forms), never more than two are prescribed at once, and Demerol & morphine are not prescribed together, as, when mixed, they can cause fatal respiratory depression. Newman was also prescribed at least six different benzodiazepines, including diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax) & lorazepam (Ativan) due to allegedly having anxiety and insomnia. However, save for those with severe seizure disorders, patients are never prescribed more than one type of this drug at once due to adverse effects. A patient taking a benzodiazepine for anxiety would be given a different class of drug for insomnia, and benzos are not prescribed to patients taking opiates, as both drugs cause respiratory depression and, when mixed, even standard therapeutic doses can cause respiratory issues. Amphetamines also have legitimate medical uses; drugs like Adderall (a mixture of amphetamine & dextroamphetamine) are used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy. Being highly potent, methamphetamine is used in rare cases to treat severe ADHD, severe narcolepsy, and severe obesity caused by metabolic disorders in patients unsuitable for weight loss surgery due to certain medical issues, like a compromised immune system or hemophilia. Since Newman is clearly not obese and has no immune or blood disorders, no competent, responsible doctor would prescribe him methamphetamine.
3. 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.

Mad Dog

1. "Sui generis" means unique or of its own kind. Legally, it means that the situation must be considered outside of legal considerations.
2. While in the interrogation room, Briscoe makes a reference to 1970's television series Kojak (1973). In this episode, the judge hearing the case is played by the late Dan Frazer, who played Capt. Frank McNeil in 117 of the 118 "Kojak" episodes .
3. This episode appears to be based on three separate cases:
   • The 1989 John Albert Taylor case.
   • The 1994/1997 Megan Kanka case.
   • The 1997 Kansas v. Hendricks case, which at the time of this episode first airing was still being argued.
4. It's established that forensics couldn't find hair samples from the suspect, Darnell, at the crime scene because he shaved all of his body hair; however, he has hair on his head, which would've likely been left at the crime scene.
5. The case of Kansas v. Hendricks is mentioned in the episode as being under litigation when the episode takes place. The case of Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346 (1997), was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on December 10, 1996 and decided June 23, 1997, the matter before the court was the constitutionality of the civil commitment of persons who are convicted of a sex offense and are deemed by the state to be dangerous because of a mental abnormality. This case originated from a legal challenge of Kansas' recently passed Sexually Violent Predator Act, which allows any person who has a "mental abnormality" or "personality disorder" and so is likely to engage in "predatory acts of sexual violence" to be indefinitely confined by means of civil commitment to a psychiatric institution. The plaintiffs in the case were Leroy Hendricks and Tim Quinn, both of whom had an extensive history of sexually abusing children, Hendricks was convicted on two counts of sodomy in the first degree for molesting two underage boys, and Quinn was convicted of rape in the first degree for forcibly raping a 12 year old girl. When their sentences were up and they were due to be released, the Kansas Attorney General's office filed a petition under the Act in state court to involuntarily commit Hendricks and Quinn. They challenged the commitment order in the Kansas Court of Appeals arguing that it violated the Fifth Amendment's protection against double jeopardy, when testifying before the court Hendricks and Quinn did not deny that they were pedophiles and both admitted they could not control their urges, therefore the court found that they met the definition of sexually violent predators, since pedophilia is defined as a mental abnormality under the Act, the court ordered that Hendricks and Quinn be civilly committed. Hendricks hired a different attorney and appealed his commitment order to the Kansas Supreme Court, once again on the same constitutional grounds, the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeals ruling determining that the Act was invalid on the grounds that the condition of "mental abnormality" did not satisfy the "substantive" due process requirement that involuntary civil commitment must be based on the finding of the presence of a "mental illness"; this reflected the debate that existed over whether or not pedophilia was a mental illness. The Kansas Attorney General appealed the Kansas Supreme Court's ruling to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court ruled against Hendricks, and in favor of the Act, in a split 5-4 decision determining that his civil commitment was not unconstitutional, the Justices' agreed that pedophilia met the requirements as a "mental abnormality" under Kansas state law, and that the involuntary commitment was in the best interest of the public since Hendricks admitted he couldn't control his urges. Furthermore they also ruled that the Act does not violate the Constitution's double jeopardy prohibition since this is a civil proceeding, not a criminal one.
6. Kansas's Sexually Violent Predator Act was challenged before the Supreme Court of the United States a second time in Kansas v. Crane, 534 U.S. 407 (2002), the case dealt with the Supreme Court's earlier ruling in Kansas v. Hendricks allowing courts too much discretion in determining who qualified for involuntary civil commitment. In a 7-2 decision the court determined that "the Constitution does not permit commitment of the type of dangerous sexual offender that was considered in Hendricks without any lack-of-control evaluation". The Supreme Court clarified the conditions under which a person can be civilly committed as a sexually violent predator under the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act. The Court held that while a complete lack of control is not required, there must be proof of serious difficulty in controlling dangerous sexual behavior for civil commitment to be permissible. This decision refined the Court's earlier ruling in Kansas v. Hendricks, emphasizing that the Constitution doesn't allow commitment without some determination of a lack of control.
7. David Fonteno has portrayed seven different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.17 Mushrooms (1991) - Coach
   • Episode 3.16 Jurisdiction (1993) - Gavin McCrea
   • Episode 4.19 Sanctuary (1994) - Jimmy Graves
   • Episode 6.4 Jeopardy (1995) - CSU Tech Murrau
   • Episode 7.18 Mad Dog (1997) - Munro
   • Episode 10.24 Vaya Con Dios (2000) - John Groban
   • Episode 11.10 Whose Monkey Is It Anyway? (2001) - Judge Derek Hafner
   • Episode 18.12 Submission (2008) - Judge Derek Hafner
   • Episode 19.20 Exchange (2009) - Judge Derek Hafner

Double Down

1. This episode contains a rare scene shot inside of Jack McCoy's apartment.
2. Prior to 2013, if someone in New York City possessed an unregistered firearm (assuming that the gun was legally purchased, was unmodified, and had an intact serial number) inside their place of residence, they could be charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor. However, after new legislation was passed in 2013, if law enforcement finds a unregistered firearm inside someone's residence, they could be charged with criminal possession of a firearm, a class E felony.
3. This episode appears to be based on the 1958 John Leo Brady/Donald Boblit case. On June 27, 1958, 25-year-old Maryland man John Leo Brady and 24-year-old companion Donald Boblit murdered 53-year-old acquaintance William Brooks. Both men were convicted and sentenced to death. Brady admitted to being involved in the murder, but he claimed that Boblit had done the actual killing and that they had stolen Brooks' car ahead of a planned bank robbery but had not planned to kill him. The prosecution had withheld a written statement by Boblit (the men were tried separately), confessing that he had committed the act of killing by himself. Brady was given a new hearing, where his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Brady was ultimately paroled. He moved to Florida, where he worked as a truck driver, started a family and did not re-offend.
4. Henry Harp offers to plead guilty to manslaughter in the first degree for the shooting death of a police officer during a liquor store robbery, with a sentence of only 10 years. He makes the offer in exchange for revealing the location of the missing livery car driver who was carjacked during the robbery. Although Briscoe and Curtis believe that sentence is far too small for a double murderer and cop killer. However, New York state actually has a more severe manslaughter charge when the victim of a homicide is a police officer: aggravated manslaughter in the first degree. A person is guilty of aggravated manslaughter in the first degree when: (a) with intent to cause serious physical injury to a person they know, or reasonably should know, to be a police/peace officer, they cause serious physical injury to a police officer resulting in their death; or (b) when a person intentionally causes the death of another person they know, or reasonably should know, is a police/peace officer, while being under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance (a crime of passion). Manslaughter in the first degree is a class B felony with a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 5 years and a maximum of 25 years. Aggravated manslaughter in the first degree is also a class B felony, but it carries a harsher sentence: a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, and a maximum sentence of 30 years. Which is also the sentence for aggravated assault of a police officer.
5. Andrew Polk has played five different roles over the course of the series:
   • Episode 7.19 Double Down (1997) - CSU Technician.
   • Episode 11.3 Dissonance (2000) - Stuart.
   • Episode 13.12 Under God (2003) - Jared Sterling.
   • Episode 18.16 Strike (2008) - Bank Manager.
   • Episode 20.18 Brazil (2010) - Eli Driscoll.

We Like Mike

1. The episode title is a parody of the phrase used by supporters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower when he was running for President of the United States. Eisenhower's nickname was Ike, and fellow Army Generals and Republicans coined the phrase "I Like Ike," a phrase then used by Eisenhower's campaign manager when "Ike" was running for office. A number of posters were made with Eisenhower's picture and the phrase "I Like Ike" across the top. They are one of the most sought after items by collectors of political memorabilia.
2. While at the door of the bookie's office, Curtis says, "If I smell burning flash paper, I'm gonna arrest your ass." Flash paper is a special kind of paper favored by bookies, by people involved in white collar crime, and by magicians. The paper is coated with nitrocellulose, a highly flammable substance that is also used as a component of smokeless gunpowder (also known as guncotton). When set on fire, flash paper burns almost instantly with a bright flash and leaves behind no ash residue. Criminals like to use this type of paper to write possibly incriminating evidence on since normal paper takes too long to burn, often burns incompletely, and leaves ash behind which can sometimes have ink recovered from it.
3. This episode is based on the 1997 murder of Ennis Cosby, the only son of the actor Bill Cosby. Cosby was murdered in Los Angeles in the early hours of January 16, 1997, while he was changing a flat tire on his car. He was in LA while on winter break from Columbia University and was on his way to his girlfriend's house when he got a flat tire while driving on Interstate 405. Cosby called his girlfriend and asked if she could come help him change the tire, it was still dark outside and he was having trouble seeing, she pulled her car behind his so that her headlights could help Cosby see. She then reported that a man came up to her window and tapped it with a gun barrel and told her if she didn't get out of the car he would kill her. She stated that she became frightened and drove off, but after a minute she decided to turn back around, upon arriving back at the scene she saw the man running away and Cosby was dead on the ground, having been shot in the head. The killer was subsequently identified as 18-year-old Mikhail Markhasev, a Russian immigrant with multiple arrests for drug possession, possession with intent, and grand theft auto, he had been attempting to rob Crosby. He was apprehended after the Cosby family offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer, he was turned in by two of his friends who wanted the reward. Both friends were with Markhasev on the night of the murder, one of them claimed that they were all high on cocaine and heroin and that while they stopped to use a payphone Markhasev spotted Cosby's Mercedes convertible, which was a few hundred yards down the street from them and pulled off to the side of the road. Markhasev walked off intending to steal the car, allegedly without telling his friends where he was going or what he planned to do. Markhasev's friend then claimed that a few minutes later they heard gunshots and Markhasev came running back to them shouting "get the f**k outta here I just shot that ni**er." Markhasev was eventually convicted of attempted robbery in the first degree and murder in the first degree and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Markhasev initially claimed he was innocent but finally confessed to the killing in 2001.
4. The title of this episode has a clever double meaning regarding the police's attitude toward the character of Mike Bodak in the story: at the beginning they "like" him (in cop slang) as the prime suspect in the killing, and at the end they "like" him (genuinely) because he helps them nail the real killer even when it's not in his own best interest to do so.
5. John Doman played five different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 1.22 The Blue Wall (1991) - Bailiff.
   • Episode 7.20 We Like Mike (1997) - Sergeant Frank Gottlieb.
   • Episode 9.9 True North (1998) - Mr. Stephens.
   • Episode 13.18 Maritime (2003) - Howard Ridgeway.
   • Episode 18.6 Political Animal (2008) - Jim Gilles.
6. Briscoe and Curtis mention getting Mike's blood type from his marriage license application. All 50 states used to require couples applying for a marriage license to undergo a blood test to screen for sexually transmitted diseases, specifically syphilis; refusal to undergo the test or positive results would cause the license to be denied. In the early to mid-20th century, syphilis was a major public health issue, especially prior to the discovery of antibiotics. Even after the discovery of penicillin, syphilis was still a major issue, due to a lack of public education; early types of penicillin (F) didn't always get rid of the infection, and a significant number of people have penicillin allergies. The blood test also screened for sickle cell disease, a genetic condition that predominantly affects people of African and Latino descent; it is extremely painful and begins to affect infants around six months of age. Prior to modern medicine, it was invariably fatal; children with the disease rarely lived to puberty; with modern treatment, life expectancy has been raised to a median of 58-66 years. By the turn of the 21st century, advances in both medical science and public education made the blood test requirement obsolete; the development of more effective types of antibiotics like penicillin G (Bicillin) and doxycycline allow syphilis to be easily treated, and awareness of STI's greatly reduced the spread of the disease. Public awareness of sickle cell disease also had become widespread, especially among the communities it affects the most. This led to most states abolishing the law by the turn of the century; in 2019, Montana became the last state to repeal the requirement for marriage license applicants to be tested for STI's. Most states replaced the blood test requirement for STI's with a requirement to hand out information packets on sexually transmitted infections and contraceptive devices to couples applying for marriage licenses, and also hand out a special packet about sickle cell disease to African American, Hispanic & Latino couples applying for a marriage license, heavily encouraging them to get tested. In 1985, New York abolished the law requiring people applying for a marriage license to be tested for STI's; as of 2024, the state still requires African American and Latino couples applying for a marriage license to undergo screening for sickle cell disease, although the state no longer denies applications if the result is positive.
7. Mike was potentially facing bookmaking charges in Bronx County after taking bets for a bookie to make extra money; the state of New York has a few different charges related to bookmaking. Promoting gambling in the first degree, which is when a person knowingly advances or profits from unlawful gambling activity by: 1. Engaging in bookmaking to the extent that he receives or accepts in any one day more than five bets totaling more than five thousand dollars; or 2. Receiving, in connection with a lottery or policy scheme or enterprise, (a) money or written records from a person other than a player whose chances or plays are represented by such money or records (taking & recording bets for a bookie), or (b) more than five hundred dollars in any one day of money played in such scheme or enterprise. Promoting gambling in the first degree is a class E felony and carries a sentence of three years probation & a $1,000 fine or a sentence of 1-4 years in prison for prior felony offenders.Possession of gambling records in the second degree is when a person possesses any writing, paper, instrument or article: 1. Of a kind commonly used in the operation or promotion of a bookmaking scheme or enterprise; or 2. Of a kind commonly used in the operation, promotion or playing of a lottery or policy scheme or enterprise (unless they were the defendant's own personal bets); or 3. Of any paper or paper product in sheet form chemically converted to nitrocellulose having explosive characteristics (flash paper); or 4. Of any water soluble paper or paper derivative in sheet form. Possession of gambling records in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor with a sentence of two years probation and a fine of up to $1,000 or a jail sentence of up to 12 months for prior offenders.Possession of gambling records in the first degree is when a person possesses any writing, paper, instrument or article: 1. Of a kind commonly used in the operation or promotion of a bookmaking scheme or enterprise, and constituting, reflecting or representing more than five bets totaling more than five thousand dollars; or 2. Of a kind commonly used in the operation, promotion or playing of a lottery or policy scheme or enterprise, and constituting, reflecting or representing more than five hundred plays or chances. Possession of gambling records in the first degree is a class E felony.
8. The coffee/donut shop owner has a 'Burnside' style moustache and sideburns.

Passion

1. In one scene, a witness mentions going to see the musical "Rent". Jesse L. Martin, who joined the show in 1999 after Benjamin Bratt's departure, was in the original Broadway production of that show, and later took time off at the end of season fifteen to film Rent (2005).
2. Actor Larry Clarke, who appears in this episode in the small role of Dr. Ganz, would later join the series as recurring character Morris LaMotte, another detective who worked at the 27. LaMotte appeared during seasons 9 and 10 as a sort of replacement for Profaci, who was no longer at the precinct.

Past Imperfect

1. The posters of a young Christine Sandler look like actress Anna Gunn.
2. After finding out that Sonja Harlann hired defense attorney Marjorie 'Marge' Larson, DA Adam Schiff says: "great, Marge will have the jury convinced Sonja's mother took parenting lessons from Susan Smith". Susan Smith is a convicted murderer guilty of committing infanticide; in October of 1994, Smith murdered her two sons (aged 3 years & 11 months) by strapping them into car seats and then rolling the car into John D. Long Lake in South Carolina. Initially, Smith claimed that she had been the victim of carjacking by a black man armed with a gun, who drove off with her sons in the car. This led to a nationwide manhunt for the alleged kidnapper, but, after 9 days of finding nothing, the police began looking at Smith after finding inconsistencies in her story. Smith confessed to the murders during interrogation, and she was charged with two counts of aggravated murder; the DA's office announced they would be seeking the death penalty against Smith. The jury found Smith guilty on both counts; during both the trial and the sentencing phase, the defense introduced evidence showing that Smith had mental health issues that included previous suicide attempts, with her psychiatrist testifying she suffered from dependent personality disorder, postpartum depression, and major depressive disorder. Citing her emotional and mental health issues as the reason, the jury voted against imposing the death penalty and could not reach a majority decision on imposing a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, so the judge imposed two concurrent sentences of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, making her eligible for parole in 2025. In 2000, Smith had to be moved to a different prison after it was discovered she had been having sex with at least two male guards and had made attempts to seduce others as well. At her first parole hearing in November of 2024, the parole board voted unanimously to deny her parole, citing the heinous nature of her crimes and the fact that her ex-husband opposed parole as their reasons. Her ex-husband stated he found her actions in seducing guards as evidence that she doesn't truly feel remorse for what she did, and he felt that it was a grossly disrespectful to their memory; he also stated he believes she willingly made the choice to murder their children and that she lied about her depression making her do it. He promised that he would be back each year to oppose her application for early parole and speak for the memory of his sons.
3. A simple scan of DNA would clearly show the DNA with the matching allele was female, not male, as X chromosome is blatantly different than Y chromosomes: Unless the son was a trans-male, it would obviously be a female relative & the lab tech would have said so.

Terminal

1. This episode paralleled real events that occurred in New York City in 1995 and 1996. First, Chapter 1 of the Laws of 1995 established a new death penalty in New York State. Second, District Attorney Robert Johnson of The Bronx had a "blanket" policy of declining to seek the death penalty in cases authorized (Murder 1, see NY Penal Law §60.06, and §125.27). Dissatisfied, Governor George Pataki ordered Johnson replaced with the Attorney General when Johnson declined to seek the death penalty in the shooting death of Police Officer Kevin Gillespie by one Angel Diaz (who ultimately committed suicide and whose accomplices were ultimately convicted of Federal RICO charges - not brought to answer in State Court.) Litigation ensued, and the New York Court of Appeals upheld Governor Pataki's actions in Johnson v. Pataki (91 N.Y.2d 214, 1997).
2. Despite appearing in the 1988 Law & Order pilot Everybody's Favorite Bagman (1990) as District Attorney Alfred Wentworth, Roy Thinnes wasn't available when the series was picked up in 1990, and the role of D.A. Adam Schiff went to Steven Hill.In this episode, Thinnes and Hill appear together (although on opposite sides of an issue) when Thinnes plays the role of Special Prosecutor Victor Panatti.
3. The Sunshine Cab Company was also the name of the cab company in the Taxi (1978) Television Series.
4. Jack Gilpin plays Attorney Axtell in this episode & three others. Previously, he played the role of Dr. Simon Reed in episode 5.12, Progeny (1995).
5. Peter Jay Fernandez has portrayed three different characters over the course of the series:
   • Episode 4.10 The Pursuit of Happiness (1993) - Dr. Isaac Kerwin
   • Episode 7.23 Terminal (1997) - Mr. Tyrell
   • Episode 11.24 Deep Vote (2001) - Matthew Coulter
6. It has been pointed out that referring to the shell casing as a "9mm Auto" incorrectly meant the gun used was a full auto. Calling the 9x19mm Parabellum "9mm auto" is a commonly used and accepted abbreviation, since it's easier and quicker than saying "semi-automatic" each time. Also semi-auto is a type of automatic action (one of several), which is why other rounds designed for it like the .380 ACP & .45 ACP are commonly called the ".380 Auto" & ".45 Auto". Plus the 9mm is also used by a number of full auto machine guns like the MP-40, MP-5, MAC-10 & Uzi, and most machine guns are select fire, capable of firing in semi-auto mode.