Law & Order (TV Series)

Vendetta (2004)

Marylou Mellace: Judge Antonia Mellon

Quotes 

• Judge Antonia Mellon : You're moving to preclude this defense, Mr. McCoy?

  Jack McCoy : Your Honor, it's ridiculous. Under Mr. Fallon's theory, every ex-con would have a dense for murder.

  Rodney Fallon : But we're not talking about men who were criminals before going to prison. We're talking about a man who was completely innocent before being sent to Green Haven, and was profoundly and irrevocably changed, and not for the better by the experience.

  Serena Southerlyn : And prison erased his sense of right and wrong?

  Rodney Fallon : In a manner of speaking, yes. It maimed him. It dehumanized him. It replaced traditional notions of right and wrong with a "kill or be killed" reflex that led, tragically, to Brendan Donner's death.

  Jack McCoy : That doesn't meet the New York standard, Your Hononr. Either Mr. Grimes didn't know what was doing was wrong or he didn't understand the nature of his behavior. Simply reacting to a perceived threat because he thought he was in a hostile environment doesn't cut it.

  Serena Southerlyn : He wasn't in prison. He was in a bar, Your Honor. He completely overreacted.

  Rodney Fallon : Exactly. Walter Grimes completely overreacted because of how his prison experience shaped him.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : You have an expert who'll back your theory, Mr. Fallon?

  Rodney Fallon : I've got five of them, Your Honor.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : Fax their C.V.s over to me. If they're credible, I'm inclined to let this go to a jury.

• Rodney Fallon : First the People concede that Detective Daniels, who was then Officer Daniels, questioned my client without counsel present in clear violation of his Sixth Amendment rights. And then they concede he assaulted my client to obtain a confession in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights, used that illegal confession to seize the knife in violation of my client's Fourth Amendment rights. And as if that wasn't enough, they freely admit he then planted the knife to frame my client for a crime he didn't commit, in violation of, at the very least, his Fourteenth Amendment rights. Are there any amendments the People *haven't* violated? And now, in what has to be the single greatest demonstration of legal chutzpah in the history of jurisprudence, he contends the knife shouldn't be suppresed.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : Mr. McCoy, is this true?

  Jack McCoy : Every word, Your Honor.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : Then how can you argue in support of the knife's admission?

  Jack McCoy : Because of the inevitable discovery doctrine. The knife is admissible if the police would have eventually discovered it without the impropriety.

  Rodney Fallon : Well, how is that possible? They only found the knife because Officer Daniels planted it in my client's home.

  Serena Southerlyn : You said it yourself. The police canvassed the area where the knife was originally hidden.

  Jack McCoy : I have an affidavit from Detective Johnson, the primary on the case, who searched the storm drain where Grimes had hidden the knife.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : But it wasn't there to be found.

  Jack McCoy : Because Officer Daniels had already removed it. Under inevitable discovery, the issue is what would have happened but for Officer Daniels' wrongful conduct?

  Judge Antonia Mellon : The knife would have been in that storm drain for Detective Johnson to find.

  Jack McCoy : Exactly.

  Rodney Fallon : Oh, this is outrageous. You're basically saying that Daniels' illegal conduct makes the knife admissible.

  Jack McCoy : It isn't that I don't see the irony, but the evidence is admissible.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : He's got you, Mr. Fallon. Look, Mr. Grimes' confession remains inadmissible, but the knife comes in.

• Rodney Fallon : This is outrageous. Accusing him of murder?

  Jack McCoy : The defendant denied it. I have every right to attack his credibility.

  Rodney Fallon : He hasn't been convicted in that case! He hasn't even been tried.

  Jack McCoy : But he did raise a "not responsible" defense. Which is an admission that he killed Brendan Donner. And if the defendant denies that, I'll put Dr. Olivet on the stand to impeach him.

  Rodney Fallon : You goaded him into that denial so you could bring in the other case to poison the minds of the jury.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : They call that cross-examination, Mr. Fallon. Sorry, counsel. Your client opened the door and put out the welcome mat. If I were you, I'd talk to Mr. McCoy about a plea.

• Walter Grimes : I killed Julie Sayer. I knew her from around. I had the hots for her. But she... doesn't matter why I did it. I just... I followed her one night. I grabbed her. She said no. I stabbed her. That's it. There's nothing more to say.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : Mr. Grimes, since you're pleading guilty to murder in the second degree with a sentence of twenty-five years to life, and since the terms of your plea agreement are that in exchange for this allocution, you are to be given credit for the twenty years you served in Green Haven, your remaining sentence on the murder of Julie Sayer is five years.

  Walter Grimes : I understand, Your Honor.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : And the parties have also reached a plea with respect to the murder of Brendan Donner?

  Rodney Fallon : We have. The defendant has waived his right to trial and will plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

  Judge Antonia Mellon : I'm accepting the defendant's plea and imposing a sentence of seven and a half to fifteen years, to be served consecutively with the aforementioned five.