Law & Order (TV Series)
I.D. (1996)
Jerry Adler: Judge Nathan Marks
Quotes
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Judge Nathan Marks : [after Ross arrives late in court] Ah - Miss Ross! How nice of you to join us... I gather you stayed later than 8 am this morning. Was the gentleman more... impressive today?
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : [taken aback] Your honor, I've been very busy.
Judge Nathan Marks : What I'm suggesting.
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : On a matter of business for this court.
Judge Nathan Marks : Oh - and I thought our business was here. Whatever kind of romp you've been up to...
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : ...is relevant to this case, if you'd stop focusing on my sex life.
Judge Nathan Marks : You're in contempt. I want a check for two hundred dollars.
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : [shouting] If you try to fine me...
Jack McCoy : [cutting her off] Not now... Approach, your honor?
Judge Nathan Marks : If she brings her checkbook.
Jack McCoy : [quietly to Ross] ... Pretend he's your brother.
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Judge Nathan Marks : [commenting on Ross's clothing] Lovely blouse. Rare to see single-ply silk with that texture. Must feel very nice. Italian weave.
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : ...Chinese.
Judge Nathan Marks : Ah! They're improving.
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Judge Nathan Marks : Miss Ross, when you leave a man's apartment at 8 o'clock in the morning, did you just drop in for a coffee and a sweet roll?
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : Am I a defense witness, judge?
Judge Nathan Marks : You're an officer of the court, aiding in the search for the truth. You sample a man's hospitality once. Are you likely to return to sample it again soon?
Jack McCoy : Your honor, this is not appropriate.
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : If I left at 8 am... I wasn't too impressed. I don't think I'd be rushing back.
Judge Nathan Marks : Can't argue with that.
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Judge Nathan Marks : I'm letting him cool his heels for a while; it's for his own good.
D.A. Adam Schiff : ...Nathan, I read the transcript.
Judge Nathan Marks : Then you know he was in contempt.
D.A. Adam Schiff : I read the *whole* transcript. What were you doing, may I ask?
Judge Nathan Marks : Excuse me?
D.A. Adam Schiff : Those remarks, about where Miss Ross was spending her mornings. Have you read the sexual harassment guidelines?
Judge Nathan Marks : I wrote them. Remember? I was kidding with her.
D.A. Adam Schiff : And your questions to McCoy's witnesses.
Judge Nathan Marks : A judge of the Supreme Court of the state of New York is entitled to question witnesses.
D.A. Adam Schiff : He's not entitled to sound like the defense attorney - or put words into witnesses' mouths.
Judge Nathan Marks : ...Anything else, Adam?
D.A. Adam Schiff : Yes. I'd like you to step down from the trial.
Judge Nathan Marks : ...This entire meeting is an improper ex parte approach. If you leave in the next ten seconds, I won't find you in contempt.
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Stan Gillum : The police seized the evidence in question when they entered William Dunbar's apartment with an out-of-state arrest warrant.
Jack McCoy : That had been properly lodged with a clerk of this court.
Stan Gillum : At most, they had the right to ascertain whether or not William Dunbar was present. They had no right to search beyond that.
Jack McCoy : One of the detectives opened a closet door. He saw the gun.
Stan Gillum : On a shelf, two feet over his head.
Judge Nathan Marks : The issue here is the plain-view exception?
Jack McCoy : It is, your honor.
Judge Nathan Marks : So we're going diagrams, and room layouts, and sight lines - what was where, who was standing on top of what.
Stan Gillum : I can have 'em by tomorrow.
Judge Nathan Marks : [pointing to McCoy] But he'll come in with different diagrams, and we'll all sit around with rulers, protractors... I've got a better idea. Let's go to the apartment.
Stan Gillum : ...All of us?
Judge Nathan Marks : Yes. We'll have a picnic.
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Jack McCoy : With all due respect, your honor, when you change the rules of the game in the middle of a trial, there ought to be at least the appearance of impartiality.
Judge Nathan Marks : Officer, place Mr. McCoy under arrest for contempt of this court!
Jack McCoy : I move for an adjournment, so that the people may appeal your honor's ruling.
Judge Nathan Marks : Denied! Cuff him!
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Chief Administrative Judge : The district attorney brought this matter to me with some reluctance.
Judge Nathan Marks : Well-deserved. I'm trying to run a trial; I don't have time to...
Chief Administrative Judge : Make some. I'm taking this seriously.
Judge Nathan Marks : Because a young woman can't take a joke?
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : I'm not pressing any charge.
Chief Administrative Judge : She could! You should thank her.
Judge Nathan Marks : Fine; thanks. Goodbye.
Chief Administrative Judge : I'm more concerned about the general tenor of this trial.
Judge Nathan Marks : You know how I run a trial, George.
Chief Administrative Judge : Yes - expeditiously. And usually, fairly.
Judge Nathan Marks : *Always* fairly.
Jack McCoy : You've been hostile to the people. Demeaning to their representatives, interfering with their witnesses...
Judge Nathan Marks : You expect me to sit there like a lump, while he springs surprise witnesses? Half-baked appeals, revised indictments? To turn my courtroom inside out - to win a case he should have lost the first time!
Chief Administrative Judge : Nathan - you're not supposed to care who wins, remember?
D.A. Adam Schiff : ...Your honor, I'd like to request...
Chief Administrative Judge : No need. Nathan, you just caught a bad case of the flu, and are unable to continue presiding over this trial. I'm assigning Judge Bryant.
Judge Nathan Marks : George...
Chief Administrative Judge : Would you rather be sick? Or be facing the commission on judicial conduct?
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Jack McCoy : This issue was decided! It was your own ruling!
Stan Gillum : Yeah - he ruled the search was illegal.
Jack McCoy : And that the evidence was nevertheless admissible against Miss Sullivan.
Stan Gillum : Because she had no standing! That was before we knew she was married to William Dunbar. A wife certainly has an expectation of privacy in an apartment she shares with her husband.
A.D.A. Jamie Ross : You had an opportunity to bring that fact to the court's attention then.
Stan Gillum : Not without incriminating my client - which I certainly am not obliged to do.
Judge Nathan Marks : Anything else, Miss Ross? Mr. McCoy? Fine. Objection sustained. There'll be no mention of anything found in that apartment. By the way, Mr. McCoy - I never had a chance to congratulate you on your victory in appellate court.
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Judge Nathan Marks : Now who's calling for a conclusion, Mr. Gillum? Miss Sullivan - stand up... . This the woman you saw, Mr. Wilkins?
Mr. Wilkins : Yeah - uh, yes, sir.
Judge Nathan Marks : That hair?
Mr. Wilkins : Yes.
Judge Nathan Marks : That body type?
Mr. Wilkins : Yes.
Judge Nathan Marks : Really? You're sure it was her - not, say, uh... Miss Ross? Miss Ross, would you stand up for me?
[Ross stands up as McCoy, puzzled, watches uncomfortably]
Judge Nathan Marks : Similar body type, wouldn't you say?
Mr. Wilkins : Yeah, but, uh - it was the other one.
Judge Nathan Marks : Good.
[Marks pauses, looking Ross up and down]
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Stan Gillum : I move for a dismissal. If the people don't even know who killed whom, I'd say reasonable doubt is manifest.
Jack McCoy : On the contrary. The evidence against the defendant is even stronger now, if you will allow us to reopen the case.
Judge Nathan Marks : It would be stronger - is that why you're trying to turn my courtroom into a hall of mirrors?
Jack McCoy : I want to put the truth before the jury.
Judge Nathan Marks : What you can have is a mistrial.
Jack McCoy : Fine. With leave to re-present.
Stan Gillum : Excuse me - jeopardy has attached. A defendant can't be re-tried unless there is a manifest necessity for a mistrial. The only necessity here is Mr. McCoy's ignorance of the facts of his own case.
Jack McCoy : We were all ignorant of the facts, because the defendant withheld them!
Stan Gillum : She is under no obligation to incriminate herself.
Jack McCoy : By telling us her name?
Stan Gillum : Which would have incriminated her - you just said it does.
Judge Nathan Marks : You and your free-spirited associates have not done your homework, Mr. McCoy. You've wasted all of our time.
Jack McCoy : Your honor...
Judge Nathan Marks : Your motion is granted - I'm declaring a mistrial. Mr. Gillum's motion is granted also; the murder charge is dismissed.
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Judge Nathan Marks : Next time you see me, look at what's on my shoulders. It's a head, not a handle; I don't rubber stamp.