Law & Order (TV Series)

Vendetta (2004)

Fred Thompson: DA Arthur Branch

Quotes 

• Serena Southerlyn : You don't think that there might be something to Grimes' defense?

  Arthur Branch : People adapt to their environment in or out of prison. He knew where he was and how he was supposed to act.

  Jack McCoy : How do we know he wasn't a bad apple before rotting in prison for twenty years? Fallon's already conceded this defense only applies if Grimes was a law-abiding citizen before being shipped off to Green Haven.

  Serena Southerlyn : Leanne Testa's murder was his first arrest.

  Jack McCoy : How old was he at that time?

  Serena Southerlyn : Nineteen.

  Jack McCoy : If he had committed any prior crimes, they might have been as a juvenile.

  Serena Southerlyn : And those records would be sealed.

  Arthur Branch : I'm sure that under the circumstances, you could convince a judge to unseal those records. If there are any.

• Serena Southerlyn : At least he didn't frame an innocent man.

  Jack McCoy : No, he framed a guilty one.

  Serena Southerlyn : The way he sees it, he kept Grimes from falling through the cracks in the system.

  Arthur Branch : Well, somebody should tell him not to do the system any more favors. Regardless of his motivation, this is the worst kind of police misconduct. Now, any appeleate court would find that this shocks the conscience, and so should we.

  Jack McCoy : Agreed. But he's all we've got.

  Arthur Branch : Where's this lieutenant of his now?

  Serena Southerlyn : In the cemetery. He died of a heart attack six years ago.

  Arthur Branch : So no one but Daniels can say that Grimes killed Julie Sayer.

  Jack McCoy : No, but if we could prove he did, Fallon's defense strategy on the Donner murder goes out the window.

  Serena Southerlyn : Grimes was a murderer before he was ever shipped off to Green Haven.

  Arthur Branch : All right. Go try him on the Sayer murder first.

  Serena Southerlyn : Only Grimes' confession is no more admissible today than it was twenty years ago.

  Jack McCoy : But today, DNA analysis will confirm that the blood on the knife is Julie Sayer's.

• Arthur Branch : Don't pop those champagne corks yet. No amount of fancy footwork is gonna change the fact that your sponsoring witness is Kenny Daniels.

  Jack McCoy : I hate using him, but what choice do we have?

  Serena Southerlyn : A cop who admits he framed a guilty man for another crime which he didn't commit.

  Jack McCoy : In service of the greater good.

  Arthur Branch : Well, that's what you'll tell the jury. What Fallon will tell them is that Daniels is a vigilante with an ax to grind.

  Jack McCoy : Which is exactly what we need to prepare him for.