Law & Order (TV Series)

Nowhere Man (2004)

Sam Waterston: Executive ADA Jack McCoy

Quotes 

• Jack McCoy : Tenofskie loved what he did. He loved the D.A.'s office, loved trial work. He even loved the appeals bureau.

  Serena Southerlyn : The only thing that could have stopped him from going after your clients was the fear of losing all of that.

  Jack McCoy : Back in 1978, you were a night student at Brooklyn Law, but you took one day class. Corporations, with Professor Hoffman.

  William Wachtler : I barely remember it.

  Serena Southerlyn : You had a classmate, the real Daniel Tenofsky; the one who dropped out.

  Jack McCoy : You sat across the aisle from him for six months. So when Libretti and Biscotti and you had your first sit-down with our Dan Tenofskie, whose real name was Jacob Dieter, you knew he was a fake.

  William Wachtler : You'll never prove that.

  Jack McCoy : Your clients did not bribe Tenofskie. They blackmailed him, with your help. They threatened to expose him, threatened to take away his identity, take away the life he'd built for himself.

  William Wachtler : You want me testify against these guys?

  Jack McCoy : Libretti, Biscotti, and Tortomassi.

  William Wachtler : I'll need to go into witness protection.

  Jack McCoy : You'll testify and go to jail. And if I'm in a good mood, I'll consider arranging segregation from the general population.

• Arthur Branch : Have we found anything yet that's relevant to his murder?

  Jack McCoy : Not yet.

  Arthur Branch : Well, in that case, I'd be delighted to ponder the psychological enigma that was Jacob Dieter, but I've got to double-time it up to the appeleate division.

  Serena Southerlyn : Midonas?

  Arthur Branch : Chief Judge Leonidas Midonas. I'd sooner fess up to cheating on my taxes as to hand him a shaggy dog story like this.

• Serena Southerlyn : The jury is eating it up. It's been a while since the city had a real mob boss on trial.

  Jack McCoy : [a thought strikes him]  Serena. Libretti said Biscotti got the order to hit Parenti.

  Serena Southerlyn : So?

  Jack McCoy : Biscuits said Books received the go-ahead.

  Serena Southerlyn : That's a slip of the tongue.

  Jack McCoy : Well-prepped witnesses do not slip. Not like that.

  Serena Southerlyn : You can't blame yourself, Jack. We prepped them as much as we could.

  Jack McCoy : Not how we prepped them. How Wachtler did.

  Serena Southerlyn : Wachtler?

  Jack McCoy : He's been handling those two, and us, all along.

  Serena Southerlyn : How and why?

  Jack McCoy : I'm not sure yet. But if he orchestrated this discrepancy, I have to ask what else are those two lying about? Pull Wachtler's LUDs, his CV, anything you can get on him.

• [last lines] 

  Serena Southerlyn : Arizona PD couldn't find a brother.

  Jack McCoy : I was never sure if he was real or was just another creation.

  Serena Southerlyn : He has no family, Jack. No next of kin. What do you want me to do with his personal effects?

  Jack McCoy : What personal effects? Those were more like props.

  Serena Southerlyn : So who was he really? Dieter or Tenofskie?

  Jack McCoy : Who knows?

• Jack McCoy : There's no statute of limitations on murder.