Law & Order (TV Series)

Precious (1994)

Sam Waterston: Executive ADA Jack McCoy

Photos 

Quotes 

• Executive ADA Jack McCoy : Emily Willick was suffocated with a pillow. Did her mother hold the pillow, or did her father? It doesn't really matter. Because the one who watched, who didn't rip the pillow away - who didn't fight tooth and nail for Emily's life - is equally guilty.

• DA Adam Schiff : Always nice to find a fella who says, 'Til death do us part,' and means it.

  Executive ADA Jack McCoy : If those were my children, I'd want that woman in prison.

  DA Adam Schiff : On a 50% chance that she's innocent? Wouldn't tell that to the next Mrs. McCoy.

• Executive ADA Jack McCoy : I'm trying to stop a serial killer. If you think I'm wasting the resources of this office...

  DA Adam Schiff : If you believe that you have a serial killer, go to trial. But don't expect it to be a walk in the summer rain.

• [last lines] 

  ADA Claire Kincaid : She tried to delay her sentence until after she gave birth; she didn't want her baby being born in prison.

  Executive ADA Jack McCoy : Probably the safest place for the child.

  DA Adam Schiff : By the time Mom gets out of Bedford, the kid should be able to defend itself.

• ADA Claire Kincaid : Once you open the door to state interference in a person's body, everyone from anti-abortionists to advocates of sterilizing the retarded will come marching through!

  Executive ADA Jack McCoy : Don't kid yourself - the state already interferes with your body! You can't legally inject heroin into your veins; you can't legally commit suicide. And the state has the right to put your body in a uniform, and send you off to war. Twelve states already have compulsory sterilization laws! I'm not breaking any new ground here.

  ADA Claire Kincaid : It's morally repugnant.

  Executive ADA Jack McCoy : It's a medical procedure; it's morally neutral. If it's used to wipe out a race of people, it's evil. If it prevents a killer from creating new victims for herself, it serves a moral good... I know it's not the popular thing - but it may be the only thing that'll stop her.

• Executive ADA Jack McCoy : Alright - I didn't want it to come to this... I'll agree to a plea, on one condition: That she agrees to a tubal ligation.

  DA Adam Schiff : You're riding your motorcycle without a helmet. You want to have her sterilized?

  ADA Claire Kincaid : I heard it was a popular procedure in Germany, fifty years ago.

  Executive ADA Jack McCoy : Now, hold on. I'm not goose-stepping anybody into the operating room, first of all. Second, as long as she can have babies, this woman's killing spree is going to continue.

  ADA Claire Kincaid : If your crystal ball is that good, I'll tell the mayor we don't need the police anymore.