Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Fallacy (2003)

Stephanie March: ADA Alexandra 'Alex' Cabot

Quotes 

• [Having an argument with the defense attorney] 

  Morty Berger : I told Cheryl about your deal. But she wants to go to trial.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : She does or you do?

  Morty Berger : Do you know why I became a lawyer, Alex?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Uh, to see your face on TV?

• Olivia Benson : [to Cabot about Cheryl]  I talked to her teachers. A sympathetic one suggested that she transfer to Harvey Milk, an alternative public school for gay and transgendered kids.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : So why didn't she go?

  Olivia Benson : Because her parents wouldn't let her.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Where are you going with this? All I need to know is whether or not Cheryl's been violent.

  Olivia Benson : Only in self-defense. One time, two boys held her up against a wall and pulled her pants down. Alex, this girl has been through hell.

• Arthur Branch : [to Cabot]  What's this I hear about you wanting off the Avery case?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I just don't think I'm the right person to try it.

  Arthur Branch : That's not what I heard. You've made several impassioned arguments on her behalf. Perhaps you'd like to defend her instead.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Well, she could use better representation than that self-serving snake Berger.

  Arthur Branch : Reptile though he may be, Morty Berger's a damn good attorney. He deserves a worthy adversary.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I think I'm more sympathetic to Cheryl than a prosecutor should be.

  Arthur Branch : A good A.D.A. has to think on both sides of the fence. Your empathy is a strength, not a weakness.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : You know, if Cheryl had been born a woman, a jury would have no problem acquitting her.

  Arthur Branch : She killed a man. What do you care what sex she is?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Because that, and not the evidence is what's going to convict her.

  Arthur Branch : No, what's going to convict her is a jury of her peers, not angels or divine ethical beings.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I suppose it bothers me more than it should.

  Arthur Branch : Well, I'll reassign the case if you like, but you might want to consider: who's gonna give Cheryl Avery the fairest treatment? You or some other prosecutor who'll put her gender on trial?

• Dr. George Huang : [to Cabot]  Any time Cheryl's been violent, it's been in response to a perceived threat.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Joe had stopped the attack and was leaving the bathroom. The threat was over.

  Dr. George Huang : Not in her mind. She feared what those drunken party-goers would do to her when she left that bathroom.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Boy, you'd make a great witness for the defense.

• Morty Berger : [to Cabot]  Don't want your 15 minutes of fame, Alex?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I hear you paid Cheryl's bail. That's a nice touch.

  Morty Berger : Can't take the full credit. That was the generosity of my firm.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Well, Cheryl makes a lovely poster child, so I'm guessing you're doing this pro bono.

  Morty Berger : And you work for a pittance, so we're even.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : You're wasting your time. The judge is never going to suppress Cheryl's confession.

  Morty Berger : Good. I need it to support my argument that she acted in self-defense.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Joe Cappilla was leaving the bathroom. The threat had abated. Her life was no longer in danger.

  Morty Berger : Yeah, until Joe told the waiting lynch mob she was transsexual.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Predictions of violence are notoriously unreliable. Nobody can say what Joe might have done.

  Morty Berger : Come on. We both know what people do when they find out the truth about the transgendered. They kill them.

• Morty Berger : [to Cabot]  You had no right to speak to my client without me. I'm taking this to Judge Larsen and the disciplinary committee.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Go ahead. They'll love the part where you ignored your obligation to bring my deal to your client and then lied to me and told me you had.

  Morty Berger : I've done hundreds of trials and made new case law. I think I know what's best for my client.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Doesn't Cheryl have a right to decide?

  Morty Berger : Fine. Cheryl, I have your best interests at heart. Go ahead, take the deal and you'll go to prison for at least five years.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : And if you don't take the deal and you get convicted, you'll go for a minimum of fifteen-to-life.

  Cheryl Avery : Well, do you think we'll lose?

  Morty Berger : You're not guilty, Cheryl.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Answer her question.

  Morty Berger : Look, she's trying to scare you. Yeah, there's a chance you'll lose, but think of everything you're going to gain.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : He's trying to make you a martyr for the cause.

• ADA Alexandra Cabot : My hands are tied. I can't move Cheryl to a women's prison.

  Olivia Benson : She was going to have surgery.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Unfortunately, she's still anatomically male. New York State determines a person's gender based on their genitals, not their feelings.

  Olivia Benson : So you're not going to do anything?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : There's nothing I can do. The law says she's not entitled to special treatment and I can't put a man in a women's prison.

  Olivia Benson : But Cheryl is not a man anymore.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Legally, she still is. Look, Berger has to fight it out with the Department of Corrections and I have to make an appearance. I will see what I can do.

• Morty Berger : Gender is not always binary. People are afraid of what they don't know. Cheryl's case can change that.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Are you so sure of this that you're willing to serve up your client as the sacrificial lamb? She could spend the rest of her life in prison.

  Morty Berger : Not after this is tried in the court of public opinion. Joe Cappilla sexually assaulted Cheryl Avery and threatened to out her. She fought back to save her life. She's not going to prison.

• ADA Alexandra Cabot : [to Cheryl]  Thanks for meeting me.

  Cheryl Avery : Well, I shouldn't be speaking to you without my attorney.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I shouldn't be asking you to, but I'm very concerned about how Mr. Berger is handling your case.

  Cheryl Avery : You're the one prosecuting me. Why would you care?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Because I think you're getting bad advice.

  Cheryl Avery : No, he's... No, he's the only one who's been on my side. He knows what I've been through.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Then he should be the first one to tell you that your chances of acquittal are slim to none.

  Cheryl Avery : I was attacked and almost raped, okay? He says a jury will take my side.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I think a jury is going to have some trouble separating the facts of the case from who you are.

  Cheryl Avery : Well, if you're so sure I'm going to lose, then why are you here?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Because I want to know why you won't take the deal.

  Cheryl Avery : What deal?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : I told Berger I would plead down to first-degree manslaughter.

  Cheryl Avery : He never told me.

• ADA Alexandra Cabot : [to Cheryl]  You told Detective Benson that you were afraid Eddie was going to leave you. In fact, Eddie committed suicide when he found out.

  Cheryl Avery : And I blame myself for that.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Do you blame yourself for Joe's death?

  Cheryl Avery : I was protecting myself. All I wanted to do was hit him over the head.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : If you hadn't killed him, he would have told everyone your secret when he came to.

  Cheryl Avery : Well, I wasn't thinking that far ahead.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Weren't you? Joe was going to tell Eddie and you couldn't take that chance. You were finally happy. Eddie loved you.

  Cheryl Avery : Well, Joe was gonna ruin that. He was gonna ruin it and I couldn't let him do it. I could not let him do it. I had to stop him.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : You did. Nothing further.

• ADA Alexandra Cabot : [to Olivia]  Do you think I pushed Cheryl too hard?

  Olivia Benson : You did your job.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Then why do I feel so lousy?

  Olivia Benson : Because you look at Cheryl and you can't imagine what it's like to feel that your own body is a mistake.