| "Memo From The Dark Side" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | L&O, Episode 20.01 | → |
| Production number: 20001 First aired: 25 September 2009 | ||
| Written By René Balcer & Keith Eisner Directed By Fred Berner | ||
Plot
The body of a young war veteran is found in a parking garage and the murder is connected to a law professor who used to work for the Department of Justice.
Cast
Main Cast
- Jeremy Sisto as Detective Cyrus Lupo
- Anthony Anderson as Detective Kevin Bernard
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
- Linus Roache as Executive A.D.A. Michael Cutter
- Alana De La Garza as A.D.A. Connie Rubirosa
- Sam Waterston as D.A. Jack McCoy
Recurring Cast
- Tijuana Ricks as Sergeant Royce
Guest Cast
- Ned Eisenberg as James Granick
- Lisa Joyce as Megan Tanner
- Jordan Gelber as David
- Addison Timlin as Hayley Kozlow
- Monique Fowler as Attorney Strawn
- Michael Berresse as Mr. Gardner
- Nancy Opel as Doctor
- Deborah Offner as Judge Rachel Cates
- David Alan Bache as Kevin Franklin
- Michael Milligan as Michael Gendel
- Creighton James as Greg Tanner
- Melissa Maxwell as Judge Arlene Jones
- Marc Damon Johnson as Sergeant Kupchack
- Stephen Largay as Vagrant
- Mark Morettini as Jerry
- Nicola Barber as Janice Mazern
- Michael Gibson as Court Officer
- William Connell as Foreperson
References
- 9/11
- Abu Ghraib
- American Civil War
- American Revolutionary War
- George W. Bush
- Dick Cheney
- Iraq
- Abraham Lincoln
- Nuremberg defense
- Adam Schiff
- Torture
- United States Department of Justice
- George Washington
Quotes
| “ | This is no simple legal opinion, ladies and gentlemen. This is an instruction on how to commit a crime and avoid prosecution. A surgical parsing of words to draw hair-splitting distinctions between severe pain and extreme pain. The creation of a special class of prisoners who are fair game for any suffering we might subject them to. This is the legal grease that enabled the conspirators to commit acts that are immoral and illegal. Hanging prisoners by their wrists until their lungs collapse against their ribs. Waterboarding one detainee over 180 times. Now Mr. Franklin's defense is that he was just following orders as a mere lawyer in the Justice Department. Well, like all lawyers, he was employed as the last and best defense against injustice, to use the law as a shield to protect people. But instead he used it as a sword to injure them. Where he was sworn to uphold the Constitution, he used his legal education to subvert it, to shame it, and betray its promise to the world. Five days after 9-11, Vice President Cheney told us that we would have to "work the dark side" to fight terrorists. Well, we never imagined that to mean that we would cede control to our own dark side. The tactics used in Mr. Franklin's memo draw from the worst of our nature. Even in the midst of the Revolutionary War, in the midst of the Civil War, Presidents Washington and Lincoln admonished their troops not to injure their prisoners. Now, some of you may feel that it is not the place of this jury or even the people to question the actions of our government officials during a time of war. That the premise of this trial itself somehow is...treasonous. I would assure you, ladies and gentlemen, it is not disloyal to hold our officials to the highest standards of conduct. And it is not disloyal to allow you, the people, to decide what you want done in your name. | ” |
–Michael Cutter | ||
Background information and notes
Background information & notes
| Previous episode: "The Drowned and the Saved" |
"Memo From The Dark Side" Law & Order Season 20 |
Next episode: "Just a Girl in the World" |