History Awesome / LawAndOrder

:: The look on Schwimmer's face when she realizes she can't answer the question is ''priceless''.

:: Jack's moment wasn't the only Awesome Moment in this episode, though. After [=McCoy=] leaves, ADA Michael Cutter reveals he continued talking with some of the sex workers involved with the original murder investigation -- and found out Shalvoy had kept seeing prostitutes, even after the original stonewalled investigation. In exchange for keeping the information private and letting Shalvoy's reputation stay intact, Cutter asks Shalvoy to resign -- and when Shalvoy tells Cutter [=McCoy=] said he wouldn't have to resign his seat, Cutter replies with a matter-of-fact statement which crushes Salvoy for good: '''"I'm not Jack [=McCoy=]."''' The next scene is of Shalvoy telling the press he's giving up his position in order to support his wife.

* DA Adam Schiff was everyone's favorite curmudgeon, but in "Jeopardy", he gets his own Awesome Moment. An old law school friend of his -- who is now a judge -- throws out a triple-murder case against the son of a wealthy family, and when Schiff orders an investigation of the judge's finances, the police and the DA's office discover the family matriarch secured a favorable loan for the judge to keep him from being financially ruined. Schiff personally goes down to the 27th Precinct, walks into the interrogation room where the judge is being questioned, ''tells the cops to turn off the audio pickup'', and then proceeds to quietly ask the judge why he did it. The judge says his wife left him and was ruining him in the divorce, and the bribe was too good to resist -- and he also claims claims [=McCoy=] would've lost the case anyway. Schiff, disgusted, tells him it shouldn't have mattered -- and he's going to tell the police everything.
:: Jack [=McCoy=] gets one in this episode as well by successfully convincing a new judge to vacate the original dismissal of the case, as double jeopardy protections were not attached to the rigged trial ("This defendant was never in jeopardy to begin with"). After securing a second chance to convict the murderer, [=McCoy=] manages to squeeze a plea bargain out of said murderer by threatening to convict his mother -- the family matriarch who bribed the judge in the original trial -- and send her to jail. As Schiff put it: "You climbed Mount Everest in your shorts on a windy day."

:: Why did the judge refuse to take the plea as it was written? DA Arthur Branch had, in a way, encouraged her to do so after figuring out Jack was preparing to make the plea bargain -- which was a variation of a trick [=McCoy=] himself pulled in an earlier episode to get out of a plea bargain he'd made with a CompleteMonster of a murderer.

--> You can have my license -- it'll free me up to testify about the hate speech your client just spewed in here! And after he's convicted of murder in state court, I'll walk across to the US Attorney's office and have your client prosecuted for violating the Matthew Shepard Act! '''Hate murder against gays is a federal offense now!''' Are you ready to do back-to-back life sentences, Mr. Stuber!? '''You will die in jail!'''
** Cutter also gets off relatively scot-free in regards to the deception about his bachelor's degree, which makes the situation win-win for him.

* Ben Stone was really good at these. In "Conduct Unbecoming", Stone manages to secure an indictment against a Navy Captain for the murder of a young female Lieutenant. The Captain takes the stand in his own defense, and during cross-examination, Stone tells the jury about the officers who had served in the same position at a prestigious Naval Academy: all of the other men who served in the position were now Admirals, while the Captain remains a Captain due to a prior complaint filed against him by the murder victim. Stone continues to press on about several incidents where the Captain assaulted prostitutes while on shore leave until he hits the right trigger:

* In "Innocence", ADA Mike Cutter's law license is put under suspicion after Emily Ryan -- an old law professor opposing Cutter in a reopened murder case -- reveals he never received his bachelor's degree and lied to the bar overseers (and the DA's office) about it. To avoid embarassment, Cutter agrees to offer a plea bargain, and Ryan, the murderer, and his defense attorney are there to hear him out. A frustrated Cutter offers the murderer twenty years, which is refused -- and when Ryan threatens to take Cutter's license, he raises the deal to twenty-five years and fires back with a speech which causes the murderer to accept the plea bargain:

:: Cutter also gets off relatively scot-free in regards to the deception about his bachelor's degree, which makes the situation win-win for him.

* In the controversial Season 1 episode "Life Choice", ADA Ben Stone is prosecuting Rose Schwimmer, a radical pro-life activist who planted a bomb on fellow pro-lifer Mary Donovan--Donovan was going to a clinic have an abortion, thus becoming an unwitting suicide bomber. When Schwimmer takes the stand, she begins an impassioned rant about how Stone (a Catholic) is a hypocrite for putting her on trial and how her actions were justified, believing it is okay to bomb abortion clinics and kill women who are going to have an abortion in order to protect unborn children. The judge orders that she be removed from the courtroom, but Stone interjects and gets permission to ask her just one question:

:: The look on Schwimmer's face as she realizes that she cannot answer the question is ''priceless''.
* Ben Stone was really good at these. In "Conduct Unbecoming", Stone manages to get an indictment against a Navy Captain for the murder of a young female Lieutenant. The Captain takes the stand and, on cross, Stone brings up the fact that all of the officers who had served in the position at the Naval Academy he had recently left were now Admirals, while he is still a Captain because of a complaint filed against him by the victim. Stone then presses on about several incidents where he assaulted prostitutes while on shore leave, enraging him until:

--> '''Stone:''' Which bitch is it, Sir? Lieutenant Hagen or Tammy White?
* More on Ben Stone: A corrupt CEO who sold defective pace-makers is faced with three murder charges. Realizing he has ''no'' way of avoiding a seventy-five year sentence, he says (paraphrased) to Stone-

--> '''Stone:''' I'm not a businessman. Nothing.
* Another Stone moment, after finding out a defendant he plea-bargined was the only participant, he says:

--> '''Stone:''' Why yes, I am.

* The 19th season finale, "The Drowned and the Saved", saw Jack [=McCoy=] clash yet again with Governor Donald Shalvoy and his wife, Rita--after the duo managed to work their way out of a prostitution scandal by stonewalling [=McCoy=] a season earlier (with Rita's support of her philandering husband especially infuriating [=McCoy=]), he finally got his revenge for it. The executive of a prominent charity is murdered, and after the investigation reveals that he was into [=S&M=], the trail eventually leads to the Shalvoys--Rita is accused of setting the murder plot in motion to try and help sell a Senate seat that her husband was ready to give out, and Donald does his best to protect his wife while stonewalling [=McCoy=] yet again. When [=McCoy=] manages to secure an indictment against the governor, he promises to destroy the indictment--but only if Donald offers up testimony that would guarantee a conviction against his wife. Shalvoy, seeing the writing on the wall, reluctantly gives up his wife.
** After [=McCoy=] leaves, ADA Michael Cutter gets a Crowning Moment of his own. He reveals that, in talking with some of the sex workers involved with the original murder investigation, he discovered that Shalvoy had not quit seeing prostitutes. In exchange for keeping that piece of information from the press and letting Shalvoy's reputation stay intact, Cutter requests that the governor resign. Shalvoy tells Cutter that [=McCoy=] said he wouldn't have to resign--to which Cutter replies, '''"I'm not Jack [=McCoy=]."''' Cut to the governor telling the press he's giving up his position to support his wife.
* Connie Rubirosa's closing argument in "The Family Hour".
* [=McCoy=] gets one in the GrandFinale, "Rubber Room". A teacher who holds the key to stopping a school massacre by a disgruntled fellow teacher is forced to keep silent by her lawyer; when [=McCoy=] tries to change her mind, he is told why teachers get so disaffected with their jobs by the lawyer. [=McCoy=] fires back and tells the lawyer that if he doesn't let the teacher talk--and thus prevent the massacre--then he will personally convict the lawyer of negligent homicide, resign as District Attorney, and represent every family in a wrongful death lawsuit, just to make sure the lawyer's career and life are left in ruins. The lawyer promptly shuts up and lets his client talk, which allows the police to stop the massacre and prevent loss of life. ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4R34GyKTkk Here's a link to the moment of awesome.]]''
* Pretty much any time a junior ADA ends up cross-examining the suspect ends up being one. Examples: Serena Southerlyn's cross-examination of a sexist Islamic extremist and Alexandra Borgia goading a SmugSnake / ManipulativeBastard con-artist (who'd already managed to fool [[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]] in a previous episode) into implicating herself and her mother (in one of her first crosses, no less).

** That's still awesome every time the episode reruns.

* DA Adam Schiff was everyone's favorite curmudgeon, but in "Jeopardy" he gets his own moment. An old friend of his, who is now a judge, threw out a murder case against the son of a very wealthy family. The police and the DA's office find out the family matriarch got the judge a favorable loan from her bank to keep him from being ruined. Schiff personally goes down to the 27th Precinct, walks into the interrogation room where the judge is held, ''tells the cops to turn off the audio pickup'', and then proceeds to quietly ask him why he did it. The judge claims [=McCoy=] would've lost the case anyway, that his wife left him, and that the family had so much money. Schiff, disgusted, tells him that it shouldn't have mattered, that he was going to tell the police everything, and that he was then going to prison for a long time.
* In the episode "By Perjury", DA Cutter blasts Detective Lupo for an error the latter made, resulting in considerable animosity between the two. By the episode's end, Cutter has just had a nasty confrontation with an AmoralAttorney whose career is likely to be destroyed thanks to Cutter's efforts. As Cutter walks away, the man follows him. Lupo and Bernard, who have witnessed the exchange, immediately get suspicious and follow suit--and it's Lupo who saves Cutter's life when the man pulls a gun on him.
* In the episode "Red Ball" a little girl is kidnapped, but the perp, Dwight, Jacobs, gets caught shortly after. Jacobs, whose been in and out of the system, states that he'll only reveal the girl's location if he doesn't get any jail time or charges, and generally. [=McCoy=] tries everything in order to both rescue the girl, and put him in jail, but gets stonewalled by the system, and realizes that he can have one and not the other. (This is one of the few times we've actually come close to seeing [=McCoy=] punch out a suspect, judging by the look on his face). [=McCoy=] finally succumbs and takes the deal so that girl would be found. Just as it looks like Jacobs is about to get off scot-free, the presiding judge, (Who had been described as a stubborn battleax), speaks up, and states that honoring this deal is a "perversion of due process," and cranks up his sentence to the MAX. Jacobs VillainousBreakdown as the cops drag him out of the courtroom is epic!

---> '''Deirdre Hellstrom''': That's enough! Officers, remove the defendant from the courtroom!

** It should be noted that the reason the judge does this is because D.A. Arthur Branch had (sort of) encouraged her to do this, a variation of a trick [=McCoy=] himself had pulled in an earlier episode to get out of a plea bargain he'd made with a CompleteMonster of a murderer.

* Connie's been roped into working as a defense lawyer thanks to the legal aid strike and has been handing Mike Cutter his own behind on a plate with cheese and crackers. One of the paralegals in the DA's office asks, "How is it working for the 'dark side', Connie?"
-->'''Jack:''' Is that how you see it? Us versus Them? Ms Rubirosa is conducting herself within the bounds of the canon of ethics and zealously representing her client to the best of her abilities. That's what she's expected to do, whether that client is a criminal defendant or the people of the State of New York. And if I hear any more crap from any of you, you'll all be working traffic court for the next five years.
* In 'Innocence', Mike Cutter's prosecution license is put under suspicion after the revelation that he never got his bachelor's degree and lied about it to the bar overseers and on his resume when he signed on as District Attorney, and has just agreed to a plea bargain. Emily Ryan, Cedric Stuber and his defense attorney are there to hear him out. (paraphrased)
-->'''Cutter:''' Man One. 20 years.
-->'''Stuber:''' [...]You know what, I'm sick of this hate-crime crap! It's not like he was a black guy...or a spic.
-->'''Cutter:''' I think our bargain has just went up to 25 years.
-->'''Ryan:''' What about your license, Mr. Cutter?
-->'''Cutter:''' You can have my license! It'll just leave me free to testify against this hate speech your client has just spewed in here! Then I'll go to the US Attorney Office and have him charged with violating the Matthew Shepard act! (to Stuber) Killing gays is now a hate crime, did you know? How would you like to serve two life sentences, back to back? You will die in prison!
-->'''Stuber:''' ...is that true?

-->'''Stuber:''' ...is that true?

---> '''Deirdre Hellstrom''': '''You made no such deal with me, Mr. Jacobs.'''
---> '''Deirdre Hellstrom''': That's enough! Guards, remove the defendant from the courtroom!

** The best part: [=McCoy=], provoked that by getting Jacobs to provide more and more detail at allocution until the judge snapped.

* Jack [=McCoy=] defies his superiors, more or less guaranteeing he'll be fired, to try and find a kidnapped girl in the episode "Red Ball". It is made even more awesome due to the fact that ''he gets away with it''.

* More on Ben Stone: A corrupt CEO who sold defective pace-makers is faced with three murder charges. Realizing he has ''no'' way of avoiding a seventy-five year sentence, he says to Stone-

(Paraphrased)

* In the episode "By Perjury", DA Cutter blasts Detective Lupo for an error the latter made, resulting in considerable animosity between the two. By the episode's end, Cutter has just had a nasty confrontation with an AmoralAttorney whose career is likely to be destroyed thanks to Cutter's efforts. As Cutter walks away, the man follows him. Lupo and Bernard, who have witnessed the exchange, immediately get suspicious and follow suit--and it's Lupo who saves Cutter's life when the man pulls a gun on him.

* DA Adam Schiff was everyone's favorite curmudgeon, but in "Jeopardy" he gets his own moment. An old friend of his, who is now a judge, threw out a murder case against the son of a very wealthy family. The police and the DA's office find out the family matriarch got the judge a favorable loan from her bank to keep him from being ruined. Schiff personally goes down to the 27th Precinct, walks into the interrogation room where the judge is held, ''tells the cops to turn off the audio pickup'', and then proceeds to quietly ask him why he did it. The judge claims [=McCoy=] would've lost the case anyway, that his wife left him, and that the family had so much money. Schiff, disgusted, tells him that it shouldn't have mattered, that he was going to tell the police everything, and that he was then going to prison for a long time.

:: You could have felt sorry for her if she hadn't been such a psychopath. He finally works her into such a frothing rage with "It's not being a snob if they really are better than you!" that the jury had no problem convicting her AND giving her the death penalty.

* Ben Stone was really good at these. In "Conduct Unbecoming", Stone manages to get an indictment against a Navy Captain for the murder of a young female Lieutenant. The Captain takes the stand and, on cross, Stone brings up the fact that all of the officers who held the position at the Naval Academy before him were now Admirals, while he is still a Captain because of a complaint filed against him by the victim. Stone then presses on about several incidents where he assaulted prostitutes while on shore leave, enraging him until:

Beat

* DA Adam Schiff was everyone's favorite curmudgeon, but in "Jeopardy" he gets his own moment. An old friend of his, who is now a judge, threw out a murder case against the son of a very wealthy family. The police and the DA's office find out the family matriarch got the judge a favorable loan from her bank to keep him being ruined. Schiff personally goes down to the 27th Precinct, walks into the interrogation room where the judge is held, ''tells the cops to turn off the audio pickup'', and then proceeds to quietly ask him why he did it. The judge claims [=McCoy=] would've lost the case anyway, that his wife left him, and that the family had so much money. Schiff, disgusted, tells him that it shouldn't have mattered, that he was going to tell the police everything, and that he was then going to prison for a long time.

** For some context: the guy’s friend was killed by a girl at a party, and after being arrested, the killer claimed the producer raped her and was afraid that his friend would do the same thing. McCoy charged the friend of the victim with both rape and murder. It turns out the girl had agreed to sleep with him in exchange for footage he had previously shoot of her and she had signed over to him, which the prosecution was able to get stricken from the record. The producer even had her sign a consent form (the kind some celebrities have specifically so the girls they sleep with will not falsely accuse them of rape) and there was footage of her willingly going to sleep with him and waiting for his friend, meaning the prosecution had a weak "he said, she said" rape case (and the assumption that after being raped, a woman is not responsible for he own actions). McCoy was able to find that another woman the producer had slept with had killed herself afterwards; he brought the woman's mother in to claim the producer was responsible. The fact that this case should have been thrown out on numerous occasions for lack of merits and unrelated testimony, but [=McCoy=] was able to keep it in court ''and'' get a murder conviction on probably the flimsiest evidence ever presented in the entire franchise, is what made it an [=MoA=].

* Ben Stone is prosecuting Rose Schwimmer, a radical pro-life activist who planted a bomb on fellow pro-lifer Mary Donovan (who was going to a clinic have an abortion, thus turning her into an unwitting suicide bomber). When Schwimmer takes the stand, she begins an impassioned rant about how Stone (a Catholic) is a hypocrite for putting her on trial, and how her actions were justified, as it is okay to bomb abortion clinics and kill women who are going to have an abortion in order to protect unborn children. The judge orders that she be removed from the courtroom, but Stone interjects and gets permission to ask her just one question:
--> '''Stone''': If abortion is murder, then no matter how you feel towards Mary Donovan, aren't you guilty of the murder of her unborn child?
:: The "Oh '''shit'''" look on Schwimmer's face after that was ''priceless''.

* The 19th season finale, "The Drowned and the Saved", sees Jack [=McCoy=] clash yet again with Governor Donald Shalvoy and his wife, Rita. After the duo managed to work their way out of a prostitution scandal by stonewalling [=McCoy=] a season earlier (with Rita's support of her philandering husband especially infuriating [=McCoy=]), [=McCoy=] finally gets his revenge for it. The executive of a prominent charity is murdered, and after the investigation reveals that he was into [=S&M=], the trail eventually leads to the Shalvoys; Rita is accused of setting the murder plot in motion to try and help sell a Senate seat that her husband was ready to give out, and Donald does his best to protect his wife and yet again stonewall [=McCoy=]. When [=McCoy=] manages to secure an indictment against the governor, he gets a Crowning Moment: he promises to destroy the indictment if Shalvoy offers up testimony that would guarantee a conviction against his wife. Shalvoy, seeing the writing on the wall, reluctantly gives up his wife.
** And then, after [=McCoy=] leaves, ADA Michael Cutter gets a Crowning Moment of his own. He reveals that, in talking with some of the sex workers involved with the original murder investigation, he found out that Governor Shalvoy hadn't quit seeing prostitutes. In exchange for keeping that information from the press and letting Shalvoy's reputation stay intact, Cutter requests that the governor resign. Shalvoy tells Cutter that [=McCoy=] said he wouldn't have to resign - to which Cutter replies, '''"I'm not Jack [=McCoy=]."''' Cut to the governor telling the press he's giving up his position to support his wife.

* [=McCoy=] gets one in the GrandFinale. A teacher who holds the key to stopping a school massacre by a disgruntled fellow teacher is shut up by her lawyer, and when he tries to change her mind, [=McCoy=] is told all of the reasons why teachers get so disaffected with their jobs by the lawyer. [=McCoy=] fires back and tells the lawyer that if he doesn't let the teacher talk (and thus prevent the massacre), he will personally convict the lawyer of negligent homicide, then resign as District Attorney and represent every family in a wrongful death lawsuit, making sure the lawyer's career and life are destroyed. The lawyer promptly shuts up and lets his client talk, which allows the police to stop the massacre and prevent loss of life. ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4R34GyKTkk Here's a link to the moment of awesome.]]''

* [=McCoy=]'s takedown of a [[Recap/LawAndOrderS17E8Release "Girls Gone Wild producer who raped a woman"]]: is also an awesome speech.
** For some context: the guy’s friend was killed by a girl at a party, and after being arrested, the killer claimed the producer raped her and was afraid that his friend would do the same thing. McCoy charged the friend of the victim with both rape and murder. It turns out the girl had agreed to sleep with him in exchange for footage he had previously shoot of her and she had signed over to him, which the prosecution was able to get stricken from the record. The producer even had her sign a consent form (the kind some celebrities have specifically so the girls they sleep with will not falsely accuse them of rape) and there was footage of her willingly going to sleep with him and waiting for his friend, meaning the prosecution had a weak "he said, she said" rape case (and the assumption that after being raped, a woman is not responsible for he own actions). McCoy was able to find that another woman the producer had slept with had killed herself afterwards; he brought the woman's mother in to claim the producer was responsible. The fact that this case should have been thrown out on numerous occasions for lack of merits and unrelated testimony, but [=McCoy=] was able to not only keep it in court but was able to get a murder conviction on probably the flimsiest evidence ever presented in the franchise, is what made it an [=MoA=].

''"[[OpeningNarration In the]] [[LawAndOrder series about the criminal justice system,]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments Of Awesome]] [[OpeningNarration are shared by two seperate, yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are those moments.]]"''

** For some context: the case in that episode was a wall banger that bordered on DethroningMomentOfSuck. The guy’s friend was killed by a girl at a party, and after being arrested, the killer claimed the producer raped her and was afraid that his friend would do the same thing. McCoy charged the friend of the victim with both rape and murder. It turns out the girl had agreed to sleep with him in exchange for footage he had previously shoot of her and she had signed over to him, which the prosecution was able to get stricken from the record. The producer even had her sign a consent form (the kind some celebrities have specifically so the girls they sleep with will not falsely accuse them of rape) and there was footage of her willingly going to sleep with him and waiting for his friend, meaning the prosecution had a weak "he said, she said" rape case (and the assumption that after being raped, a woman is not responsible for he own actions). McCoy was able to find that another woman the producer had slept with had killed herself afterwards; he brought the woman's mother in to claim the producer was responsible. The fact that this case should have been thrown out on numerous occasions for lack of merits and unrelated testimony, but McCoy was able to not only keep it in court but was able to get a murder conviction on probably the flimsiest evidence ever presented in the franchise, is what made it a CMoA.

** For some context: the case in that episode was a WallBanger that bordered on DethroningMomentOfSuck. The guy’s friend was killed by a girl at a party, and after being arrested, the killer claimed the producer raped her and was afraid that his friend would do the same thing. McCoy charged the friend of the victim with both rape and murder. It turns out the girl had agreed to sleep with him in exchange for footage he had previously shoot of her and she had signed over to him, which the prosecution was able to get stricken from the record. The producer even had her sign a consent form (the kind some celebrities have specifically so the girls they sleep with will not falsely accuse them of rape) and there was footage of her willingly going to sleep with him and waiting for his friend, meaning the prosecution had a weak "he said, she said" rape case (and the assumption that after being raped, a woman is not responsible for he own actions). McCoy was able to find that another woman the producer had slept with had killed herself afterwards; he brought the woman's mother in to claim the producer was responsible. The fact that this case should have been thrown out on numerous occasions for lack of merits and unrelated testimony, but McCoy was able to not only keep it in court but was able to get a murder conviction on probably the flimsiest evidence ever presented in the franchise, is what made it a CMoA.

* EADA Ben Stone is prosecuting a radical pro-life activist who planted a bomb on a fellow pro-lifer who was nevertheless going to a clinic have an abortion, thus turning her into an unwitting suicide bomber. When the activist takes the stand, she begins an impassioned rant about how Stone, a Catholic, is a hypocrite for putting her on trial, and how her actions were justified as it is okay to bomb abortion clinics and kill women who are going to have an abortion, in order to protect unborn children. The judge orders that she be removed from the courtroom, but Stone interjects, as he has just one question:

** The "Oh '''shit'''" look on the woman's face after that was ''priceless''.
* In the episode "True North" Jack [=McCoy=] prosecutes Stephanie Harker, who ran over a rich guy's wife so she could marry him, then years later hired a friend of hers to kill the guy and his daughter, ''then'' murdered her friend. She had lived in Niagara Falls and was ashamed of her humble beginnings, and had a lot of hatred for the rich even as she craved their lifestyle. When Jack gets her on the stand he pokes a bunch of holes in her story, getting her more and more worked up, then ''really'' starts pushing her buttons.
---> '''Harker''': I helped my husband in a lot of ways!
---> '''[=McCoy=]''': The chairman of a multi-million-dollar software company? How exactly does a drug-whacked daughter of a souvenir-stand owner help him?
---> '''Harker''': There were a lot of things my husband didn't understand!
---> '''[=McCoy=]''': He understood you, though, didn't he?
---> '''Harker''': What do you mean?
---> '''[=McCoy=]''': He finally understood you were just a hick-town party girl who didn't belong here!
::: You could have felt sorry for her if she hadn't been such a psychopath. He finally works her into such a frothing rage with "It's not being a snob if they really are better than you!" that the jury had no problem convicting her AND giving her the death penalty.
* ADA Paul Robinette got one early in the first season episode "Out of the Half-Light", in which [[RippedFromTheHeadlines a black teenager claims she was raped by white police officers and a publicity hungry congressman uses this to inflame racial tensions]]. By the end of the episode, Robinette finds out the whole thing started as a lie to the girls parents that spun out of control. As he privately confronts the congressman with this evidence, we get this exchange:
---> '''Congressman Eaton''': You look me in the eye and you tell me this system is just. That this system is ''equal''.
---> '''Robinette''': Sometimes the system stinks, Eaton. I know that as well as you do. But don't tell me for one damn minute that tearing down a 200 year old justice system, no matter how flawed, is going to alter the consciousness of a society! We're past the separate drinking fountain stage. We're past legal discrimination. We're at the ''hearts and minds'' stage. And believe me, there's no quick fix.
---> '''Congressman Eaton''': Another zombified soul casts his vote for order rather than justice. Negative peace over positive peace.
---> '''Robinette''': Paraphrasing Martin Luther King's thoughts won't lend credence to yours. ''King'' walked with the angels. You'd slide in slime on your belly to get what you want.

** That depends some see the fact that he became a defense attorney on principle as a CMOA. Alternatively there's the UnfortunateImplications theory that he was turned into a StrawmanPolitical of the MalcolmXerox variety so the writers could make a point.
* The 19th season finale, "The Drowned and the Saved", sees Jack [=McCoy=] clash yet again with Governor Donald Shalvoy and his wife, Rita. After the duo managed to work their way out of a prostitution scandal by stonewalling [=McCoy=] a season earlier (with Rita's support of her philandering husband especially infuriating [=McCoy=]), [=McCoy=] finally gets his revenge. The executive of a prominent charity is murdered, and after the investigation reveals that he was into [=S&M=], the trail eventually leads to the Shalvoys; Rita is accused of setting the murder plot in motion to try and help sell a Senate seat that her husband was ready to give out, and Donald does his best to protect his wife and yet again stonewall [=McCoy=]. But when [=McCoy=] manages to secure an indictment against the governor, he gets a Crowning Moment: he promises to destroy the indictment if Shalvoy offers up testimony that would practically secure a conviction against his wife; seeing the writing on the wall, Shalvoy gives up his wife.
** And then, after [=McCoy=] leaves, Assistant DA Michael Cutter gets a Crowning Moment of his own. He reveals that, in talking with some of the sex workers involved with the original murder investigation, he found out that Governor Shalvoy hadn't quit seeing prostitutes; in exchange for keeping the information from the press and letting Shalvoy's reputation stay intact, Cutter requests that the governor resign. Shalvoy comments that [=McCoy=] said he wouldn't have to resign, to which Cutter replies, '''"I'm not Jack [=McCoy=]."''' Cut to the governor telling the press he's giving up his position to support his wife.

* Jack [=McCoy=] defying his superiors and more or less guaranteeing he'll be fired to try and find a kidnapped girl in the episode "Red Ball". Made even more awesome due to the fact that he gets away with it.
* [=McCoy=] gets one in the GrandFinale; after a teacher who holds the key to stopping a school massacre by a disgruntled fellow teacher is shut up by her lawyer, and [=McCoy=] is told all of the reasons why teachers get so disaffected with their jobs by the lawyer, [=McCoy=] gets in the lawyer's face and tells him that if he doesn't let the teacher he's representing talk (and thus prevent the massacre), he will personally convict the lawyer of negligent homicide, then he'll resign as District Attorney and represent every family in a wrongful death lawsuit, making sure the lawyer's career and life are destroyed. The lawyer promptly shuts up and lets his client talk, which allows the police to stop the massacre and prevent loss of life. ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4R34GyKTkk Here's a link to the moment of awesome.]]''
* Pretty much any time a junior ADA ends up cross-examining the suspect ends up being one. Examples include Serena Southerlyn's cross-examination of a sexist Islamic extremist and Alexandra Borgia goading a SmugSnake / ManipulativeBastard con-artist (who'd already managed to fool [[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]] in a previous episode) into implicating herself and her mother. In one of her first crosses, no less!

---> '''Judge''': "I'm allowing every bit of this depravity into evidence to impeach your client's alibi."

** For some context the case in that episode was a WallBanger that bordered on DethroningMomentOfSuck. The guy’s friend was killed by a girl at a party, after being captured the killer claimed the producer raped her and was afraid that his friend would do the same thing, so McCoy charged the friend of the victim with both rape and murder. It turns out the girl had agreed to sleep with him in exchange for footage he had previously shoot of her and she had signed over to him, which the DA office was able to get stricken from the record. The producer even had her signed a consent form (the kind some celebrities have specifically so the girls they sleep with will not falsely accuse them of rape) and there was footage of her willingly going to sleep with him and waiting for his friend. Meaning that all the DA office had was a very week he said she said rape case and the assumption that after being raped a woman is not responsible for he own actions. McCoy was later able to find that another woman he had slept with had killed herself, and brought her mother in to claim the producer was responsible. The fact that this case should have been thrown out on numerous occasions for lack of merits and had unrelated testimony but McCoy was able to not only keep it in court but was able to get a murder conviction on probably the flimsiest evidence ever presented in the franchise is what made it a CMoA.

** It makes his subsequent race-baiting CharacterDerailment all the more aggravating, though.

* [=McCoy=]'s takedown of a [[Recap/LawAndOrderS17E8Release "Girls Gone Wild producer who raped a woman"]]: is also an awesome speech.

* [=ADA=] Alexandra Borgia goading a SmugSnake / ManipulativeBastard con-artist (who'd already managed to fool [[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]] in a previous episode) into implicating herself and her mother during one of her first cross-examinations.

* Jack [=McCoy=] nailing corrupt Governor Donald Shalvoy for helping cover up a murder his wife committed; while [=McCoy=] was willing to let him remain in office after using the threat of exposing his corruption to blackmail him into recanting the alibi he gave his wife for the murder, [=McCoy=]'s new protege ADA Michael Cutter wasn't so willing to let such a dangerous figure loom over his boss's head and threatened to go public with revelations over his use of prostitutes to force him to resign as governor.
* In the GrandFinale, after the police and [=ADA=] Cutter get stone-walled by a union rep, we see Jack [=McCoy=] ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4R34GyKTkk rip him to shreds.]]'' It's the culmination of so many years of people forgetting that you '''really shouldn't fuck with Jack [=McCoy=].'''
* Pretty much any time a junior ADA ends up cross-examining the suspect ends up being one. Examples include Serena Southerlyn's cross-examination of a sexist Islamic extremist and Alexandra Borgia goading a SmugSnake / ManipulativeBastard con-artist (who'd already managed to fool [[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]] in a previous episode) into implicating herself and her mother.
* Then there's Connie's summation in "The Family Hour."

* [=McCoy=] gets one in the GrandFinale; after a teacher who holds the key to stopping a school massacre by a disgruntled fellow teacher is shut up by her lawyer, and [=McCoy=] is told all of the reasons why teachers get so disaffected with their jobs by the lawyer, [=McCoy=] gets in the lawyer's face and tells him that if he doesn't let the teacher he's representing talk (and thus prevent the massacre), he will personally convict the lawyer of negligent homicide, then he'll resign as District Attorney and represent every family in a wrongful death lawsuit, making sure the lawyer's career and life are destroyed. The lawyer promptly shuts up and lets his client talk, which allows the police to stop the massacre and prevent loss of life. ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4R34GyKTkk Here's a link to the moment of awesome.]]''