Law & Order (TV Series)

Rumble (2008)

Linus Roache: Executive ADA Michael Cutter

Quotes 

• Michael Cutter : Make no mistake, these acts were an attack on institutions we hold dear. Their street fight was nothing less than an attempt to substitute their brand of justice for our system of due process. By bringing their fight to a public park and daring anyone to stop it, they would erode the public's confidence in the government's ability to protect its citizens. Their behavior meets the criteria for a terrorist act. Every day, we're subjected to public acts of violence; bare-knuckle punch-outs in Union Square, teenage girls battering each other on Internet videos, no holds barred extreme fighting on prime time. It's violence you can't escape now. Violence that brutalizes us, excites us, and terrifies us. And we've seen what the end of this road looks like. It's a soccer stadium filled with people forced to watch men in black turbans conduct mass executions. And that's why you need to find these defendants guilty of what I concede is a severe charge, because when we no longer believe we live in a safe society, then we live in terror.

• Attorney Reardon : I hear there might be an offer.

  Connie Rubirosa : You heard right.

  Attorney Reardon : So McCoy's regained his sanity.

  Michael Cutter : It's all or nothing. The three defendants who beat Vince Fonsella to death plead to murder two, twenty to life. The other defendants take two counts of man one, five years to run consecutively.

  Sean Hauser : I'd have to do ten years? I didn't even kill anybody.

  Michael Cutter : Well, right now you have a life sentence hanging over your head. So you can whine about it or you can cut your losses.