- James Smith: I am a captain in Jabin's army!
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: Really? I was a corporal in Uncle Sam's.
- James Smith: I fought at the Kishon River.
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: Oh, you did? So, when you killed Linda Bowers and those other people, you were following orders, right?
- James Smith: The chattering people across the street. They're with the CIA too, aren't they?
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: This isn't the CIA, Jim, this is the 27th precinct of the New York City Police Department. You understand that?
- James Smith: [laughing] It's a hell of a system. It's a hell of a system. They drive touch-tone dialing to work and they're still hungry.
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: Right.
- [pause]
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: I give up.
- [exits interrogation room: to Van Buren and Kincaid]
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: I think I need whatever he's supposed to be taking.
- James Smith: Have you ever been on an anti-psychotic drug?
- Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: No.
- James Smith: I'm using every ounce of strength I have just to talk to you. I feel like I'm pawing through a wool blanket. I feel stiff, and like I'm half a mile behind everyone else. I get so damned tired. It takes so much effort, holding on to reality.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: [referring to Smith] His first trial, and he knows just enough law to turn it into a circus.
- D.A. Adam Schiff: A circus? Three counts of murder? He's taking it seriously.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Then why doesn't he plead insanity?
- D.A. Adam Schiff: Because he's insane!
- A.D.A. Claire Kincaid: [after Schiff has told her to take a plea bargain to save money] Three people are dead, and you're counting pennies?
- D.A. Adam Schiff: I can count bodies as well as pennies. You're not using this office to make up for your mistake.
- A.D.A. Claire Kincaid: [irate] My mistake was following your lead, Mr Schiff! I cut a deal the way you like them: quick, cheap, and out the door!
- D.A. Adam Schiff: You're off this case, as of now.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Adam!
- D.A. Adam Schiff: She can do other cases; she can take a cruise; she can plant a garden; I couldn't care less!
- Mr. Lowe: [referring to Smith] He fired me.
- A.D.A. Claire Kincaid: He has his own lawyer?
- Mr. Lowe: Uh huh. James Smith, pro se.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: You're not serious! He's obviously not fit to represent himself.
- Mr. Lowe: Oh, he has an edge. If you're going to defend a guy like that, doesn't hurt to be crazy.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: [referring to Smith's earlier plea bargain for stalking] We don't owe anyone an apology.
- D.A. Adam Schiff: Good thing you're not writing the press release.
- [reading his allocution in court]
- James Smith: A man came toward me and I became afraid. I stabbed him with a bayonet I had with me. This paper is full of needles. They cut me and I bleed. You hear those chariots? They stole them from me, they want me to sleep. They like that. That's why I killed her.
- Detective Gia: The prints matched up with a James Stephen Smith.
- [hands file to Van Buren]
- Lt. Anita Van Buren: Great, thank you.
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: Besides battling the forces of evil, what other trouble's he been in?
- Lt. Anita Van Buren: [reading his file] Only one arrest, for stalking a woman 16 months ago. He pleaded out on harassment two, six months' probation and a 500 dollar fine.
- Detective Rey Curtis: [sarcastically] I guess if he'd killed her, it would have been 1000 dollars.
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: What idiot in the D.A.'s let him off?
- Lt. Anita Van Buren: [to Kincaid] Say hello, Counselor.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: James Smith did not fall through the cracks because of you. The system worked the way it's supposed to.
- A.D.A. Claire Kincaid: Yes, and doesn't that scare the hell out of you?
- Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: Do you believe there's something wrong with you?
- James Smith: [laughs sadly] Yes. I've seen the PET scans, and the MRIs. My brain doesn't look like yours, Doc.
- School Principal: [sarcastically] A tall black teenager. It figures - he's a criminal and he plays basketball!
- Detective Lennie Briscoe: Well, we'll check out your chess team next!
- [last lines]
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: [Claire enters Sam's office] Smith mailed me his summation. We're lucky; he could have hung the jury.
- Patricia Smith: [about her brother, James Smith] I begged him to take his pills. I told him he might hurt himself or someone else if he stopped.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: What did he say?
- Patricia Smith: He said people would just have to stay out of his way.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Don't you care about the people you killed?
- James Smith: I'm sorry for them, Mr. McCoy. But that wasn't me. I'm not that creature. And I'm not going to take the rap for what he did.
- Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy: [after Schiff chews Claire out] She didn't deserve that.
- D.A. Adam Schiff: Tough! Plead Smith out.