Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Service (2018)

Philip Winchester: ADA Peter Stone

Photos 

Quotes 

• Defense Attorney Olson : Peter.

  Peter Stone : You're a long way from Chicago.

  Defense Attorney Olson : Well, representing our fighting men is a moveable feast. Interesting case we've got here. The word of a lying lady of the night against two decorated soldiers.

  Peter Stone : Save your breath. No deals.

  Defense Attorney Olson : She's a hooker, Peter.

  Peter Stone : And your client's a rapist.

• Jim Preston : I'm a transgender man. I believe that's what you were getting at, counselor. You could have just asked me. And because you're so interested, I'm physically able to have sex with whoever I want.

  Defense Attorney Olson : So you're saying you were once a woman?

  Jim Preston : No. I was always a man.

  Defense Attorney Olson : But your birth certificate says "female". Am I right?

  Peter Stone : Objection. Relevance.

  Defense Attorney Olson : I'm just trying to establish that Sergeant Preston has been less than honest.

  Peter Stone : Your Honor?

  Defense Attorney Olson : My point is how can we trust a single word this witness says because he's been lying to the Army for years!

  Jim Preston : Actually, it's in my medical forms, sir.

  Defense Attorney Olson : Yeah, but your friends, your foxhole buddies, they don't know the real you, do they?

  Jim Preston : I am the real me. My gender identity isn't relevant to what I do. Just as whatever's in your pants isn't relevant to what you do.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Lieutenant, you guys are wasting your time. Jim Preston is never gonna testify.

  Olivia Benson : We just got to break this damn military code.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : It's got nothing to do with any code. We just got the blood back from the lab tests, and it's a match for Jim, but the DNA in the blood is genetically female. Jim Preston is a transgender man.

  Olivia Benson : Well... that's why he won't testify.

  Peter Stone : The courts will never uphold any law against transgender people serving in the military.

  Olivia Benson : That's right, but there's a huge distance between the law and life.

• Defense Attorney Olson : Are you gay, Sergeant?

  Peter Stone : Objection!

  Defense Attorney Olson : The witness just testified that unlike most red-blooded men, he didn't want to have sex with a beautiful woman. I'd like to know why.

  Judge Anita Wright : Overruled.

  Defense Attorney Olson : Are you gay, Sergeant?

  Jim Preston : No.

  Defense Attorney Olson : Happily married?

  Jim Preston : No.

  Defense Attorney Olson : So you're just confused?

  Peter Stone : Objection.

• Peter Stone : It's called perjury, Billy, and believe me, I will prosecute.

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : They yell at me. You yell at me. Why does everybody have to yell at me?

  Olivia Benson : That's gonna be the least of your problems when you end up in prison.

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : They already told me! There's no way the jury is gonna believe Sky over the Staff Sergeant. That means you lose, Mr. Stone.

  Peter Stone : And if you're convicted in a military court of making unsubstantiated allegations against a superior officer, you end up in Leavenworth.

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : [sobbing]  I just wanted a woman. I wanted to be a man.

  [standing and composing himself] 

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : I'd rather be a criminal, Mr. Stone, than a traitor. Can I go?

  [Peter nods, and he leaves] 

  Olivia Benson : Wha...? You let him go? Just like that?

  Peter Stone : There's nothing we could have said to convince him.

  Olivia Benson : He has a beating heart. He has a conscience.

  Peter Stone : Which isn't going to get in the way of a loyalty that goes back 250 years. We'll never break him.

  Olivia Benson : So because he's a good man, he's gonna do the wrong thing?

  Peter Stone : Our only hope is that Jim isn't as good a man as Billy is.

• Peter Stone : [to Preston]  Okay, here's the deal. As of this moment, all charges against you are dropped with prejudice. In exchange, I expect you to willingly testify against Staff Sergeant Jones. Now get out.

  [Preston and his lawyer stand to leave] 

  Peter Stone : [holding Preston back]  If you refuse, you will be subpoenaed, and failure to appear will be met with the strictest punishment the law allows.

  [he stands aside, and Preston leaves] 

  Olivia Benson : You'll ruin his life if he testifies.

  Peter Stone : And if he doesn't, you'll ruin Sandy's. It's your choice.