Law & Order (TV Series)

Deadline (2023)

Hugh Dancy: Executive ADA Nolan Price

Quotes 

• Executive ADA Nolan Price : David Costa and Deputy Mayor Simonian were co-conspirators in an embezzlement scheme that led directly to the deaths of six people in a public housing unit fire.

  ADA Samantha Maroun : And Jacob Ackerman was working on an article that would have exposed their crimes, so Costa killed Ackerman and the deputy mayor to keep the truth from being discovered.

  DA Jack McCoy : And you have evidence to back this up?

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : DNA tests confirm that blood on the knife found at David Costa's home belongs to Ackerman.

  ADA Samantha Maroun : And while they didn't find a jacket or hat that matches the description of our witness, they did find this on Costa's social media. It's the same jacket from the surveillance footage.

  DA Jack McCoy : You can prove motive, means, and you've got him in possession of the murder weapon. What's the problem?

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : Well, our evidence in the Ackerman case is strong. But we don't have much, if anything, tying him to Simonian's murder.

  DA Jack McCoy : Then separate the cases.

  [PHONE BUZZES] 

  DA Jack McCoy : Hold off on Simonian's until you have more evidence. And in the meantime, move for trial on the Ackerman case.

  ADA Samantha Maroun : Costa's attorney just filed a motion. They want to suppress the murder weapon.

• Keith Hollins : It's our contention that the search warrant in this case was defective.

  Renee Gittens : Mr. Price, what was the basis for probable cause in your affidavit?

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : The defendant has a clear motive, and detectives observed cuts and bruises on his face during a routine traffic stop.

  Keith Hollins : Ah, yes, two seasoned homicide detectives suddenly morph into traffic cops. They pulled him over for a rolling stop. This is laughable. The police circumvented my client's constitutional rights with a trumped-up, unverifiable, alleged traffic violation.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : They were within their rights.

  Keith Hollins : No, they exploited a technicality and violated the spirit of the law.

  Renee Gittens : I tend to agree. It's an overreach. And since the stop is where they noticed the cuts and bruises which in turn led to the search warrant, the knife is fruit of the poisonous tree. Defense's motion to suppress is granted.

• Executive ADA Nolan Price : You been able to find anything in Costa's personal finances that ties him to the embezzlement?

  ADA Samantha Maroun : Negative. And I've requested information on SiteShield's account, but the bank in Panama where the company receives the funds is citing the privacy of their clients. And we have no jurisdiction to challenge it.

  DA Jack McCoy : Which is why Costa was funneling the embezzled funds through them in the first place.

• DA Jack McCoy : You lost the murder weapon. This was supposed to be the case you could win.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : I still can. Ackerman was on the verge of exposing SiteShield's responsibility for the six deaths in the Myers-Hamilton fire. And as the person behind the shell company, David Costa had the most to lose.

  DA Jack McCoy : Without documentation tying Costa to the shell corporation, you can't even prove he was involved in the embezzlement scheme.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : I can do it through Julia McAllister, Ackerman's colleague. She was writing the article with Ackerman. She can testify to how he came to suspect Costa.

  DA Jack McCoy : Good. But you still need to play to the jury's emotions. Remind them that the defendant has a lot more than just Jacob Ackerman's blood on his hands.

• Executive ADA Nolan Price : The idea that anyone would travel over a body of water and across two boroughs to jog at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, it's ludicrous. But I saw the jurors' faces. They were entertaining it.

  DA Jack McCoy : No one likes the idea of condemning a man to life in prison. Credible or not, reason to doubt gives them reason to acquit.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : I don't see how we come back from this.

  DA Jack McCoy : Then maybe it's time to reach out, discuss a plea.

• Lucas Hobbs : I was watching the news, and they did a story on your trial. I recognize that guy you're prosecuting.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : You know David Costa?

  Lucas Hobbs : I saw him the morning of the murder.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : [SIGHS]  Where exactly did this happen?

  Lucas Hobbs : On Ackerman's block, just a few houses down. After I tagged his house, I was headed back to the subway to go home, and he bumped into me. So I shoved him, told him to watch where he was going.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : Mm, and you remember what he looks like, even though it was months ago?

  Lucas Hobbs : Yeah, I'm not gonna forget his face. He pulled a knife on me. He said that if I knew what was good for me, I'd watch where I was going.

• Executive ADA Nolan Price : Hobbs brutally assaulted a 19-year-old Jewish woman when he overheard her speaking Hebrew with a friend, and he wants all charges dropped in exchange for his testimony.

  DA Jack McCoy : We're talking about a murder case here, Nolan.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : Yeah, I understand that. I was prepared to offer him more leniency than he deserves. But what he did, he shouldn't be allowed to walk away scot-free.

  DA Jack McCoy : This isn't about what he deserves or doesn't deserve. It's about getting justice for Jacob Ackerman.

• Lucas Hobbs : Hey. It all worked out, huh? I appreciate you keeping up your end of the bargain.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : It was a one-time deal.You commit any crimes moving forward, I will make sure you are prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law.

  Lucas Hobbs : Good doing business with you.

• Executive ADA Nolan Price : Especially with all the recent anti-Semitic attacks and the hate out there, there's a bigger picture to take into account here.

  DA Jack McCoy : I have no more tolerance for hate crimes than you do, and I'm all for adhering to principles, but not to the exclusion of trying to win a murder case.

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : So you're demanding that I put this racist, Hobbs, on the stand?

  DA Jack McCoy : Can you win without him?

  Executive ADA Nolan Price : I don't know, but I'm not sure if it's worth winning like this.

  DA Jack McCoy : Tell that to Jacob Ackerman's son and the families of the six people who died in that fire. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but if the cost of convicting someone responsible for eight deaths, including three children, is cutting a sweetheart deal with a white supremacist, I'd take that deal all day long. But this is your case. You're the one who needs to live with your choices, not me.