Law & Order

Slaughter - S12-E19

Factual error: When Green is going over the victims' phone records, he mentions a call to the 508 area code, which they said would have been a call to his parents. The victim's parents lived in Amherst Massachusetts, which is the 413 area code.

Maria Santos

Quit Claim - S18-E7

Continuity mistake: Near the end, when McCoy and Cutter walk into Cutter's office, McCoy closes the door. On the back of the door is a white board and McCoy writes "Fri 12:00" on the board and then underlines it. When McCoy opens the door to leave, "Fri. 12:00" is still there but the line under it is gone.

Guy

Remand - S6-E10

Character mistake: McCoy asks his witness, an expert geneticist, what the odds are that a DNA sample presented in evidence does not match that of the defendant. He answers "About one in two hundred." That is idiotic. If the DNA samples are identical the chances that the the sample presented in evidence does not come from the defendant is about one in two billion, not one in two hundred! A bright high school senior would know that, never mind an expert geneticist.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: If the odds are 1 in 200, that means the accuracy of the DNA is 99.5%. If the odds are 1 in 2 billion, that means the accuracy of the DNA is 99.9999999995%, which simply isn't true.

Bishop73

In fact as any geneticist (i.e, anyone like me) will tell you the chances of two identical DNA "fingerprints" coming from two different and unrelated individuals are around one in two thousand million. Two billion. In fact the odds are much higher than that but we scientists don't like to make claims that sound unlikely or fantastic. The accuracy of DNA fingerprinting is, as you point out, 99.9999999995%. You correction is wrong and the posting is correct.

Except that's not what happened in the scene or what happens in real life. You simply don't understand what you're arguing. You're not a geneticist.

Bishop73

Law & Order mistake picture

Patient Zero - S14-E3

Revealing mistake: When Briscoe and Green investigate the auto yard with the stolen, blue SUV, Briscoe handcuffs the owner. When he cuffs him, he turns him, showing his back and his hands behind his back. You can see the actor isn't cuffed, just holding the handcuffs as he walks. (00:06:35)

Matdan97

Blood Money - S10-E8

Character mistake: The coroner claims Reagan was taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital after the assassination attempt. He was taken to George Washington Hospital.

Humiliation - S6-E7

Other mistake: At the opening, the two undercover vice police are cruising down the street when the passenger cop looks to the side and says, "What the hell! Stop! Go back!" He saw something odd in the alley. When he says, "What the hell!" you can see through his window that the police car is about dead center of the building. His view of the alley where the victim was found would have been obstructed from view. They didn't move backwards, so it wasn't the alley they passed. The cop was looking into the alley they were approaching.

Rlvlk

Called Home - S18-E1

Character mistake: Michael Cutter decides to charge Bill Nolan with second-degree manslaughter, and tells Green and Lupo to pick him up. In the next scene, as he and Ed lead Nolan away in cuffs, Lupo says he's under arrest for murder.

Cubs Fan

Myth of Fingerprints - S12-E7

Character mistake: In the scene where Serena Southerlyn is speaking to a fingerprint expert, he tells her that he found seven false positives out of the 20 prints tested. Serena replies, "That's almost a third." It's not almost 1/3; it's more than 1/3.

BamCat

Deadline - S22-E16

Continuity mistake: ADA Price and the defendant's attorney are arguing a motion in the judge's chambers. Price and the other attorney played by Kevin Dunn begin to exit the chambers together but the next scene shows Price coming through the door alone with no sight whatsoever of the Dunn character.

bnemirow

Only the Lonely - S22-E7

Continuity mistake: When the two detectives exit the brownstone belonging to Miller their prime suspect, Miller walks up the sidewalk and starts to run when he sees the police. The detectives and one police officer take off down the stairs twice as they give chase.

bnemirow

Impossible Dream - S21-E2

Other mistake: When Jack McCoy is discussing Nina Ellis changing her plea, next to the coat rack there is visible a diploma from the Univ. Of Michigan with the name "Jack McCoy." His legal name is John James McCoy. Any diploma would certainly have his legal name and not a nickname.

Show generally

Factual error: When the cops need to arrest a medical professional, they are frequently shown barging into his/her office, exam room, or even operating room. This would never happen in real life and is strictly forbidden, as it is a gross violation of the patient's privacy, and in the case of the OR, could contaminate the sterile environment, thereby jeopardizing patient safety as well.

Married with Children - S14-E13

Character mistake: The "grandmother" says at first her husband was reluctant to accept the adopted grandchild of the lesbian couple, then says he took one look into those big blue eyes. The child has brown eyes throughout the entire episode.

lizbeth1fl

Benevolence - S3-E22

Character mistake: When the focus of an investigation of the murder of a deaf woman turns from a deaf activist named Paul Crandall, to Gordon Bryce, the hearing director of an institute for the deaf, Ben Stone instructs Mr. Robinette to "tell Crandall's attorney we're dismissing the charges against his client." However, Crandall's attorney, seen earlier in a scene with Stone and Robinette, was actually a woman, played by Camryn Manheim.

Michael Albert

Brazil - S20-E18

Other mistake: When the team are playing back a clip from the conference on a laptop where the man collapses, it says the video is buffering, yet the video is still playing. (00:03:00 - 00:10:00)

Blaze - S14-E5

Factual error: The arraignment is held on "Thursday, November 26" but, if November 26 falls on a Thursday, it would be the Thanksgiving holiday and, therefore, no court would be in session.

MovieFan612

Open Wounds - S22-E22

Plot hole: Price suddenly asks for a recess while questioning the defendant and exits the courtroom. It is dark outside but courts would not be working in the evening during a regular session. Furthermore, the episode was not set in the winter since no-one was wearing coats during the episode.

bnemirow

Battle Lines - S22-E2

Continuity mistake: Detectives Cosgrove and Shaw head to the hospital to interview a doctor which they do in a hallway. At one point the door behind the doctor is a single door then it changes to two doors and then finally when the detectives leave there is no door at all.

bnemirow

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Dr. Mercer and the detectives stand at a T-intersection of 2 halls (Cosgrove and Shaw at the top arm of the T). In 2 shots facing Mercer head-on, a single door is at the end of the hall directly behind her. In a shot facing Mercer's right side there are double-doors beside her, to her left. The last shot of Mercer is head-on with the single door at the end of the hall. When the detectives leave in the shot from a new angle, we cannot see the hallway (at the right) where Mercer stood, only the opening to the hall (00:18:25).

Super Grover

School Daze - S11-E22

Plot hole: They speak of sending a high school shooter to state prison. But if he's under 18 surely he'd have to be held in a juvenile facility until he's old enough.

Rob245

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This is incorrect for the time period. Until recently, 16 and 17 year olds who were charged as adults could get sent to State prison with adults. 2015 is when New York State decides to house 16 and 17 years olds in State prison in separate facilities.

Bishop73

Det. Lennie Briscoe: Even though you are a taxpayer, you know, we don't actually work for you personally.

More quotes from Law & Order

Trivia: Before his transfer to the NYPD, Joe Fontana (played by Dennis Farina) worked as a detective in Chicago. Before becoming an actor, Farina served in the Chicago police department, both as a police officer and a detective. Farina also played a Chicago police officer on the short-lived 1980s TV series Crime Story.

Cubs Fan

More trivia for Law & Order

Absentia - S13-E13

Question: In one of the court scenes it states the date as the 26th of December. Upon a bit of searching it doesn't seem to fall as a holiday in the New York Supreme Court holidays calendar. While the day is generally observed as a holiday in many countries I am not sure about whether it is observed in any states of the United States?

Lummie

Chosen answer: December 25 is observed and some places close on the 24 (or just close early). The 26th is a normal work day.

shortdanzr

More questions & answers from Law & Order

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.