Law & Order

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

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.

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

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

Second Opinion - S5-E1

Factual error: Ryan, the laboratory technician, eats his lunch of burger and fries while discussing a murder case with Assistant D.A. Claire Kincaid. Trouble is, they are in his laboratory. No lab technician ever, ever eats or drinks in a laboratory - it is the most basic lab protocol imaginable. He could contaminate his samples in any one of a hundred ways, he inevitably contaminates his gloves or fingers with residue from his meal and he risks poisoning himself with accidental transfer. This is not a character error - lab security is hammered into science students starting with the first day of first year and number one on the list is never, ever eat or drink in your lab.

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Det. Lennie Briscoe: Boy, I'd hate for somebody to trace me by what I read.
Det. Rey Curtis: You read, Lennie?

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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

Answer: He believed that she had become too empathetic towards the defendant they had been prosecuting, and that her actions were driven by her emotions instead of facts. While empathy is a good quality in general, a certain degree of detachment is required in order for a prosecutor to do one's job effectively.

Cubs Fan

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