Corrected entry: Jack McCoy asks his witness, an expert geneticist, what the odds are that a DNA sample presented in evidence matches that of the defendant. He answers "About one in two hundred." He just stated that the chances of a match are half of one percent! This is a huge, serious error on the part of an expert witness, and if he later tried to correct his mistake it would seriously undermine his credibility. The defence attorney repeats the mistake just a few seconds later while questioning him, but she doesn't see the mistake he has made, either. The odds he gave are the odds that the DNA sample DOESN'T match the defendant.
Law & Order (1990)
1 corrected entry in season 6
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.
Det. Lennie Briscoe: I'm trying to decide what to arrest you for - obstruction of justice, harboring a fugitive or just being a general pain in the ass.
Trivia: Both Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe) and S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Van Buren) played guest roles before joining the cast. Orbach played a lawyer in the episode "The Wages of Love" in season two, and Merkerson played the mother of a victim in "Mushrooms" in the first season.
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?
Chosen answer: December 25 is observed and some places close on the 24 (or just close early). The 26th is a normal work day.
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Correction: McCoy asks "what are the odds the semen came from someone other than Mr. Munoz" (the defendant). So he does state the odds correctly.
Bishop73