Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Season 9

Clerk:
Docket ending 25801. People vs. James and Victoria Grall. One count assault in the second degree, one count grand larceny, one count burglary.

Judge Petrovsky:
How do you plead?

James:
Not guilty, your honor.

Eva:
They should be charged with murder!

Judge Petrovsky:
Court officers, remove this woman!

[the court officers escort Eva out of the courtroom as James and Victoria look on with remorse]

James:
She's right. We should be charged with murder.

Judge Petrovsky:
Would the People like to amend the charge?

Novak:
No, your honor. The defendants are only grandstanding to further their political agenda.

James:
If you were fit for your job, you'd seek justice for these lost souls.

Victoria:
It was an accident.

Judge Petrovsky:
Mr. Hunter, control your clients.

Hunter:
As your honor well knows, according to New York law, life does not begin until a baby draws breath.

James:
It begins at the moment of conception.

Novak:
Even in the cases of abandoned newborns, a murder charge cannot be brought if it's determined the infant was stillborn.

Judge Petrovsky:
The charges stand.

Hunter:
Actually, your honor, the grand larceny should be dropped to petty larceny. Human bodies cannot legally be sold, and therefore have no monetary value.

Novak:
The couples who went to Hudson Cryobank each spent tens of thousands of dollars to get those embryos.

Hunter:
That was for services provided. It wasn't a sticker price of an embryo.

Judge Petrovsky:
That's an issue for your trial judge. I'll add on the lesser charge and hear the People as to bail.

Novak:
$100,000 each.

Hunter:
Excessive. The defendants are not a flight risk. They have ties to the community.

Judge Petrovsky:
Bail is set at 10,000 each, cash or bond. [bangs gavel] Next case.