drink again if evidence is allowed at the same time other evidence is disallowed: “The confession is out; the gun is in.”

drink if a defense atty gets evidence supressed because it’s “prejudicial” (lawyerspeak for “devistating to my case.”

drink if a defendant changes his or her plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of mental defect.

drink twice if it’s mid-trial.

drink if Jack offers murder 2, and the defense counters with man 2.

drink again if they settle on man 1.

drink if the CADA asks for remand at a bail hearing, and the defense attorney asks for ROR.

and some for the “Law” side:

drink if Lennie gets the last line before the opening credits.

drink if Curtis wows Lennie with his computer skills.

drink if Curtis speaks Spanish to the suspect.

drink if Lennie’s alcoholism is mentioned.

drink if the detectives return to the precinct, and Van Buren sends them out for more legwork.

drink if a lineup is performed.

drink twice if the witness actually identifies someone.

finish the bottle if the identifying witness has something that would normally prevent him or her from IDing the suspect (half-blind, the suspects are identical twins, etc.)

– The cute assistant DA threatens a reluctant witness with prosecution if s/he doesn’t come forward to testify. Note that this usually only happens _after_ a successful motion-to-suppress.

– The key witness changes his/her testimony while on the stand in court. If there’s more than 5 minutes left in the show, the change in testimony hurts the DA’s case; if there’s less than 5 minutes in the show, the change helps the DA’s case.

– J. K. Simmons does a psych eval on someone claiming to be mentally incompetent and says, in effect, “Yeah, he’s faking it, and I can testify to that, but I can’t really prove it.”

– B. D. Wong (on SVU) conducts (or orchestrates) an interview with a suspected sexual offender and gets him/her to blurt out some incriminating statement (or attack someone).

– The judge at the bail hearing makes a quip or sarcastic comment just before setting (or denying) bail.

– If a cop (retired or active), a judge, or a politician is somehow associated with the case itself, s/he turns out to be crooked or corrupt.

– A black NYC councilman is outraged over the arrest of a black suspect; a second drink if that suspect then turns out to have an alibi and is set free; a third drink if a subsequent ‘unlawful arrest’ lawsuit is filed.

– The victim(s) and/or initial suspect(s) are Asian, and Asian gang activity is immediately suspected.

I’m sure I can think of some more. ..bruce..