Law & Order: Trial by Jury

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

In the criminal justice system, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty, either by confession, plea bargain, or trial by jury. This is one of those trials.

Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005-2006) is a short-lived spinoff of the original Law and Order. Whereas the other spinoffs focused more on the detectives, Trial by Jury focused on the ADAs and court proceedings of a criminal investigation. It starred Bebe Neuwirth as EADA Tracey Kibre and Amy Carlson as her assistant Kelly Gaffney.

After it was canceled due to low ratings, the sets were reused for Conviction, another Law & Order spinoff focusing on the Law Procedural side (which was also canceled due to low ratings after a very short run).

Featured two Crossover appearances by Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe -- his last episodes of primetime television before his death.

Tropes used in Law & Order: Trial by Jury include:

Norman Rothenberg: You're wasting your time in the DA's office. I could triple what you make.
Tracey Kibre: You don't want me, Norman. I have scruples.
Norman Rothenberg: They have pills for that!

  • Berserk Button: Call Tracey Kibre a bitch, and she will smile politely and eviscerate you in court. Call her second chair Kelly Gaffney a bitch, and suddenly the phrase "died of fright" doesn't seem so farfetched.
  • The Character Died with Him: When Jerry Orbach died of cancer early in the show's short run, Lennie Briscoe also passed away.
  • Determinator: Tracy Kibre
  • Good Ol' Boy: Arthur Branch
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: Detective Chris Ravell, Briscoe's replacement.
  • Required Spinoff Crossover: Twice. Once with the original series, and once with Law and Order Special Victims Unit.
  • Special Guest: Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt Judge Amanda Anderlee.
  • Transplant: Lennie Briscoe and Jamie Ross, both from the original series. Arthur Branch to some degree as well, although he was still a regular on the original series whilst simultaneously being a regular on Trial By Jury, and remained in the original series for several seasons after Trial By Jury was axed.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Tracey Kibre puts Jack McCoy to shame at times.
    • Who called who out?
      • Off the top of my head, she was definitely called out for her actions by the presiding judge during the episode where the baby was killed. Her colleagues have at least a couple of times as well.
      • Kelly Gaffney also called her out in "Boys Will Be Boys" for excusing Hispanic jurors because they might sympathize.