This is the first episode in the series' history in which District Attorney Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) visits the 27th Precinct.
This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
- The 1989 John Merlin Taylor case.
- The 1990/1997 Harry "The Hook" Aleman case and the related suicide of Judge Frank J. Wilson. Harry Aleman was a Chicago mobster and one of the most feared mob enforcers during the 1970's in Chicago, he was suspected of murdering dozens of people. He is also famous for being the first American to be legally retried for murder after being acquitted for that same murder. He was arrested and tried for murdering the head of a trucking labor union who was causing trouble for the crime syndicate he worked for. The Chicago Circuit Court was extremely corrupt at the time, with a number of judges being on the mob's payroll. After being arrested and charged with first degree murder Aleman requested a bench trial (a trial where the verdict is decided by a judge instead of a jury) and arranged to have the judge presiding over his case paid in exchange for acquitting him of all charges. During the 1980's the FBI and the US Attorney's office began a thorough investigation into the rampant corruption in the Chicago Circuit Court system. This investigation revealed that the judge in Alman's case had been bribed to find him not guilty, upon learning of the investigation the judge committed suicide. In 1993 Alman was re-indited on the murder charges he faced back in the 1970's, his lawyer argued that the double jeopardy clause prevented his client from being retried for the same crime. The case went before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit who ruled that because the outcome of the original trial was determined before it even began, Mr. Aleman "was never truly in jeopardy since his acquittal was guaranteed by the bribe he paid to the judge". As such double jeopardy didn't apply to this case since technically it never attached to the case to begin with. At his second trial in 1997 Aleman was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 300 years in prison. This case was historic since Aleman was the first American to be retried for murder following a fraudulent first trial.
For the first time in the series' run, all six series regulars appear in the same scene.
Ken Leung has portrayed three different characters in four different episodes over the course of the series:
- Episode 5.12 Progeny (1995) - Forensic Technician Chung.
- Episode 6.4 Jeopardy (1995) - Forensic Technician Chung.
- Episode 10.21 Narcosis (2000) - Stephen Wong.
- Episode 13.9 The Wheel (2002) - Tommy Wong.
David Fonteno has portrayed seven different characters over the course of the series:
- Episode 1.17 Mushrooms (1991) - Coach.
- Episode 3.16 Jurisdiction (1993) - Gavin McCrea.
- Episode 4.19 Sanctuary (1994) - Jimmy Graves.
- Episode 6.4 Jeopardy (1995) - CSU Technician Murrau.
- Episode 7.18 Mad Dog (1997) - CSU Technician Munro.
- Episode 10.24 Vaya Con Dios (2000) - John Groban.
- Episode 11.10 Whose Monkey Is It Anyway? (2001) - Judge Derek Hafner.
- Episode 18.12 Submission (2008) - Judge Derek Hafner.
- Episode 19.20 Exchange (2009) - Judge Derek Hafner.