Season 3, Episode 11 ("Monogamy") demonstrates how new information can change the mood of an entire courtroom, especially in the hands of a calm and collected ADA. The episode revolves around a pregnant woman who suffers from a brutal beating and a forced, crude C-section, after which her seven-month-old baby is murdered.
The culprit is the woman's husband, played by John Ritter, a methodical psychiatrist who assumes he always knows best. Convinced that the baby belongs to his wife's lover, Dr. Manning savagely kills the child in his mind, stamping out the blemish on his marriage and reestablishing order.
The arrogant Dr. Manning couldn't have foreseen that his assumption would be incorrect. During the trial, ADA Alexandra Cabot receives a last-minute DNA test that undermines Dr. Manning's warped reasoning for murder. Cabot quickly and efficiently synthesizes the new information into her line of questioning, revealing that the baby was in fact Dr. Manning's. "You were so sure he couldn't have been your child," says Cabot as a rebuke to the murderer's arrogance. The psychiatrist, who had up to that point been coolly unremorseful, breaks down crying on the stand.
