First episode of Law & Order to air after the death of actor Jerry Orbach (Detective Lennie Briscoe), before the credits there was a brief "In Memoriam" dedication to him with his picture being shown, however this was not included on the DVD release.
Tracie Thoms (Linda Ziman) appears in this episode. She co-starred in the movie Rent (2005) alongside Jesse L. Martin (Detective Ed Green).
Daniel Sunjata (Kenny Tremont) and Andrea Roth (Mrs. Marley Emerson) also worked together on Rescue Me (2004), which first aired five months before this one.
This episode appears to be based on the 2001 Ted Ammon case.
Oddly, both the defense attorney and trial judge have the last name Solomon.