This episode appears to be based on the following incidents:
- The 1977-1980 Joseph Christopher (a.k.a. "The .22-Caliber Killer") case. Christopher was a serial killer who gained infamy for a series of murders in the early 1980s. He is believed to have killed at least twelve individuals and wounded numerous others.
- The 1991-1992 John Ausonius (a.k.a. "The Laser Man") case. Ausonius was a Swedish far-right extremist convicted of serial murder and 10 bank robberies. Between August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring the others. He first used a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence his nickname), and later switched to a revolver. He was arrested in June 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994. Additionally, in February 2018 he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the 1992 murder of Holocaust survivor Blanka Zmigrod.
- The Joseph Paul Franklin (a.k.a. "The Racist Killer") case. Franklin was a white supremacist and serial killer who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was eventually executed by lethal injection on November 20, 2013.
- The 1980-1993 James Swann (a.k.a. "The Shotgun Stalker") case. Swann is a mentally-ill serial killer who committed a string of random drive-by shotgun shootings that terrorized two neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. in 1993. The spree killed four people and injured ten others. Swann was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to Saint Elizabeths Hospital.
- Inspired by the 1993 controversy of Anthony P. Griffin, a black lawyer, defending Ku Klux Klan member Michael Lowe.
James Earl Jones (Horace McCoy) and Cecilia Hart (Mary Bradley) were married in real life until Cecilia's death in 2016.
The Constitution's 3/5 clause is routinely mis representative. First it only applied to slaves not free blacks. 2nd it was only used for Congressional Representation to keep slave states from over loading Congress. Finally, 3/5 meant if you had 10 slaves you could only count 6.
Mark Lotito has played six different roles over the course of the series:
- Episode 3.20 Securitate (1993) - Bailey.
- Episode 4.4 Profile (1993) - Policeman #1.
- Episode 5.1 Second Opinion (1994) - Paramedic.
- Episode 6.18 Atonement (1996) - Nance.
- Episode 8.21 Bad Girl (1998) - Detective Mallory.
- Episode 8.22 Damaged (1998) - Detective Mallory.
- Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Detective Mallory.
- Episode 13.7 Open Season (2002) - Bartender.
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Mark Lotito (Policeman) also worked together on Innocents (2015) (episode 7.2), as Peter Florrick & Marty Pintarello respectively.