This episode appears to be based on several separate cases/incidents: The 2020 murder of David Dorn. The 2020 Kyle Rittenhouse case. The 2021 shooting of Shane Bartek committed by Tamara McLoyd. The 1981 shooting of Daniel Faulkner committed by Mumia Abu-Jamal. The 2004 Cyntoia Brown case. The 2010 Adrian Schoolcraft scandal.
Daren Donofrio, who played Jimmy Doyle, is the second cousin of actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Detective Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001).
The possible sentences for aggravated murder and aggravated manslaughter in the first degree are pretty different; aggravated murder would be the charge Kendra would have faced had she not been deemed to be under extreme emotional disturbance. Aggravated murder is a class A-I felony and is the most serious homicide charge in New York, it carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, and it technically still carries the possibility of the death penalty, although New York has had a moratorium on executions since 2004. Aggravated manslaughter in the first degree is a class B felony, but carries a sentencing enhancement making the mandatory minimum sentence 10 years in prison with a potential maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison.