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Of course the courtroom scene wasn't "realistic." Writers of television fiction (particularly those unfair crammed into 10 episodes for a season) need to get the essence of reality across in a highly time-compressed fashion. There is no way Clay could go off on his little speech during direct testimony (although you would be surprised how much latitude witnesses are given at times), but you better believe that the central concepts would be interwoven into the context of such a trial and effectively brought together in a closing by a high-priced defense attorney. It was therefore accurate in its impact, if not its presentation.
Crabbing by those who do work in "the world" presented in The Wire has always struck me as silly in the context of a work of fiction and now that it has tread in my particular world it has confirmed to me that complaining about such things completely misses the point of not only the point being driven home but the very nature of televised fiction.
