7 lines

Clerk: The jury will retire

Chewing gum? Gum? Gum?

9: Thank you, but no.

Y'know something?

Clerk: The jury will retire

Chewing gum? Gum? Gum?

9: Thank you, but no.

Y'know something?

12: I know a lot of things, I'm in advertising.

Y'know, it's hot.

3: I bet you aren't sweating like that kid who was tried.

You'd think they'd at least air-condition the place. I almost dropped dead in court.

12: My taxes are high enough.

This should go fast, anyway.

Foreman: Not too well. Y'know, a friend of his, that's a friend of my uncle, the tailor - well - this friend wanted to be on this jury in my place.

Why didn't you let him? I would've done anything to miss this.

4: A man can't be held in double jeopardy. Unless it's a hung jury, they can't try a man twice for the same crime.

That isn't going to happen here.

3: Everybody gets a fair trial...That's the system... Well, I suppose you can't say anything against it.

To Ten: How do you like that business about the knife? Did you ever hear a phonier story?

10: Well, look, you've gotta expect that. You know what you're dealing with...

He bought a switch knife that night...

10: And then he lost it.

A hole in his pocket.

10: Look at the kind of people they are - you know them.

What's the matter? You got a cold?

10: A lulu! These hot weather colds can kill you.

I had on last year, while I was on vacation, too.

Foreman: All right, gentlemen. Let's take seats.

Right. This better be fast. I've got tickets to the Pirates for tonight. I must be the last guy in the world who hasn't seen it yet. Okay, your honor, start the show.

4: There are better proofs than some emotion you may have - perhaps a dislike for some group.

We all agreed that it was hot.

Foreman: All right. Now - you gentlemen can handle this any way you want to. I mean, I'm not going to make any rules. If we want to discuss it first and then vote, then that's one way. Or we can vote right now and see how we stand.

Let's vote now. Who knows, maybe we can all go home.

Foreman: Anybody doesn't want to vote?

That was easy.

8: I don't know.

After six days, she doesn't know.

8: I don't know whether I believe it or not. Maybe I don't.

So what'd you vote not guilty for?

8: There were eleven votes for guilty - It's not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first.

Who says it's easy for me?

Foreman: He's still just as guilty, whether it's an easy vote or a hard vote.

Is there something wrong because I voted fast?

8: Not necessarily.

I think the guy's guilty. You couldn't change my mind if you talked for a hundred years.

4: I don't see any need for arguing like this. I think we ought to be able to be civilized.

Right!

11: If you gentlemen don't mind, I'm going to close the window. It was blowing on me.

If you don't mind, I'd like to have the window open.

11: But it was blowing on me.

Don't you want a little air? It's summer- it's hot.

11: I was very uncomfortable.

There are twelve of us in this room; it's the only window. If you don't mind!

11: I have some rights too!

So do the rest of us.

Foreman: Suppose we go once around the table.

Okay - let's start it off.

6: No.

I don't know - most of it's been said already. We can talk all day about this thing, but I think we're wasting our time.

4: Neither do I. Go on.

Look at the kid's record. He stole a car. He's been arrested for mugginh, I think they said he stabbed somebody in the arm.

4: They did.

He was picked up for knife fighting. At fifteen he was in reform school.

3: And they sent him to reform school for stabbing someone!

That is a very fine boy.

8: Ever since he was five years old his father beat him up regularly. He used his fists.

So would I! On a kid like that.

4: The storekeeper identified the knife and said it was the only one of its kind he had in stock. Why did the boy get it?

As a present for a friend for his, he says.

5: I-I don't know.

Now wait a second. Who are you - the guys lawyer? Listen - there are still eleven if us who think he's guilty. You're alone. What do you think you're going to accomplish? if you want to be stubborn and hang this jury, he'll be tried again and found guilty sure as he's born.

8: You're probably right.

So what are you going to do about it? We can be here all night.

9: It's only one night. A man may die.

Oh, now. Come on.

3: The woman across the el tracks - she saw it!

We know he bought a switch knife that night and we don't know where he really was. At the movies?

8: I've got a proposition to make. I want to call for a vote. I want you eleven jurors to vote by secret ballot. I'll abstain. If there are still eleven votes for guilty, I won't stand alone. We'll take in a guilty verdict right now.

Okay. Let's do it.

10: How do you like that?

Who was it? I think we have a right to know!

3: Whose life are you talking about? The life of the dead man or the life of a murderer?

I want to know. Who?

4: It's always wise to bear in mind what has happened in other countries, when people aren't allowed to disagree; but we are, so let's stick to the subject.

Yeah, let's stick to the subject. I want to know, what made you change your vote?

5: Why do you think I did change my vote?

Because I do. Now get on with it.

5: Okay.

Look. Suppose you answer me this. If the kid didn't kill him, who did?

8: As far as I know, we're supposed to decide whether or not the boy on trial is guilty. We're not concerned with anyone else's motives here.

I suppose, but who else had a motive?

3: You said a mouthful. Look, the old man heard the kid yell, "I'm gonna kill you." A second later he heard the father's body falling, and he saw the boy running out of the house fifteen seconds after that.

Where's the reasonable doubt in that?

4: What is enough for you? I'd like to know.

How do you like him? It's like talking into a dead phone.

3: Who do you think you are?

All right, let's take it easy.

4: I wouldn't have the slightest idea.

Neither would I.

9: I speak from experience.

What!

5: There's the knife...

Oh, fine!

5: The old man, too. Maybe he didn't lie, but then just maybe he did. Maybe the old man doesn't like the kid.

Well, if that isn't the end.

5: I believe that there is reasonable doubt.

What are you basing it on? Stories that this lady made up? She ought to write for Amazing Detective Monthly. She'd make a fortune. Listen, the kid had a lawyer, didn't he? Why didn't his lawyer bring up all these points?

5: Lawyers can't think of everything.

Oh, brother! You sit in here and pull stories out of thin air. Now we're supposed to believe that the old man didn't get out of bed, run to the door, and see the kid beat it downstairs fifteen seconds after the killing.

4: That's the testimony, I believe.

And the old man swore to this - yes - he swore to this only so he could be important.

5: Did the old man say he ran to the door?

Ran. Walked. What's the difference? He got there.

8: Mr. Foreman, I'd like to take a look at the diagram of the apartment.

Why don't we have them run the trial over just so you can get everything straight?

8: The bedroom is down the hall somewhere. Do you know - do you know exactly where it is? Please. A man's life is at stake. Do you know?

Well, ah...

8: Yes, please.

Do me a favor. Wake me up when this is over.

4: That's the story.

That's what happened.

4: Now that's interesting.

Hey, now- you know...

12: Let's vote.

So all right, let's do it.

Foreman: Seven?

Guilty.

6: It would seem that the old man did not see the boy run downstairs. I do not think it likely that the old man heard someone scream, "I'm going to kill you." Old men dream. And if the boy did scream that he was going to kill, then we have the authority of this man to prove that it might not really mean he's going to kill.

Why don't we take it in to the judge and let the kid take his chances with twelve other guys?

8: We are not going to be a hung jury.

But we are, right now, a perfect balance. Let's take it in to the judge.

3: It's the only solution.

I agree, it's the only way.

Foreman: Seven?

Yes.

9: As well as we can reconstruct it.

I think a murderer could use up thirty or forty seconds pretty easily at that point.

4: Let's reconstruct the killing.

Yes, let's.

12: So now both time sequences check - the one you did and the one we did; what with the running down the stairs and everything, it does pretty much check out on times.

Sure- he's an old man who wants attention... He's probably right, but the old man feels the way everyone does- a life is at stake.

11: Do you truly feel that there is no room for reasonable doubt?

Yes, I do.

I beg your pardon, but maybe you don't understand the term "reasonable doubt."

What do you mean, I don't understand it? Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? How do you like this guy? He comes over here running for his life, and before he can even take a big breath he's telling us how to run the show! The arrogance of him!

4: No one here is asking where anyone came from.

I was born right here.

8: It's not all right.

Okay - okay - I apologize. Is that what you want?

8: What about you?

Listen, I'll tell you all something. I'm a little sick of this whole thing already. We're getting nowhere fast. Let's break it up and go home.

8: For the kid to be guilty he must be stupid, then smart, then stupid and then smart and so on, and, also, for the kid to be guilty the old man downstairs must be a liar half of the time and the other half of the time must tell the truth. You can reasonably doubt.

I'm sold on "reasonable doubt."