12 Angry Men (copy)

Foreman

• Small and petty

• Put in place of authority

• Not overly bright, but dogged

Juror Two

• Meek and hesitant

• Doesn’t have his own opinions on things

• Easily swayed

• Maintains the opinion of the last person who spoke

Juror Three

• Strong, forceful, and extremely opinionated

• Bit of a sadist

• Humorless and intolerant of opinions besides his own

• Forces opinions and wishes onto others

• The last one to change vote to not guilty

Juror Four

• Man of wealth and position

• Good speaker, well presented

• Feels superior to other jurors

• Only concerned with facts and logic, and thinks the other jurors are crazy

• Has glasses

• Three always agreeing with him until he changes vote to not guilty

Juror Five

• Naive, frightened

• Finds it difficult to speak up

• Came from the slums

• Has witnessed knife fights and knows how to properly hold a knife

Juror Six

• Honest, but dull-witted who comes to decisions slowly and carefully

• Finds it difficult to create positive opinions

• Must listen to and digest to accept opinions by others which appeal to him most

Juror Seven

• Loud, flashy, salesman type

• Has a musical to get to, so he wants to finish the voting as soon as possible

• Quick to show temper and quick to form opinions on things

• A bully and a coward

Juror Eight*

• Quiet, thoughtful, and gentle

• sees all sides of the question to understand the truth

• Man of strength tempered with compassion

• Seeks justice

• Protagonist

• The first to vote non guilty

Juror Nine

• Mild, gentle old man

• Defeated by life, and waiting to die

• Relates with the old man who gave a testimony

Juror Ten

• Angry, bitter man

• Bigot who sees no value on human life besides his own

• Racist

Juror Eleven

• Refugee from Europe

• Speaks with accent

• Ashamed, humble, almost subservient to people around him

• Seeks justice because he has endured injustice

Juror Twelve

• Slick, bright advertising man

• Thinks of human beings in terms of percentages, graphs and polls

• No real understanding of people

• Superficial snob, but trying to be a good fellow

First Vote (Act 1)

• Raising of hands

• 11 for guilty

• Juror Eight votes not guilty

The Case and Defendant

• 19 Year old boys stabs father with a knife

• Came from the slums

• Racial Minority

• Claims he was at the movies (no ticket stub though/no proof)

• Criminal record— Stole a car, arrested for mugging, stabbed someone in arm (knife fighting)

• Sent to reform school at 15 (for stabbing someone)

• Beat by his father since he was 5 (father used fists)

The Knife

• “One of a kind'“ defendant bought as a present for his friend and lost through a hole in his jacket pocket

• Juror Eight has the exact same knife (proves knife is not one of a kind). Got it at a junk shop for $2

• No fingerprints on the knife

Old Man’s Testimony

• Lives on the second floor underneath the room where the crime happened

• 12:10 on the night of crime, he heard loud noises from upstairs room (sounds like fight)

• heard kid say “I’m gonna kill you”. A second later heard body falling, and ran to the door of his apartment

• Looked out door and saw kid running out of the house

• called police— found father with a knife in his chest

• Took 15 seconds to run from bed to door

• Based on the Woman’s testimony, the El Train passed by during the stabbing. The train is very loud— the old man would not have heard the boy yell

• Old Man may have lied for attention (according to Nine)

• Carried two canes. Needed assistance to walk in courtroom

Woman across the street’s Testimony

• Lying in bed and can’t sleep

• Wakes up and looks out the window and through the windows of the passing El Train, seeing the kid stab his father

• *Woman is of the same racial minority as the defendant

• Five car train— saw it through the last two cars

People across the hall’s Testimony

• Argument between father and son around 8:00 that night

• Heard the father hit boy twice, then saw boy walk out of house angrily

Defendant’s Testimony

• Went to the movies (no ticket stub or proof)

• Went out of house at 8:00 after being beat by father

• Bought switch knife at neighborhood storekeeper as a present for his friend

• Knife fell out of hole in his coat pocket

Secret Ballot (Act 1)

• Eight proposes a secret ballot

• 10 guilty - 2 not guilty

• Three thinks Five voted not guilty

• Juror Nine changed his vote

Recreate the old man walking (Act 2)

• Eight asks for diagram of apartment with dimensions

• Prove old man could not have walked to door in 15 seconds— Old man needed assistance getting into witness chair

• Two times Eight when he recreates. It takes Eight 39 seconds (at a faster pace than the old man could walk in the courtroom) to walk the distance

Eight and Three fight (Act 2)

• Three believes the defendant is guilty and wants him to be executed

• Eight calls him a sadist

• Three tried to attack Eight, held back by two other jurors.

• “Let me go! I’ll kill him! I’ll kill him"!” Eight makes a remark and act 2 ends here

• Three’s threats disprove his claim of saying you’re gonna kill someone means you’re gonna kill them for reals. Six uses this as proof for not guilty vote of Act 3

About the angle of the stabbing (Three demonstrates stabbing)

• Two is questioning how the 5’8’’ kid stabbed the 6’2’’ father at a downward angle

• Three demonstrates how this is possible and recommended— Eight stands up to be stabbed, Three crouches to be shorter than Eight. Three stabs downward, hard, with the blade out, making like he going to actually stab Eight. Two says “Look out!” Three reaches short just as Eight is almost stabbed. Three laughs, and other jurors are upset

• Eight questions Three on if he has ever stabbed someone— Three is defensive

Five illustrates how to stab

• Five has seen knife fights galore— too many of them (the slums)

• Use knife underhanded, not overhand. An experienced knife fighter (like the defendant) would use it the correct way, underhand

Smart or Dumb?

• Eight questions whether the kid is smart or dumb

• Reasonable doubt

• Dumb- would automatically stab underhand as he was trained, wait until El Train passes by, allowing someone in the train to maybe see the murder, swept by emotion

• Smart- make it look like an amateur, wipe away fingerprints, wait until El Train passes by

• All of this is for Eight to prove that there is reasonable doubt

Ten’s Racist Rant

• Right after 2nd vote

• Thinks they shouldn’t believe the defendant because of his race.

• Goes on about “those people” lie, kill for no reason, drink and fight all the time, and they’re no good

• As he speaks, several jurors get up and go to the window. Five gets up first, then Nine who is followed by Eleven. Eight gets up and Two and Six follow him. Foreman gets up, followed by Seven and Twelve.

• Three remains sitting, and Four goes to Ten to threaten him (I’m gonna split your skull)

• Four directs jurors to sit again, but he remains standing