Act III Flashcards
6: down and in, there’s no argument
back to six did you ever stab a man?
6: of course not
to 3 did you?
3: all right, lets not be silly
still to 3 (insistently) did you??
3: (stab a man)
No. I didn’t!
Where do you get all your information about how it’s done?
3: wym? It’s just common sense.
Have you ever SEEN a man stabbed?
(have you ever seen a man stabbed)
3: no
All right. I wanna ask you something. The boy was an experienced knife fighter. He was even sent to juvie for knifing someone. Isn’t that so?
(After he was sent to juvie for knifing someone, isn’t that’s so?)
12: that’s right.
Look at this. Doesn’t it seem like an awkward way to handle a knife?
5: you use it underhanded
Then he couldn’t have made the kind of wound that killed his father.
10: Mumbo jumbo
to 12 what do you think?
12: well—I don’t know
to 7 what about you?
7: lets break it up and go home
Before we decide anything more, I’d like to try to pull this together
12: lets chip up a few shots to see if any of them land on the green.
I want you all to look at this logically and consistently
3: we have. Guilty.
I want to know—is he kid smart or is he dumb?
(Is the kid smart or is he dumb)
4: what do you mean?
This is a kid who has gone to juvie for knife fighting. The night of the murder he bought a knife. A switch knife.
The night of the murder he bought a knife. A switch knife.
It would take a very stupid kid to go and murder a man, his father, with an instrument that everyone would associate with the kid.
3: I quite agree, he’s dumb.
However, if he were dumb, then why did he make the kind of wound that an inexperienced man would make with a knife?
Foreman: I’m not sure I understand.
To murder someone must take great emotion. Great hatred. And at that moment he would handle the knife as best as he could, and a trained knife fighter would handle it as he had been trained. Underhand.
As he had been trained. Underhand.
A man who had not been trained would go overhand. But the kid is being very smart. Everyone knows that he is an experienced knife fighter—so he is smart enough at that moment to make the kind of wound that an amateur would make.
—so he is smart enough at that moment to make the kind of wound that an amateur would make.
That man is a smart man. Smart enough to wipe the fingerprints away, perhaps even smart enough to wait until an el train was going by in order to cover the noise. Now is the kid smart or is he dumb?
9: it would take an awfully dumb man to take that chance, doing he murder as the train went by.
Exactly. A dumb man. A very stupid man. A man swept by emotion. Probably he heard nothing:
Probably he heard nothing:
he probably didn’t even hear the train coming. And whoever did murder the father did it as well as he could.
4: I hadn’t thought of that.
And the old man downstairs. On the stand he swore that it was 15 seconds: he INSISTED on 15 seconds, but we all agree that it must have been almost 40 seconds.
9: does the old man lie half the time and then does he tell the truth the other half of the time?
For the kid to be guilty he must be stupid, then smart, then stupid and smart and so on, and also for the kid to be guilty
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 he must tell the truth. You can reasonably doubt.
6: I wanted more talk. Now I got it.
I want another vote.
3: as far as I’m concerned that’s the most important testimony.
All right. Let’s go over her testimony. What exactly did she say?
6: I’ve got a kid with the
5: not a chance
Can’t you see the clock…
4: glasses are a nuisance aren’t they?
Well, what do you all do when you wake up at night and want to know what time it is?
4: place to put it
to 2 do you wear your glasses to bed?
2: no one wears glasses to bed
The woman who testified that she saw the killing wears glasses. What about her?
4: funny. I never thought of that.
I think it’s logical to say that she was not wearing her glasses in bed, and I don’t think she’d put them on to glance casually out the window.
glance casually out the window
She testified that the murder took place the instant she looked out, and the lights went out a split second later.
and the lights went out a split second later
She couldn’t have had time to put on her glasses then. Now perhaps this woman honestly thought she saw the boy kill his father. I say she only saw a blur.
3: maybe she’s far sighted. How does he know all these things?
Does anyone hunt there is still not a reasonable doubt?
3: I think he’s guilty!
Does anyone else?
- No I’m convinced now. There is a reasonable doubt.
You’re alone
3: I gave you my arguments
We’re not convinced. We’re waiting to hear them again. We have time.
- There is a reasonable doubt in my mind.
We’re waiting.
3: it’s gonna be a hung jury.
There’s nothing we can do about that except hope that some night…
