Text Twelve Angry Men (Part One)
by Reginald Rose
Characters
Narrator
Foreman (Juror No. 1)
Jurors No. 2 — No. 12
Narrator: The scene is a jury room in a criminal court. Twelve men walk into the room. They are the jury for the trial of a boy charged with murdering his father.
Foreman: OK, gentlemen. Now you fellows can handle this any way you want. We can discuss it first and then vote on it. That's one way. And we can vote on it right now...
No. 4: I think it's customary to take a preliminary vote.
No. 7: Yes, let's vote. Maybe we can all get out of here.
Foreman: OK... Of course we know that we have a first-degree murder charge here. And if we vote the accused guilty, we've got to send him to the chair. Anyone doesn't want to vote? OK, those voting guilty, please raise your hands. ... Nine ... ten ... eleven. OK. Not guilty? (No. 8 raises his hand.) One. OK, eleven guilty, one not guilty. Now we know where we are.
No. 3: (To No. 8) You really think he's innocent?
No. 8: I don't know.
No. 3: Well, you sat in court with the rest of us. You heard what we did. The kid is a dangerous killer.
No. 8: He's 18 years old.
No. 3: That's old enough. He stabbed his own father. Four inches into the chest. They proved it in a dozen different ways in court. Would you like me to list them for you?
No. 8: No.
No. 10: Then what DO you want?
No. 8: I just want to talk.
No. 10: May I ask you something? Do you believe his story?
No. 8: I don't know. Maybe I don't.
No. 7: Then how come you vote not guilty?
No. 8: There were eleven votes for guilty. It's not easy to send the boy off to die without talking about it first.
No. 7: Who says it's easy? What? Just because I voted fast? I honestly think the guy's guilty. Couldn't change my mind if you talked for a hundred years.
No. 8: I don't want to change your mind. I just want to talk for a while. Look, this kid's been kicked around all his life. You know, born in a slum, his mother dead since he was 9, lived a year and a half in an orphanage when his father was serving a jail term for forgery. He is a wild angry kid. You know why? Because he's been hit on the head by somebody once a day every day. I just think we owe him a few words. That's all.
No. 10: We don't owe him a thing. He got a fair trial, didn't he? What do you think that trial cost? He's lucky he got it. Listen, we are all grown-ups here. You're not going to tell me that we're supposed to believe this kid, knowing what he is! Listen, I've lived among them all my life. You can't believe a word they say.
No. 9: What a terrible thing for a man to believe. Since when is dishonesty a group characteristic?
No. 10: Now look here...
Foreman: Listen, we have a job to do. Let's do it. Now perhaps the gentleman down there who's disagreeing with us could let us know what he's thinking, and we might be able to show him where he's mixed up.
No. 12: Well, it seems to me that it's up to the group of us to convince this gentleman that he is wrong and we are right. Maybe, if we each of us talk for a couple of minutes just to ... well, just a quick idea...
Foreman: No, no. That's a good one. Suppose we go once around the table. (Turns to No. 2) I guess you are the first.
No. 2: Well, eh ... It's hard to put into words. I just think he's guilty. I mean nobody proved otherwise.
No. 8: Nobody has to prove otherwise. Innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The defendant doesn't have to open his mouth.
No. 2: Oh, sure, I know that. What I meant was ... I just think he's guilty. I mean somebody saw him do it.
No. 3: OK, here's what I think. And I have no personal feelings about this. I just want to talk about facts. Number One: The old man who lives downstairs under the room where the killing took place. At ten minutes after twelve, he heard a loud noise. He said it sounded like a fight. Then he heard the kid yell out, "I'm going to kill you!" A second later, he heard the body hit the floor. He ran to the door, opened it up, and saw the kid running down the stairs and out of the house. He called the police. They came and found the old man dead with a knife in his chest. The coroner fixed the time of death at around midnight. Now these are facts. You can't refute facts. The kid's guilty. I'm just as sentimental as the next fellow. I know he's only eighteen. But he's still got to pay for what he did.
No. 4: It's obvious to me, anyway, that the boy's story was flimsy. He claimed that he was at the movies during the time of the killing. But only one hour later, he couldn't remember the names of the films he saw or who played in them.
No. 10: And listen, what about the woman across the street? If her testimony don't prove he's guilty, then nothing does.
No. 11: That's right. She was the one who actually saw the killing take place.
No. 10: Wait a minute. Here's the woman, who's lying in bed. She can't sleep. She looks out of the window. And right across the street, she sees the kid stick his knife into his father's chest. Look, she's known the kid all his life. And she swore she saw him do it.
No. 8: Through the windows of a passing el train.
No. 3: They proved in court that at night if you look through the windows of an el train when the lights are out, you can see what's happening on the other side.
No. 8: I'd like to ask you something. You don't believe the boy's story. How come you believe the woman's? She's one of THEM, too, isn't she?
No. 10: (Walking towards No. 8 threateningly) You're a pretty smart fellow, aren't you?
(Voices of people trying to stop them from fighting.)
Foreman: Now, take it easy, gentlemen. We're not getting anywhere fighting. Whose turn is it?
No. 6: (To No. 5) It's your turn.
No. 5: Can I pass it?
Foreman: That's your privilege. How about the next gentleman?
No. 6: Oh, well, I don't know. I started to be convinced early on in the case ... You see, I was looking for a motive. If you don't have a motive, you don't have a case, right? Anyway, that testimony from those people across the hall was very powerful. They said something about a fight and an argument between the old man and the son at around 7 o'clock that night.
No. 9: I think it was 8 o'clock.
No 8: That's right. They heard an argument. Then they heard the father hit the boy twice. Then they saw the boy run out of the house. What did that prove?
No. 6: Well, it doesn't exactly prove anything. It's just part of the picture.
No. 8: You said you are looking for a motive. I don't think it was a very strong motive. This boy has been hit so many times that violence is practically a normal state of affairs with him. I just can't see two slaps in the face would have provoked him into committing murder.
No. 4: It may have been two too many. Everyone has a breaking point.
Foreman: (To No. 7) OK. How about you?
No. 7: I think we're wasting our time. Now look at the kid's record? At 10, he was in children's court. At 15, he was in reform school. He's been arrested for mugging, picked up for knife-fighting. This is a real fine boy.
No. 8: Ever since he was 5 years old, his father beat him up regularly with his fist.
No. 7: So would I. A kid like that!
No. 4: I think we're missing the point here. This boy — let's say he's the product of a broken home and a filthy neighborhood. We can't help that. We're here to decide if he's innocent or guilty, and not the reason why he grew up the way he did. He was born in the slums. And all slums are breeding-grounds for criminals. I know that. And so do you. It is no secret children from slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society.
No. 10: Now you can say that again. Kids brought up in these backgrounds are real trash. I don't want any part of them.
No. 5: Now listen. I've lived in a slum all my life. I played in a backyard that was filled with garbage. Maybe you can still smell it on me...
No. 10: Now listen, sonny...
No. 12: Come on, he didn't mean you. Let's stop being so sensitive.
Foreman: OK. Let's stop arguing. (He turns to No. 8.) It's your turn.
No. 8: All right. I don't have anything brilliant. I only know as much as you do. According to the testimony, the boy looks guilty. Maybe he is. I sat in court for six days, listening while the evidence spilled out. I began to get a peculiar feeling that the defense counselor wasn't conducting a thorough enough cross-examination. He let too many things go by, little things.
No. 10: What little things? Listen, when these fellows don't ask those questions, it's because they know the answers already.
No. 8: Maybe. But it's also possible for a lawyer to be just plain stupid, isn't it? I kept putting myself in the kid's place. If I was on trial for my life, I'd want my lawyer to tear the prosecutor's evidence to shreds. Look, there was one alleged eyewitness to this killing. And someone else claimed that he heard the killer run out of the room afterwards. Supposing they were wrong?
No. 12: What do you mean? "Supposing they were wrong." You can suppose there were no witnesses at all.
No. 8: Could they be wrong? They are only people. People make mistakes.
No. 12: Come on. This is not an exact science.
No. 8: That's right. It isn't.
No. 3: OK, let's get to the point. What about the switch blade they found in the old guy's chest, the knife this fine boy admitted buying on the night of the killing. Let's talk about it.
No. 8: All right, let's talk about it. Let's get it in here. I'd like to see it again. Mr. Foreman?
(The foreman tells the guard to bring in the knife.)
No. 4: The knife is pretty strong evidence, don't you think?
No. 8: I do.
No. 4: Good! Now suppose we take these facts one at a time. One, the boy admitted going out of the house at 8 o'clock on the night of the murder, after being hit several times by his father. Two, he went directly to a neighborhood junk shop and bought one of those switch knives. Three, he met some friends of his in front of the tavern at around 8:45. Am I right so far?
No. 8: Yes, you are.
No. 4: He talked to his friends for about an hour, leaving at 9:45. During this time, they saw the switch knife. Four, they identified the death weapon in court as that very knife. Five, he arrived home at about 10 o'clock. Now this is where the stories offered by the state and the boy begin to diverge slightly. He claimed that he went to a movie at about 11:30, returning home at 3:10 to find his father dead and himself arrested. Now what happened to the switch knife? He claimed that it fell through a hole in his pocket on his way to the movie theater sometime between 11:30 and 3:30. Now these are the details, gentlemen. I think it's clear that the boy never went to the movies that night. No one in the house saw him leave after 11:30. No one at the theater identified him. He couldn't even remember the names of the movies he saw. What actually happened is this: the boy stayed home, had another fight with his father, stabbed him to death, and left the house at 10 minutes after 12. Now, are you going to tell me that this knife fell through a hole in the boy's pocket, someone picked it up off the street, went to the boy's home, and stabbed his father with it?
No. 8: I'm just saying that it's possible that the boy lost the knife, and somebody else killed his father with a similar knife.
No. 4: Take a look at that knife. It's a very unusual knife. I've never seen one like it. Aren't you asking us to accept a pretty incredible coincidence?
(No. 8 calmly pulls out a switch knife out of his pocket, flicks it open, and jams it into the table right next to the first one. Everyone is amazed because the two knives look exactly the same.)
No. 4: Where did you get it?
No. 8: I bought that in a little pawnshop just two blocks from the boy's house.
No. 3: You pulled a real bright trick. Now suppose you tell me what it proves. Maybe there are 10 knives like that. So what? The discovery of the age or something?
Foreman: OK, fellows, let's take our seats. There's no point standing.
No. 3: There are still 11 of us here who think he's guilty.
No. 10: Right. What do you think you're going to accomplish? You're not going to change anybody's mind. So if you want to hang this jury, go ahead. The kid will be tried again and still be found guilty, sure as he was born.
No. 8: You are probably right.
No. 7: So what are you going to do? You know we could be here all night.
No. 9: It's only one night. A boy may die.
No. 3: (To No. 8) What about it? You are the only one.
No. 8: I've got a proposition to make to all of you. I want to call for a vote. I want you 11 people to vote by secret written ballot. I'll abstain. If there are still 11 votes for guilty, I won't stand alone. We'll take the guilty verdict to the judge right now. But if anyone votes not guilty, we'll stay here and talk it out.
(All the other jurors agree. The Foreman passes ballots to them. They write on them and pass them back to the Foreman.)
Foreman: (He begins to read.) Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. (He pauses.) Not guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
No. 10: Boy, how do you like that? All right, who was it? I want to know.
No. 11: Excuse me, it was supposed to be a secret ballot.
No. 3: Secret! What do you mean? There are no secrets in a jury room. I know who it was. (To No. 5) Brother, you really are something. You sat here and voted guilty like the rest of us. And then some golden-voiced preacher started to tear your poor heart out about a poor kid, and so you changed your vote. This is the most sickening ... Why don't you drop a quarter in the collection-box?!
No. 5: Now listen! You can't talk to me like that. Who do you think you are?
No. 4: Now calm down. It doesn't matter. He's very excitable. Sit down.
No. 3: Excitable! You bet I'm excitable. We're trying to put a guilty man in the chair where he belongs!
No. 4: (To No. 5) What made you change your vote?
No. 9: He didn't change his vote. 1 did. This gentleman chose to stand alone against us. It takes a lot of courage to stand alone. He gambled for support. And I gave it to him. I respect his motives. Now the boy probably is guilty. But I want to hear more.
No. 3: OK. (To No. 8) You down there. The old man who lived downstairs said he heard the kid yell out, "I'm going to kill you." A second later, he heard the body hit the floor. He ran to the door and saw the kid running down the stairs. What does that mean to you?
No. 8: I was wondering how clearly he could have heard the boy's voice through the ceiling.
No. 10: He didn't hear it through the ceiling. The window was open, remember?
No. 4: The woman across the street looked right through the open window into the apartment and saw the boy stab his father. Isn't that enough for you?
No. 8: No, it isn't.
No. 7: Oh boy. How do you like this guy? It's like talking to a dead phone.
No. 4: She said she saw the killing through the windows of the moving el train. After 6 cars of the train she saw the killing in the last two cars. She remembered the most insignificant details. I don't see how you can argue with that!
No. 8: Has anybody any idea how long it takes an elevated train going at normal speed to pass a given point?
No. 5: Maybe 10 or 12 seconds?
No. 4: All right, 10 seconds. What are you getting at?
No. 8: This. It takes a 6-car el train 10 seconds to pass a given point. Now let's say the given point is the open window of the room where the killing took place. Now, has anyone here ever lived near an el track? I have. When the window is open and the train goes by, the noise is almost unbearable. You couldn't hear yourself think.
No. 3: So you couldn't hear yourself think. Will you get to the point!
No. 8: An el takes ten seconds to pass a given point, or two seconds per car. That el had been going by the old man's window for at least six seconds before the body fell according to the woman. The old man would have had to hear the boy say, "I'm going to kill you," while the train was roaring by the old man's window. No, it was not possible that he could have heard it.
No. 3: Don't talk about matters of seconds! Nobody can be that accurate.
No. 8: And I think a testimony that can put a boy in the chair should be that accurate!
No. 5: (Whispers to No. 6): I don't think he could have heard it.
No. 3: Why should he lie? What has he got to gain?
No. 9: Attention, maybe. I looked at him for a very long time. It seemed that his jacket was split. He was a very old man with a torn jacket. He walked very slowly to the stand. He was dragging his left leg, and tried to hide it, because he was ashamed. This is a quiet, frightened, insignificant, old man who's been nothing all his life, who's never had any recognition, whose name never has appeared in the newspapers. Nobody knows. Gentlemen, it's a very sad thing to be nothing. A man like that needs to be recognized, to be listened to, to be quoted just once. Very important to him...
No. 7: Are you trying to tell us that he lied just so he could be important once?
No. 9: No, he wouldn't really lie. But perhaps he made himself believe he heard those words and recognized the boy's voice.
No. 10: That's the most fantastic story I've ever heard. How can you make up a thing like that?
No. 9: (Low but firm) I speak from experience.
No. 7: What!
No. 9: I've done it myself. |