Act III

Question 1

6: down and in, there’s no argument

Answer 1

back to six did you ever stab a man?

Question 2

6: of course not

Answer 2

to 3 did you?

Question 3

3: all right, lets not be silly

Answer 3

still to 3 (insistently) did you??

Question 4

3: (stab a man)

No. I didn’t!

Answer 4

Where do you get all your information about how it’s done?

Question 5

3: wym? It’s just common sense.

Answer 5

Have you ever SEEN a man stabbed?

Question 6

(have you ever seen a man stabbed)

3: no

Answer 6

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?

Question 7

(After he was sent to juvie for knifing someone, isn’t that’s so?)
12: that’s right.

Answer 7

Look at this. Doesn’t it seem like an awkward way to handle a knife?

Question 8

5: you use it underhanded

Answer 8

Then he couldn’t have made the kind of wound that killed his father.

Question 9

10: Mumbo jumbo

Answer 9

to 12 what do you think?

Question 10

12: well—I don’t know

Answer 10

to 7 what about you?

Question 11

7: lets break it up and go home

Answer 11

Before we decide anything more, I’d like to try to pull this together

Question 12

12: lets chip up a few shots to see if any of them land on the green.

Answer 12

I want you all to look at this logically and consistently

Question 13

3: we have. Guilty.

Answer 13

I want to know—is he kid smart or is he dumb?

Question 14

(Is the kid smart or is he dumb)

4: what do you mean?

Answer 14

This is a kid who has gone to juvie for knife fighting. The night of the murder he bought a knife. A switch knife.

Question 15

The night of the murder he bought a knife. A switch knife.

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

3: I quite agree, he’s dumb.

Answer 16

However, if he were dumb, then why did he make the kind of wound that an inexperienced man would make with a knife?

Question 17

Foreman: I’m not sure I understand.

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

As he had been trained. Underhand.

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

—so he is smart enough at that moment to make the kind of wound that an amateur would make.

Answer 19

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?

Question 20

9: it would take an awfully dumb man to take that chance, doing he murder as the train went by.

Answer 20

Exactly. A dumb man. A very stupid man. A man swept by emotion. Probably he heard nothing:

Question 21

Probably he heard nothing:

Answer 21

he probably didn’t even hear the train coming. And whoever did murder the father did it as well as he could.

Question 22

4: I hadn’t thought of that.

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

9: does the old man lie half the time and then does he tell the truth the other half of the time?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

and so on, and also for the kid to be guilty

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

6: I wanted more talk. Now I got it.

Answer 25

I want another vote.

Question 26

3: as far as I’m concerned that’s the most important testimony.

Answer 26

All right. Let’s go over her testimony. What exactly did she say?

Question 27

6: I’ve got a kid with the
5: not a chance

Answer 27

Can’t you see the clock…

Question 28

4: glasses are a nuisance aren’t they?

Answer 28

Well, what do you all do when you wake up at night and want to know what time it is?

Question 29

4: place to put it

Answer 29

to 2 do you wear your glasses to bed?

Question 30

2: no one wears glasses to bed

Answer 30

The woman who testified that she saw the killing wears glasses. What about her?

Question 31

4: funny. I never thought of that.

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

glance casually out the window

Answer 32

She testified that the murder took place the instant she looked out, and the lights went out a split second later.

Question 33

and the lights went out a split second later

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

3: maybe she’s far sighted. How does he know all these things?

Answer 34

Does anyone hunt there is still not a reasonable doubt?

Question 35

3: I think he’s guilty!

Answer 35

Does anyone else?

Question 36

4. No I’m convinced now. There is a reasonable doubt.

Answer 36

You’re alone

Question 37

3: I gave you my arguments

Answer 37

We’re not convinced. We’re waiting to hear them again. We have time.

Question 38

4. There is a reasonable doubt in my mind.

Answer 38

We’re waiting.

Question 39

3: it’s gonna be a hung jury.

Answer 39

There’s nothing we can do about that except hope that some night…