Pg. 20 - 40

Question 1

12TH JUROR: Anyway, I was telling you—in the agency, when they reach a point like this in a meeting, there’s always some character ready with an idea. And it kills me, I mean it’s the weirdest thing sometimes the way they precede the idea with some kind of phrase. Like—oh, some account exec’ll say, “Here’s an idea. Let’s run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it,” or “Put it on a bus and see if it gets off at Wall Street.” I mean, it’s idiotic, but it’s funny.

Answer 1

The 8TH JUROR goes to the coat rack hangs his jacket on a hook.

Question 2

The 5TH JUROR crosses away from the 3RD JUROR without answering. The 7TH JUROR enters from the washroom, drying her hands on a paper towel. She and the 8TH juror converge on the water cooler.

7TH JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR, while pouring a drink]: Say, are you a salesman?

Answer 2

8TH JUROR: I’m an architect.

Question 3

7TH JUROR: [Stepping aside to give the 8TH JUROR access to the water cooler] You know what the soft sell is? You’re pretty good at it. I’ll tell ya. My old man’s got a different technique.
Jokes. Drinks. Knock the customers’ socks right off. He made twenty-seven thousand last year selling marmalade. Not bad, right? Considering marmalade. [She watches the 8TH JUROR for a moment.] What are ya getting out of it—kicks? The boy is guilty, pal. So let’s go home before we get sore throats.

Answer 3

8TH JUROR: What’s the difference whether you get one here or at the ball game?

Question 4

The 6TH JUROR enters from the washroom, moves over to the watercooler.

6TH JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR]: Nice bunch of folks.

Answer 4

8TH JUROR: I guess they’re the same as any.

Question 5

6TH JUROR: [Begins to pour herself a drink] That loud, heavyset guy, the one who was tellin’ us about his kid—the way he was talking—boy, that was an embarrassing thing. I didn’t know where to look.

Answer 5

8TH JUROR: Yeah.

Question 6

6TH JUROR: What a murderous day. You think we’ll be here much longer?

Answer 6

8TH JUROR: I don’t know.

Question 7

6TH JUROR: He’s guilty for sure. There’s not a doubt in the whole world. We shoulda been done already. Listen, I don’t care, y’know. It beats workin’.

The 8TH JUROR smiles.

You think he’s innocent?

Answer 7

8TH JUROR: I don’t know. It’s possible.

Question 8

6TH JUROR: I don’t know you, but I’m bettin’ you’ve never been wronger in your life. Y’oughta wrap it up. You’re wastin’ your time.

Answer 8

8TH JUROR: Suppose you were the one on trial?

Question 9

6TH JUROR: I’m not used to supposing. I’m just a blue-collar girl. My bosses do the supposing. But I’ll try one. Suppose you talk us all outa this and the kid really did knife his father?

The 6TH JUROR looks at the 8TH JUROR for a moment, then turns and walks back to the table.

Answer 9

The 8TH JUROR stands alone for a few moments and we know that this is the problem that has been tormenting him. He does not know, and never will. He drops his paper cup in the waste basket, and turns back to the table.

Question 10

6TH JUROR: Well. I was going to say, well, this is probably a small point, but anyway. . . [To the 8TH JUROR.] The boy had a motive for the killing. You know, the beatings and all. So if he didn’t do it, who did? Who else had the motive? That’s my point. I mean, nobody goes out and kills someone without a motive, not unless he’s just plain nuts. Right?

Answer 10

8TH JUROR: As far as I know, we’re supposed to decide whether or not the boy on trial is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We’re not concerned with anyone else’s motives here. That’s a job for the police.

Question 11

4TH JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR]: Well, maybe you can answer me. Who else might
have killed the father?

Answer 11

8TH JUROR: Well, I don’t know. The father wasn’t exactly a model citizen. The boy’s lawyer outlined his background in his closing statement. He was in prison once. He was known to be a compulsive gambler and a pretty consistent loser. He spent a lot of time in neighborhood bars and he’d get into fistfights sometimes after a couple of drinks. Usually over a woman. He was a tough, cruel, primitive kind of man who never held a job for more than six months in his life. So here are a few possibilities. He could have been murdered by one of many men he served time with in prison. By a book maker. By a man he’d beaten up. By a woman he’d picked up. By any one of the people he was known to hang out with.

Question 12

10TH JUROR: Boy-oh-boy, that’s the biggest load of slop I ever . . . Listen, we know the father was a bum. So what has that got to do with anything?

Answer 12

8TH JUROR: I didn’t bring it up. I was asked who else might have killed him. I gave my answer.

Question 13

3RD JUROR: Look, suppose you answer this for me. The old man who lived downstairs heard the kid yell out, “I’m going to kill you.” A split second later he heard a body hit the floor. Then he saw the kid run out of the house. Now what does all that mean to you?

Answer 13

8TH JUROR: I was wondering how clearly the old man could have heard the boy’s voice through the ceiling.

Question 14

3RD JUROR: He didn’t hear it through the ceiling. His window was open and so was the window upstairs. It was a hot night, remember?

Answer 14

8TH JUROR: The voice came from another apartment. It’s not easy to identify a voice, especially a shouting voice.

Question 15

FOREMAN: He identified it in court. He picked the boy’s voice out of five other voices, blindfolded.

Answer 15

8TH JUROR: That was just an ambitious district attorney putting on a show. Look, the old man knows the boy’s voice very well. They’ve lived in the same house for years. But to identify it positively from the apartment downstairs . . . Isn’t it possible he was wrong—that maybe he thought the boy was upstairs and automatically decided that the voice he heard was the boy’s voice?

Question 16

12TH JUROR: Check. And don’t forget the woman across the street. She looked right into the open window and saw the boy stab his father. I mean, isn’t that enough for you?

Answer 16

8TH JUROR: Not right now. No, it isn’t.

Question 17

4TH JUROR: The woman saw the killing through the windows of a moving elevated train. The train had six cars and she saw it through the windows of the last two cars. She remembered the most insignificant details. I don’t see how you can argue with that.

3RD JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR]: Well, what have you got to say about it?

Answer 17

8TH JUROR: I don’t know. It doesn’t sound right to me.

Question 18

The 12TH JUROR hands the pencil to the 3RD JUROR, who starts to draw what is
obviously a tic-tac-toe pattern on the pad.

Answer 18

8TH JUROR: I wonder if anybody has any idea how long it takes an elevated train . . .

The 8TH JUROR sees the 3RD JUROR and the 12TH JUROR playing tic-tac-toe,
snatches up the pad, tears off the top sheet, crumples it and drops it in the wastebasket.

Question 19

3RD JUROR: Wait a minute!

Answer 19

8TH JUROR: This isn’t a game.

Question 20

6TH JUROR: OK, noisy. He apologizes. Now let’s hear what the man has to say.

Answer 20

8TH JUROR: Thank you. I wonder if anybody has an idea how long it takes an elevated train going at medium speed to pass a given point?

Question 21

7TH JUROR: What has that got to do with anything?

Answer 21

8TH JUROR: How long? Take a guess.

Question 22

4TH JUROR: I wouldn’t have the slightest idea.

Answer 22

8TH JUROR: [to the 5TH JUROR]: What do you think?

Question 23

3RD JUROR: What’s all this for?

Answer 23

8TH JUROR: I’d say that was a fair guess. Anyone else?

Question 24

10TH JUROR: Come on, what’s the guessing game for?

Answer 24

8TH JUROR [to the 2ND JUROR]: What would you say?

Question 25

4TH JUROR: All right. Say ten seconds. What are you getting at?

Answer 25

8TH JUROR: This. It takes a six-car el train ten seconds to pass a given point. Now, say that given point is the open window of the room in which the killing took place. You can almost reach out the window of that room and touch the el tracks. Right?

Question 26

5TH JUROR: Right.

Answer 26

8TH JUROR: All right. Now let me ask you this—has anyone here ever lived right next to the el tracks?

Question 27

6TH JUROR: Well, one of the apartments I clean regularly overlooked an el line. I’ma house cleaner, y’know. I’ve been cleaning that place for months.

Answer 27

8TH JUROR: What is it like?

Question 28

6TH JUROR: What d’ya mean?

Answer 28

8TH JUROR: Noisy?

Question 29

6TH JUROR: Was it ever! Well, it didn’t matter – it’s a break from the sound of the vacuum cleaner. [She laughs.]

Answer 29

8TH JUROR: I lived in a second-floor apartment next to an el line once. When the window’s open and the train goes by, the noise is almost unbearable. You can’t hear yourself think.

Question 30

3RD JUROR: OK. You can’t hear yourself think. Will you get to the point?

Answer 30

8TH JUROR: I will. Let’s take two pieces of testimony and try to put them together. First, the old man in the apartment downstairs. He says he heard the boy say, “I’m going to kill you,” and a split second later he heard the body hit the floor. One second later. Right?

Question 31

2ND JUROR: That’s right.

Answer 31

8TH JUROR: Second, the woman in the apartment across the street. She claimed that she looked out of her window and saw the killing through the last two cars of a passing elevated train. Right? The last two cars.

Question 32

3RD JUROR: All right. What point are you making here?

Answer 32

8TH JUROR: Now, we agreed that an el train takes about ten seconds to pass a given point. Since the woman saw the stabbing through the last two cars, we can assume that the body fell to the floor just as the train passed by. Therefore, the el train had been roaring by the old man’s window for a full ten seconds before the body fell. The old man, according to his own testimony, hearing “I’m going to kill you” and the body falling a split second later, would have had to hear the boy make this statement while the el was roaring past his nose. It’s not possible that he could have heard it.

Question 33

3RD JUROR: That’s idiotic! Sure he could have heard it.

Answer 33

8TH JUROR: [to the 3RD JUROR]: Do you think so?

Question 34

3RD JUROR: The old man said the boy yelled it out. That’s enough for me.

Answer 34

8TH JUROR: If he heard anything at all, he still couldn’t have identified the voice with the el roaring by.

Question 35

3RD JUROR: You’re talking about a matter of seconds here. Nobody can be that accurate.

Answer 35

8TH JUROR: Well, I think that testimony that could put a human being into the electric chair should be that accurate.

Question 36

12TH JUROR: Say what you like, I still don’t see how anybody can think the boy’s not guilty.

Answer 36

8TH JUROR: There’s another thing I wanted to talk about for a minute. I think we’ve proved that the old man couldn’t have heard the boy say, “I’m going to kill you,” but supposing—

Question 37

10TH JUROR: You didn’t prove it at all. What are you talking about?

Answer 37

8TH JUROR: But supposing he really did hear it. This phrase, how many times has each of us used it? Probably hundreds. “I could kill you for that, darling.” “If you do that once more, Junior, I’m going to kill you.” “Come on, Rocky, kill him.” We say it every day. It doesn’t mean we’re going to kill someone.

Question 38

3RD JUROR: No listen, this guy is making you believe things that aren’t so. The kid said he was going to kill him and he did kill him.

Answer 38

8TH JUROR: Well, let me ask you this: do you really think the boy would shout out a thing like that so the whole neighborhood would hear it? I don’t think so. He’s much too bright for that.

Question 39

7TH JUROR: Well, if that isn’t the livin’ end! What are you basing it on? Stories this guy made up. He oughta write for Amazing Detective Monthly. He’d make a fortune. [To the 5TH JUROR.] Listen, there are facts staring you right in your face. Every one of them says this kid killed his old man. For cryin’ out loud, his own lawyer knew he didn’t stand a chance right from the beginning. His own lawyer. You could see it. He deserves the chair.

Answer 39

8TH JUROR: Does he? It’s happened before that someone’s been convicted of murder and executed, and years later someone else has confessed to the crime. Sometimes . . . sometimes the facts that are staring you in the face are wrong!

Question 40

7TH JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR]: I’m talkin’ to him—[he indicates the 5TH JUROR] not to you. [To the others.] Boy, this guy is really something. [To the 8TH JUROR.] Listen, the kid had a lawyer, didn’t he? The lawyer presented his case, not you. How come you’ve got so much to say?

Answer 40

8TH JUROR: The lawyer was court-appointed.

Question 41

7TH JUROR: So what does that mean?

Answer 41

8TH JUROR: Well, it could mean a lot of things. It could mean he didn’t want the case. It could mean he resented being appointed. It’s the kind of case that brings him nothing. No money. No glory. Not even much chance of winning. It’s not a very promising situation for a young lawyer. He’d really have to believe in his client to make a good fight. As you pointed out a minute ago, he obviously didn’t.

Question 42

4TH JUROR: Two points. One: in his state of panic he may not have heard the scream. Perhaps it wasn’t very loud. Two: if he did hear it, he may not have connected it with his own act. Remember, he lived in a neighborhood where screams were fairly commonplace. 3RD JUROR: Right! There’s your answer.

Answer 42

8TH JUROR: Maybe. Maybe he did stab his father, didn’t hear the woman’s screams, did run out in a panic, did calm down three hours later and came back to try and get the knife, risking being caught by the police. Maybe all those things are so. But maybe they’re not. I think there’s enough doubt to make us wonder whether he was there at all during the time the murder took place.

Question 43

10TH JUROR: You keep saying that. Maybe what we need is a little yelling in here. These people are going off every which way. Did hear the scream, didn’t hear the scream. What’s the difference? They’re just little details. You’re forgetting the important stuff. I mean, all of a sudden here everybody . . .

Answer 43

8TH JUROR: I’d like to call for another vote.

Question 44

4TH JUROR: He said he went from his bedroom to the front door. That’s enough, isn’t it?

Answer 44

8TH JUROR: Wait a minute. Where was his bedroom, again?

Question 45

10TH JUROR: Down the hall somewhere. I thought you remembered everything. Don’t you remember that?

Answer 45

8TH JUROR: No. Mr. Foreman, I’d like to take a look at the diagram of the apartment.

Question 46

7TH JUROR: Why don’t we have them run the trial over just so you can get everything straight?

Answer 46

8TH JUROR: Mr. Foreman . . .

Question 47

4TH JUROR: If we’re going to start wading through all that business about where the body was found.

Answer 47

8TH JUROR: We’re not. Not unless someone else wants to. I’d like to see if a very old man who drags one leg when he walks because he had a stroke last year can get from his bed to his front door in fifteen seconds.

Question 48

3RD JUROR: He said twenty seconds.

Answer 48

8TH JUROR: He said fifteen.

Question 49

12TH JUROR: I don’t see what we’re going to prove here. The man said he saw the boy running out.

Answer 49

8TH JUROR: Well, let’s see if the details bear him out. As soon as the body fell to the floor, he said, he heard footsteps upstairs running toward the front door. He heard the upstairs door open and the footsteps start down the stairs. He got to his front door as soon as he could. He swore that it couldn’t have been more than fifteen seconds. Now, if the killer began running immediately—

Question 50

12TH JUROR: Well, maybe he didn’t

Answer 50

8TH JUROR: The old man said he did.

Question 51

10TH JUROR: [to the 8TH JUROR]: Well, now that you’ve got that thing in here, what about it?

Answer 51

8TH JUROR [to the FOREMAN]: May I? [He takes the plan and puts it on a chair.] This is the apartment in which the killing took place. The old man’s apartment is directly beneath it and exactly the same. Here are the el tracks. The bedroom. Another bedroom. Bathroom. Living room. Kitchen. And this is the hall. Here’s the front door to the apartment. And here are the stairs. Now, the old man was in bed in this room. [He indicates the front bedroom.] He says he got up, went out into the hall, down the hall to the front door, opened it and looked out just in time to see the boy racing down the stairs. Am I right so far?

Question 52

3RD JUROR: That’s the story, for the nineteenth time.

Answer 52

8TH JUROR: Fifteen seconds after he heard the body fall.

Question 53

8TH JUROR: Fifteen seconds after he heard the body fall. 11TH JUROR: Correct.

Answer 53

8TH JUROR: His bed was at the window. It’s [He looks closely at the plan.] twelve feet from his bed to the bedroom door. The length of the hall is forty-three feet, six inches. Now he had to get up out of bed, walk twelve feet, open the bedroom door, walk forty-three feet and open the front door—all in fifteen seconds. Do you think he could have done it?

Question 54

9TH JUROR: For an old man who had a stroke it’s a long walk.

Answer 54

The 8TH JUROR moves his chair and sets the chair to indicate a bed. 8TH JUROR: This is the old man’s bed.

Question 55

10TH JUROR: What’s going on here?

Answer 55

8TH JUROR: I want to try this thing. Let’s see how long it took him.

Question 56

10TH JUROR: He didn’t bring it up because he knew the answer’d hurt his case. Now what d’ya think of that? FOREMAN: OK.

Answer 56

8TH JUROR: All right, here’s the bed. I’m going to pace off twelve feet, the length of the bedroom. [He paces twelve feet.]

Question 57

11TH JUROR: I’d like to see it. The 12TH JUROR picks up her chair and takes it to the 8TH JUROR. The 8TH JUROR puts the chair where he is standing.

Answer 57

8TH JUROR: All right, this is the bedroom door. The hall is a little over forty-three feet long. I’ll pace over to that wall and back again. The 8TH JUROR paces, counting his steps silently.

Question 58

10TH JUROR: Look, this is absolutely insane. What’s the idea of wasting everybody’s time here?

Answer 58

8TH JUROR: . . . twelve . . . [He stops and turns to the 10TH JUROR.] According to you it’ll only take fifteen seconds. We can spare that. [He resumes his pacing, counting to himself, and reaches the wall.] The others watch silently. [He turns and paces, counting off the rest of the distance.] . . . "thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three. OK, pass me another chair, please." The 6TH JUROR picks up a chair and takes it to the 8TH JUROR. The 8TH JUROR places it where he is standing. "This is the door to the outside hall and stairway. It was chain-locked according to the testimony. Who’s got a watch with a second hand?

Question 59

8TH JUROR: Who’s got a watch with a second hand? 2ND JUROR: I have.

Answer 59

8TH JUROR: When you want me to start, stamp your foot. That’ll be the body falling. Time me from there. The 8TH JUROR lies down on the two chairs.

Question 60

3RD JUROR: I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole life!

Answer 60

8TH JUROR: OK. I’m ready.

Question 61

10TH JUROR: Come on. Snap it up. He walked twice as fast as that. 11TH JUROR: This is, I think, even more quickly than the old man walked in the courtroom.

Answer 61

8TH JUROR [still hobbling]: If you think I should go faster, I will. The 8TH JUROR speeds up his pace slightly, reaches the wall, turns and heads for the second chair, the one simulating the door to the outer hallway.

Question 62

3RD JUROR: Come on, will ya! Let’s get this kid stuff over with. They watch as the 8TH JUROR reaches the last chair. He pretends to open an imaginary chain lock and then opens the imaginary door.

Answer 62

8TH JUROR: Stop! 2ND JUROR: Right. 8TH JUROR: What’s the time?

Question 63

2ND JUROR: Fifteen—twenty—thirty—thirty-five—forty—forty-two seconds exactly. 6TH JUROR: Forty-two seconds!

Answer 63

8TH JUROR: I think this is what happened. The old man heard the fight between the boy and his father a few hours earlier. Then, while lying in bed, he heard a body hit the floor in the boy’s apartment, and he heard the woman scream from across the street. He got up, tried to get to the door, heard someone racing down the stairs, and assumed it was the boy.

Question 64

3RD JUROR: Assumed? Now listen to me, you people. I’ve seen all kinds of dishonesty in my day—but this little display takes the cake. You come in here with your sanctimonious talk about slum kids and injustice, and you make up some wild stories, and all of a sudden you start getting through to some of these old ladies inhere. Well, you’re not getting through to me. I’ve had enough. What’s the matter with you people? Every one of you knows this kid is guilty. He’s got to burn. We’re letting him slip through our fingers here.

Answer 64

8TH JUROR: Slip through our fingers? Are you his executioner?

Question 65

3RD JUROR: I’m one of ’em.

Answer 65

8TH JUROR: Maybe you’d like to pull the switch.

Question 66

3RD JUROR: For this kid? You bet I’d like to pull the switch.

Answer 66

8TH JUROR: I’m sorry for you.

Question 67

3RD JUROR: Don’t start with me now.

Answer 67

8TH JUROR: Ever since we walked into this room you’ve been behaving like a self-appointed public avenger.

Question 68

3RD JUROR: I’m telling you now! Shut up!

Answer 68

8TH JUROR: You want to see this boy die because you personally want it, not because of the facts.

Question 69

3RD JUROR: Shut up!

Answer 69

8TH JUROR: You’re a sadist!

Question 70

3RD JUROR: Shut up, you piece of … The 3RD JUROR lunges wildly at the 8TH JUROR. The 8TH JUROR holds his ground. The 5TH and 6TH JURORS grab the 3RD JUROR from behind. He strains against the hands, his face dark with rage. Let go of me! [He roars with effort as he strains] I’ll kill him! I’ll kill him!

Answer 70

8TH JUROR [calmly]: You don’t really mean you’ll kill me, do you?