Foreman: 12 Angry Jurors

ELEVEN: Perhaps this is best. [Paper slips pass to FOREMAN]

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

EIGHT: There were eleven votes for guilty- it's not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first. SEVEN: Who says it's easy for me? FOUR: Or me? EIGHT: No one.

He's just as guilty, whether it's an easy vote or a hard one.

EIGHT: Mrs. Foreman, I'd like to take a look at the diagram of the apartment. SEVEN: Why don't we have them run the trial over just so you can get everything straight? EIGHT: The bedroom is down the hall somewhere. Do you know--do you know exactly where it is? Please. A man's life is at stake. Do you know? SEVEN: Well, ah... EIGHT: Mrs. Foreman.

I heard you.

FOUR: If we're going to discuss this case, why, let's discuss the facts.

I think that's a good point. We have a job to do. Let's do it.

SEVEN: So what are you going to do about it? We can be here all night. NINE: It's only one night. A man may die. SEVEN: Oh, come on now. EIGHT: Well, yes, that's true.

I think we ought to get on with it now.

THREE: Let's call our votes out.

I vote yes, we're a hung jury. Two?

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

I'm not sure I understand.

FIVE: I say guilty. I was right the first time. THREE: Now we're beginning to make sense in here.

It seems to be about nine guilty to three not guilty.

SIX: I think maybe we should try another vote. Mrs. Foreman?

It's all right with me. Anybody doesn't want to vote?

TWELVE: Yes. THREE: Oh, no!

It's six to six.

EIGHT: I didn't see as well as they told me I would see, but I did see what happened on the other side. TEN: You see--do you see?

Let's calm down now. (to FIVE) It's your turn.

TEN: Look--what about the woman across the street? If her testimony don't prove it, then nothing does. TWELVE: That's right. She saw the killing, didn't she?

Let's go in order.

FOUR: He has a right. Let him go ahead. TWO: Do you want me to time this, too?

Let's hear him.

ELEVEN: We can't even agree about whether or not the window should be open.

Let's make it a majority vote. The majority wins.

FIVE: Now, just a minute-- THREE: Now, you listen to me--

Let's try to keep this organized.

EIGHT: We are not going to be a hung jury. SEVEN: But we are, right now, a perfect balance. Let's take it into the judge. FOUR: If there is a reasonable doubt I don't see it. NINE: The doubt is there, in my mind.

Maybe we should vote.

TWO: Cough drop?

No, thank you.

GUARD: Is there anything wrong? I heard some noise.

No. There's nothing wrong. You can take that back. We're finished with it.

THREE: (...) So you change your vote. If that isn't the most sickening--

Now hold it.

EIGHT: Who did she mean? ELEVEN: I can understand this sensitivity.

Now let's stop the bickering.

TEN: You're a pretty smart fellow, aren't you?

Now take it easy.

FIVE: I used to play in a backyard that was filled with garbage--Maybe it still smells on me.

Now, let's be reasonable. There's nothing personal--

THREE: I've got a good mind to walk around this table and belt him one!

Now, please. I don't want any fights in here.

EIGHT: I want another vote.

Okay, there's another vote called for. I guess the quickest way is a show of hands. Anybody object? [...] All right. All those voting NOT guilty raise your hands. [...] Nine. [...] All those voting guilty. [...] Three. [...] The vote is nine to three in favor of acquittal.

THREE: A liar is a liar, that's all there is to it. EIGHT: Please--have some compassion.

Please, we have our job and our duty here.

Three: That's six.

Please. Six guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. [Pause] Not guilty. Guilty.

FIVE: Look at it! It's the same knife!

Quiet! Let's be quiet.

SEVEN: Okay--let's start it off.

Right (to TWO) We'll start with you.

FOUR: If seven or more of us vote yes, that we are a hung jury, then we take it in to the judge and tell him that we are a hung jury.

Right. And if seven or more vote no, that means that we aren't a hung jury, and we go on discussing it.

All right, let's take seats.

SEVEN: I had one last year, while I was on vacation, too.

How about sitting down? (......) The gentleman at the window. (...) How about sitting down?

SEVEN: Right. This better be fast. I've got tickets to [Broadway Hit] for tonight. I must be the only person in the world who hasn't seen it yet. Okay, your honor, start the show.

All right. Now— you all can handle this any way you want to. I mean, I'm not going to make any rules. If we want to discuss it first and then vote, that's one way. Or we can vote right now and see how we stand.

SEVEN: We all agreed that it was hot. NINE: And that our tempers will get short. THREE: That's if we disagree—but this is open and shut. Let's get it done.

And get caught, or something? Y'know what kind of a fine you could pay for anything like that? Anyway, this friend of my uncle's was on a jury once, about ten years ago- a case just about like this one.

SEVEN: Why didn't you let him? I would have done anything to miss this.

TWO: Take my chair. ELEVEN: Thank you.

Shall we get back to the case?

SEVEN: Why don't we take it in to the judge and let the kid take his chances with twelve other guys?

Six to six. I don't think we'll ever agree--on anything.

FOUR: Very fair.

Supposing we go once around the table.

Anybody doesn't want to vote?

TEN: Yeah. Let's see who's where. THREE: Right. Let's vote now. EIGHT: All right. Let us vote.

Is it custom-tailored?

THREE: Ask her to hire you. She's rich. Look at the suit!

They lock us up for a little while...

THREE: Did she lock that door? FOUR: Yes, she did. THREE: What do they think we are, crooks?

Okay. Eleven to one. Eleven guilty, one not guilty. Now we know where we stand.

THREE: Hey, you're in left field!

Well, figure this is our duty.

TWELVE: I wonder what's been going on down at the office. You know how it is in advertising. In six days my job be gone, and the whole company, too. They aren't going to like this.

They let him off. Reasonable doubt. And do y'know, about eight years later they found out that he'd actually done it, anyway. A guilty man—a murderer—was turned loose in the streets.

TWELVE: So what happened?

TWELVE: I may have an idea here. I'm just thinking out loud now, but it seems to me that it's up to us to convince this gentleman that we're right and he's wrong. Maybe if we each talk for a minute or two. You know--try it on for size.

That sounds fair enough.

THREE: I want an open ballot. Let's call out our votes. I want to know who stands where.

That sounds fair. Anyone object? [...] All right. I'll call off your jury numbers. I vote guilty. Number Two?

SEVEN: Okay lets do it.

That sounds fair. Is everyone agreed?

EIGHT: You mean that we vote yes, we are a hung jury, or no, we are not a hung jury?

That's just what I was thinking of.

EIGHT: This. An el train passes a given point in ten seconds. That given point is the window of the room in which the killing took place. You can almost reach out of the window of that room and touch the el. Right?

That's right. I tried it.

GUARD: Is this what you wanted?

That's right. Thank you.

FIVE: I'll pass it.

That's your privilege. (to SIX) How about you?

FOUR: I am saying that the old man downstairs might have been wrong about how long it took him to get to the door but that he was right about whom he saw running down the stairs. Now it may have taken the murderer about thirty-nine seconds to wipe away all the fingerprints and get down the stairs to the place where the old man saw him--the boy, that is. THREE: This is right.

We reconstructed the old man getting out of bed and going to the door, and we timed that; now let's reconstruct the actual crime.

GUARD: Sure, that's my job.

You want this?

TWELVE: We're wasting time.

(to EIGHT) It's your turn.

FOUR: We're trying to make it clear. One doesn't talk about quality when murder is involved. Well, let's do it.

About this on the fingerprints-the kid wiped the fingerprints off the knife. Well, what about the doorknob? If I saw a man coming into my home, a man that hated me, and if he was wiping the doorknob with a handkerchief as he came in, it would give me an uneasy feeling. So the doorknobs must have been wiped after the killing, and this, too, would take some time.

FOUR: I think they've covered it. EIGHT: I hope we have.

All right. Is there anything else?

SEVEN: Okay, I apologize. Is that what you want? EIGHT: That's what I want.

All right. Let's stop the arguing. Who's got something constructive to say?

Three: (...) Then he called the police. They found the father with a knife in his chest.

And the coroner fixed the time of death at around midnight.

SIX: Well, it doesn't exactly prove anything. It's just part of the picture. I didn't say it proved anything.

Anything else?

FOUR: It doesn't seem quite right to me. THREE: It's the only solution. SEVEN: I agree, it's the only way. TWELVE: Anything to end this.

Are we agreed then? Seven or more vote yes and we take it in to the judge.

TWELVE: What do you mean--vote? THREE: Not again! TEN: I still want to know. Vote on what?

Are we or are we not a hung jury?

FIVE: I'd like to change my vote to not guilty.

Are you sure?

TWO: Anybody--want a cough--drop?

Come on. Let's get on with it.

Three: The woman across the el tracks- she saw it! SEVEN: We know he bought a switch knife that night and we don't know where he really was. At the movies?

Earlier that night the kid and his father did have a fight.

EIGHT: You're alone.

Eleven votes, not guilty; one, guilty.

Not too well. Y'know, a friend of his, that's a friend of my uncle, the tailor, well, this friend wanted to be on this jury in my place.

FOUR: How does he do?

I have an uncle who's a tailor.

FOUR: Yes, it is.

ELEVEN: He may have been a little bit off on the speed that the old cripple moved at--but twenty-four seconds off... well, now, you know...

Far be it for me to call anyone a liar, and even allowing for quite a difference in speed between the old man and you... Why, still, there's quite a---

NINE: Maybe you'd like to know why. THREE: Let me tell you why that kid's a--

The man wants to talk.

FIVE: Yes, I'm sure.

The vote is nine to three in favor of guilty.

FOUR: I went along with the majority vote on this question. And I didn't agree with voting that way, not really, and I still don't. So I'm changing my vote. I say no, we are not a hung jury. I believe that boy is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There are some things I want to find out from those who changed their minds.

Then we aren't a hung jury--so we go on.