Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
5TH JUROR [rising]: I’ve lived in a slum all my life. I nurse that trash in Harlem Hospital six nights a week.
10TH JUROR: Oh, now wait a second. . .
5TH JUROR: I used to play in a backyard that was filled with garbage. Maybe it still smells on me.
10TH JUROR [his anger rising]: Now listen, buddy.
FOREMAN [to the 5TH JUROR]: Now, let’s be reasonable. There’s nothing personal…
5TH JUROR [loudly]: There is something personal!
The 3RD JUROR moves to the 5TH JUROR and pats him on the shoulder. The 5TH JUROR does not look up.
3RD JUROR: Come on, now. He didn’t mean you, feller. Let’s not be so sensitive.
11TH JUROR: This sensitivity I understand.
FOREMAN: All right, let’s stop all this arguing. We’re wasting time here. [He points to the 8TH JUROR.] It’s your turn. Let’s go.
8TH JUROR: Well, I didn’t expect a turn. I thought you were all supposed to be convincing me. Wasn’t that the idea?
FOREMAN: Check. I forgot that.
10TH JUROR: Well, what’s the difference? He’s the one who’s keeping us here. Let’s hear what he’s got to say.
FOREMAN: Now just a second. We decided to do it a certain way. Let’s stick to what we said.
10TH JUROR [disgusted]: Ah, stop bein’ a kid, will you?
FOREMAN: A kid! Listen, what d’you mean by that?
10TH JUROR: What d’ya think I mean? K-I-D, kid!
FOREMAN: What, just because I’m trying to keep this thing organized? Listen. [He rises.] You want to do it? Here. You sit here. You take the responsibility. I’ll just shut up, that’s all.
10TH JUROR: Listen, what are you gettin’ so hot about? Calm down, will ya?
FOREMAN: Don’t tell me to calm down. Here! Here’s the chair. You keep it goin’ smooth and everything. What d’ya think, it’s a snap? Come on. Mr. Foreman. Let’s see how great you’d run the show.
10TH JUROR [to the 11TH JUROR]: Did y’ever see such a thing?
FOREMAN: You think it’s funny or something?
12TH JUROR: Take it easy. The whole thing’s unimportant.
FOREMAN: Unimportant? You want to try it?
12TH JUROR: No. Listen, you’re doing a beautiful job. Nobody wants to change.
7TH JUROR: Yeah, you’re doing great. Hang in there and pitch.
10TH JUROR: All right. Let’s hear from somebody.
There is a pause.
8TH JUROR: Well, if you want me to tell you how I feel about it right now, it’s all right with me.
FOREMAN [softly]: I don’t care what you do.
8TH JUROR [after a pause]: All right. I haven’t got anything brilliant. I only know as much as you do. According to the testimony the boy looks guilty. Maybe he is. I sat there in court for three days listening while the evidence built up. Everybody sounded so positive that I started to get a peculiar feeling about this trial. I mean, nothing is that positive. I had questions I would have liked to ask. Maybe they wouldn’t have meant anything. I don’t know. But I started to feel that the defense counsel wasn’t doing his job. He let too many things go. Little things.
10TH JUROR: What little things? Listen, when these guys don’t ask questions, that’s because they know the answers already and they figure they’ll be hurt.
8TH JUROR: Maybe. It’s also possible for a lawyer to be just plain stupid, isn’t it?
6TH JUROR: You sound like you’ve met my brother-in-law. A few of the JURORS laugh.
8TH JUROR [smiling]: I kept putting myself in the boy’s place. I would have asked for another lawyer, I think. I mean, if I was on trial for my life I’d want my lawyer to tear the prosecution witnesses to shreds, or at least to try. Look, there was one alleged eyewitness to this killing. Someone else claims he heard the killing and then saw the boy running out afterward. There was a lot of circumstantial evidence, but actually those two witnesses were the entire case for the prosecution. Supposing they were wrong?
12TH JUROR: What do you mean, “Supposing they were wrong?” What’s the point of having witnesses at all?
8TH JUROR: Could they be wrong?
12TH JUROR: They sat on the stand under oath. What are you trying to say?
8TH JUROR: They’re only people. People make mistakes. Could they be wrong?
12TH JUROR: I… No! I don’t think so.
8TH JUROR: Do you know so?
12TH JUROR: Well, now, listen. Nobody can know a thing like that. This isn’t an exact science.
8TH JUROR: That’s right. It isn’t.
3RD JUROR [rising angrily]: All right. [To the 8TH JUROR.] Let’s try to get to the point here. What about the switch knife they found in the father’s chest?
2ND JUROR: Well, wait a minute. I think we oughta… There are some people who haven’t talked yet. Shouldn’t we… ?
3RD JUROR: Look, they can talk whenever they like. Now just be quiet a second, will you? [He turns to the 8TH JUROR.] OK, what about the knife? You know, the one that fine, upright boy admitted buying on the night of the murder. Let’s talk about that.
8TH JUROR: All right, let’s talk about it. Let’s get it in here and look at it. I’d like to see it again. [He turns to the FOREMAN.] Mr. Foreman?
The FOREMAN rises and crosses to the door.
3RD JUROR: We all know what it looks like.
The FOREMAN knocks on the door.
The GUARD unlocks the door and enters.
The FOREMAN whispers to him.
The GUARD nods and exits, locking the door.
What are we gonna get out of seeing it again?
5TH JUROR: You brought it up.
4TH JUROR: The gentleman has a right to see exhibits in evidence. [To the 8TH JUROR.] The knife, and the way it was bought, is pretty strong evidence. Don’t you think so?
8TH JUROR: I do.
4TH JUROR: Good. Now suppose we take these facts one at a time. One. The boy admitted going out of his house at eight o’clock on the night of the murder after being punched several times by his father.
8TH JUROR: He didn’t say “punched.” He said “hit.” There’s a difference between a slap and a punch.
4TH JUROR: After being hit several times by his father. Two. The boy went directly to a neighborhood junk shop where he bought a… What do you call these things—
3TH JUROR: Switch knives.
4TH JUROR [to the 3TH JUROR]: —a switchable knife. Thank you.
4TH JUROR: Three. This wasn’t what you’d call an ordinary knife. It had a very unusual carved handle. Four. The storekeeper who sold it to him identified the knife in court and said it was the only one of its kind he had ever had in stock. Five. At, oh, about eight forty-five the boy ran into three friends of his in front of a diner. Am I correct so far?
8TH JUROR: Yes, you are.
3RD JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR]: You bet he is. [To the others.] Now, listen to this man. He knows what he’s talking about.
4TH JUROR: The boy talked with his friends for about an hour, leaving them at nine forty-five. During this time they saw the switch knife. Six. Each of them identified the death weapon in court as that same knife. Seven. The boy arrived home at about ten o’clock. Now this is where the stories offered by the boy and the State begin to diverge slightly. He claims that he stayed home until eleven thirty and then went to one of those all-night movies. He returned home at about three fifteen in the morning to find his father dead and himself arrested. Now, what happened to the switch knife? This is the charming and imaginative little fable the boy invented. He claims that the knife fell through a hole in his pocket sometime between eleven thirty and three fifteen while he was on his trip to the movies and that he never saw it again. Now this is a tale, gentlemen. I think it’s quite clear that the boy never went to the movies that night. No one in the house saw him go out at eleven thirty. No one at the theater identified him. He couldn’t even remember the names of the pictures he saw. What actually happened is this: the boy stayed home, had another figh
The 4TH JUROR goes to the GUARD, and takes the knife from him.
The GUARD exits and locks the door.
Everyone connected with the case identified the knife. Now are you trying to tell me that it really fell through a hole in the boy’s pocket and that someone picked it up off the street, went to the boy’s house and stabbed his father with it just to be amusing?
8TH JUROR: No. I’m saying it’s possible that the boy lost the knife and that someone else stabbed his father with a similar knife. It’s possible.
The 4TH JUROR flicks open the knife and jams it into the table.
4TH JUROR: Take a look at that knife. I’ve never seen one like it. Neither had the storekeeper who sold it to the boy. Aren’t you asking us to accept a pretty incredible coincidence?
8TH JUROR: I’m not asking anyone to accept it. I’m just saying that it’s possible.
3RD JUROR [shouting]: And I’m saying it’s not possible.
The 8TH JUROR stands for a moment in silence, then he reaches into his pocket and swiftly withdraws a knife. He holds it in front of his face and flicks open the blade, then he leans forward and sticks the knife into the table alongside the other. They are exactly alike. There is a burst of sound in the room. The 8TH JUROR stands back from the table, watching.
6TH JUROR: Look at it! It’s the same knife.
7TH JUROR: What is this?
12TH JUROR: Where’d that come from?
2ND JUROR: How d’you like that?
3RD JUROR [looking at the 8TH JUROR; amazed]: What are you trying to do?
10TH JUROR: Yeah. What’s going on here? Who do you think you are?
4TH JUROR: Quiet! Let’s be quiet. [To the 8TH JUROR.] Where d’you get that knife?
8TH JUROR: I was walking for a couple of hours last night, just thinking. I walked through the boy’s neighborhood. The knife comes from a little pawnshop three blocks from his house. It cost six dollars.
4TH JUROR: It’s against the law to buy or sell switchblade knives.
8TH JUROR: That’s right. I broke the law.
3RD JUROR: Listen. You pulled a real bright trick here. Now, supposing you tell me what you proved. Maybe there are ten knives like that. So what?
8TH JUROR: Maybe there are.
3RD JUROR: So what does that mean? It’s the same kind of knife. So what’s that? The discovery of the age or something?
11TH JUROR: It would still be an incredible coincidence for another person to have stabbed the father with the same kind of knife.
3RD JUROR: That’s right! He’s right.
7TH JUROR: The odds are a million to one.
8TH JUROR: It’s possible.
4TH JUROR: But not very probable.
FOREMAN: Listen, let’s take seats. There’s no point in milling round here.
They begin to move back to their seats. The 8TH JUROR stands watching.
2ND JUROR: It’s interesting that he’d find a knife exactly like the one the boy bought.
3RD JUROR: What’s interesting? You think it proves anything?
2ND JUROR: Well, no. I was just—
3RD JUROR: Interesting! [He points at the 8TH JUROR.] Listen, how come the kid bought the knife to begin with?
8TH JUROR: Well, he claims that—
3RD JUROR: I know. He claims he bought it as a present for a friend of his. He was gonna give it to him the next day because he busted the other kid’s knife dropping it on the pavement.
8TH JUROR: That’s what he said.
7TH JUROR: Baloney!
9TH JUROR: The friend testified that the boy did break his knife.
3RD JUROR: Yeah. And how long before the killing? Three weeks. Right? So how come our noble lad bought this knife one half-hour after his father smacked him and three and a half hours before they found it shoved up here in the father’s chest?
7TH JUROR: Well, he was gonna give the knife to his friend. He just wanted to use it for a minute.
There is scattered laughter.
8TH JUROR [to the 3RD JUROR]: Let me ask you this. It’s one of the questions I wanted to ask in court. If the boy bought the knife to use on his father, how come he showed what was going to be the murder weapon to three friends of his just a couple of hours before the killing?
3RD JUROR: Listen, all of this is just talk. The boy lied and you know it.
8TH JUROR: He may have lied. [To the 10TH JUROR.] Do you think he lied?
10TH JUROR: Now that’s a stupid question. Sure he lied.
8TH JUROR [to the 4TH JUROR]: Do you?
4TH JUROR: You know my answer. He lied.
8TH JUROR [to the 5TH JUROR]: Do you think he lied?
5TH JUROR: I’m not sure. . . [He breaks off and looks nervously around.]
3RD JUROR [leaping into the breach]: You’re not sure about what? Now wait a second. [To the 8TH JUROR.] What are you, the kid’s lawyer or something? Who do you think you are to start cross-examining us?
8TH JUROR: Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen in a jury room?
3RD JUROR: Listen, there are still eleven of us in here who think he’s guilty.
7TH JUROR: Yeah. What do you think you’re gonna accomplish? You’re not gonna change anybody’s mind. So if you want to be stubborn and hang this jury, go ahead. The kid’ll be tried again and found guilty sure as he’s born.
8TH JUROR: You’re probably right.
7TH JUROR: So what are you gonna do about it? We can be here all night.
9TH JUROR: It’s only one night. A boy may die.
7TH JUROR: Brother! Anybody got a deck of cards?
2ND JUROR [to the FOREMAN]: I don’t think he ought to make a joke about it.
FOREMAN: What do you want me to do?
10TH JUROR: Listen, I don’t see what all this stuff about the knife has to do with anything. Somebody saw the kid stab his father. What more do we need? I got three garages of mine going to pot while you’re talking. Let’s get done and get outa here.
11TH JUROR: The knife was very important to the district attorney. He spent one whole morning…
10TH JUROR: He’s a fifteenth assistant, or something. What does he know?
FOREMAN: OK. I think we oughta get on with it now. These side arguments only slow us up. [To the 8TH JUROR.] What about it?
6TH JUROR [to the 8TH JUROR]: You’re the only one.
8TH JUROR: I have a proposition to make to all of you. I want to call for a vote. I’d like you eleven men to vote by secret written ballot. I’ll abstain. If there are still eleven votes for guilty, I won’t stand alone. We’ll take a guilty verdict in to the judge right now. But if anyone votes not guilty, we’ll stay and talk this thing out. [He pauses.] Well, that’s all. If you want to try it, I’m ready.
3RD JUROR: Well, finally you’re behaving like a reasonable man.
12TH JUROR: Check. I’ll buy that.
7TH JUROR: OK. Let’s do it.
FOREMAN: That sounds fair.
Some of the JURORS nod. The 8TH JUROR moves to the window.
Anyone doesn’t agree? OK. Pass these along. [He passes out slips of paper.]
The 8TH JUROR stands watching the others. The JURORS pass the slips along. Finally each of them begins to write. Now some of them begin to fold their slips and pass them back to the FOREMAN. The FOREMAN stacks all the slips on the table in front of him. He picks up the first slip of paper, opens it and reads.
“Guilty.”
He opens and reads the other slips in turn.
“Guilty.” “Guilty.” “Guilty.” “Guilty.” “Guilty.” “Guilty.”
“Guilty.” “Guilty.” “Not Guilty.”
There is a babble of voices. The 8TH JUROR relaxes, moves to his chair and sits.
[Reading the last slip.] “Guilty.”
10TH JUROR: Boy! How do you like that?
7TH JUROR: And another chap flips his goddamn wig!
10TH JUROR: All right, who was it? Come on. I want to know.
11TH JUROR: Excuse me. This was a secret ballot. We agreed on this.
3RD JUROR: Secret? What d’ya mean, secret? There are no secrets in a jury room. I know who it was. [He crosses to the 5TH JUROR.] Brother, you’re really something! You come in here and you vote guilty like everybody else, and then this golden-voiced preacher over here starts to tear your heart out with stories about a poor little kid who just couldn’t help becoming a murderer. So you change your vote. If that isn’t the most sickening… Why don’tcha drop a quarter in his collection box?
5TH JUROR: Now wait a minute.
The 3RD JUROR turns away.
You can’t talk to me like that!
The 3RD JUROR turns to face him. The 4TH JUROR slips in between them and takes the 5TH JUROR by the arm.
No. [He shakes off the 4TH JUROR.] Where does he get the right to shout at me?
4TH JUROR: All right, let’s calm down.
5TH JUROR: Who does he think he is? I mean, did you see him?
4TH JUROR: Just sit down. He’s very excitable. Forget it. It doesn’t matter.
3RD JUROR: You bet I’m excitable. We’re trying to put a guilty man into the chair where he belongs and all of a sudden somebody’s telling us fairy tales—and we’re listening.
2ND JUROR [mildly]: Take it easy.
3RD JUROR: What do you mean—take it easy! D’you feel like seeing a proven murderer walking the streets? Why don’t we give him his knife back? Make it easier for him.
FOREMAN: OK, let’s stop the yelling. Who’s got something constructive to say?
11TH JUROR: Please. I would like to say something here. I have always thought that in this country a man was entitled to have unpopular opinions…
7TH JUROR: Let’s stick to the subject. [To the 5TH JUROR.] What made you change your vote?
9TH JUROR: He didn’t change his vote. I did. Would you like me to tell you why?
7TH JUROR: No, I wouldn’t like you to tell me why.
9TH JUROR: Well, I’d like to make it clear, anyway, if you don’t mind.
10TH JUROR: Do we have to listen to this?
6TH JUROR: Hey, look! The man wants to talk.