12 Angry Men
Every man put on trial is considered innocent until proven guilty. In 12 Angry Men, this theory can almost be considered false to the jurors involved in this murder case. But one man can be credited with sticking to the innocent until proven guilty theory that most likely saved a man’s life.
This juror must show 11 other jurors that he can prove with enough valid evidence that this boy is wrongfully accused of killing his father. Reginald Rose shows us how that one mans integrity can prove to make a big difference in a kid’s life. Juror #8 can be credited with saving someone’s life. Under intense and hostile scrutiny juror #8 is the only juror to vote not guilty on the stabbing death of a boy’s father.
#8 doesn’t believe straight out that this boy is innocent of this crime. #8 believes that it would be wrong to send a boy off to be executed without discussing it first. Jurors #3 and #10 are the most hostile of the jurors. They believe deep down that this boy killed his father. They believe that everything they heard in the courtroom holds true and they don’t really want to see this kid live any longer.
Juror #8 still had reasonable doubt about the murder. He doesn’t want to vote guilty until he has enough evidence that this boy did indeed kill his father. Many different points are made about the boy who supposedly stabbed his father, which is cross-examined well by juror #8 who still stands alone as not guilty.
All of the evidence that the 11 jurors found contains flaws in them. For instance, the woman who supposedly witnessed the stabbing wasn’t wearing her glasses. Also, the stab wound in the boy’s father was made so that a taller man or boy could have made that type of wound with a switchblade knife.
When these key pieces of evidence become clearer to the 11 jurors we start to see jurors questioning their own guilty vote. #9 is the second juror to vote guilty because he too has some reasonable doubt. As more evidence is put on the table the 12 jurors come together and decide that this boy is innocent.
In conclusion, juror #8 believes that every person is innocent until proven guilty. He was given many pieces of key evidence that showed this boys guilty but the evidence was examined carefully, and as more evidence was put out more jurors believed this boy was indeed innocent bringing them all together to believe this boy’s innocence