Sounds like you've met my brother in law.
Anyway... I put myself in the boy's place.
If I was that boy, I would've
asked for another lawyer.
I mean, if I'm on trial for my life
I would want my lawyer to take all of the prosecution's
witnesses and just tear them to shreds, or try.
Now look, there was one
eye witness to this killing
and someone else said that
they heard it and then
saw the boy running out later.
There was a lot of circumstantial evidence, but those
two witnesses where the entire case for the prosecution.
Suppose they were wrong!
What do you mean suppose they were wrong?
What's the point of having witnesses at all?
Could they be wrong?
They took the stand under oath!
What are you trying to say?
Well, they're people.
People make mistakes.
Could they be wrong?
No, I don't think so.
Do you know so?
Nobody could know something like that.
This isn't an exact science.
That's right, it isn't.
Let's try to get to the point.
Let's take the knife they
found on the father's chest.
Wait a minute! Don't you think we ought to...
Some of the people haven't had the chance to talk.
They can talk anytime they want,
just gimme a second here, will you?
What about that knife?
You know the one our fine, upright boy
admitted buying the night of the murder?
Let's talk about it.
Yes, let's talk about it.
As a matter of fact let's look at it again.
I'd like to see it. Mr. Foreman?
We all know what it looks like. What are
we gonna gain by seeing it again?
He brought it up.
The gentleman has a right
to see exhibits of evidence,
the knife, where it was bought,
it's pretty strong evidence, don't you think?
Yes I do.
- We're gonna need that knife.
- OK.
One: The boy admitted going out of his house
at 8 o'clock on the night of the murder
after being punished several
times by his father.
He said slapped, not punished. There's
a difference between a slap and a punish.
After being slapped several
times by his father.
Two: The boy went directly to a neighbourhood
junkshop, where he bought, what do you call it?
- Switchblade!
- Switchblade knife!
Thank you, thank you. 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 that
he had ever had in stock.
Five: At about 8:45 the boy run into
three friends of his in front of a diner.
Am I correct so far?
You bet he is! Listen to this man,
he knows what he's talking about.
The boy talked with his friends for
about an hour, leaving them at 9:45.
During this time,
they saw the switch blade knife.
Six: Each of them identified the death
weapon in court as that same knife.
Seven: The boy arrived home
at about 10 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 11:30
then went to one of those all-night movies,
he returned home at about 3:50 in
the morning to find his father dead
and himself arrested.
Now, what happened to the switchblade knife?
He claims that the knife fell
through a hole in his pocket,
sometime between 11:30 and 3:50
while he was on the street to the movie
and that he never saw it again.
No! This is a tale jentlemen!
I think it's quite clear that he never
went to the movies that night.
Noone in the house saw him go out at 11:30.
Noone at the theatre identified him.
He couldn't even remember the
names of the pictures he saw.
Now... what actually happened is this.
The boy stayed home, had
another fight with his father,
stabbed him to death with the knife
at about 10 minutes after 12
and fled from the house.
He even remembered to wipe
the knife clean of fingerprints.
Thanks man.
Please give me the knife.
Are you trying to tell me that the knife
fells through a hole in the boy's pocket,
that someone picked it up off the street
where it was the boy's