Kristina Marcinonytė

Report on the court trial in “12 Angry Men“

A 18-year-old boy has been sent for trial at the N.Y. Court of General Sessions for a murder in the first
degree – premeditated homicide. For this kind of crimes the penalty is sentence of death.

3 months ago at midnight a man was stabbed in his apartment. A boy, who was a son of the killed man, was
arrested as the main suspect of this homicide.

The trial took 6 days to present all the evidences and examine all the witnesses. There were two witnesses
of the crime.

The first one was an old man who lived downstairs under the the apartment, where the killing took place.
He told that at 12.10 a.m. he heard a loud noises like a fight and then he heard a body bumping the floor.
The man saw the boy running out of the building 15 seconds later.

Another witness was a woman living across the street from the place, where the crime happened. She told
that she saw the boy stabbing his father and then running outside. She told exacly how the knife was
stabbed to the chest of the victim.

The boy asserted that he had an alibi – he was in a movie when his father was killed. Also, the suspect told
he lost the knife, which was used for this crime, on his way to the movie.

The jurors had to unanimously decide if the suspect is guilty or not guilty. After a long day of discussions,
the jurors finally got the verdict – they found the boy not guilty.