A Time to Kill Page #4

Yes, I heard people say that.

Should men who kidnap a

child be free in 10 years?

No, sir.

Should men who rape a child be free?

No, sir.

Should men who hang a child be free?

No, sir.

What do you think should

happen to them?

Objection!

Do you think they deserve to die?!

Don't answer!

Yes, they deserved to die

and I hope they burn in hell!

I have nothing further.

Summations begin tomorrow.

Court adjourned.

They found Roark.

So...

...I had to do this to

get you to call me Ellen?

I'm so sorry.

This is all my fault.

Don't sweat it, really.

They didn't hurt anything

that won't heal.

Nothing.

Besides...

...Doctor...

...what's-his-name said

I'll be out in a few days.

I'm fine.

How did we do?

Bass turned out to be a felon.

Carl Lee got trapped on the stand.

People been terrorized, Roark.

Beaten...

...killed.

It's not worth it.

It's only not worth it if Carl

Lee goes to the gas chamber.

Listen, this case is not

over until the summation.

Remember that.

And you've got one big fat chance...

...to reinvent yourself.

To make that jury see...

...this whole case through your eyes.

They're good eyes.

Now, get out of here, go to work.

I'll keep in touch.

No, you won't.

Big liar.

Win or lose, Roark...

...we make one hell of a team.

We might have.

We really might have.

You really want to kiss me right now.

Yes, I do.

Undecided?

Guilty?

Hey, Max.

Where's Hannah?

I left her at my parents'.

How'd you get here?

Drove.

In the storm?

Got something needs

to be said in person.

I've been blaming you

for all that's happened.

But it's not your fault.

You didn't kill those boys.

You were trying to make things right.

I know that now.

I thought you took this case

because you wanted to prove...

...what a big time lawyer you were.

But I was wrong.

You took this case because...

...if those boys...

...had hurt Hannah...

...the way they hurt Tonya...

...you would've killed them too.

Baby. Come here.

Come here.

I love you Jake.

I thought I was going to lose you.

We're going to lose this case.

There are no points of law to argue here.

I want to cop a plea.

Maybe Buckley'll cop us a...

...second-degree murder and we

can get you life in prison.

I can't do no life in prison.

Get me out. If it was you on trial--

It's not me.

We're not the same.

The jury has to identify

with the defendant.

They see you, they see a yardworker.

They see me...

...they see an attorney.

You live on the hill.

With you white and I'm black.

See, Jake?

You think just like them.

That's why I picked you.

You're one of them, don't you see?

You think you ain't because

you eat in Claude's...

...and you're on TV talking about

black and white.

But the fact is...

...you're just like them.

When you look at me,

you don't see a man.

You see a black man.

I am your friend.

We ain't no friends.

We're on different sides of the line.

I ain't never seen you in my part of

town. You don't know where I live.

Our daughters...

...won't play together.

What do you mean?

America...

...is a war...

...and you're on the other side.

How a black man ever going

to get a fair trial...

...with the enemy on the

bench and the jury box?

My life in white hands.

You, Jake.

That's how.

You're my secret weapon, because

you're one of the bad guys.

You don't mean to be, but you are.

It's how you's raised.

'N*gger, Negro, black...

...African-American.'

No matter how you see me...

...you see me as different.

You see me like that jury sees me.

You are them.

Now, throw out your points of law, Jake.

If you...

...was on that jury...

...what would it take to convince you...

...to set me free?

That's how you'll save my ass.

That's how you save us both.

Is Carl Lee Hailey insane?

It's a notion so outrageous...

...the only witness the defense

could produce to support it...

...was a convicted felon.

He is not insane.

This is a man who is

a confessed murderer.

This is a man who admitted...

...on this stand...

...to carrying out the sentence

he believed the alleged rapists...

...of his daughter deserved!

He's taken justice out of your hands!

And put it in his own.

And with those hands...

...he took the lives of two young men!

We feel terrible over what

happened to his daughter.

But feeling terrible...

...and knowing something is

wrong does not give any of us...

...a right to kill.

Everyone, your duty is clear.

All in this courtroom know the truth.

All in this state know the truth.

Now you need only find the courage...

...to speak the words:

'Carl Lee Hailey...

...is guilty!'

Guilty!

Guilty!

State rests, Your Honor.

Now, I had a great

summation all worked out...

...full of some sharp lawyering...

...but I'm not doing it.

I'm here to apologize.

I am young, and I am inexperienced.

But you cannot...

...hold Carl Lee Hailey responsible...

...for my shortcomings.

In all this legal maneuvering...

...something got lost.

That something is the truth.

It is incumbent upon us lawyers...

...not to just talk about the truth...

...but to actually seek it...

...to find it, to live it.

My teacher taught me that.

Let's take Dr. Bass, for example.

I would never knowingly put a

convicted felon on the stand.

I hope you believe that.

But what is the truth?

That he's a disgraced liar?

What if I told you...

...the woman he was accused of

raping was 17, he was 23...

...that she became his wife...

...bore his child...

...and is still married to him?

Does that make his

testimony more or less true?

What in us seeks truth?

Our minds...

...or is it our hearts?

I tried to prove blacks could

get a fair trial in the South...

...that we are all equal

in the eyes of the law.

That's not the truth.

The eyes of the law are human eyes...

...yours and mine, and until we

can see each other as equals...

...justice is never

going to be evenhanded.

It will only be a reflection

of our own prejudices.

So until that day...

...we have a duty under

God to seek the truth...

...not with our minds...

...where fear and hate turn

commonality into prejudice...

...but with our hearts...

...but we don't know better.

I want to tell you a story.

Please close your eyes...

...while I tell it.

I want you to listen to me.

I want you to listen to yourselves.

Go ahead.

Close your eyes, please.

This is a story about a little girl...

...walking home from the grocery

store one sunny afternoon.

I want you to picture this girl.

Suddenly a truck races up.

Two men grab her.

They drag her into a nearby field...

...and they tie her up...

...then rip off her clothes.

They climb on.

First one, then the other...

...raping her...

...shattering everything

innocent and pure...

...with a vicious thrust...

...in a fog of drunken breath and sweat.

And when they're done...

...after they've...

...killed her tiny womb...

...murdered any chance for

her to bear children...

...to have life...

...beyond her own...

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