Murder in the First Page #4

He has no future.

This is your first time in the spotlight.

It's what you worked for.

This case is a lost cause,

so you must handle it like a lost cause.

Maybe you're right, but the guy's

not exactly Al Capone, you know.

No. No, he isn't.

All they had him on

was income tax evasion.

Your boy, they got on murder one.

Hi. How are you?

Uh... Hi, Henri.

Hey, listen.

You're not mad at me

for blowing up at you yesterday?

Because, you know, nobody talks back.

Mad at you? No, I'm not mad at you.

And I'll get the hang of it.

I got a sense of humor.

We gonna have some good times

before this is through.

You know how to play cards?

Could you get some?

Look, look, look, I set this up for you.

Here, sit down.

How much light got into the cell

you spent three years in?

Like when you offered me that cigarette.

I said, no, that sh*t will kill you.

That was pretty good.

Henri, you gotta help me

if I'm gonna defend you, okay?

- Yeah, sure, sure.

- All right.

Look here.

Did you kill this man here?

Rufus McCain?

I must have. I'm here.

I don't remember it,

but everybody saw me, so, yeah.

- But you don't remember it?

- No. But so what?

Did you want to?

You know, once there was this spider

that crawled over me.

It was like having company.

I looked for him again. I couldn't find him.

He had a way out.

McCain was the reason

you landed in the bucket.

One hundred forty-two times 93. Ask me.

- How long after you came out of the hole?...

- 13,206.

Thirteen thousand. You mean, days?

What are you talking about?

That's the answer, 142 times 93.

- Henri, concentrate on what I'm saying.

- know what you're saying.

- How long was it?

- don't know. Okay? don't remember.

Hey, what's this new girl

I've seen in the papers? This Ingrid Berger?

She's some kind of looker.

You seen the movies?

- Goddamn it. I want you to think.

- don't wanna think!

I spent three goddamn years in the dark,

smelling my own sh*t and piss...

...doing nothing but thinking.

I hate thinking.

I'm sorry, Henri.

I'm sorry.

I'm just trying to help you.

Hey, you got a girl, right?

- Yeah.

- Take your jacket off.

- What?

- Let me smell it.

You were easier to understand catatonic.

- What's she like?

- Who?

Your girl. That's perfume on your jacket.

Let me smell your jacket.

Look, I'll make you a deal.

I'll give my jacket, pants,

whatever you want. Sports, girls, whatever.

But you gotta tell me just one memory

about something I ask.

- Deal?

- Sure.

Okay.

I never been with a girl, you know.

Let me try it on.

How long was it

that you went without any daylight?

Did they ever let you out

for any exercise?

Aah! Please, don't hit me.

Merry Christmas.

- Get the tear gas.

- How long I been in here?

- You're out of the hole.

- I made it. I did it.

It's Christmas, 1940.

You've been down there two years.

Two years.

I did it.

Two f***ing years.

I made it. I made it.

I'm not too crazy, am I?

I did it. It's over.

Nothing's over, Henri.

Thirty minutes exercise,

that's all you get.

No!

You don't want it, we take you back.

No, no. I want it.

I want it.

I'll be good. I'll...

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...

...the defendant, Henri Young,

is accused of murder in the first degree.

It is your responsibility as a juror

to deal with truth.

Rufus McCain was murdered

by Henri Young.

Mr. Stamphill, the public defender,

will play upon your sympathies.

He will use every trick in the book. Why?

To avoid the gas chamber.

The United States of America will demand

that you return a verdict of guilty...

...so that this... This animal...

...will receive the punishment commanded

by the Bible.

An eye for an eye. A life for a life.

For if ever there was a man

guilty of murder...

...it is Henri Young.

And if ever a man deserved

to die for that crime...

...it is the accused.

Thank you very much, Mr. McNeil.

Mr. Stamphill, are you prepared to make

your opening statement at this time?

Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen

of the jury.

When I was a kid, my heroes

weren't Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig...

...they were Clarence Darrow, mile Zola.

In other words, I have waited

for this moment all of my life.

To stand like I am right now

in front of a jury of 12 good people...

...to plead the case of an innocent man

who's been unjustly accused.

The only problem is he did it.

I know it, the prosecutor, Mr. McNeil,

knows it.

Henri doesn't know it because he can't

remember it, but he won't deny he did it.

All those witnesses the prosecutor's

going to bring forth will tell you.

Henri Young killed Rufus McCain.

So now that we all know that,

why don't we find the man guilty...

...and gas him because that's

what we all know is going to happen?

- Right, Henri?

- What?

There's only one problem that's gonna keep

us from wrapping this up in record time.

Henri Young did not act alone.

They haven't caught all the killers.

There was a co-conspirator.

It is because of this co-conspirator,

whom we shall name in this courtroom...

...that Henri Young is innocent

of the crime of murder.

What?

Objection, Your Honor. I must protest.

I kind of figured you would.

Your Honor, this is absurd.

Before the counselor is allowed to waste

this court's time and this jury's time...

...I would request that he supply some proof

or evidence of this co-conspirator.

Mr. Stamphill,

can you bring forward evidence...

...of the existence of a co-conspirator?

Not at this time, but it is my intention to

during the course of the trial.

He's not going to provide such proof

because no proof exists.

This man spent three years

in solitary confinement...

...during which time

no one had any influence over him...

...because no one had

any contact with him.

He came out of solitary.

He went directly to a shower.

Then he went directly to a haircut.

Then he went directly to the dining hall...

...where one convict had said

one sentence to him.

Your Honor, this does not

a co-conspirator make.

I'm inclined to agree with the prosecution,

young man.

Unless you can justify

that line of defense...

...I will sustain

the prosecution's objection.

The district attorney, with his own words,

has just made my case for me.

That'll be the day.

Your Honor, for three years,

three long, torturous years...

...no one and nothing had any influence

whatsoever over Henri Young.

No one and nothing.

This was a man whose only crime

was to steal $5 from a local post office...

...so he could feed his starving sister.

He came to Alcatraz a petty criminal...

...who had never harmed or attempted

to harm another human being in his life.

And he came out of the dungeon

a vicious, barbaric, maniacal murderer.

A man who had been put

into a kind of psychological coma.

Within an hour of coming out

of that hellhole...

...he did what would have been unthinkable

to him three years before.

Unthinkable.

His only thought was murder.

His only instinct was murder.

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