12 Angry Men (Adaptation 2)
Juror 8: A key witness to a murder trial claimed she saw the killing through the windows of a moving elevated train. The train had five cars, and while watching from the safety of her apartment window, she saw it happen through the windows of the last two cars. She remembers the most insignificant details. I am not entirely sure if she is correct in thinking this, however.
Now, this woman claims she had seen the killing through the windows of a moving train. If you take a look at the sketch that was drawn of an elevated train, you need to wonder. How long does it take an elevated train going at top speed to pass a given point?
Along with this witness who saw the killing, I invite you to think of the old man who also happened to hear the young man being accused yell out “I’m going to kill you,” to his father, and after this he heard a body fall out the window. And that was his testimony.
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Why would that be important?
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Just take a guess. How long do you think it takes?
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I wouldn’t have the slightest idea.
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I’d say maybe ten or twelve seconds?
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Sounds like a pretty decent guess to me. Anyone else?
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I would say about ten seconds.
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Probably ten seconds.
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Listen to this. An elevated train passes a given point in ten seconds. That given point is the window of the room in which the killing took place. You’ve got a good image of that now, right? Now has anyone here ever lived next to train tracks? I have. When your window is open and the train goes by, the noise is ridiculous. You can barely hear yourself think.
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So what?
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The woman across the street looked through the windows of the last two cars of the el and saw the body fall. Remember? The last two cars.
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…I’m still not sure I’m getting it.”
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An elevated train takes ten seconds to pass a given point. So that’s two seconds per car. That train had been going by the old man’s window for at least six seconds or more before the body fell, according to the woman. The old man would have had to hear the boy say, “I’m going to kill you,” while the front of the train was going right by his house. It’s not possible that he could have heard it.
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What are you talking about?! Of course he could’ve heard it!
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Could he?
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He said he heard the kid yell it out. Shouldn’t that be obvious enough?
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Actually, I don’t think he could have heard it.
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Yeah, maybe he didn’t hear it. I mean with the all the noise around…
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What are you guys talking about? Are you saying the old guy was lying?
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Well, it would make sense!
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How?! Why would he lie? What’s he got to gain?
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Attention, maybe.
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Huh, I didn’t think about that. Why might the old man have lied? You have a right to be heard.
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The seam of his jacket was split under the arm. Did you notice that? He was a very old man with a torn jacket, and he carried two canes. I think I know him better than anyone here. This is a quiet, frightened, insignificant man who has been nothing all his life. He’s never had recognition, or even his name in the newspapers. Nobody knows him after seventy-five years. That’s a very sad thing. A man like this feels like he needs to be recognized. To be questioned, and listened to, and quoted just once. This would be very important to him.
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So… he lied about a thing like this just so that he could be important?
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No, I don’t think he actually lied. But maybe he made himself believe that he heard those words and recognized the boy’s face.
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That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. What would you know about something like that?
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Because I’ve been that person.
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