A Time to Kill

By Sunday morning, National Guard vehicles and soldiers fill the street around the courthouse. Jake realizes that Noose will be furious since he was not consulted. Jake calls Carla with the news, hoping the soldiers’ presence will put her mind at ease. He does not tell her about Bud’s death. Jake works with Ellen during the day. After dark, when the candlelit vigil begins, they drink margaritas and discuss the prospective jurors. Harry Rex joins them, supplying more liquor. 

Outside the courthouse, black church members emerge from buses holding “Free Carl Lee” signs. Next, two dozen Klan members arrive. Ozzie and the National Guard colonel lead the Klansmen to a spot on the courthouse grass, and the group begins chanting “Fry Carl Lee!” (355). Lastly, the jurors arrive, navigating a narrow corridor between the two shouting groups.

Jake tries to calm his nerves by recalling Lucien’s advice: “Make friends with fear […] because it will not go away, and it will destroy you if left uncontrolled” (356).  He enters the courtroom and sits next to Carl Lee. Buckley’s assistant tells Jake that Noose wants to see him. In the judge’s chambers, Jake renews his request for a change of venue. Again, Noose denies it. Jake requests that Noose strike the full panel of jurors, given the intimidation of the cross burnings. Noose denies that request as well.

As the jury evaluation process begins, Buckley addresses the 94 prospective jury members: “He spoke without notes, and held the courtroom captivated as he portrayed himself as the underdog, the friend and partner of the jury, who, together with him, would find the truth, and punish this man for his monstrous deed” (364). After ten minutes, Jake objects, and Noose insists that Buckley question the panel or sit down. Buckley proceeds to questions the jurors for three hours, impressing Jake with his preparation and insight. 

When it is Jake’s turn to question the panel, he asks just one question: “Do any of you believe that the insanity defense should not be used under any circumstances?” (368). The jurors squirm, and Jake has accomplished his objective: planting the seed of the insanity defense in their minds.

In Noose’s chambers, each member of the jury pool is questioned individually about their opinion on the death penalty. Eleven members are excused because they will not consider capital punishment under any circumstances. When selection concludes, the final twelve-member jury is entirely white, comprised of 10 women and two men . “The blacks in the courtroom mumbled and eyed each other in disbelief” (372).

That night Stump Sisson dies of his burns. The Klansmen gather in the cabin to discuss options for revenge: “The trial had been too quiet so far. It was time for excitement” (374). 

Once again, in his opening statement, Buckley aims to unite himself with the jurors and cast them all as fighting together against evil and injustice. His speech annoys Jake: “All this fake sincerity and gushiness, the jury listened to it, and more often than not, fell for it” (378). Buckley surprises Jake by admitting that, considering the heinous rape, he too might have considered retribution. But Buckley positions Carl Lee’s pursuit of “due process and a fair trial” (379) as ironic given that he chose to take the law into his own hands. Buckley shows the jury the M-16 and explains that Carl Lee learned how to use it while in combat in Vietnam.

Compared to Buckley’s hour-and-a-half-long speech, Jake’s is succinct: only fourteen minutes, “and the jury appreciated every word” (381). He focuses on the preciousness of daughters and how they require a special type of protection from their fathers. He invites each juror to imagine how they would feel if their daughter was the rape victim. Then he asks them to send Carl Lee home to his family.

As his first witness, Buckley calls Billy Ray’s mother, Cora Cobb, in an attempt to produce an initial burst of sympathy. She cries as she confirms that Billy Ray is dead and that the last time she saw him was at his funeral. Then Jake stands and asks her how many other children Bill Ray raped, provoking a furious objection from Buckley. Noose sustains the objection and instructs the jurors to disregard Jake’s question. Next, Buckley calls Pete Willard’s mother, Earnestine Willard, and presents the same questions he asked Cora. Again, Jake asks how many children Pete raped before his death. Noose responds by summoning the attorneys into his private chambers, where Buckley demands that Noose punish Jake. But Jake calmly apologizes, knowing he has not suffered any real damage.

Over lunch, Harry Rex favorably reviews Jake’s performance, telling Ellen, “He’s got Buckley so jumpy right now he’ll never relax. Noose respects him because he’s not intimidated by His Honor. The jurors were shocked, but he woke them up and told them in a not so subtle way that this is war. A brilliant move” (386).

After lunch, Buckley calls Ozzie to the stand to identify the M-16 as the murder weapon. Buckley shocks the jury by showing them gruesome, magnified photos of Cobb’s and Willard’s corpses, directly after the shooting. When it’s Jake’s turn to cross-examine the witness, he gets Ozzie to verify Tonya’s age at the time of the rape. When he asks Ozzie whether it is true that Willard signed a confession, Buckley interrupts. Noose instructs the jury to disregard Jake’s remark because the confession is inadmissible as evidence. Finally, Buckley calls a series of forensics and weapons experts to testify that the bullet fragments found at the scene came from the M-16.

The next day, Buckley calls a state pathologist to the stand to explain how the bullets killed Cobb and Willard, including details of the lethal injuries they suffered. Jake considers the tactic “a classic case of prosecutorial overkill” (391). He can tell that both Noose and the jurors are bored. Then Buckley calls a man known only as Murphy, the janitor. Murphy identifies Carl Lee as the shooter, stating that he noticed Carl Lee in the janitor’s closet before the incident. Finally, Buckley calls Officer DeWayne Looney, who describes the shooting that took his leg and identifies Carl Lee as the perpetrator. When Jakes questions Looney, he has him describe Carl Lee’s behavior during the shooting. Looney says, “[O]ver all the noise I could hear him laughin’ that crazy laugh” (399). Jake tries not to smile; he and Looney have rehearsed this answer many times, and it comes off better than Jake planned. Looney contends that the shooting was an accident, and he does not want Carl Lee punished. “We oughtta give him a trophy” (399), Woody says, contending that he would have done the same thing if his daughter had been raped. Looney shouts that Carl Lee is a hero. Noose adjourns the court and instructs the jurors to disregard Looney’s final remarks.

Ozzie reports to Jake that Mickey Mouse has called again; the Klan plans to kill Jake today after they bury Stump. Ozzie escorts Jake to the courthouse where the soldiers stand guard. Meanwhile, two blocks away, a marksman is waiting in the top of a grain silo with a rifle and an unobstructed view of the courthouse. As Jake enters the building, a shot just misses him and hits a guardsman in the throat. The shooter escapes.

Jake, covered in the blood of the soldier who was standing next to him, is numb and confused. He tells Noose he will not be in court today. Reporters set up camp outside Jake’s office, but he refuses to come out. Ellen, Lucien, Harry Rex, and Bass join Jake in his office to drink. Ozzie calls with an update: The soldier who was shot will live, but he is probably paralyzed.

Later, Ellen is driving when a patrol car pulls her over. Two men in police uniforms grab her and throw her into the trunk of her car. They take her to a large clearing where a cross is burning. A man in a robe ties her ankles and wrists to a pole, slashes her blouse and skirt with a knife, and then he cuts her hair with the knife. Before they leave, the men light her car on fire. Mickey Mouse crawls out of some bushes nearby, unties Ellen, and calls the police.

In the morning, Jake is ready to proceed, though he doesn’t understand why Ellen hasn’t arrived yet. Jake calls Bass to the stand. The doctor is hungover but looks composed. Jake asks him a series of questions about his medical and psychiatric background and credentials, and Bass performs well. On cross-examination, Buckley asks if Bass considers himself an expert in psychiatry. Bass says yes, but his answers to Buckley’s subsequent questions reveal that he sees patients infrequently, has not published any psychiatric research, and is not qualified as an expert. Jake stands for another round of questions, focusing instead on Bass’s examination of Carl Lee and their lengthy discussion of the defendant’s traumatic Vietnam experiences. Jake asks Bass to describe what Tonya’s rape has done to Carl Lee.

A man named Clyde Sisco sits in the jury box; he is the juror that Lucien paid off in the past. Clyde and Lucien make eye contact, and Lucien mouths the word “How much?” (418). Clyde calculates a figure while Bass talks.

During a thirty-minute recess, Bass says he need a drink and disappears with Lucien. When questioning resumes, Jake directs him to describe the M’Naghten Rule, which states that, if a man cannot determine right from wrong, he is legally insane. In Bass’s opinion, Tonya’s rape drove Carl Lee temporarily insane so that he was unable to distinguish right from wrong when he planned and carried out the shooting. Then Buckley makes Jake nervous by asking Bass if he has ever gone by the name “Tyler Bass” and if he has ever been convicted of a felony. Bass answers no, but Buckley pushes, asking, “Are you as certain of that as you are of the rest of your testimony before this jury?” (423). Jake knows this a deadly question. When Buckley states that a man by the name of Tyler Bass was convicted of statutory rape in 1956, Bass claims Buckley has the wrong person. But Buckley produces police photos showing that Bass is the indeed the same man who was convicted in 1956. Disgusted, Jake has no further questions. He stares at Bass with hatred, hoping the jury notices.

Noose orders the attorneys to his chambers where Ozzie tells Jake that Ellen was attacked and is now in the hospital. The court recesses for two hours. Jake uses the time to visit Lucien at his house and question him about Bass’s past. Apparently, Bass impregnated a 17-year-old daughter of a judge, but then he married the girl so the judge expunged the crime from Bass’s record. Bass started drinking after his wife and the baby were killed in a train wreck.

Jake tells Lucien he thinks Carl Lee will be convicted. He confesses that Carl Lee tried to fire him after the adjournment. Lucien says, “This thing ain’t over till it’s over” (429). A policeman arrives to escort Jake home because of an emergency. They find Jake’s house burning to the ground. Jake, Ozzie, Harry Rex, and the police deputy watch the house burn for two hours.

Lucien receives a call from someone on behalf of Clyde Sisco. “It’s fifty thousand,” says the voice (432). 

Ellen’s father, Sheldon Roark, sits by her hospital bed reading the newspaper story about her attack. She has a concussion and 28 stitches. Jake and Harry Rex arrive and introduce themselves. Sheldon declares that Jake has done a good job, but he hopes he has “a soul-stirring final summation” (435) prepared.

In the hospital, Jake also visits Woody Mackenvale, the guardsman who was shot by the marksman in the silo. Jake introduces himself to Woody’s wife and sons, acknowledging that Woody saved his life.

Lucien surprises Jake with a closing argument he’s written: “I suggest you memorize it and use it word for word. It’s that good,” (440) he says. Lucien assures Jake that he can still win, despite everything that has gone wrong in the case. “I believe in tears in the jury box. It’s very effective,” (441) Lucien adds.

In court, Buckley calls to the stand Dr. Wilbert Rodeheaver, head of staff at Whitfield mental hospital, who testifies that, on the day of the shootings, Carl Lee’s “mental condition was sound, no defects of any nature” (445). Rodeheaver also claims that to apply the M’Naghten rule to this case would be offensive and preposterous given that Carl Lee has admitted to premeditation. On cross-examination, Jake asks Rodeheaver if he has ever testified that a defendant was insane, and Rodeheaver says he cannot recall. Then Jake cites a case in which three other psychiatrists testified that the defendant was insane, while Rodeheaver testified the opposite; yet the man has since been incarcerated at Whitfield for years. Jake asks why Rodeheaver would keep the man in mental health care if he was of sound mind. Jake goes on to provide other, similar examples of instances where both experts—and juries—disagreed with Rodeheaver’s opinion. Rodeheaver replies, “You just can’t trust juries” (452). Jake looks at the jury in shock. Carl Lee tells Jake that he did a good job.

Jake begins his closing argument by apologizing for Bass and suggesting that the man’s past might not have any bearing on his testimony regarding Carl Lee—nor diminish his professional expertise. He explains that Bass married the girl he was convicted of raping, and Buckley objects, but Jake knows he has scored a point with the jury nonetheless. Next, Jake tells the jurors about his own beloved daughter Hanna. And he describes rape as worse than murder because the victim must live with the aftermath of the crime. “Perhaps the most horrible crime of all is the rape of a child,” Jake says (455)—because a child cannot comprehend why such a thing might happen. Also, he informs the jury that, as a result of the rape, Tonya cannot have children of her own. Buckley objects again. Jake continues, referencing Looney and asking why the man who lost his leg would still consider Carl Lee a hero. Jake asks the jurors to forgive Carl Lee as Looney has. He concludes by describing the aftermath of the rape. Tonya—“lying there, beaten and bloody, legs spread and tied to trees” (456)—looked into the woods and thought she saw her father running to help her; then he disappeared. “Please don’t take him away,” Jake says to his audience. “She waits on the front row for her daddy. Let him go home to his family” (456). Jake spies one of the jurors crying and feels some hope.

Afterward, an informal vote among the jurors shows five “guilty,” five “undecided,” one pass, and one “not guilty.” 

Lucien tells Jake about Clyde Sisco and offers to pay for his vote. Jake refuses; it would be corrupt, and he won’t do it. “This is the hardest part,” says Lucien. “Waiting on twelve, average, everyday people to make sense of all this” (460). But Lucien has a miracle up his sleeve. He has planned for 10,000 black people to march on the courthouse prior to the verdict and chant for Carl Lee’s freedom.

That night, a man attacks the jury foreman, Barry Acker, at the hotel as he is buying a soda from a vending machine. Holding a knife to Barry’s throat, the assailant warns Barry to convict or his family will be killed.

The throng of black marchers appears the next morning at the courthouse, just as Lucien promised. They jeer at a handful of Klansmen, but the Klansmen do not shout back.

In the jury room, Barry wonders if the others have also been threatened. Rita Mae Plunk says she will vote “guilty” forever and nothing can change her mind. Most of the undecideds are also leaning towards a guilty verdict. The marchers outside pass below the window. “I didn’t know there were this many niggers in Ford County” (467), Rita Mae says.

In Noose’s chambers, Buckley is furious. He says the jurors cannot concentrate with the noise outside. He accuses the defense of orchestrating the march to intimidate the jurors. During lunch, the group grows from 10,000 to 15,000. The jurors agree to quit for the day and try again tomorrow, their nerves unraveled by three hours of chanting outside.

A Klansman named Tim Nunley is drinking a beer in the cabin. Three of his comrades suddenly grab him and drag him to the clearing. They tie him to a tree, burn a cross, and whip him with a bullwhip. Finally, a man ignites him with a match. “Mickey Mouse had been silenced” (472).

The next morning, even more protesters surround the courthouse. In the jury room, Barry Acker thinks about the riot that will follow a guilty verdict. The jurors are beginning to feel like hostages. Wanda Womack pipes up with a plan to settle the matter. And then, before the morning is over, the jury has reached a verdict. They find Carl Lee not guilty by reason of insanity. When Carl Lee steps outside, the crowd erupts in cheers.

Jake asks Lucien if he paid Clyde Sisco, and Lucien swears that he did not. Next, Harry Rex takes Jake to visit a man named Mack Lloyd Crowell—he was the one who told Buckley to shut up during the grand jury hearing and who polled the other jurors about how they’d react to the rape of their own daughters. Wanda Womack, the problem-solver of the trial jury, is Crowell’s girlfriend. Crowell tells Jake how she swayed the jury: She described the rape scene in as much detail as possible and then asked each one to honestly answer whether they would have wanted to kill the men who raped their own daughter. All twelve voted “yes.”

At Carl Lee’s house, he and Jake embrace. He thanks Jake as Tonya plays nearby.

That afternoon, Jake calls Carla to announce he’ll meet her in North Carolina by 10:00 that night. Lucien and Harry Rex tell him he is stupid to leave when all of the reporters want to talk to him. Jake says, “I appreciate you guys. I really do. I got paid nine hundred dollars for this trial and I plan to share it with y’all” (487). As the novel ends, Jake goes out to meet briefly with reporters before joining his family.