(Fade out)
Act II
Fade in on same scene, no time lapse. EIGHT stands tensely watching as the JURORS write on their ballots. He stays perfectly still as one by one they fold the ballots and pass them along to the FOREMAN. The FOREMAN takes them, riffles through the folded ballots, counts eleven and now begins to open them. He reads each one out loud and lays it aside. They watch him quietly, and all we hear is his voice and the sound of TWO sucking on a cough drop.
FOREMAN. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
(He pauses at the tenth ballot and then reads it.) Not Guilty. (THREE slams down hard on the table. The FOREMAN opens the last ballot.) Guilty.
TEN (angry). How do you like that!
SEVEN. Who was it? I think we have a right to know.
ELEVEN. Excuse me. This was a secret ballot. We agreed on this point, no? If the gentleman wants it to remain secret—
THREE (standing up angrily). What do you mean? There are no secrets in here! I know who it was. (He turns to FIVE.) What’s the matter with you? You come in here and you vote guilty and then this slick preacher starts to tear your heart out with stories about a poor little kid who just couldn’t help becoming a murderer. So you change your vote. If that isn’t the most sickening—
(FIVE stares at THREE, frightened at this outburst.)
FOREMAN. Now hold it.
THREE. Hold it? We’re trying to put a guilty man into the chair where he belongs—and all of a sudden we’re paying attention to fairy tales.
FIVE. Now just a minute—
ELEVEN. Please. I would like to say something here. I have always thought that a man was entitled to have unpopular opinions in this country. This is the reason I came here. I wanted to have the right to disagree. In my own country, I am ashamed to say—
TEN. What do we have to listen to now—the whole history of your country?
SEVEN. Yeah, let’s stick to the subject. (To FIVE) I want to ask you what made you change your vote.
(There is a long pause as SEVEN and FIVE eye each other angrily.)
NINE (quietly). There’s nothing for him to tell you. He didn’t change his vote. I did. (There is a pause.) Maybe you’d like to know why.
THREE. No, we wouldn’t like to know why.
FOREMAN. The man wants to talk.
NINE. Thank you. (Pointing at EIGHT) This gentleman chose to stand alone against us. That’s his right. It takes a great deal of courage to stand alone even if you believe in something very strongly. He left the verdict up to us. He gambled for support and I gave it to him. I want to hear more. The vote is ten to two.