Act I Summary

Twelve jurors enter the jury room to deliberate a murder case. The defendant's life hangs in the balance of this death penalty case. It is summertime in an era when a courthouse does not have air conditioning. The trial has taken six days—four too many for some of the impatient jurors. The evidence of guilt seems overwhelming. The defendant has a fight with the victim, his father, earlier in the evening of the murder. He purchases a switchblade identical to the murder weapon immediately after the fight. He screams out, "I'm gonna kill you!" just prior to the stabbing, loud enough for most of the neighborhood to hear. An old man who lives in the apartment underneath the victim hears this and hears the father's body hit the floor one second later. He rushes to his door to see...