Murder! Page #4

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Whichever

in the minority...

Can then give

their individual reasons

and the thing can be

worked out that way.

That makes 7 guilty...

And 3 not guilty.

There are 2 not in.

I take it you

haven't come

to any decision

at all.

I think the whole

business is hateful.

There's too much

responsibility

put on our shoulders.

Either we've got

to let her go free--

that's not fair

to the rest of the world

if she's guilty--

or we got to hang her

But if we

recommend her to mercy.

Mercy? Is that what

you call it?

20 years

cut out of life.

The best years

and to spend them in hell.

Have you ever been

inside a prison?

It takes

a civilized community

to think out

a punishment like that.

I think

you exaggerate.

It's no use

confusing

the issue

like this.

People who do wrong

have got to be

punished somehow.

You can't run the

world on sentiment.

No, but that's what

we've tried to do.

Save the unfit.

Get more children

and make glorious wars

to be rid of.

The whole world's

a reeking pit of sentiment.

Your verdict,

mr. Shackleton.

Guilty, I suppose.

Who's the other one?

You, mr. Matthews?

Is there anything

special troubling you

so that you can't

make a decision?

What is it prevents you

from making a decision?

Well, nothing really.

Uh, well, uh...

Have you made up

your mind at all

what it's going to be?

You heard the case

for the prosecution.

That's pretty clear,

isn't it?

And you know what the

defense is, don't you?

Yes, but I, uh...

Don't quite understand

what the lady meant

when she said no.

When, uh...

When she spoke.

My dear man,

mrs. Ward was only

trying to tell you

that the defense was

that murder

was committed

in a fit of daytime

sleep walking.

Yes. But, uh...

The murder took

place at nighttime.

Can you write?

Well, will you

please write down

whether you think the

prisoner guilty or not?

Now that leaves

only 3 for not guilty.

I'll give you my reasons

for not guilty.

The evidence for the

defense by the doctor

is to my mind

conclusive.

Anyone who's followed

the modern trend

of pscyhological

investigations

must be aware

that any person

suffering from severe

mental strain,

such as the prisoner

may have been

following on so many

rehearsals and things,

may bring about

a sudden condition

in which the patient

is no longer either

conscious of or responsible

for their actions.

We've already

had evidence

that the

prisoner's mind

is a delicately

balanced one

and quite liable through

some hidden flaw

in that mind

to become deprived

of all consciousness

and readily enter

into a state

wherein the body

is still functioning,

though no longer under

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