Goodnight for Justice Page #4

How do you plead?

I'm innocent.

I'd like to hear from both parties.

Mr. Jones, you first.

Thank you, Your Honor.

I was returning home after

a social drink with my colleagues

when this floozy appeared

out of nowhere and stabbed me.

Now, this heinous

and unprovoked act

has rendered me unable

to use my right hand,

preventing me from exercising

my duties at the bank

and causing my wife

undue anxiety.

I see.

So, it is your testimony, then,

that she stabbed you for no reason.

That's right.

Sit down and tend to

your heinous and unprovoked wound.

Miss Landry,

did you stab Mr. Jones?

Yes.

But I had to.

I didn't know how else

to make him stop.

- Stop what?

- He attacked me.

Oh! That's a lie!

Look, I may be a lot of things,

but a liar isn't one of them.

You were drunk, and you waited

for me outside the saloon,

and you tried

to take advantage of me,

and when I said no,

you hit me!

I did no such...

I did no such thing.

I am a pillar of this community.

Thank you very much

for reminding me.

I'm ready to render a verdict.

Whenever I've

had to stab someone,

it's, uh, usually been

in the gut or the chest,

but Miss Landry here, she appears

to be a very robust young woman.

Now, if she had wanted to inflict

a more serious level of damage

on Mr. Jones,

it seems to me apparent

that she could have.

She could have stabbed him

in a more dire place, for example.

Instead,

he appears here today in this

courtroom with a wound on his hand.

It appears to be

a defensive wound.

While I find there is often reason

to stab a drunk man,

there is never good reason

to hit a woman.

Miss Landry, the charges are

dismissed, and you're free to go.

Mr. Jones, you're also free

to go... home with your wife,

and when you get there,

check your kitchen knives

and make sure that they're dull,

in the very likely event

that she may want to stab you, too.

What about my hand?

Use the other one.

Next case.

I thought you didn't take bribes.

If it happens after the trial,

it ain't no bribe.

What's going on?

Murder trials are pretty popular

around here.

I'm sorry to hear that.

He hated my father

because of the color of his skin.

He said he'd kill him if he ever

stepped foot in his restaurant again.

When was the last time

you saw your father?

About two weeks ago.

My baby brother took sick.

Papa went into town

to fetch him some milk.

He never came back.

And do you have reason to believe

that he went to Mr. Ayles' restaurant?

It was a Sunday night.

Everything else was closed.

When was your father found?

The next morning,

hanging from a tree by the creek.

I'm, uh, sorry that I have to ask you

these painful questions, Isaack.

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