I dont own anything!
Tom Robinson was last to testify. I sat there listening to his side of the story, and only one thing was running through my mind. This man was innocence. I don't know what had me so convinced. Maybe it was that bruise Mr. Heck Tate said was on the right side of Mayella's face. With her father being left handed and seeing how Tom Robinson can't even move his left arm, it was pretty clear to me who did it. But I know that not one other person sitting in this jury feels the same way as I do. I knew what I had to do but I didn't want to have to put an innocence man's life at risk. Maybe it was even the questions Atticus asked Mayella about her father that lead me to this conclusion.
I watched Tom as he stepped off the stand and made his way back to his seat beside Atticus. The court room was silent, you could've heard a pin drop. Mr. Flinch rose from his seat and walked slowly up and down in front of the jury.
"Gentlemen." he said. "I shall be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant. This case is as simple as white and black." Atticus was still pacing around with his hands hidden deep in his pockets.
"The defendant is not guilty, but someone in this court room is." I know who Mr. Flinch is implying. I think a lot of people do. Their just to afraid to say it out loud so the people who don't know the truth could hear it. Exactly like me.
"Mayella did something every child has done - she tried to put the evidence of her offence away from her. What was the evidence of her offence? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. He was her daily reminder of what she did. What did she do?" Atticus asked.
"She tempted a Negro." He paused for a minute and took out his handkerchief and began to wipe off his glasses.
"I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore the defendant to his family. In the name of God, do you're duty."
Atticus turned away from us and walked back to his seat. Mr. Gilmer came up to us and did some more talking, but I wasn't really listing. The when Judge Taylor finished charging the jury, we all went into the back room to discuss everything we had heard.
Every conversation we got into, we always had the same outcome. That he was guilty. I didn't say what I was thinking, I just agreed to what they were talking about. This is the longest we have ever taken to come up with a verdict. But after many tries, and thirty minutes later, we finally got one. Unfortunately, it wasn't the one I wanted to hear.
As we walked back into the court room, it looked like no one had moved. Everyone was quiet. As we took our seats in the jury stand, not one of us could even look Tom Robinson in the eye. The foreman handed Judge Taylor a piece of paper. The same piece of paper that would determine the outcome of the rest of Tom's life.
"…guilty… guilty…guilty…"
I don't think I've ever felt so sorry in my life.