Monster

“Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. It is a strange movie with no plot and no beginning. The movie is in black and white, and grainy. Sometimes the camera moves in so close that you can’t tell what is going on and you just listen to the sounds and guess. I have seen movies of prisons but never one like this. This is not a movie about bars and locked doors. It is about being alone when you are not really alone and about being scared all the time.”

As a way of coping with the surreal experience of being incarcerated and put on trial, Steve imagines that the proceedings are all a motion picture he is making, staring himself. Though he lists himself as the producer, director, and star of the show, he acknowledges that the movie takes on a life of its own such that he does not know the conclusion. The hopes he clings to throughout are that the normal order of his life will be restored and that the movie will reveal him to be a good person.

“Let me make sure you understand what’s going on. Both you and this King character are on trial for felony murder. Felony murder is as serious as it gets. Sandra Petrocelli is the prosecutor, and she’s good. They’re pushing for the death penalty, which is really bad. The jury might think they’re doing you a big favor by giving you life in prison. So you’d better take this trial very, very seriously. When you’re in court, you sit there and you pay attention. You let the jury know that you think the case is as serious as they do. You don’t turn and wave to any of your friends. It’s all right to acknowledge your mother.”

In this passage, his attorney tries to impress on Steve the gravity of the charges he faces. Kathy pulls no punches in telling Steve what is at stake. She seems to understand that Steve’s appearance and bearing during the trial will serve as silent testimony to his guilt or innocence. Readers may note that she makes no mention of the crime, the charges, or their validity.

“But the laws also protect the accused, and that is the wonder and beauty of the American system of justice. We don’t drag people out of their beds in the middle of the night and lynch them. We don’t torture people. We don’t beat them. We apply the law equally to both sides. The law that protects society protects all of society. In this case we will show that the evidence that the State will produce is seriously flawed. We will show not only that there is room for reasonable doubt–and you will hear more about that idea at the end of the trial–but that the doubt that Steve Harmon has committed any crime, any crime at all, is overwhelming. As Mr. Harmon’s attorney all I ask of you, the jury, is that you look at Steve Harmon now and remember that at this moment the American system of justice demands that you consider him innocent. He is innocent until proven guilty. If you consider him innocent now, and by law you must, if you have not prejudged him, then I don’t believe we will have a problem convincing you that nothing the State will produce will challenge that innocence.”

This quote is a portion of Kathy’s opening statement to the jury, in which she discusses the jury’s constitutional mandate to consider Steve innocent until the prosecutor presents evidence to prove otherwise. Her clever inclusion about the arrest and treatment of suspects is intended to remind the jurors of the past mistreatment Black suspects have received.