John Grisham - A time to kill

"Your motion is overruled," Noose said flatly. "What else do you have?"

"Nothing, really. I request that when you do excuse the twenty, you so do in such a way that the other jurors don't know the reason."

"I can handle that, Mr. Brigance."

Mr. Pate was sent to find Jean Gillespie. Noose handed her a list of the twenty names. She returned to the courtroom and read the list. They were not needed for jury duty, and were free to go. She returned to chambers.

"How many jurors do we have?" Noose asked her.

"Ninety-four."

"That's enough. I'm sure we can find twelve who are fit to serve."

"You couldn't find two," Jake mumbled to Ellen, loud enough for Noose to hear and Norma Gallo to record. His Honor excused them and they took their places in the courtroom.

Ninety-four names were written on small strips of paper that were placed in a short wooden cylinder. Jean Gillespie spun the cylinder, stopped it, and picked a name at random. She handed it to Noose, who sat above her and everyone else on his throne, or bench, as it was called. The courtroom watched in dead silence as he squinted down that nose and looked at the first name.

"Carlene Malone, juror number one," he shrieked in his loudest voice. The front row had been cleared, and Mrs. Malone took her seat next to the aisle. Each pew would seat ten, and there were ten pews, all to be filled with jurors. The ten pews on the other side of the aisle were packed with family, friends, spectators, but mainly reporters who scribbled down the name of Carlene Malone. Jake wrote her name too. She was white, fat, divorced, lower income. She was a two on the Brigance scale. Zero for one, he thought.

Jean spun again.

"Marcia Dickens, juror number two," yelled Noose. White, fat, over sixty with a rather unforgiving look. Zero for two.

"Jo Beth Mills, number three."

Jake sank a little in his seat. She was white, about fifty, and worked for minimum wage at a shirt factory in Karaway. Thanks to affirmative action, she had a black boss who was ignorant and abusive. She had a zero by her name on the Brigance notecard. Zero for three.

Jake stared desperately at Jean as she spun again. "Reba Betts, number four."

He sunk lower and began pinching his forehead. Zero for four. "This is incredible," he mumbled in the direction of Ellen. Harry Rex shook his head.

"Gerald Ault, number five."

Jake smiled as his number-one juror took a seat next to Reba Betts. Buckley placed a nasty black mark by his name.

"Alex Summers, number six."

Carl Lee managed a weak smile as the first black emerged from the rear and took a seat next to Gerald Ault. Buckley smiled too as he neatly circled the name of the first black.

The next four were white women, none of whom rated above three on the scale. Jake was worried as the first pew

filled. By law he had twelve peremptory challenges, free strikes with no reason required. The luck of the draw would force him to use at least half of his peremptories on the first pew.

"Walter Godsey, number eleven," announced Noose, his voice declining steadily in volume. Godsey was a middle-aged sharecropper with no compassion and no potential.

When Noose finished the second row, it contained seven white women, two black men, and Godsey. Jake sensed a disaster. Relief didn't come until the fourth row when Jean hit a hot streak and pulled the names of seven men, four of whom were black.

It took almost an hour to seat the entire panel. Noose recessed for fifteen minutes to allow Jean time to type a numerical list of names. Jake and Ellen used the break to review their notes and place the names with the faces. Harry Rex had sat at the counter behind the red docket books and feverishly taken notes while Noose called the names. He huddled with Jake and agreed things were not going well.

At eleven, Noose reassumed the bench, and the courtroom was silenced. Someone suggested he should use the mike, and he placed it within inches of his nose. He spoke loudly, and his fragile, obnoxious voice rattled violently around the courtroom as he asked a lengthy series of statu-torily required questions. He introduced Carl Lee and asked if any juror was kin to him or knew him. They all knew of him, and Noose assumed that, but only two of the panel admitted knowing him prior to May. Noose introduced the lawyers, then explained briefly the nature of the charges. Not a single juror confessed to being ignorant of the Hailey case.

Noose rambled on and on, and mercifully finished at twelve-thirty. He recessed until two.

Dell delivered hot sandwiches and iced tea to the conference room. Jake hugged and thanked her, and told her to send him the bill. He ignored his food, and laid the notecards on the table in the order the jurors had been seated. Harry Rex attacked a roast beef and cheddar sandwich. "We got a terrible draw," he kept repeating with both cheeks stretched to the limit. "We got a terrible draw."

When the ninety-fourth card was in place, Jake stood back and studied them. Ellen stood beside him and nibbled on a french fry. She studied the cards.

"We got a terrible draw," Harry Rex said, washing it all down with a pint of tea.

"Would you shut up," Jake snapped.

"Of the first fifty, we have eight black men, three black women, and thirty white women. That leaves nine white men, and most are unattractive. Looks like a white female jury," Ellen said.

"White females, white females," Harry Rex said. "The worst possible jurors in the world. White females!"

Ellen stared at him. "I think fat white men are the worst jurors."

"Don't get me wrong, Row Ark, I love white females. I've married four of them, remember. I just hate white female jurors."

"I wouldn't vote to convict him."

"Row Ark, you're an ACLU communist. You wouldn't vote to convict anybody of anything. In your little demented mind you think child pornographers and PLO terrorists are really swell people who've been abused by the system and should be given a break."

"And in your rational, civilized, and compassionate mind, what do you think we should do with them?"

"Hang them by their toes, castrate them, and let them bleed to death, without a trial."

"And the way you understand the law, that would be constitutional?"

"Maybe not, but it'd stop a lot of child pornography and terrorism. Jake, are you gonna eat this sandwich?"

"No."

Harry Rex unwrapped a ham and cheese. "Stay away from number one, Carlene Malone. She's one of those Malones from Lake Village. White trash and mean as hell."

"I'd like to stay away from this entire panel," Jake said, still staring at the table.

"We got a terrible draw."

"Whatta you think, Row Ark?" Jake asked.

Harry Rex swallowed quickly. "I think we oughtta plead

him guilty and get the hell outta there. Run like a scalded dog."

Ellen stared at the cards. "It could be worse."

Harry Rex forced a loud laugh. "Worse! The only way it could be worse would be if the first thirty were sitting there wearing white robes with pointed hats and little masks."

"Harry Rex, would you shut up," Jake said.

"Just trying to help. Do you want your french fries?"

"No. Why don't you put all of them in your mouth and chew on them for a long time?"

"I think you're wrong about some of these women," Ellen said. "I'm inclined to agree with Lucien. Women, as a very general rule, will have more sympathy. We're the ones who get raped, remember?"

"I have no response to that," Harry Rex said.

"Thanks," replied Jake. "Which one of these girls is your former client who'll supposedly do anything for you if you'll simply wink at her?"

Ellen snickered. "Must be number twenty-nine. She's five feet tall and weighs four hundred pounds."

Harry Rex wiped his mouth with a sheet of paper. "Very funny. Number seventy-four. She's too far back. Forget her."