The Verdict
By A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all,” the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. “Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom.” He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.
Finally the lawyer said, “Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I therefore put to you that you have a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty.”
The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.
“But how?” inquired the lawyer. “You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door.”
The jury foreman replied: “Oh, we did look, but your client didn’t.”
That trope was used in 1987’s “From the Hip,” where flamboyan rookie attorney {Judd Nelson) is assigned a case where he knows his client (John Hurt) is guilty, and an evil man. Torn between his charter of getting the client off for a using a hammer to commit a heinous murder and then disposing of the victim, whom the client insists is alive and well and in hiding, he announces to the jury and the court that he can put an end to the case then and there. So he announces that the victim has been found, and is at that moment coming into the courtroom. He points at the door, and every eye in the courtroom is directed at the door. All except the defendant’s. Enough for his defense attorney to find a way to lose the case.
In his summation, he asks the jury “Did you look?” to demonstrate they had doubts as to whether the woman was murdered. And he also knew that they looked at the defendant, who was the only person in the courtroom who did not look.
They found him guilty.