A Time to Kill

Omar Noose, a well-respected, 63-year -old county circuit judge, calls the docket at the beginning of May. Of the 90 people in the pool of prospective jurors, 18 are selected for the grand jury. Of those18, Jake counts fives blacks and 13 whites. Two of the blacks are women, and there are eight white women. Noose explains to the members of the grand jury that, in this first stage, the indictment of Carl Lee, an indictment will be issued only if twelve of them believe it is warranted. Noose then appoints one of the black women as foreperson.

Ozzie presents the evidence against Carl Lee. A white, male juror named Mack Lloyd Crowell asks Ozzie what he would do if it were his daughter who was raped. The district attorney, Buckley, tells Ozzie that he doesn’t have to answer, but Crowell shouts at him to shut up. Crowell asks the jurors how many of them would want to act as Carl Lee had if their daughter had been raped. “Seven or eight hands shot up, and Buckley dropped his head” (128). When Buckley moves to indict Carl Lee, the motion passes, but by one vote.

At the request of Cobb’s brother Freddie, Stump Sisson, the Klan’s Imperial Wizard for Mississippi, calls a meeting at a small cabin 230 miles from Ford County. Stump questions Freddie about Carl Lee’s case, finding it “ had real potential. With the trial several months away, there was time to plan a rebellion” (132). Stump intends to use the case for Klan recruitment and to establish a Klavern in Ford County. He instructs Freddie to find five or six other recruits with whom he can be initiated as a member. Freddie, whose grandfather was a Klansman, leaves the meeting feeling excited.

Jake’s friend Harry Rex Vonner “was a huge slob of a lawyer who specialized in nasty divorce cases and perpetually kept some jerk in jail for back child support” (136). Harry hates the Sullivan Firm as much as Jake does. He concedes that he knows Buckley won the indictment by only one vote, but he does not reveal his source. He says, “We’ll pick us a good jury, twelve good and faithful citizens, then we’ll buy them” (138).

Jake and Buckley meet in Noose’s chambers. Jake declares he needs 60 days to prepare his case and hints that he plans to enter a plea of insanity, which will require extensive psychological evaluations of Carl Lee. The trial is set for the week of July 22.

Jake visits Carl Lee to relate the details of the indictment. Carl Lee does not want to wait 60 days for the trial; he is worried because he’s missing work and his wife is out of money.

Jake learns from a Coffee Shop waitress that she’s hearing a lot of sympathy for Carl Lee. “My instinct is to forgive anyone who kills a rapist. Especially a father. But we can’t allow people to grab guns and hand out their own justice,” she says (145). She claims she would vote not guilty for the Cobb and Willard murders if she found the insanity defense convincing—although, she adds, she might convict Carl Lee for shooting Looney.

At the arraignment, Carl Lee pleads not guilty, and Noose denies any opportunity for bail.

Jake convenes a press conference with the entire Hailey family. Carl Lee sits next to his wife, holding Tonya. Jake describes what the rape and ensuing trial has done to the Hailey family and announces that Carl Lee will plead insanity. “The press conference was a hit” (152) and appears on the evening and late news.

Jake visits Carl Lee and reports that two Memphis psychiatrists are requesting $1,000 for an initial evaluation. Carl Lee is frustrated. He expected to be exonerated as quickly as Lester was. “But the system was not working now. It was conspiring to keep him in jail, to break him, to make orphans of his children” (155).

Cat Bruster visits with Carl Lee in Ozzie’s office. Cat explains that he’s avoided conviction for his own criminal charges (drug and murder) by getting “the smartest, meanest, crookedest criminal lawyer in these parts” (158): Bo Marsharfsky. Because Marsharfsky is on Cat’s retainer, Carl Lee will not have to pay for the lawyer’s work. Carl Lee assents.

The next morning, Jake learns from a headline in the paper that Bo Marsharfsky is Carl Lee’s new lawyer. Jake visits Carl Lee in jail and asks him who is paying Marsharfsky. Carl Lee refuses to say.

Reverend Agee convenes a special assembly on Sunday at his church to raise financial support for Carl Lee. Agee insists that the NAACP must also take an active role in the case. The other members of the Council of Ministers, a group of black preachers who promote political action in Ford County, agree to the plan.

The Brigance family goes on a picnic. Jake reminisces about Hanna’s premature birth and how hard he prayed for her survival. Carla warns Jake against calling Lester to inform him about Carl Lee’s change of heart. She doesn’t think Jake “should intervene in their family affairs” (168). Jake maintains he’s just trying to get his case back.

On Monday morning before dawn, someone sets a burning cross on Jake’s front lawn. A police deputy arrives at the house following an anonymous tip and puts out the fire with a garden hose. The deputy tells Jake that he doesn’t know of any active Klan members in the state. Now Carla is relieved that Carl Lee found another lawyer; she hopes the threats will stop.

Walter Sullivan, from the Sullivan firm, calls Jake to report that Marsharfsky has named Walter as local counsel, a requirement for Marsharfsky to try the case since he does not have a Mississippi law license. Jakes hangs up the phone. 

When Jake returns to his office after a break, Buckley is waiting upstairs. He wants to talk about the case, but the two attorneys wind up arguing about who would have won if Carl Lee hadn’t fired Jake. Before Buckley leaves, Jake says “Don’t count me out” (183).

Marsharfsky has not yet arrived in Clanton, and Carl Lee is getting nervous. At the jail, Jake meets with another client named Leroy, who shares a cell with Carl Lee. Jake informs Leroy that Carl Lee’s new lawyer can’t come to visit “because he doesn’t have a license to practice law in Mississippi” (185).

That evening Jake calls Lester to report that Carl Lee has fired him. He feels he is walking a thin line between justified and unethical behavior; nevertheless, he tells Lester that Carl Lee is making a mistake. Jake requests that Lester talk to Carl Lee without revealing that Jake asked him to. Lester agrees to drive down on Saturday to talk to his brother.

Jake visits Leroy again to discuss his case. He mentions that he saw Carl Lee’s case file earlier that morning and nothing has been added to it all week, meaning that no one is working on it. He warns Leroy against telling Carl Lee, knowing that he probably will.

In their cell, Carl Lee asks Leroy about his visit with Jake. Leroy hesitates, but when Carl Lee pushes Leroy divulges what Jake said about Marsharfsky. Leroy contends that when the “rednecks” on the jury see Marsharfsky, they’ll think, “the poor nigger is guilty, and he’s sold his soul to hire the biggest crook in Memphis to tell us he ain’t guilty” (195).

Carl Lee receives a visitor, Reverend Isaiah Street, who was an organizer for Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement. Street expresses concern on behalf of the ministers working on the case: “It’s a fragile system, this trusting of lives to twelve average, ordinary people who do not understand the law and are intimidated by the process” (197). An acquittal will do more for black people than any event since desegregation, Street tells Carl Lee, but a conviction will be a blow against black people and serve as further evidence that old Southern racism prevails. Street has met Bo Marsharfsky before. His clients are always guilty, he says, and everyone knows it. He cautions Carl Lee that his case will only be more difficult to win if he lets a crook represent him.

As Lester drives to Mississippi, he passes rows of dilapidated houses and thinks about the lives of poor blacks and whites. “Blacks had an excuse for being worthless, but for whites in a white world, there were no excuses” (199). He is happy that Carl Lee killed the two rapists.

After talking to Lester for hours, Carl Lee requests a meeting with Jake. He wants to give Jake back the case. Jake responds in anger, claiming Carl Lee broke their contract: “You fired me a week ago and didn’t have the guts to call me” (202). Carl Lee pleads confusion and says he now wants to trust Jake. Jake accepts.

Jake wants his wife and child to leave town for their safety, but Carla refuses. Meanwhile, Carl Lee receives a visit from his wife and children. Gwen reports that Reverend Agee has started an offering: All the black churches in the county are collecting money for the case and will do so every Sunday until the trial. She explains that Tonya is healing well physically but that her doctor says she will never be able to have children. Also, Tonya’s nightmares are getting worse, and she needs to see a therapist. After Gwen leaves, Carl Lee thinks about the rapists and smiles. He is proud that he killed them.

Lucien calls Jake to come over and meet Dr. W.T. Bass, “a retired psychiatrist from Jackson” (212). Bass has testified to the insanity of two of Lucien’s past clients, and both were convicted. When Jake arrives, Lucien is very drunk and Bass is passed out. Lucien promises that Bass has impeccable credentials and will be sober for the trial.