Douze hommes en colere

In the murder trial of a teenage boy from a city slum, accused of murdering his father, the judge (Mary McDonnell) instructs the jury to determine his guilt or innocence. The verdict must be unanimous and a guilty verdict will possibly (not mandatorily, unlike in the 1957 film) result in the death penalty. The jury of twelve retires to the jury room. An initial vote is taken and eleven jurors vote for conviction. Juror 8 (Jack Lemmon), the lone dissenter, states that the evidence is circumstantial and the boy deserves a fair deliberation. He questions the testimony of the two witnesses, and the fact that the switchblade used in the murder is not as unusual as the testimony indicates, producing an identical knife from his pocket. Juror 8 proposes another vote by secret ballot - if the other jurors vote guilty unanimously, he will acquiesce, but if at least one votes "not guilty" they will continue deliberating. Only Juror 9 (Hume Cronyn) changes his vote, respecting Juror 8's motives and feeling his points deserve further discussion. After deliberating whether one witness actually heard the murder take place, Juror 5 (Dorian Harewood), who grew up in a slum, changes his vote. Juror 11 (Edward James Olmos), questioning whether the defendant would have fled the scene and returned three hours later to retrieve his knife, also changes his vote. Jurors 2 (Ossie Davis) and 6 (James Gandolfini) also vote "not guilty," tying the verdict at 6-6, after Juror 8 demonstrates the unlikelihood that one witness actually saw the boy flee the scene. The remaining jurors are intrigued when Juror 11 proves that although a psychiatric test stated that the boy had subconscious desires to kill, such tests only offer possible actions. Juror 7 (Tony Danza), impatient to attend a baseball game that night, changes his vote, but Juror 11 chastises him for changing his vote so casually and selfishly when the boy's life is on the line. When pressed by Juror 11, Juror 7 eventually states that he doubts the boy is guilty. Jurors 12 (William Petersen) and 1 (Courtney B. Vance), the foreman, change their votes, leaving the only dissenters: Jurors 3 (George C. Scott), 4 (Armin Mueller-Stahl), and 10 (Mykelti Williamson). Outraged at the proceedings, Juror 10 goes on a bigoted diatribe against Hispanic immigrants "outbreeding" African-Americans. He attempts to leverage this with the other African-American jurors, offending the rest of the jury, until Juror 4 orders him to be quiet for the rest of the proceedings. Juror 4 states that despite all the other evidence called into question, the testimony of the woman who saw the murder from across the street stands as solid evidence. Juror 12 changes his vote back to "guilty," making the vote 8-4 again. Juror 9, seeing Juror 4 rub his nose, irritated by his glasses, realizes that the witness had impressions on her nose, indicating that she wore glasses and likely was not wearing them when she saw the murder. Jurors 12 and 4 change their vote to "not guilty." Juror 10, who says he still thinks the defendant is guilty, bluntly admits to no longer caring about the verdict and votes for acquittal. Undeterred, Juror 3 is forced to present his arguments again, and goes on a tirade, presenting the evidence in haphazard fashion and concluding with his disbelief that a son would kill his own father, mirroring his previous comments about his bad relationship with his own son. He begins to cry, and says he can feel the knife being plunged into his chest. Juror 8 gently points out that the boy is not his son, and Juror 4 quietly persuades him to let the boy live. Juror 3 gives in, and the final vote is unanimous for acquittal. The jurors leave and the defendant is found not guilty off-screen, while Juror 8 helps the distraught Juror 3 with his coat. Before departing the court, Jurors 8 and 9 exchange names before parting ways.