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Consensus, however, is against him. "The law's only purpose is justice and therefore justice has to be the higher principle," the other jurors insist.
It is Dean, the former cowboy, who breaks the stalemate by reminding the others that while they believe the defendant did something wrong, "Justice belongs to God. Men have only the law. Justice is perfect, but the law can only be careful."
Eventually, the other jurors conclude, along with Burnett, that "true justice, final justice, absolute justice, belongs to God; human justice can only be cautious, not perfect."
Terry Hoover is a freelance writer for a variety of publications and president of the local chapter of Sisters In Crime.
