The story is set in 1941. This man is Thurgood
Marshall, the only lawyer working for the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, or NAACP for short. His mission was to defend people who were
wrong-framed just because of their skin color. At the beginning of the film, Marshall was on
duty in Oklahoma. He was defending an African American man named Billy Lyons who was imprisoned
for 3 days for no reason. Billy was beaten by the Sheriff and told to confess to a crime he did not
commit and was sentenced to the death penalty. Defending black people during that time
would involve oneself in an open threat. Marshall often got murder threats in
public, but that never frighten him once. Long story short, in New York’s NAACP office,
Marshall met his colleague named Walter White. Marshall was just returned from Oklahoma but he
was immediately ordered to go back to Bridgeport, Connecticut to work on Joseph Spell‘s case,
a black driver who was accused of assaulting his boss, a white woman. That incident
caused many black workers to get fired because white people were afraid to hire
them. He considered this case interesting, but he needed a local lawyer so he could be
appointed by the state to defend the person. Meanwhile, in a different place, a lawyer
named Sam Friedman, a civil lawyer. At that time, he was handling an insurance case.
Being a good lawyer, he managed to win the case. Some other time, he was visited by a man
named Ted Lancaster, a representative from NAACP in Bridgeport. Ted asked Sam to
assist Marshall in Joseph Spell’s case. At first, he refused because his expertise
was not in the criminal case, but since the file had been submitted to the court by his
brother, like it or not, he had to do it. Long story short at the train station, Sam finally
met Marshall. Sam emphasized to Marshall that he was just a civil lawyer who handled civil cases
like insurance, but Marshall didn't care and still asked Sam to accompany him. Both of them
then immediately met Joseph Spell in his cell. The meeting was held briefly. Without further ado,
Marshall immediately introduced herself as a free lawyer from NAACP. He asked Joseph to explain
briefly what happened, whether he was guilty or framed because of his race. It was important for
Marshall to know whether his client was guilty or not because NAACP’s mission is indeed to
defend people who are being wrong-famed. After making sure that Joseph was not
guilty, Marshall decided to defend him. The first trial finally began.
Before entering the courtroom, Marshall introduced himself to journalists as
Joseph Spell's lawyer. Inside the courtroom, they would face a prosecutor named Loren Willis
whose father was a former partner of the judge who presided over the trial, namely Judge Foster.
Before starting the trial, Judge Foster asked the reason behind hiring an attorney from
another city just to defend Joseph. Even though Sam had explained that Marshall
was a respected lawyer who represented the NAACP, the judge didn’t care at all.
Judge Foster refused to replace Sam with Marshall, instead, Marshall was allowed to be there but was
forbidden to say anything. Sam who was there just to inform the court that he would be replaced
by Marshall instead became the lawyer for joseph himself, which was beyond his expertise. He had
never before handled a criminal case like this. On that day, they checked the scene of the
incident which is a bridge where according to the reports the victim named Eleanor Strubing,
after she was raped, was tied up and gagged. She was then taken to that bridge by car,
where she was thrown into the river below. She somehow managed to survive and ran away
into the street until a truck driver found her. After investigating the crime scene, Sam
and Marshall then went to Sam's office. There, Marshall met Irwin Friedman, Sam's
younger brother who was Joseph’s previous lawyer. Sam still couldn't believe that Joseph was
innocent but Marshall said that no stupid person killed another person without making
sure that person had been killed or not. Marshall needed Sam to work with
him to solve the case together. Sam was sure that Marshall knew what he was
doing so he decided to give up his insurance case and chose to work with Marshall, and since
he had never handled a criminal case, Marshall told Sam to read the book he always carried. To
defend a black criminal, of course, made Sam’s wife wonder about his decision because this case
made their family become the center of attention. Long story short, the day when they chose
the jury for the trial finally arrived. Sam agreed to the suggestion from Marshall, who
was still not allowed to speak in the courtroom. When it came to a potential juror named Mrs.
Richmond, Sam and Marshall started arguing. Sam wanted to reject this potential juror but
Marshall wanted to accept it. Marshall said that a woman like Richmond is a smart and confident
person. She doesn't like arrogant men like Loren Willis. Marshall was sure that Mrs. Richmond’s
opinion would be heard by the jurors later. After the process was completed, outside of
the courtroom, Marshall answered journalists' questions about the possibility that the trial
would run unfairly. He was completely insulting the injustice given to black people, a
statement that made Sam disappointed. When they were back at Sam’s office, Sam scolded
Marshall for insulting the judge right in front of the court, but Marshall gave understanding to Sam
that it had to be done because in cases like this, they were not only facing 12 jurors in the
courtroom, but also all the citizens of the city. When they were debating, Irwin appeared and told
them both that he managed to find the police who stopped Joseph on the night of the incident. This
police officer is officer McCoy. He testified that it was true that at 4:30 in the morning, he
stopped the car driven by Joseph, and at that time, Joseph was alone. Joseph admitted that he
had just come home from the bar, so that could be his alibi against the rape case. Officer McCoy
was also willing to testify in court for Joseph. The next trial finally started. Loren’s first
witness, a police captain named Captain Burke, was called to testify. In his testimony, he said
that on the side of the bridge at the crime scene, he found a piece of cloth that matches the fur
coat that Eleanor was wearing on the day of the incident. When given the time to speak, Sam
asked the police captain, who was experienced in handling criminal cases, the reason why Joseph
pushed Eleanor to the side of the bridge with calm water instead of the other side of the bridge full
of rocks. Moreover, after pushing Eleanor, Captain Burke said that Joseph threw rocks at Eleanor to
kill her. Sam then took the sample of the rocks that Marshall took from the bridge. The rocks,
which were more like pebbles, could not possibly be used to kill someone. At the trial, Sam
managed to turn things around to defend Joseph. The trial was later postponed once again.
Before leaving the courtroom, Loren Willis tried to make an offer. if Joseph admitted his actions,
his sentence would be reduced from a life sentence to 20 years in prison. Of course, Marshall didn't
want to accept the offer, but strangely, when joseph was given the offer, he accepted it without
any hesitation. That made Marshall suspicious, because, in the first trial, Joseph said that he
was innocent. Marshall said that now, black people were no longer slaves. Now they can fight because
they have a weapon called law. Marshall told Joseph that they didn’t need to be afraid and that
they have to decline the offer from Loren Willis. The next trial finally started with a doctor
presented as a witness. At 7:30 in the morning, after being taken from the police station, Eleanor
was taken to the doctor for an examination. The doctor said that Eleanor had bruises
on several parts of her body. Furthermore, further exam results showed that there were signs
of rape. When it was Sam’s turn to speak, Sam and Marshall had a discussion to ask further questions
regarding the results of the medical record. Sam told the jurors that the bruises and
scratches on Eleanor's body could have been caused by jumping off a bridge and crossing
pine woods when she was trying to climb up. Then, Sam asked whether the results of the internal
examination were certainly caused by raping or domestic violence, but even before the doctor
answered the question, Sam immediately received a refusal which was approved by the Judge. At the
same time, Marshall was informed that his wife was hospitalized for a miscarriage, so Marshall was
forced to leave the courtroom to call his wife. Because of this, Sam had to face the trial
alone without Marshall assisting him. Sam asked if there was anything found in Eleanor's
fingernails. The doctor said that there was sand, wood chips, and skin found on Eleanor's
fingernails. Sam was surprised because the medical report didn’t mention any findings of skin
on Eleanor’s fingernails. The doctor said that the person who wrote the report was his wife,
who might have forgotten to put the findings. The doctor said that skin with a dark
tone was found on Eleanor's fingernails. After the trial, Sam and Marshall discussed
the Doctor's testimony which was clearly detrimental to them. Marshall blamed Sam for
asking the question the Prosecutor wanted. Sam in return blamed Marshall for leaving the
room in the middle of the trial. Marshall still refused to accept the offer from Loren Willis
because the NAACP would never accept any offer, but Sam insisted that what was at stake in that
trial was his career, his firm, and his family, whereas after this, Marshall could easily just go
to another city and people would not remember him. Hearing that triggered Marshall’s anger
which made him curse at Sam and left there. In the next trial, the relationship between
Sam and Marshall was not in a good state. Even Joseph realized it easily. Eleanor
was presented as a witness in this trial. She was present accompanied by her husband
named John Strubing. On the witness stand, under oath, Eleanor said that on the night of
the incident, John was away for work out of town. when she was just finished from a shower, Joseph
entered her room with a knife in his hand. That was where she was threatened and raped twice
by Joseph. After that, Joseph tied her mouth with the cloth he ripped from her dress, put her in the
back seat of a car, and brought her to the bridge. Before they reach the bridge,
they were stopped by the police. Joseph threatened to kill her if she ever made a
sound. She hoped that the police would check the back seat but it turned out that the police
instead left after checking Joseph's papers. After arriving at the bridge, Eleanor was
thrown into the river and was thrown with rocks. After the trial that day ended, Marshall
decided to let go of his stress in a bar. There, he was approached by a woman who intended
to get to know him. At the same time, a group of people approached them intending to harm him,
but unexpectedly, Marshall turned out to be good at fighting, plus the waiter at the bar helped
him and the problem was solved. The woman then apologized because she thought she was the reason
behind the incident. She said that humans would always be human, no matter their skin color. That
statement from her made him realize something. Somewhere else, Sam who was waiting for Marshall's
arrival also received disturbances allegedly from the same group of people. Besides being a Jew,
he also defended Joseph who was a black person, but the fight stopped when Irwin came to save him.
When he returned home, Marshall finally visited him. At first, Sam was annoyed, but
Marshall insisted to talk with him. He then told Sam his wild hypothesis that both
Joseph and Eleanor were lying. Marshall believed that their relationship was consensual because
men are still men and women are still women. It has nothing to do with skin color. To
convince the hypothesis, Marshall went straight to prison to ask Joseph directly. At first,
Joseph avoided that he and Eleanor had sex. Marshall explained the problem was that Eleanor
made a report, saying that his car was stopped by the police, so the testimony from officer McCoy
couldn’t be used anymore in the trial. Marshall believed that there was something that Joseph hid
from Marshall. Because he can't avoid it anymore, Joseph finally confessed the truth that
they actually had a secret relationship. The reason why he didn’t tell the truth was that
he was afraid he would be harmed, because he was a black man, let alone raping a white woman, he
was lucky to be able to get to the court unharmed. The next trial was finally held. Eleanor was
still presented as a witness, but this time, it was Sam’s turn to ask. Sam revealed
the fact that Eleanor had just moved a year ago from Philadelphia and when was a
swimming athlete on her campus. Sam repeated the chronology of events, but the difference was
that the questions presented were more detailed. Sam also tried to provoke Eleanor by saying that
it was Eleanor who was interested in Joseph, which provoked Lorin and the jurors to
react. Sam also asked why she didn’t scream when the police approached the car
that night. Eleanor reasoned that she was scared to death and wasn’t able to scream.
Moreover, her mouth was tied with cloth. Marshall and Sam then demonstrated how even with
the mouth tied with cloth, screaming was possible. Marshall then took the chance to provoke
Eleanor, despite being prohibited to speak during the trial. Marshall said that Eleanor
was afraid of her husband, not Joseph. Sam added that Eleanor was afraid that
she would be impregnated by Joseph. Sam also said that her hands were in fact not
tied up because she was able to take off her coat and swim to the riverbank. That action to provoke
Eleanor was a bold move by both Sam and Marshall. Long story short, the next trial from
Sam's side presented Joseph to testify. Initially, Sam wanted to show that Joseph
would be honest by mentioning the ugly side of Joseph who once cheated on his wife, was
dishonorably discharged from the military, accused of stealing while working in a white
man's house, until he worked for John and Eleanor. Joseph told him that Eleanor was kind to
him, but John wasn't. Eleanor’s marriage was actually not happy because she often got domestic
violence from John. On the night of the incident, when John went out of town, joseph visited her
in her room to ask her for some money because he wanted to play poker, but before giving him the
money, Eleanor asked him not to leave her alone. The consensual sex that night finally happened,
but afterward, Eleanor panicked because she heard the sound of her dog barking and thought
someone was coming and might catch them. She asked Joseph to leave the house by car.
When the police stopped their car on the way, Joseph asked her to lie down in the back
seat. When they arrived at the bridge, Eleanor shouted to Joseph to stop the car. She
was afraid that she would bear a black child. She then decided to leave and framed Joseph
for raping her. Joseph tried to stop her but Eleanor scratched him. That was when
Joseph’s skin got stuck in Eleanor's nails. Without having her mouth tied or her hands tied,
Eleanor jumped off the bridge by herself. After that, Joseph decided to return home. So basically,
Joseph admitted that he didn't rape Eleanor. Loren Willis then asked why Joseph falsified
his testimony when he was interrogated by the police for the first time. Loren kept leading the
jurors to think that Joseph was a liar. Joseph said that if he confirmed Eleanor's testimony,
he would be killed right away. A group of people would come to drag him, tie him to a tree, and
maybe even not hesitate to cut his genitals. The reason why he lied was that the truth could
kill him. Listening to that statement from Joseph, Loren asked the Judge to deny Joseph's answer, but
surprisingly, the Judge refused Loren's request. After the trial, Walter visited Marshall
in Sam’s office. Walter asked Marshall to go to Mississippi because a 14-year-old boy was
accused of killing a policeman, so Marshall was told to leave that very night. Marshall left Sam
alone to read his closing statement before the verdict was read in the next trial. Marshall was
sure that Sam could handle the case by himself. Before he was taken to the station, Marshall
helped Sam to prepare his closing arguments. Long story short, the final trial was held.
Loren Willis who was the first to give the final argument said that a lowly man like
Joseph could not be trusted compared to a respectable family like John and Eleanor. Lorin
convinced the jurors that Joseph was a rapist. Freeing Joseph would be just the same as
letting go of a threat to every woman in town. Different from Loren, Sam delivered the closing
arguments from Marshall, a genius lawyer. Starting from the fact that Eleanor was from a
respectable family, and is an educated woman, but her life story was tragic because she underwent
domestic violence from his husband and was stricken by loneliness because she was far from
her family and friends. Joseph was a person beyond expectations that was able to cure her loneliness,
but as the night passed, she was worried, worried about his husband, and worried about
the possibility of getting pregnant by Joseph. She didn't want to live in fear and shame
so she looked for a way out of her problem. A series of despair was created
and resulted in doubt after doubt. When the trial was delayed for 30 minutes, Loren
once again offered to decrease Joseph’s sentence to 5 years in prison if he pleaded guilty
and gave false testimony. Sam then conveyed that to Joseph. The offer of 5 years in prison
was far lighter than a life sentence if Joseph was found guilty by the jurors, considering they
both didn’t know what the jurors’ decision was. They also didn’t know whether these jurors were
racist or not, but Joseph chose to decline the offer because he was sure that if Marshall
was there, he surely would choose to fight. Marshall was on the train when the jurors’
statement and the verdict were read out. Richmond, who was the head of the jurors read
the verdict. Joseph was found not guilty. The trial was a heartwarming win for Joseph as
well as the black people that presented there, but a bad ending for Eleanor. Who knows what
kind of fate waiting for her at home? Marshall who just arrived immediately contacted Sam. He
was very happy when he heard the news that they won and Joseph could be released. After
Sam managed to win the trial for Joseph, he became a tireless lawyer who participated
in fighting for civil rights in Connecticut. Thurgood Marshall became an activist in court
to fight for black people’s rights everywhere. He even debated 30 civil rights cases in the
American Supreme Court and managed to win them. in 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the
first black Supreme Court Judge in America. He even received praise from Martin Luther King
Junior, saying that his actions became one of the most important movements in the history of the
struggle for the civil rights of black people.
