Closing Argument

Arthur Radley is innocent. He is innocent because there is reasonable

doubt he even committed the crime. No one except Ms. Finch saw him at the

scene and she never states that she saw Mr. Radley kill Bob Ewell. He could

have easily tripped on a root of the Radley tree and he could have stabbed

himself by falling on his knife, just as Mr. Tate said. No one can refute this

possibility. Scout, the only one who remembers Mr. Radleys presence at the

scene even sides with Mr. Tate, saying, he fell on his knife. Mr. Tate also

testified that Bob was so drunk you can smell the alcohol from a mile away.

When you are drunk, it is extremely easy to fall on nothing, so if a small

obstacle such as a tree root was present then a fall is almost certain. Whos

to say Bob didnt commit an accidental suicide?

Mr. Jeremy Finch can also be blamed for the death of the crime. I will

agree that, yes, he is young. Yes, he is hardly an adult. However yes, he is

the brother of Scout, and yes, he was terrified the night of the attack. Can

you imagine having to fight for your own life? Now can you imagine fighting

at the young age Mr. Finch is? He is a child who hasnt even finished school,

and just because of a court case his arm is brutally and savagely dislocated.

How can it possibly get any worse? Ah yes, we forgot he had a sister who

was almost killed. When you must fight for yourself and now a sibling, is it

really that hard to believe Jem could kill Bob Ewell?

 Finally, there is the possibility that Mr. Nathan Radley committed the

crime. He states that c who trespasses his property is taught a lesson, with a

weapon because it has become precious, due to so many curious people who

just have to take a peek at his brother. He also states that he heard the

childrens screams, which were very near his property. No one can prove his

alibi of him staying in his house during the Halloween pageant, therefore no

one can refute the fact that it is extremely likely Mr. Radley had to teach a

trespasser a lesson. Mr. Radley just got possessive, as all of us get

sometimes, and he had to take action to protect his territory. He also had to

protect his only brother from the cruel passerby, who couldnt leave him

alone then, and now. There is reasonable doubt Mr. Arthur Radley even

committed the crime, because so many other people could have killed Bob.

Anyone is capable of murder, even Jem, Nathan, and Bob Ewell himself.

One could however argue that he was at the scene of the murder, he

did have access to a knife, and he was strong enough to kill Bob. However,

even if Arthur Radley did kill him, that does not mean that what he did was

murder, Bobs death would be the result of self-defense. Firstly, Scout

testified that Bob smelled strongly of whiskey on the night that he was found

dead. It is not a far leap to assume that Bob Ewell, who is known for getting

drunk, was highly intoxicated when he followed Jem and Scout home, and

then attempted to attack them because of his track record of becoming very

violent when under the influence of alcohol. Bob Ewell knowingly consumed

alcohol before pursuing the two children, effectively preventing himself from
thinking like a reasonable adult, and endangering the lives of the two

innocent Finches.

Arthur Radley is not guilty of the charge of homicide, because he

defended the kids from the drunk and violent Bob Ewell. On the night when

he had attacked the children, they were walking home from the Halloween

Pageant. Scout said that Bob Ewell followed them, then attacked them. When

Arthur Radley saw this, he rushed out of his home to defend the children

from him. Jem and Scout were only children that were eight and thirteen, and

could not defend themselves from a grown man like Bob Ewell. Even when

Jem tried to fight back, Bob broke his arm and almost squeezed Scout to

death. They needed protection, which Arthur Radley gave. Bob Ewell would

have killed them if Arthur had not been there to help, leaving Atticus without

any children. As stated in Alabama Revised Statutes under section 13A-3-23:

Use of force in defense of a person, A person is justified in using physical

force upon another person in order to defend himself or herself or a third

person from what he or she reasonably believes to be the use or imminent

use of unlawful physical force by that other person. Therefore, Mr. Arthur

Radley is justified in defending Jem and Scout Finch with physical force, even

deadly physical force if it was necessary. Because of him, two innocent lives

of children were saved.

Bob Ewell clearly planned to kill, or at least seriously injure, the finch

children. In Alabama Revised Statute, Section 13A-6-20, someone has

committed assault to the first degree is if With intent to cause serious

physical injury to another person, he or she causes serious physical injury to

any person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument Bob

Ewell used a deadly weapon, the knife that later killed him, with the intent of

murdering or hurting Jeremy Finch and Jean Finch. He in fact succeeded

partly by breaking the arm of one of his victims, Jeremy. This crime, Assault,

is a class B felony, and if Bob was still alive, he would probably be in prison.

In addition, Boo had previously threatened Atticus, making it very clear

that the attack of the children was a planned event. The law states in Section

13A-6-23 A person commits the crime of menacing if, by physical action, he

intentionally places or attempts to place another person in fear of imminent

serious physical injury. This proves that Bob Ewell had already committed a

class B misdemeanor before he even laid a hand on the finch children. Bob

Ewell was not a good man. He knew what he was doing when he set out that

night: he had a weapon, and followed the children home. He knew he would

become a more violent person when he was intoxicated, yet he was still

drunk that night. Bob Ewell planned to kill those children, and the only

reason he was prevented from doing this was because of his own death.

There is an extremely reasonable doubt that Mr. Radley even committed the

crime, however even if he did kill Mr. Ewell he never wanted to use violence,

and was forced to use it as a last resort.

In conclusion, one can see that there are many possibilities that could

have occurred that night, and certainly enough possibilities to cause

reasonable doubt that Arthur Radley killed Bob Ewell. In addition, one can
see that even if Mr. Radley did stab him, it was merely an act of self-defense,

which was committed in order to protect the lives of two very innocent

children, Scout and Jem Finch. He is accused of being a murder, however

during the time he was moved to act by a sudden heat of passion which

was caused by provocation recognized by law, and before there had been a

reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself

stated in Section 13A-6-2. Therefore, he is not guilty of murder,

manslaughter, and what he is on trial for, homicide.