Plot
In the town of Canton, Mississippi, ten-year-old African American Tonya Hailey (Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly) is abducted, raped, and beaten by two local men, Billy Ray Cobb (Nicky Katt) and Pete Willard (Doug Hutchison). The duo dump her in a nearby river after a failed attempt to hang her. Tonya survives, and the two men are arrested by Sheriff Ozzie Walls (Charles S. Dutton).Tonya's father, Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), contacts Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey), a white lawyer who previously defended his brother. Brigance admits the possibility that the rapists will walk free. Carl Lee goes to the county courthouse and opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing both rapists and unintentionally injuring Deputy Dwayne Looney (Chris Cooper) with a ricochet, whose leg is later amputated. Carl Lee is arrested and Brigance agrees to defend him.
The rape and subsequent revenge killing gain national media attention. The district attorney, Rufus Buckley (Kevin Spacey), decides to seek the death penalty, and presiding Judge Omar Noose (Patrick McGoohan) denies Brigance a change of venue to a more ethnically-diverse county, meaning that Carl Lee will have an all-white jury. Brigance seeks help from his defense team: law student Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock), close friend Harry Rex Vonner (Oliver Platt), and former mentor and longtime activist Lucien Wilbanks (Donald Sutherland), a once-great civil rights lawyer. Meanwhile, Billy Ray's brother, Freddie Lee Cobb (Kiefer Sutherland), plans to avenge his brother's death by joining and enlisting the help of the Mississippi branch of the Ku Klux Klan and its Grand Dragon, Stump Sisson (Kurtwood Smith).
On the first day of the trial, the Klan rallies, only to be outnumbered by counter-protesters consisting of the area's black and multiracial residents, as well as whites who support Carl Lee. The protest erupts into a violent riot that results in dozens of injuries and the death of Stump Sisson. The Klan also begins to target Brigance, assaulting his elderly secretary and her husband, who ends up dying of a fatal heart attack brought on by the assault. They also burn a cross on his lawn and threaten his wife and daughter. When Brigance refuses to back down, Cobb kidnaps and assaults Roark. The Klan then increases their attacks, including burning Brigance's house.
Dispirited, Brigance tells Carl Lee that there is little hope for an acquittal. Carl Lee replies that he had chosen him as an attorney because even a racist jury would listen to a white man; as "one of the bad guys," he has an influence that a black man will never have. During closing arguments, a deeply-shaken Brigance tells the jury to close their eyes and listen to a story. He describes, in slow and painful detail, the entire ordeal of Tonya. Brigance then asks the jury, in his final comment, to "now imagine she's white."
After deliberation, a black child runs out of the courthouse and screams, "He's innocent!" Jubilation ensues amongst the supporters outside. The Klan members, enraged, begin yelling in anger. Meanwhile, Sheriff Walls arrests Freddie Lee for his crimes, as well as a corrupt deputy who is also a member of the Klan and is standing next to the sheriff.
Brigance brings his wife and daughter to a family cookout at Carl Lee's house to celebrate his freedom.
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