JUROR #2
*CUT TO THE CHASE*NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by LiliRoze
The movie opens with Justin (Nicholas Hoult) and his pregnant wife, Allison (Zoey Deutch). He presents a newly-decorated nursery to her (don’t miss the subtle nod to blind justice). Clearly, there is concern for her pregnancy and hints that something sad has happened in the past. There is a gathering of friends (possibly a baby shower?), but it’s a somber event. Afterward, Allison is nervous and afraid, teasing Justin that he will be leaving her soon to report to jury duty.
At the courthouse, Faith Killebrew (Toni Collete) arrives at the same time Justin reports for jury duty. Faith talks on the phone to her campaign manager, who tells her a win as the prosecutor in the high-profile domestic violence murder trial will get her the votes she needs to win her bid for District Attorney.
The defendant in the murder case is James Sythe (Gabriel Basso), a man with a criminal past accused of murdering his on-again, off-again girlfriend Kendall (Francesca Eastwood) in a drunken rage outside a local bar.
During voir dire, Justin asks to be excused from the jury due to his wife’s high-risk pregnancy, which she’s due to deliver soon. He’s denied and is chosen as juror #2. He returns home to his wife (who is a teacher on leave from work and on bed rest) and tells her he’s been chosen.
In court, the prosecution begins to tell the story, which is shown in flashbacks. Justin listens as it’s described that James Sythe and Kendall were drinking heavily at a local dive bar/pool hall when they argued. Sythe threw some beer bottles and Kendall walks out in anger.
As Justin imagines the flashback, we see him insert himself in the scene—he realizes he was there that night—we see him sitting in a far booth alone, hovering sadly over a glass of whiskey, oblivious to Sythe and Kendall’s fight.
When Sythe and Kendall take the fight outside to the parking lot, it’s past midnight and pouring rain. The screaming match continues under the outdoor lights, and a crowd gathers. The camera pans over to show Justin hunched in his car behind the steering wheel, despondent (again, unaware of the crowd or fight happening).
Kendall and Sythe continue fighting, and Kendall screams that she will walk home. He lets her walk away, and the crowd disperses. Hesitating, Sythe angrily walks in the same direction toward the road.
In Justin’s car, the pouring rain beats on the windshield as he drives out of the lot. He crosses a wooden bridge spanning a small ravine on the dark, secluded road. Suddenly, Justin feels a bang and pulls the car over. He enters the pouring rain and sees damage to the passenger front headlight and bumper. Scanning the area, he sees nothing – until his eye catches a “deer crossing” sign.
Back in the present day / the courtroom, we see the prosecutor describing Kendall’s crumbled body at the bottom of the small ravine, dead. She’d been struck by a blunt weapon. Justin is suddenly hit with the reality that he may have hit someone instead of a deer. He throws up in the men’s room after court is adjourned, and another juror asks if he’s okay. Justin blames it on the crime scene photos.
That night, Justin attends an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. His sponsor, Larry (Kiefer Sutherland), notices something’s wrong and reminds Justin it’s best not to keep secrets.
Justin returns to the trial the following day and is becoming more and more aware of the fact he could have struck a drunk, staggering Kendall with his car.
Faith, the prosecutor, has a friendly relationship with the public defender representing Sythe (Eric Resnick, played by Chris Messina). Faith and Eric meet at a local bar for a drink after work. Eric describes the life of a public defender to Faith – a heavy caseload of people he often knows are guilty. Still, he tries to get the best outcome in a bad situation, but Eric feels in his gut Sythe didn’t kill Kendall. Eric also mentions that Faith’s win will secure her bid for District Attorney. They drink in silence.
After court, Justin visits his AA sponsor, Larry (he’s an attorney). Larry asks Justin to pay him one dollar before describing his problem so it will be covered under attorney/client privilege. Justin tells about going to the bar that night because of a devastating personal problem (at some point, it becomes clear his wife had been pregnant with twins, and both babies had died rather far along in the pregnancy).
Larry asks Justin if he was drinking and Justin swears he ordered a drink but never drank it. He didn’t want to burden his wife with his pain, and the dive bar had been his old hangout. He describes hitting the deer. Larry is unimpressed until Justin mentions the Sythe case / Kendall’s death, and it dawns on Larry. He advises Justin that he has a history of DUIs before getting sober. Even though Justin hadn’t drunk the whisky, there’s no way to prove it today, and Justin’s past would assure a vehicular manslaughter charge with up to 30 years in prison. Larry advises Justin to keep his mouth shut.
The following day, Sythe takes the stand and says they’d fought that night because he wasn’t ready to move in with her. Sythe seems sincere when he says he didn’t do it, that while he’d had a sketchy past, he’d changed in recent years and wouldn’t have hurt Kendall. Justin seems visibly upset at the parallels in their lives.
The jury heads to the deliberation room (this is where a lengthy homage to the classic 12 Angry Men begins). They take a vote – 11 guiltys. Justin is asked for his vote and instead invokes Henry Fonda’s character with a “let’s talk about it, the defendant deserves that at least” speech. The 11 other personalities in the room react in different ways, with juror Harold (JK Simmons) admitting he’s not really sure of Sythe’s guilt and describes the typical life of a cop investigating a murder and how confirmation bias can cause them to only look at one person – the husband/boyfriend.
The other jurors question Harold’s grasp of investigation techniques, and he admits that he’s a retired police detective from another state. He didn’t reveal his profession during voir dire because the attorneys never asked.
Justin is happy to let Harold give his opinions, and Harold mentions the possibility of a hit-and-run. Harold and Justin are the two “not guilty” holdouts when they break to go home for the weekend.
Justin’s wife, Allison, is emotionally fragile as the baby’s due date approaches. She mentions the twins, and they share a sad moment together. Allison encourages Justin to get a quick verdict, and he admits he’s one of the holdouts causing the delay.
On Monday the jurors wait in the hall outside the deliberation room. Harold approaches Justin with a small stack of papers – a list of all vehicles taken to local body shops for repair at Kendall’s death. He tells Justin he’d spent all weekend eliminating owners on the list, and there are only 15 left. He asks Justin’s help – they can split the list and work on eliminating the rest (in the evenings after court). Justin tells Harold they aren’t allowed to run their own side investigations. Harold states he sees no other way to get justice for Sythe – in his gut, he believes the testimony Sythe gave, and it must be a hit and run.
Harold states that one of the cars still on the list matches Justin’s own car, “and if you admit it’s yours, we can cross it off and move on to the others.” Justin purposefully drops the papers, causing the bailiff to help him and ask about the papers. Justin and Harold are brought before the judge.
Harold admits to the judge that he’s a retired police officer and feels a sworn duty to the public trust. He tells the judge Justin didn’t know about the investigating he did. The judge dismisses Harold and lets Justin stay when he admits he hasn’t looked at the papers.
Juror 13 steps in to replace Harold. She’s big on true crime and embraces the possible hit-and-run theory. Another juror, a third-year medical student, shows how the X-rays of fractures suggest a sudden blow like a car instead of happening in the tumble down the ravine.
The juror who originally saw Justin vomiting in the bathroom mentions a gang tattoo he’s seen on Sythe’s neck, stating that Sythe is evil and will never change. Justin pulls out his AA coin and says that 4 years ago, he started AA and met his wife during court-ordered community service after a DUI. This persuades some jurors that people can change.
Outside the courtroom, Harold approaches Faith, the prosecutor. He tells her he knows in his gut Sythe is innocent and asks if any other suspects were even considered. Faith starts working on eliminating the final 15 cars on Harold’s list.
The jurors ask to visit the site where Kendall was found, and while there, “the bathroom juror” tells Justin privately that he’s never going to change his vote.
Faith visits several people before she gets to Justin’s car, which is on the list. His wife, Allison, opens the door and invites Faith in. (Allison has a different last name than Justin). They discuss how the car was damaged by hitting a deer. Faith asks if the deer was hit on the road next to the bar, and Alison is noticeably upset – realizing for the first time Justin might have been there. Allison tells Faith it happened on a different road (repeating the name of the road Justin had told her).
That evening, Allison confronts Justin about where the accident happened and the prosecutor’s visit. (It’s implied that Justin lied to her because Allison would know he was near his old bar where he drank). Allison puts 2 and 2 together, and Justin confesses he was so sad about the babies’ deaths he’d gone there to mourn because he couldn’t have let Allison be burdened with his emotions at the time. He swears he didn’t drink.
Justin visits his sponsor, Larry, and tells him they are deadlocked from 6 to 6. Larry says the case is too important to not be re-tried, so a decision is the only way to ensure it won’t be re-investigated.
The jury returns a guilty verdict. At sentencing, Sythe gets life in prison. Faith sees Justin at the sentencing and realizes there’s more to the story. They talk outside about a good man who hit a deer and a criminal who went to prison. Justin mentions that the conviction got her the votes for District Attorney and the good she will do. They both realize the consequences of coming forward.
Allison gives birth to a healthy girl, and Justin announces that the car has been sold. While snuggling the baby, there’s a knock on the door. Justin answers to see Faith on his doorstep. The credits roll.
A man serves on a jury only to realize he accidentally (and unknowingly) caused the death of the victim. The movie ends with a conviction and a guilt-ridden juror and prosecutor.