Aahana Swrup
Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’ is an engrossing legal drama film that explores the intricate psychology of a juror who has a peculiarly bizarre connection to the case he is presiding over. To his dismay, Justin Kemp, an expecting father with a pregnant wife at home, gets called in for jury duty. He’s selected to serve on a high-profile murder trial of James Michael Sythe, who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Kendall Carter. However, as the case’s facts emerge, Justin realizes that James is entirely innocent because Justin, in fact, had unwittingly contributed to Kendall’s death a year ago.
As a result, Justin realizes it is now up to him to either condemn another man to pay for his crimes or sway his fellow jurors to a verdict that may seal his own fate. The story creates a tense environment as the protagonist remains perpetually caught in a dismaying moral dilemma. Therefore, by its end, the narrative naturally arrives at an intriguing conclusion. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Juror #2 Plot Synopsis
Justin Kemp, a lifestyle magazine writer, is looking forward to a big change in his life with his wife Ally’s pregnancy. Even so, given their previous experience with pregnancy complications, the couple remain decidedly vigilant. For the same reason, they’re both more than a little annoyed when Justin gets called up for jury duty. Nonetheless, he ultimately gets selected as juror number 2 for the case against James Michael Sythe. As the trial begins, the jury receives the preliminary facts about Kendall Carter’s death.
On the night of October 25, Kendall and James went out to the Rowdy’s Hideaway bar, where they eventually got into an argument. Although this was common for the couple, their altercation still invited attention from other patrons. Eventually, Kendall stormed out of the bar, walking down Old Quarry Road alone. The following day, a trekker found her dead body on the side of the road. An eyewitness from the scene asserts that she saw the accused follow Kendall down the road and into the night. Thus, since her body showcases signs of force, prosecutor Faith Killebrew alleges that James followed her after the fight and beat her to death before leaving her to die.
However, unbeknownst to everyone else, someone in the courtroom may have the exact idea about what happened to Kendall. As Justin hears the details of Kendall’s death, he realizes that he was also at Rowdy’s Hideaway on October 25 and had even seen the woman have an argument with her boyfriend. Later, when he drove away in a slightly unstable condition, he hit something on the road. Back then, Justin had assumed he had hit a deer. Yet, now, as he learns about Kendall’s death, he realizes the poor woman could’ve fallen victim to his car before tumbling off the bridge and onto the rain-soaked path underneath.
After the initial court session, Justin’s instincts bring him to Larry, his sponsor for recovery from alcoholism. Fortunately enough, he is also a lawyer who can provide him with confidential legal advice. While he wants to come out with the truth, Larry argues that a confession would only ensure his demise. The journalist has a history of drunk driving. Therefore, his presence at the bar, paired with the outcome of Kendall’s death, will inevitably rob him of any judicial leniency. As such, Justin has no choice but to remain on the jury and ensure his own safety without sentencing an otherwise innocent man for someone else’s mistakes.
Juror #2 Ending: Is Justin Guilty of Kendall’s Murder?
Initially, when Justin shows up to his jury duty summons, he has no idea what he will be walking into. Kendall Carter died almost a year ago, and James has been the prime suspect throughout the police investigation that followed. Likewise, all this time, Justin has been under the assumption that he accidentally hit a deer on that fateful night. Therefore, he has no reason to believe he may be involved in Kendall’s murder. His appointment as one of the twelve jurors to preside over her case is a totally random coincidence.
Still, once Justin learns the case details, it doesn’t take long for the pieces to slot into place. Evidence suggests that Kendall was hit by brute force before falling off the road and to her death. While Faith assumes that James used an undiscovered weapon to attack her, Justin reasons in his mind that the collision with his car could’ve created the injuries. In fact, his presence on the road was so close to the time of Kendall’s death that one of the witnesses—a man who lives near the road—mistook Justin’s silhouette in the rain for James. Therefore, it is entirely possible that he is the real, albeit unwitting, culprit behind her death.
Yet, certain details stand out. For one, the film never provides explicit confirmation about the events that led to Kendall’s death. While it is true that Justin hit something on the night of October 25, the darkness of the night and the heavy rain kept his vision obscured. Furthermore, as the prosecution presents it, an incriminating case is to be made against James. His relationship with Kendall was notably tumultuous and often led to aggressive outbursts. The night that she died, James got into an altercation with her and followed her out to Old Quarry Road. As such, it remains difficult to rule out his possible involvement in her death entirely.
Ultimately, the specifics around Kendall’s death are intentionally obscure, allowing the narrative to possess an ambiguity that pushes the audience to take on the role of the jurors. The evidence against Justin is mounting, yet out of sight for most other characters. Justin is a recovering alcoholic who has lied about his presence at the Rowdy’s Highway bar on October 25 all this time. Therefore, if he reveals the information to the authorities now, he will almost certainly incriminate himself. Similarly, he seems to have made up his mind and is already carrying the guilt of causing Kendall’s death. For the same reason, as he and the other jurors go into deliberation, he intends to find a way to push them toward recognizing James’ innocence.
Is James Convicted for Kendall’s Murder?
From the get-go, Justin’s mission to sway the jury into James’ favor remains a daunting task. At the start of deliberation, everyone except Justin finds the defendant guilty. As the victim’s boyfriend, who had a partially aggressive relationship with her, James seems like the most probable killer. Still, Justin convinces the others to look over the facts of the case to give the accused a fighting chance. Consequently, one of the jurors, Harold Chicowski, reveals himself as a former detective. He also believes that the authorities likely gave into their confirmational bias and pursued James as the killer until the story made sense.
Nevertheless, the facts still remain that no murder weapon was ever procured, and there are no eyewitnessess to the crime. The case around James is incredibly circumstantial. Therefore, Harold tries to find the real culprit behind the crime and arrives at a theory that Kendall’s death could’ve been a case of hit-and-run. Even though Harold is Justin’s greatest supporter in swaying the jury toward an innocent verdict, he also becomes the latter’s most concerning adversary. If the ex-cop actually solves the case, he will reveal Justin’s secret.
For the same reason, after Harold attempts to involve Justin in his investigation, the latter intentionally drops his documents in front of a bailiff. This leads to the discovery of Harold’s investigation—a direct violation of jury responsibilities. As a result, Justin successfully gets rid of Harold. By then, he has also convinced enough jurors to question their initial assumptions about James. Even so, his persuasion only affects half of their votes. One of the jurors, Marcus, has an indomitable opinion of James. James has a visible tattoo that reveals him to be a part of a drug-pushing gang.
Marcus has a personal vendetta against that gang because it led to the death of his younger brother. He refuses to look past his biases toward James for the same reason. In his eyes, a guilty verdict will get a criminal off the streets one way or another. Surprisingly enough, Faith begins questioning her own assessment during the jury’s deliberation, which includes a trip to the crime scene. Harold’s unofficial investigation opens her eyes to an angle she had previously overlooked. Nonetheless, even though a final conversation with James sways her opinion, it amounts to nothing as the jury returns with their verdict of James’ guilt.
Why Does Justin Change His Mind About James?
The jury’s conclusion of James’ guilt comes as a surprise to the attorneys, Faith and Eric, as well as the audience. Despite the initial clear-cut nature of the case, the jury had taken time to evaluate the case. For the same reason, Eric—the defense attorney—believed they would afford his client the benefit of the doubt. Since even Faith seems to come around on her previously iron-clad opinion on James, it appears likely that the jury would follow in her steps. Nonetheless, they arrive at a unanimous verdict of James’ guilt.
So far, Justin’s guilty conscience hadn’t allowed him to play along and condemn James to his fate. As such, he has been trying to vouch for his innocence. Yet, he can only showcase so much empathy in the face of his self-preservation. In the past, Justin’s alcoholism had led to a DUI after he had driven his car into a tree while under the influence. Although he only received felony charges and community service for the crime, it still remains a brand on his record. The only reason Justin had been at the bar on that night was because of his wife’s miscarriage. Even though he insists he hadn’t touched a drink that night before getting behind the wheel, there’s no real way to prove that.
Therefore, if Justin tells people that he may have accidentally killed Kendall after visiting a bar, no one would believe that wasn’t a case of drunk driving. On the other hand, his attorney and friend, Larry, maintains that a hung jury would only compel the authorities to keep investigating the case. For the same reason, the jury has to arrive at a verdict of innocence to ensure that neither Justin nor James gets convicted for Kendall’s death. The journalist initially tries to achieve this by pushing the jury toward an innocent verdict. Nonetheless, it soon becomes obvious that Marcus won’t budge from his stance. Consequently, once it becomes evident that Justin has to choose between him or James, he chooses his own freedom and condemns the other man.
Does Faith Discover Justin’s Secret?
Once the jury comes out with their verdict, the trial comes to an end. Still, Justin and Faith are unable to move on from the case. After Faith learned about Harold’s investigation, she put in the effort to exhaustively evaluate his angle. Harold believes that if Kendall had died from a hit-and-run, then he could find the driver by collecting information about recent car repairs. After filtering his search to a specific demographic, he comes up with a list of fifteen possible suspects—one of whom is Justin. However, as Faith goes through this list, she only encounters Justin’s wife, Ally.
Ally swiftly confirms that her car had needed repairs after her husband hit a deer, compelling Faith to cross her off the list. Therefore, it isn’t until the day of James’ sentencing that the lawyer sees the whole picture. While other jurors had decided to opt out of attendance for the sentencing, Justin, who was wracked with a guilty conscience, showed up. Once Faith spots him, she puts together a few things and realizes he is Ally’s husband. From there, his consistently suspicious role in the jury becomes obvious, leading her to conclude he must have killed Kendall.
This results in a shrouded conversation between Faith and Justin outside the courthouse. Justin subtly insists that a kind of justice has been served with James’ conviction. James was a criminal with a distraught past. Therefore, his life sentence still puts a criminal off the street, even if it’s for a crime he did not commit. On the other hand, the revelation of Justin’s involvement would only ruin his and his family’s life. Furthermore, if Faith goes against him, it would bring bad publicity to her career and may even cost him her new District Attorney appointment.
Still, while it is true that Justin never had any bad intentions, he still is responsible for a woman’s death—the price of which someone else has to pay. Perhaps for the same reason, Faith shows up at Justin’s door months after the trial. The film ends with the shot of the woman ominously standing at Justin’s front door, leaving the viewers to come up with their own interpretations. It is most likely that despite the complications in her path, Faith has decided not to let Justin get away with his crime.
Faith wants justice served for Kendall and is willing to risk everything—even her career for it. This interpretation also cements Justin’s role in his own demise. Throughout the story, he tries to save James—a mission that leads to the discovery of information that allows Faith to discover his involvement in Kendall’s murder. Nonetheless, when push came to shove, he chose his own well-being over James. As such, if Faith visits Justin to establish the beginning of her pursuit after him, he has essentially sacrificed his morals for nothing.
Read More: Is Juror #2 Based on a True Story? Are Justin Kemp and James Sythe Based on Real People?
