Plot: A young, attractive and highly-skilled attorney is faced with the toughest case of his life, one that on many occasions may also threaten it. In the southern Mississippi town of Canton, the K.K.K. is active and the tension is high when the black majority is angered at the rape and beating of a black man's 10-year-old daughter. Against Jake's advice, the distraught father takes revenge, gunning down the two criminals in the local courthouse. Racial hatred heightens with the suspense and conflict threatens to break out regardless of the verdict. Jake must decide, along with his new, eager assistant whether he and his family can run the risk of defending the man
Alternative Plot: Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) is a heartbroken black father who avenges his daughter's brutal rape by shooting the bigoted men responsible for the crime as they are on their way to trial. He turns to Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey), an untested lawyer, to defend him. Brigance struggles to believe that he can get Hailey acquitted in this small, segregated Southern town, given Hailey's race and the deliberate nature of his crimes, but Carl has unshakable faith in him.
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