Beyond Reasonable Doubt

A fellow’s wife went missing and being that everyone knew that he and his wife were in a big fight, he was accused of murdering her and disposing of the body. When witness after witness came to the stand testifying to all sorts of horrible threats that the accused threatened his wife and things were looking quite dim for the accused the man’s lawyer got up to the stand and said, “Ladies and Gentleman of the jury I have something quite exciting to tell you, if you would all please direct your attention towards the door behind me on my left you will see the supposedly dead woman walk in on her own two feet.”

There was a loud murmuring in the courtroom as all eyes turned towards the door. But after a few seconds of anxious waiting, the lawyer said, “Ladies and Gentleman, to be honest with you nobody is going to be walking through the door. However, from the fact that your eyes all turned towards the door, it is quite obvious that you are not sure beyond the shadow of a doubt about my client’s guilt.” To the lawyer’s great surprise, the jury decided that the man was guilty. The lawyer then questioned, “But how could you say that he is guilty?  Didn’t I prove it to you?” And one old lady explained, “It is true that we all turned towards the door. But there was one person who didn’t.” And when the indignant lawyer asked, “Who was that?” The reply was, “Your client.”