In the case trial against Montresor, the courtroom was full and people whispered amongst themselves. The whispering was about the heinous act they had heard had happened to someone. Montresor got to seat down after people settled in the courtroom and the trial started. The prosecuting attorney started by providing evidence connecting Montresor to the murder of Fortunato. In his closing argument, the prosecuting attorney stated that “Your honor, there is evidence showing that Montresor was guilty of the death of Fortunato. Fortunato’s bones were found left underneath his house and the DNA tests indicated the bones were Fortunato’s.” The photos of Fortunato’s remains were shown to the judge as evidence. According to the prosecuting attorney, Fortunato’s remains were in catacomb room with other bones and this gave a hint that Montresor may have murdered other people alongside Fortunato. The defendant looked down as this evidence was produced by the prosecuting attorney.
When the defense attorney was allowed to speak, he argued that "Your honor, the defendant regrets and is remorseful of his actions that caused Fortunato's unfortunate death. He is mentally sick and did not know what he was doing owing to his insanity. A psychologically sick person is not able to comprehend his actions. This patient needs medical attention and I plead with this court to send him to a mental facility for treatment. Someone with a psychological problem can cause harm to other people. The accused should, therefore, be placed in a mental facility for him to be treated and to keep the society safe from similar situations and cases. The accused had an obsession with Fortunato and this was prompted by his psychological problem. The obsession intensified when the deceased could not give him the attention he sought leading to the murder ( Levine et al ., 2016). I suggest the Jury to help the accused by putting him in a psychiatric facility to regain his sanity. The accused’s obsession with Fortunato had made him severely depressed.” The judges started paying attention to the defense attorney’s argument at this point. The defense attorney continued to say “Member of the jury, jailing the accused for a crime that was prompted by his psychological problem could cause him more psychological torture and this could push him to commit suicide. This is because people suffering from depression are likely to have thoughts of ending their lives. With all due respect, I plead with the jury to allow the accused to be examined in a psychiatric hospital. If this illness was discovered earlier enough, the unfortunate incidence would not have happened. Jailing the accused would cause more harm than good to the society” ( Levine et al ., 2016). The defense attorney ended his argument. All this while, the Judge was taking notes as the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney made their arguments. The judge was faced with a dilemma as he had to distinguish between unstable mental health where the mental problem of the accused changed from to time and pathological psychology which pushed him to murder by torturing Fortunato.
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The jury decided that Montresor had a stable mind considering that he was alive and was able to remember all the events that took place fifty years ago. He was obsessed with Fortunato because he told him that he was a freemason. This was what pushed him into torturing the accused to death and not psychological instability. The jury’s verdict was that Montresor was found guilty and should be jailed for life.
References
Levine, R. S., Elliott, M. A., Gustafason, S. M., Hungerford, A., & Loeffelholz, M. (Eds.). (2016). The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Volume A and B (Vol. 1). WW Norton & Company.
