Despite the prosecutor Petrocelli ’s aggressive prosecution and active dehumanization of Steve, through the efforts of Steve’s defense attorney Kathy O’Brien, the jury finds Steve not guilty. However, when he tries to hug O’Brien, she turns stiffly away, suggesting that she does not truly believe in his innocence and leaving Steve feeling like a monster.
Kathy O’Brien is Steve ’s defense attorney. O’Brien is fairly humorless, but Steve feels as if she is the only person involved in the trial who actually wants to understand who Steve is as a person. Although O’Brien feels that their chances of winning the case are slim, she makes a genuine effort to defend Steve and display his good character, telling him that their main goal is to make …
Sandra Petrocelli is the prosecutor during Steve's case. Throughout the trial, she contends that Steve was the lookout during the botched burglary, and thus culpable in the murder of Alguinaldo Nesbitt. She is the one who brands Steve—and all of the …
Monster is the story about a 16 year old black boy named Steve Harmon from Harlem. Steve is on trial for a being a possible accomplice to a murder. The book begins with him in jail waiting for his trial to start. The story is written in screenplay format along with Steve’s journal writing which he does even in the courtroom.
Kathy O'BrienKathy O'Brien, Steve's lawyer, informs him on what will happen during the trial.
Muskegon, Michigan, U.S. Cathy O'Brien (born December 4, 1957) is an American conspiracy theorist and author who claims to have been a victim of a government mind control program called Project Monarch, which she alleges was part of the CIA's Project MKUltra.
O'Brien's doubt about Steve's actual innocence is confirmed when, after they win the case and Steve is found not guilty, she stiffly refuses his attempt to hug her in gratitude and happiness, suggesting that even though she defended his innocence and genuinely did her best to understand him, she does not regard him ...
Betty Trevino I believe the reason O'Brien looks away from him is because she is recognizing the difference between "innocence" and being found "not guilty." The former is about lacking culpability and the other is about the justice system not having enough evidence to convict.
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Chapter please?
James King is a 22-year-old African-American man who lives in Steve's neighborhood. Allegedly, King encourages Steve to become involved in the robb...
In Steve's screenplay, Kathy is "the defense attorney with doubts" (2.16). She's "all business as she talks to Steve" (2.32), and sees no need to believe her clients, or even to believe in them—her job is only to prove their innocence to a jury.
Steve isn't a person to Sandra. He is what she calls him: a monster. In her words, monsters are "people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others" (2.80).
Steve as Monster. Steve's greatest conflict is not really the trial itself, though it's certainly stressful and difficult. He fights his worst battles in his head, as he tries to figure out if he's truly a monster. That's what Prosecutor Petrocelli calls him, and he can't help but dwell on it.
And like Shakespeare's Hamlet, the answer means life or death. If Steve is found guilty of felony murder, he's looking at twenty-five years to life in prison. Not cool for a kid in the middle of high school.
Steve hung out with some shady dudes. His neighborhood was an honest-to-goodness thug-a-thon. James King, Osvaldo Cruz, and Freddy Alou made up a few of the tough guys Steve swapped dialogue with on occasion. King even invited him to play a part in the drugstore "payday" (14.2).
Steve Harmon is 16 years old. He is pleading innocents, but the jury thinks otherwise. Steve does not like being in jail with the other prisoners and is nervous about being on trail for murder.
Kathy O'Brien is petite, redheaded and freckled. She is Steve's defense attorney. She doing her best for Steve to look innocent in the eyes of the jury.
Pretrocelli is a dedicated prosecutor, who is doing a good job at making Steve Harmon look guilty in the eyes of the jury.
Asa Briggs has blue eyes and white hair. He is the lead councel for the defense of James King.
James Briggs is 23 years old thug. He tries to intimidate Steve so he will no testify. He is the other man on trial for the robbery and murder.
George Sawiki is Steve Harmon's film club teacher. He thinks very highly of Steve as a person and as a student.
Nesbitt is a 55 year old african american. He was the owner of the store that got robbed. He is the murder victim.