A Note On Johnny Cade's Trial

Reece Cheshire
2-24-23
2nd hour

The reason we are today is because Johnny Cade is being wrongfully accused of murder. It was a dark and cold night, about two-thirty in the morning. Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis were on a walk in the park. Robert Sheldon, called Bob, and his friends were also on a walk in the park. The two groups met with each other not long after Ponyboy and Johnny arrived. Bob and his friends attacked Ponyboy Curtis by shoving his head into the fountain and they attempted to drown him. Johnny could only help by pulling out his switchblade, and defending Ponyboy and himself.

Johnny is innocent, because what he did was self-defense. Ponyboy said, the socs shoved his head into the fountain, he fought but they were strong, he said he was dying. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the pavement beside the fountain. Ponyboy was attacked by Bob and his friends, and needed help, that was stated on pages fifty-five and fifty-six. Johnny was jumped once before by Bob and his friends, and almost died. He did not want Ponyboy to be hurt or killed. Johnny felt threatened and knew if he did not help, Ponyboy would have died. All of this points out that Johnny felt threatened and his friend needed help, so he did the only thing he could

Johnny said “I had to. They were drowning you Pony. They might have killed you.” This shows that he did not want to kill Bob, but he did it out of self-defense. On page thirty-four it says, “And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He’d use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had scared him that much.” This shows that it was not the first time Bob jumped Johnny. Johnny knew what Bob was capable of, and if he did not help, Bob would have killed Ponyboy. Johnny did not want to do what he did, it was self-defense, and he should not be charged with murder, when he was just protecting himself and his