The Murder Case Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am here to question Johnny Cade’s innocence. About a week ago, Johnny Cade and his compatriot, Ponyboy Curtis, were strolling along the local park. According to Curtis, he and Johnny witnessed a vehicle stop on the outskirts of the park. Afterward, a bunch of these so-called “Socs,” all under the influence, approached the duo. Their small dispute quickly escalated physically, and one Soc assaulted Curtis and began drowning him in the park’s fountain. One Soc, Bob Sheldon intimidated Cade, and Cade drew a switchblade and stabbed Sheldon, killing him. After Cade murdered Sheldon, he and Curtis fled the crime scene without contacting the authorities. Johnny Cade is guilty of all of this. But …show more content…
“He would kill the next person who jumped at him. Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body.”(Page 34). Cade killing Sheldon was an act of first degree murder, since he had the intention to kill him the next time the two would cross paths again. “‘I killed him,’ he said slowly. ‘I killed that boy.’”(Page 56). Some may say that Cade was acting in self defense, that his and Curtis’s lives were being threatened by Bob Sheldon. First of all, Sheldon was not the one who drowned Curtis, but it was David, a member of his gang. “‘Give the kid a bath, David.’”(Page 55). This means that Bob was innocent in some way. If Cade attacked David, then I wouldn’t be explaining this in front of you. After Cade murdered Sheldon, instead of contacting the authorities, he and his accomplice, Curtis evacuated the crime scene; they fled from town to an undisclosed area. The likes of the duo only oozed up to the public’s eyes when they valiantly charged into a burning church full of school kids. However, this act of heroism does not help Cade in this case. Johnny Cade, who recently passed away at the age of sixteen, kept a concealed switchblade with the intention of killing the next man who would assault him, whether it was Bob Sheldon or some other