In act III of James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie, the court proceedings play a crucial role both in the plot’s development and the development of the characters. Two months after Richard’s death, Lyle is on trial, with the audience being presented with a picture of what happened. Jo’s perjured testimony is highly problematic as she blatantly lies in court by claiming that Richard attempted to assault her when they first met in the story. Besides, she mentions that Richard was under the influence of drugs, thus assassinating his character further. She says, “[…] I didn’t recognize him, I just knew he wasn’t one of our colored people […] He said all kinds of things, dirty things, like – well- just like I might have been a colored girl, that’s what it sounded like to me. Just like some little colored girl he might have met on a street corner and wanted – wanted to – for a night!” (Baldwin).
Jo’s testimony is an assassination of his character and is an issue that many people who cannot defend themselves experience. Hearsay should not have been accepted in court, and Jo should not have lied about Richard, especially because he was no longer alive. Her impressions about Richard perceiving her as a woman he wanted for a night are merely hers and do not have any tangible evidence to support such a point of view. Jo’s lying also shows that it could be easier for women to make negative comments about men and make suggestions about the latter’s sexual desires because of the history of systematic sexual abuse of women. Thus, it is easy for a woman to lie about an assault attempt because others are more likely to believe it. A question to consider is as follows: To what extent one can believe words about assault if another party cannot defend themselves?