Spearheading the prosecution are the town's sheriff, Art Moran, and prosecutor, Alvin Hooks. Leading the defense is the old, experienced Nels Gudmondsson. Several witnesses, including Etta Heine, Carl's mother, accuse Kabuo of murdering Carl for racial and personal reasons. Kabuo Miyamoto (a decorated war veteran of the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team), experienced prejudice because of his ancestry, following the Imperial Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor. He accepts the murder trial as a kind of karma for his part in killing young Germans during the war.