To Kill A Mockingbird - Chapter 18

This chapter takes place at the courthouse and Mayella is going up to tell her side of what happened to her the night she got beaten and taken advantage of. Mayella tells the jury in her own words what happened that evening on November 21. She says she was sitting on the porch when Tom Robinson walked by. She said she asked him to come into the yard and bust up some chiffarobe for her because she was too weak to do it herself. She said he did it and she went into the house to go and get him a nickel. When she turned around, she said he was standing behind her and he jumped her. After Mr. Gilmer was done asking her questions, Atticus told her to sit back down so he could ask her a few to try to get to the end of this. She thought Atticus was mocking her by calling her ma'am and miss Mayella and she said she wasn't going to answer him as long as he kept doing it.
Atticus started asking her how her father treated her and if he was good to her or if he was not. He asked if she loved him and how much. Atticus asks if Bob has ever beaten Mayella and she doesn't give a straight answer, but looks around the room and then at her dad instead.

You can easily tell that Mayella is nervous and is lying about something because she keeps looking around nervously, at Bob, and not answering questions in complete sentences or right on que. She has to be asked two or three times before she can think of something to say for an answer. If I were in the jury I would have chosen Tom innocent just by the way Mayella kept changing her story and acting squeamish and nervous. I also would choose him innocent because of the statement Atticus makes about Mayella having to be beaten with her left hand and Tom having a crippled left hand.