One interesting guy was a soldier who had four years of college. He and some others forced their way into a house, and there was a fight. What this guy was doing was separating the idea of his having killed someone from who he was as a person. In Steve's handwritten journal entries, that's who he is. He's lonely and he's afraid.
Jails are very frightening places.
When he's writing about that experience and about who he is, he's writing in this very direct manner. But when he writes anything about the crime and the courtroom, he sees it as apart from himself. He's giving himself the luxury of the distance, the film script, the wide-angle shots, what the filmmaker wants you to see. Also, it's interesting to me that when you go to a trial, the people there are playing roles. And Steve's not from a poor background.