30min | Crime, Drama, TV Series | Episode aired 9 December 1954
Bart Matthews defends the poor and others who cannot afford an attorney. All episodes are based on actual cases from across the country.
Creators: Mort R. Lewis, Sam Shayon
Stars: Reed Hadley, John Close, Brick Sullivan
Bart Matthews defends the poor and others who cannot afford an attorney. All episodes are based on actual cases from across the country.
Creators: Mort R. Lewis, Sam Shayon
Stars: Reed Hadley, John Close, Brick Sullivan
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00The public defender is a public servant employed by the community and responsible for giving
00:13legal aid without cost to any person who seeks it and is financially unable to employ private
00:19counsel. It is his duty to defend those accused of crime until they are proved guilty by law.
00:27But that doesn't mean that his work is always appreciated. Sometimes it's quite the opposite.
00:33As when the public defender's office defended a man named Murphy, charged with assault with
00:38intent to commit murder. He lived near Pine Rocks, a mountain area, generally a peaceful
00:44place except for that day when the deer hunting season opened.
00:47Alright, get out of here. Well hello, Mr. Murphy. No, the hunter's not on this property. It's porches. Signs all over the place. Didn't you see them?
01:01Sure, but what's the matter? Can't you read? Well, Mr. Murphy, these are friends of ours. They're from the city.
01:07Yeah, woke me up this morning. Sounds like the Battle of Bunker Hill. I don't trust greenhorns with guns.
01:16Last opening day, some city dude shot my cow. Well look, we're all members of the Hunter Farmers Cooperative.
01:23We'll be responsible for any damage. Besides, we'll pay you a fee for letting us hunt. I don't want any fee.
01:29All the game on this property belongs to me. Mr. Murphy, that's a moot question. The authorities seem to think the game belongs to the public.
01:37That's why the state sends out wardens to regulate and protect wildlife. Wildlife eats my grain, don't they?
01:43Tramples my gardens, drinks my water. All the game on this property belongs to me. How come we have to buy a hunter's license then?
01:51Oh look, let's cool down, shall we? Look, Mr. Murphy, is it okay if we unload our guns if we cross over to Jawbone Canyon? That's not your property, is it?
01:59You can go around by the road. It's four miles around that way. Then stand on the highway and shoot into the bushes the way the rest of the greenhorns do.
02:08I don't need a license to shoot on my property, deer or trespassers.
02:16Come on, fellas, let's get out of here.
02:20Good deer hunters.
02:25Hey, Bill, what gives here? I thought your stepfather picked up the bank foreclosure on this property.
02:32He did.
02:33Well, it's not Murphy's property at all.
02:35That's right. He's a hard one to convince, and that wasn't the time to try, looking down the barrel of that .30-30.
02:43Now, come on, let's beat away at this draw, and then we can circle around him.
03:06Where is he?
03:08Oh, hello, Mr. Murphy.
03:09Where's your father? He ain't in the store.
03:11Well, father's back at the cabin, why?
03:18Hi, honey.
03:19Fine help with the dishes you are. That's no excuse.
03:24I had to help Harry celebrate. He got a beautiful buck. Did you see it outside?
03:27Uh-huh.
03:28What's that?
03:29No.
03:30How's that?
03:31All right, why wouldn't he be?
03:33He's drying your dishes, in fact.
03:35Well, I took care of something for him today that he should have done six months ago, so we're even.
03:40Bill, what are you talking about? Is something wrong?
03:43No, just something legal. I had old man Murphy served with an eviction notice.
03:47Eviction notice?
03:49Uh-huh.
03:50Hey, Dora, how about a game of cards?
03:53All right. Where's Emily?
03:55I thought this was deer season.
03:58It's a midget deer.
04:00Meet Mr. B.J. Eubanks, taxidermist extraordinary.
04:03No, we don't want any. We've got enough horns hanging all over the mantel already.
04:08Honey, did dad hear from old man Murphy?
04:11What?
04:12Madam, my work is admired all over the state.
04:15When people see my rattlesnakes, they jump a mile.
04:19Yes, I'm sure, Mr. Eubanks.
04:21Oh, I mean, I didn't mean to offend you, but my husband,
04:26well, he has more trophies than the Smithsonian Institute.
04:30And when I offer this beautiful gray fox for only $25,
04:33I'm sure you'll snap at the chance.
04:35Don't play with his tail, please, sir.
04:37Now, this beautiful object will be the signature of all eyes,
04:39if only when you take it home for his...
04:41I'll buy a bottle, doctor.
04:43Didn't know the celebration was over here.
04:45Thought it was in your cabin.
04:47I never heard such a racket.
04:48What do you mean? There's no one there but dad, and he's washing the dishes.
04:51Washing dishes?
04:53He's throwing them and yelling his head off at somebody.
04:56Murphy.
04:57No, no.
04:58Oh, don't worry about your dad. He's holding his own.
05:02Let go of me. Let go of me.
05:03Explain it, old cat.
05:05Go on now. Get away from me.
05:07Get out of here.
05:08Go on.
05:14Father!
05:15Father!
05:16Oh!
05:17Oh!
05:18Lundquist, I should have killed you the day you set fire to my pasture land.
05:22You stole my Angus bull.
05:24And what about that fence? That fence you tore down?
05:27Father, stop it.
05:28Stole him, I said.
05:29A whole quarter mile of fence.
05:31Cut it out.
05:33Two men your age, fighting like babies.
05:36What's the matter with you?
05:37Take it easy, Zora. He just tripped, that's all.
05:40Well, come in here yelling like a banshee, and I'll show you what for.
05:44Father, please.
05:45Take your hands off me, sonny.
05:46Someday your angriness will blow up and bust you.
05:49All right, Murphy.
05:50You came over here because you're sore about that eviction notice on your land.
05:53Bill, what is all this notice he's yelling about?
05:57I used to have a fence there.
05:59Now all my calves keep getting out.
06:02And you go stealing from me.
06:04Oh, for Pete's sake!
06:05Bill, wait.
06:06Mr. Murphy, that fence was down years and years ago.
06:10Yes.
06:11No one's trying to steal your land.
06:13It just isn't yours anymore.
06:15You don't even have cattle anymore.
06:17Remember?
06:18I used to have a lot of things.
06:20And they kept stealing everything from me.
06:22Murphy!
06:25Maybe I got plans.
06:27You don't know.
06:28You and them city dudes.
06:30You don't know.
06:31Come back here, you old fool!
06:33But listen to me.
06:34I'm warning you.
06:36Anybody comes traipsing up there again, they better watch out.
06:39I'm warning you.
06:43He gets mixed up sometimes.
06:46I wonder if I'm getting that old, too.
06:48Oh, of course not, Dan.
06:50Forget it, Pop.
06:51I'll go down to the sheriff's office in the morning.
06:53Well, Murphy always blamed me for his hard luck.
06:57I guess I blamed him for my bad luck, too.
07:00And with good reason.
07:02Bill, how important is that notice?
07:04Pop, I'll explain it to you again.
07:07I helped you buy up that mortgage land.
07:09But there he sits, right in the middle of it,
07:11with private property and no hunting signs posted all over it.
07:14Why, he ran me and my party off of that land this morning.
07:17Now, if you keep on being polite to him...
07:19I ain't being soft.
07:21I hate that old goat.
07:23Well, I know how he feels.
07:25Pretty much the same as you felt a while back
07:27when you almost lost your land.
07:29But we can't subdivide that area
07:31if he's going to sit right in the middle of it
07:33pulling a 30-30 on every hunter that comes by,
07:36cutting off the water, starting a fight with everybody.
07:39You say he chased you off of our land with a 30-30?
07:43That's right.
07:44But don't you go getting hot under the collar about it.
07:46You let me handle it.
07:48All right, all right, Bill, you handle it.
07:51Maybe you know best.
07:57That next day, old Mr. Lundquist
07:59decided to take matters into his own hands.
08:13Fred!
08:35Fred!
08:37Fred!
08:43Fred!
09:03He's down in the barrel of that 30-30.
09:14Well, there you are.
09:16Afternoon, Mr. Murphy.
09:18Hello, Deputy.
09:19What brings you here?
09:21Something's happened.
09:22Mind if I take a look at your rifle?
09:24Don't own one.
09:25Game wardens as you do.
09:27Cigar rifles.
09:28Threw it away.
09:29A couple of other parties from town by you this morning.
09:32They saw you walking away from your cabin with the rifle.
09:35Well, I didn't see it.
09:36Well, I didn't see it.
09:37Well, I didn't see it.
09:38Well, I didn't see it.
09:39Well, I didn't see it.
09:40Well, I didn't see it.
09:41Well, I didn't see it.
09:42When did you come into the cabin with the rifle?
09:43About nine o'clock.
09:45I'd been having trouble with Bobcat.
09:47Bobcat got into my chickens the other night.
09:49Where is your rifle, Mr. Murfy?
09:51None of your business.
09:52Leave me alone.
09:54You walked down the canyon south of here then through the woods.
09:58No, it ain't true.
09:59Somebody else saw you running away from there.
10:01Soli?
10:02He'd left the house all day.
10:05Then I guess this isn't your bandana.
10:10Course not.
10:12I didn't shoot Fred Lundqvist!
10:14Then how do you know he was shot?
10:17You haven't been out of the house.
10:19You haven't got a phone.
10:21Is he dead?
10:22He was still alive when they took him off to the hospital.
10:26Thanks.
10:28I've just been sitting here and going through some of my things.
10:31Oh well.
10:33All right.
10:34I'm through with this place anyway.
10:37Let's go down to your jail.
10:39The case against Murphy was circumstantial, but still it was going to be a difficult case
10:49to handle, especially if Lundqvist testified against him.
10:53But Dad, he's guilty.
10:55You know he's guilty.
10:56He's just confused, that's all.
11:00He's getting old.
11:01Well, he wasn't confused when he threatened to kill you.
11:04I don't mean just this time.
11:06I mean all the other time.
11:08That's what we want you to tell about.
11:10He hit me once with a cross-cut saw.
11:14I still got the mark on my legs, but I never brought no charge against him.
11:19You wouldn't.
11:20Couldn't very well.
11:22I hit him first with an axe handle.
11:26Oh, Dad.
11:28Dora, I'm sorry you've been so upset with Bill and all the nice people you've brought up there.
11:38Dad, don't you understand?
11:41The reason we want you to testify is because he just has to be put away somewhere.
11:46It isn't just a fight anymore.
11:49He tried to murder you.
11:53I guess that's just what I can't get through my head.
11:57Guess he always figured the world was right and he was wrong.
12:01You said that a little backwards, didn't you?
12:05No.
12:07Just too bad he couldn't have been right for once and the world wrong, that's all.
12:13But go on.
12:15Tell him I'll testify enough to swing that crazy old bird up to a telegraph pole.
12:21And he ought to be.
12:24One to fourteen years, Mr. Murphy.
12:27That's the sentence that can be imposed on you.
12:30Fourteen years would about handle it for me.
12:33Sixty-four last December.
12:35Maybe that's what you'll get if you don't help me defend you.
12:40So Lundquist is going to say things against me too, eh?
12:44I shit around his neck years ago.
12:47What's that?
12:48None of your business.
12:49Only, say, did I tell you I went out that morning to shoot a bobcat?
12:55That might be some help for you.
12:57That might, but I don't think so.
12:59Huh?
13:00I understand you're a good shot.
13:02You're blame right I am.
13:03So that if you'd been aiming at an animal instead of a man, you would have hit him just as easily.
13:08There would have been something to show for it.
13:10Well?
13:11I had the warden call the area you said you were in that morning.
13:15There was no sign of a bobcat dead or alive.
13:19No.
13:21No, I guess there wouldn't be.
13:23I'm afraid we'll have to do better than that.
13:26All right, then.
13:27Say I'm guilty.
13:28Get it over with.
13:30You mean that?
13:31Maybe I was just too stubborn to admit it.
13:34And I'm not crazy either.
13:36I'm sorry there's been so much trouble here, young man.
13:40I plead guilty.
13:41No, I can't let you do it.
13:43Well, why not?
13:44One to 14 years.
13:46What do I care?
13:47I did it.
13:47I killed him.
13:49Now get out of here and leave me alone.
13:50Mr. Murphy, the law says that if you plead guilty and Fred Lundquist should die within the next year, you could be tried all over again.
13:58Murder in the first degree.
14:00Possibly the gas chamber.
14:02Oh.
14:04Then I'm not so sure I did it.
14:06Mr. Murphy, please give me something to go on.
14:09All right.
14:11You don't know so much about the law.
14:12You handled it.
14:13Go on.
14:14Do the whole thing.
14:16You're my defense, aren't you?
14:18I'll not say another word.
14:22The date of Murphy's trial was approaching.
14:24And I still had no defense for it.
14:27Mr. Ames, the game warden for that district, was very cooperative.
14:31Did you find anything?
14:32Any evidence of bobcats?
14:35No.
14:36And I did a lot of looking around.
14:37Every square foot of that hill.
14:39Why?
14:40Murphy isn't a friend of yours.
14:42Not so you'd notice it.
14:43In the old days, I hauled him in a half dozen times, mostly for shooting pheasant out of season.
14:49And with a rifle, which made it worse.
14:51Pretty good shot.
14:52One of the best.
14:53Give me your honest opinion.
14:54Do you think that Murphy shot Lundquist?
14:57It could have been an accident.
14:58Murphy's a stubborn old coot, but he's not bloodthirsty.
15:01And there's one thing he's been right about all the time.
15:04What's that?
15:05About that area not being good for open deer shooting.
15:08Too close and too many people.
15:11You know, one day I checked 237 hunters out of one road.
15:15You know how many deer they got?
15:17Six.
15:18237 men got six deer.
15:21That isn't what you came here to tell me.
15:24I found Murphy's rifle where he hid it that day.
15:27He'd thrown it down an old mine shaft.
15:29This gun of Murphy's had just one bullet fired.
15:33Now they must have removed the bullet from Lundquist's body at the hospital.
15:37Wouldn't that prove something?
15:38All our ballistics experts could prove whether it came from Murphy's gun or not.
15:42Except the bullet went clean through a fleshy part of Lundquist's body and was never found.
15:47Oh.
15:49Thanks anyway.
15:50Nice try.
15:53Lundquist testified at the trial and when the case was given to the jury,
15:57he and his son-in-law left for Pine Rocks.
16:00The pheasant season had just opened and all Bill's friends were there.
16:20What happened, Bill?
16:21The jury was still out when we left.
16:22Did you hear anything on the radio?
16:24No.
16:25Probably some old gal holding out for not guilty.
16:28Well, she'll see the light.
16:30They'll send him up all right.
16:32The jury deliberated four hours.
16:34I waited.
16:35It was after dark when they returned with a verdict.
16:38Hear ye, hear ye.
16:40This court is again in session.
16:42Everyone rise, please.
16:44Judge Randolph had just about decided to send the jury to a hotel for the night.
16:49When they announced he had arrived at a decision.
16:51The verdict came as quite a surprise.
16:53It was not guilty.
16:57Not guilty.
16:59Not guilty.
17:01How do you like that?
17:02I can't believe it.
17:04If it's true, it's not going to set so well with a lot of people up here.
17:09How do you like that?
17:11I just can't believe it.
17:13What are we going to do now?
17:15I don't know.
17:17But I don't want to be caught in the middle.
17:19All I tried to do was help your dad to make something of this place.
17:23Make a little money.
17:24You've done a swell job of it up till now.
17:27But the real work is just starting.
17:31What's going to happen when Murphy comes back?
17:34I don't know.
17:37All the stupid things for two intelligent, sane people to worry about.
17:41A couple of old men feuding like hillbillies.
17:45Well, maybe he won't come back after what's happened.
17:48You don't know him, and you don't know dad.
17:52Don't you understand?
17:53Murphy's been found innocent.
17:55He's a free man with a persecution complex.
17:59They've just opened up the door to a real killing.
18:02Where's dad?
18:04He just came in and went to his room without a word.
18:09Mr. Bowling.
18:10Bell.
18:12Hello, Mr. Ames.
18:13Evening, ma'am.
18:13I want to see your father.
18:15Hurry.
18:15Oh, he's resting.
18:16He's already heard the news.
18:18There's something else.
18:18I've been talking to the sheriff's office.
18:20Look, I have to see him right now.
18:23Dad?
18:24Dad?
18:26The sheriff's office?
18:28Say, that verdict wasn't very popular with your city friends either, was it?
18:33I know, I don't blame you.
18:34The men in the store are getting all excited, but maybe it is justice.
18:38Bill, he's gone.
18:40I guess he went out the back way.
18:43Well, I've got to stick around and wait anyway.
18:45Well, maybe you better know that Murphy's taken a bus from town already.
18:49What?
18:51Sheriff's deputy left the courtroom with him just to keep an eye on things,
18:53but he lost him when the bus stopped at the service station.
18:56Well, I wouldn't worry about it.
18:57Mr. Matthews is on his way up here.
19:00You see, we might have something new on this.
19:04Bill, we've got to find father.
19:06I couldn't tell you in front of Ames.
19:08His gun's gone too.
19:10Uh-oh.
19:14Hiya, fellas.
19:16We've got a visitor.
19:17I'd like to introduce Mr. Bart Matthews, public defender.
19:21Tell me, warden, when's the season open on public defenders?
19:24I'd like to oil up my gun.
19:27Eric!
19:28Eric, can I see you a minute?
19:29Oh, sure, Bill.
19:30Honey, you stay right here.
19:33Anything we ought to know about Mrs. Bowling?
19:35I think father's out looking for Murphy.
19:44Not guilty.
19:46Oh, and you called me a murderer.
19:49Yes.
19:50I thought you were just a hot-headed old goat once, but there you are.
19:54Look at you.
19:55Couldn't stand it because I had good luck for a change.
19:59Maybe I should have killed you in the days when you were making a few dollars.
20:03Ah, shut up, Bill.
20:04Here, here, here.
20:05Give me that gun.
20:06Yes, I dare you.
20:09All right, drop it, Murphy.
20:10You people don't belong here.
20:11Check it out.
20:12Give me that thing, don't you?
20:13Drop it!
20:15It's all right, nobody's hurt.
20:17I'll take that gun, Bill.
20:19All right, the hunting season's over for both of you fellas.
20:21I want you to listen to Mr. Matthews.
20:23Mr. Lundquist, Mr. Murphy didn't shoot you.
20:26He didn't even shoot at you.
20:28It was a hunting accident.
20:31I, I wasn't sure.
20:34It was a long range.
20:36And then I found this.
20:39I never had a shooting accident in my life.
20:41But my eyes ain't what they used to be.
20:43Mr. Murphy, you were the only man on the field that day who couldn't have done it.
20:47Huh?
20:48There was only one shot fired from your gun.
20:50And Mr. Eubanks will testify that you hit your bobcat.
20:53Because he found it, scanned it out, and mounted it.
20:56Fortunately, he found a bullet in the skull.
20:58One bullet right between the eyes.
21:01Ha!
21:02You hear that?
21:04And our ballista, Mr. Lundquist, found the bullet.
21:07And our ballistics expert says that the bullet came from Mr. Murphy's gun.
21:12So you see, when the evidence is all in, the jury is usually right.
21:17I don't know how to thank you, Mr. Matthews.
21:19You've certainly taught me a lesson.
21:21Yes, I've learned a lesson too.
21:23And I'm willing to pay for it.
21:25Come on, let's all go down to the store and have a nice cold drink on me.
21:29Come on, Dad.
21:30I'll be along in a minute.
21:32Don't worry.
21:33Maybe I've learned a thing or two myself.
21:36Those interfering city dudes spoiled everything.
21:40I come back here tonight to beat your ears off.
21:42All right, all right.
21:44And I come up here tonight to get rid of this.
21:48You...
21:49You mean you're not going to throw me off my place?
21:52I ain't no fool.
21:54If you left here, I wouldn't have nobody to fight with.
21:57That's right.
21:59And that's why I didn't shoot you.
22:02And that's why I didn't shoot you.
22:05I tell you what.
22:07We've both got a few years left.
22:09Why don't we let your kids sell off all this stuff around here?
22:13But keep this little cabin.
22:15Yes, yes, yes.
22:17Just you and me.
22:19Then we can fight all we want to.
22:21That's it.
22:23And there'll be nobody butting in and spoiling our fun.
22:26That's it.
22:34Mr. Matthews, I still don't understand.
22:37Father was shot. Who did it?
22:39Do you have any idea, Mr. Matthews?
22:41How many of you were out deer hunting that day?
22:44All of us here were.
22:46Too many.
22:47Well, perhaps Warden Ames can explain it better than I can.
22:50Warden.
22:52Take your group here and multiply it by 100.
22:55Then think it over.
22:57Do you know how far a bullet can carry?
22:59Do you know what happens in these places close to town
23:02with parties and brand new red caps
23:04shooting at sounds in a brush and trees
23:06and anything that moves?
23:08Does that answer your question?
23:11Maybe we'll never know who fired that shot.
23:15It could have been one of us.
23:19Out of all this, there was another good result.
23:22At least a few hunters were taught
23:24what every good hunter should know.
23:26That indiscriminate or careless shooting
23:28can hurt more humans than animals.
23:32The case you have just seen was brought to a fair
23:34and just conclusion through the efforts
23:36of a public defender.
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