This film is based on the true story of Little Rock murderess Mary Leah Orsini, who was charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder when she hired two men, one of whom being Eugene "Yankee" Hall, to deliver bouquet of flowers to the home of her attorney (William MacArthur). The evidence showed that Mrs. MacArthur initially fled the door and hid in an upstairs bedroom where she was found brutally murdered. The trial gained nationwide attention, and because the new courthouse was still unfinished, it was held in the Former Arkansas Federal Courthouse. At the time of the trial this building was being used as The University of Arkansas School of Law for moot court and various classes, which allowed the law students to observe "the murder trial of the century" from the soundproof gallery. One student would later pursue a career in Hollywood as a motion-picture Producer. Jeffrey C. Hogue, who had just finished a film for New World Pictures had been asked to come in and read the script for "Seduction in Travis County". At the initial meeting Mr. Hogue read some 15 pages of the script and remarked, "This is the Mary Leah Orsini case!" Security and Executives at New World, fearing a corporate leak, went into "lockdown" mode. Mr. Hogue was questioned about he could possibly know the basis of the script after reading only a few page? He stated to the utter amazement of the Corporate Executives in a typically calm Southern accent that he was in fact a lawyer who happened to have attended law school in Little Rock and had made a point of attending the trial on which the film was based. Naturally, New World hired Hogue and his team on the spot to produce this Movie of the Week. It was truly life imitating art, or vice versa, that of all the Producers in Hollywood, Hogue was asked to produce a film which he had hoped to produce years earlier as he watched the trial while a student. Mrs. Orsini passed away in prison in early 2013 or 2014. William MacArthur was elected as a judge. Mr. Hogue continued producing low-budget pictures and acquiring the rights to some 400 features and shorts which have achieved notoriety in the past 30 years.
Bill McArthur was not elected as judge. He continued as a criminal defense lawyer until a stroke forced him from practice, and eventually he passed away.
Lyn Montgomery's debut.