When a decorated and respected police officer is stabbed to death in a street riot, Detective Supt. Gannon promises his widow that justice will be done. When the self-confessed, mentally-challenged perpetrator confesses, his vow would seem to fulfilled, especially when Judge Guthrie Featherstone voices his certitude about the defendant's guilt in open court. The conviction is overturned on appeal when evidence surfaces that part of the confession seems to have been altered and the judge's conduct is called into question. Featherstone is pressured into presiding at Gannon's trial and has to contend with Rumpole for the defense. With his wife out of town, A depressed Featherstone indiscreetly goes to a club with attractive legal clerk Dot Clapton.
—Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)