Frank Clark (Dan Barton) is found guilty of robbery and murder and
sentenced to 99 years, but his sister Roberta (Marian Seldes) is convinced
of his innocence, mainly because she is his alibi - and she doesn't seem
to be lying either, so the Court of Last Resort takes up
investigations. The court's investigator Sam Larsen (Lyle Bettger)
interviews Clark, and he has the whole thing mapped out: It's the
arresting officer (Harold J.Stone) and the woman who saw him at the scene
of the crime, Eleanor (Virginia Vincent), who try to frame him.
Investigating further, Larsen finds out Eleanor has been off some huge
debts the day after the murder - but where did she get the money from?
Larsen questions Eleanor and now she admits the money must have been the
dead man's which the robber dropped while making his getaway, and she
still has the moneyclip to prove it - but she claims she didn't have
anything to do with the actual murder. Roberta later identifies the money
clip as Clark'sbut still stands by her claim that her brother was with her
during the time of the crime - but then Larsen finds out she has taken
sedatives on that very day and must have simply dozed off when Clark was
out committing his crime. When Clark is confrontd with these facts, he
admits to everything - but insists his sister wasn't consciously lying,
and just happened to give him an alibi without him even asking her to ... The
best thing about this episode is probably the ending, which for a change
isn't about saving an innocent man but proving a convict's guilt beyond
any reasonable doubt - which comes rather unexpected. The rest of the
episode is at best so-so though, there is little in terms of tension or
suspense, too many clues are given away too soon, and the matter-of-fact
seriousness of the whole thing is a bit annoying. Just average 1950's
crime television, I suppose.
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