This episode is cut from a different cloth in the Perry Mason pattern. It opens with Perry's client being sentenced to death in the gas chamber. She'd previously been convicted of drugging her bed-ridden aunt into unconsciousness and then throwing the old lady off the balcony.
Bailiff: Verdict: “We, the jury, in the above entitled cause, fix the punishment as death for the crime of murder.”
A couple of nieces come to Perry’s office, hoping to settle their aunt’s estate and discussing the notoriety of having Perry’s client, niece Janice, convicted of killing their aunt.
Niece: I’m thinking of the disgrace to the family, Violet -- having a cousin go to the gas chamber.
Janice's clemency appeal is denied and a date for the execution is set. She's in a country-club sort of prison for someone on Death Row.
Uniformed escort for defendant: Sorry, no speaking to prisoners in transit.
PM: It’s all right, Matron, I’m her attorney.
The problem with Perry's client is that the alibi she gave herself on the stand was a lie. Janice didn't want to say where she really was because she was the family black sheep and had already hurt others in the past with her rash behavior. She was trying to turn over a new leaf by clamming up.
Perry goes to see one of the people Janice was trying to protect with her alibi lie.
PM: Odd that you can’t remember where you were but you can remember where you were not.
Perry asks Paul to keep looking for clues to the real murderer.
PD: For over three months, my men have checked every possible lead, every possible possibility.
Every possible possibility. Nice turn of phrase.
By a happy coincidence, the exonerated defendant is released on the day she was scheduled to die. She's done a nice job of not panicking.
Janice: How nice to have nothing to breathe except air.
Bailiff: Verdict: “We, the jury, in the above entitled cause, fix the punishment as death for the crime of murder.”
A couple of nieces come to Perry’s office, hoping to settle their aunt’s estate and discussing the notoriety of having Perry’s client, niece Janice, convicted of killing their aunt.
Niece: I’m thinking of the disgrace to the family, Violet -- having a cousin go to the gas chamber.
Janice's clemency appeal is denied and a date for the execution is set. She's in a country-club sort of prison for someone on Death Row.
Uniformed escort for defendant: Sorry, no speaking to prisoners in transit.
PM: It’s all right, Matron, I’m her attorney.
The problem with Perry's client is that the alibi she gave herself on the stand was a lie. Janice didn't want to say where she really was because she was the family black sheep and had already hurt others in the past with her rash behavior. She was trying to turn over a new leaf by clamming up.
Perry goes to see one of the people Janice was trying to protect with her alibi lie.
PM: Odd that you can’t remember where you were but you can remember where you were not.
Perry asks Paul to keep looking for clues to the real murderer.
PD: For over three months, my men have checked every possible lead, every possible possibility.
Every possible possibility. Nice turn of phrase.
By a happy coincidence, the exonerated defendant is released on the day she was scheduled to die. She's done a nice job of not panicking.
Janice: How nice to have nothing to breathe except air.