Summary
In a stark tableau of fiscal malfeasance and judicial peril, Leslie Morrison, a bank president consumed by avarice, orchestrates a meticulously cruel frame-up. He pilfers from his own institution, then cunningly alters the ledgers to implicate David Moulton, an unsuspecting bank clerk, as the architect of his financial transgressions. Yet, fate, with its characteristic irony, intercedes: Morrison meets an abrupt end in the cold maw of an elevator shaft, his demise leaving Moulton as the sole, damning presence at the scene. Swiftly, Moulton is ensnared in the legal machinery, charged with a homicide he did not commit, and, bereft of the means to secure a robust defense, is condemned to face the electric chair by the prosecuting zeal of District Attorney Robert Murdock. As the shadow of execution looms, a desperate plea for justice emanates from Mary Reed, a stenographer whose unwavering affection for Moulton propels her to seek the intercession of Arthur Nelson, the recently appointed public defender. Nelson, a beacon of nascent legal advocacy, plunges into the labyrinthine case, unearthing critical exculpatory evidence on the very precipice of Moulton's scheduled demise. This eleventh-hour revelation secures a stay of execution, culminating in a retrial where, under Nelson's tenacious guidance, the veil of false accusation is lifted, and Moulton's innocence is unequivocally affirmed.
Synopsis
When bank president Leslie Morrison dips into the till, he seeks to place the blame on bank clerk David Moulton by altering the figures in Moulton's books. He lays his plan carefully, but upon leaving the building late one night, Morrison falls into an elevator shaft and is killed. Moulton, the one man known to have been there, is charged with murder and tried by district attorney Robert Murdock. Unable to afford a competent defense, Moulton is convicted and sentenced to die in an electric chair. However, Mary Reed, a stenographer who loves Moulton, appeals as a last resort to the newly elected public defender, Arthur Nelson. Nelson investigates the case and discovers evidence on the very eve of the execution, evidence that will warrant a stay. Rescued from death in the nick of time, Moulton is granted a new trial under the supervision of the public defender and is found innocent.
