- In a very rare occurrence, Perry Mason loses a case when Janice Barton is convicted of murdering her aunt and is subsequently sentenced to death. After the verdict, Perry still investigates to try to find the real killer among the heirs.
- Perry Mason has lost a murder trial and his client, Janice Barton, has been sentenced to death in the gas chamber for murdering her Aunt Amanda. Perry holds little hope for the appeal process as he can find no errors in the trial and his client was caught by Burger lying about her actions that night on the stand. She refuses to tell Perry the truth. Furthermore, her life has been a chain of unfortunate incidents involving the death of a boyfriend in Italy and her sister being paralyzed after a car accident. Perry keeps digging with no luck until he learns there had been a prescription mix up. The aunt had been given an old prescription. She was poisoned when she was given her medicine which was always done by Janice. He learns the reason why Janice lied about her actions the night of the murder but it is of no help. Adding pressure is the fact that the appeals for Janice are all denied. Paul visits Brazil to see the family member, Dr. Andrew Barton, who was Amanda's doctor, but he has passed away working with the natives.—Anonymous
- At a late hour, people are gathering in a courtroom to hear a returning jury. They include the accused, Janice Barton (Julie Adams), and her attorney, Perry Mason. The court clerk (Olan Soule) reads out the jury's finding: the death penalty for Janice.
The next day at the office, Della receives two visitors: Violet Ames (Hollis Irving) and Letitia Simmons (Erin O'Brien-Moore). Della explains that Perry is out and asks if she can help. Letitia wonders why Perry didn't force Janice to plead guilty, avoiding the death penalty, which will magnify the family scandal. Her sister Violet feels the opposite - being related to a famous murderess can only help her acting career. She makes it clear that the purpose of the visit is money. Janice had been left the largest share of the estate of her aunt Amanda Barton in Amanda's will, but her conviction of her aunt's murder invalidates the will. The next heirs are Violet, Letitia, their sister Paulette Nevin, their brother Andrew Barton (a doctor currently working in Brazil), and housekeeper Emily Green. With Janice not inheriting, each now stands to gain at least $100,000.
Meanwhile, Perry is wandering through Amanda's mansion, the scene of the crime. In voice-over, we hear the trial testimony that he recalls. Amanda insisted that Janice be the only one to give her her bedtime medicine. The police found Janice's fingerprints on the medicine bottle and the glass into which some of the medicine was poured. The lab tested both the medicine in the bottle and the small amount left in the glass, and found chloral hydrate (better known as "knockout drops") in the glass only. It was also found in Amanda's stomach, on a strong enough solution to render her unconscious. Burger's summation: Janice, the only one who could have done so, added chloral hydrate to the medicine in the glass, waited 2 hours for it to take effect, returned, picked up the unconscious Amanda, carried her onto the balcony, leaned her against the railing and pushed, causing the railing to break. Amanda fell headlong to her death.
Perry's reverie is interrupted by Christopher Barton (Steve Franken), son of the absent Andrew. He offers any help he can give, and admits feeling sorry for an action that turned out to give Janice a motive for murder. It was at his suggestion that Amanda made Janice her principle heir. In hindsight, Christopher recalls that earlier in Rome, Janice's lover fell off a balcony in what the police eventually labeled an accident - but it makes him wonder. Housekeeper Emily Green (Joan Tompkins) is sure Janice was up to no good from the beginning, and had Amanda under a spell. She blames Janice's reckless driving for causing an accident that permanently crippled Paulette. She's the one who testified that she saw Janice running from the house shortly after Amanda fell, but she wasn't responsible for Janice lying about her whereabouts at the time - a lie that came unraveled during the trial. Emily shouts that Janice is "Evil! Evil!"
Perry visits bartender Arthur Jacks (Mike Mazurki) at a gym where he's working out. Jacks had initially testified that Janice had entered his bar at 10:30 PM. Midway through the trial, he returned to the stand to recant this testimony. He'd been paid $500 by Janice to say this. Actually, she came in around 11 PM, looking white as a sheet and ordering two brandies instead of her usual sandwich and a beer. He only came forward because Lt. Tragg found the $500 and forced him to tell the truth. Burger kept this detail out of the testimony, making it look like Jacks was a penitent coming forward of his own volition, rather than a trapped liar. Disgusted, Perry throws a medicine ball to Jacks and leaves to see his client. She still won't tell the truth about where she was, even though Perry insists being trapped in the lie was the main thing that influenced the jury against her. However, the judge denies Perry's motion for a new trial or reduction of sentence. A date for execution won't be set until after the automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court.
Perry is working late in the office when Della and Paul arrive. He tells them he can't find a legal error on which to base his appeal. Christopher arrives with a cable from his father. He'd finally received an account of the trial and noticed an odd detail. The medicine mentioned was not what he, as Amanda's physician, had most recently prescribed for him to take. Perry checks with Janice, who affirms that she, Emily, and Amanda herself all knew of the updated prescription. The one mentioned in the lab report was the previous prescription. It wouldn't be harmful, it was just missing some extra ingredients. Someone who didn't know about the change must have ordered it.
Paul flies to Brazil and takes a boat to Andrew's hospital in the rainforest, where he meets Dr. Faulkner (Sally Hughes). She shows Paul Andrew's grave, and explains that he knew he was dying even before he left California, and wanted to be buried near the native Brazilians among whom he'd worked for so long. At a conference in Burger's office, Lieutenants Tragg and Anderson report that they checked on the order of the old prescription, and learned that it had been phoned in. Dr. Charles Nevin (Lee Bergere), Paulette's husband, says anyone who knew the prescription number could have phoned it in, as long as it was refillable and non-narcotic, as in this case. Burger doesn't think this changes anything, and indicates the thick brief he'll be filing to the state supreme court, urging that the death penalty be upheld.
Perry visits Janice in prison. Recalling that Jacks said she came in "white as a sheet", he thinks she went to the family beach house that night and saw something that shocked her. What was it? In tears, Janice says she can't tell him. She's hurt too many people already - referring to her reckless driving that put Paulette in a wheelchair and her spurning of her Italian lover, causing him to jump off the balcony. She vows she won't tell what really happened - even if it means the gas chamber.
Perry visits Charles, who at first says he doesn't remember where he was that night, but then promptly denies he was at the beach house. Paulette enters and says there was lipstick on his shirt that night. Even though she thinks it was Janice's, she insists that Charles tell anything that would save her from execution. Charles calls in his nurse, Elizabeth Carson (Marie Worsham) and asks her to tell the truth. She admits that she'd become pregnant, but the father wasn't ready for marriage. Contemplating drowning herself, she called Charles from a bar. He went there, took her to the beach house, and spent two hours talking her out of suicide. They now conclude that Janice must have seen them and misinterpreted. They never came forward with this because they never saw Janice and had no reason to think she was anywhere near the beach house. This solves the mystery of Janice's whereabouts, but with no witnesses it won't save her. (Note: No one ever questions the wisdom of taking someone who wants to drown herself to a place near the beach.)
Perry and Paul demonstrate to Emily that someone could open the mailbox, which is outside the property wall, without being seen from the house. She's unimpressed, not seeing the relevance and insisting that she saw Janice leave right after the murder. Perry asks if she could really recognize Janice, or if her vision was warped by jealousy and hatred.
Later, Perry gathers the principal suspects and reveals that Janice's lie has been explained. He also gives details about the murder: The killer phoned in an order of the old prescription, picked it up in person, and added the chloral hydrate. The same person then phoned in another reorder, this time for mail delivery, but intercepted the package at the mailbox and substituted the drugged bottle for the one in the package. This is what Janice unknowingly gave to Amanda. After the murder, the killer switched back the second, undrugged, bottle for the one Janice had used. Thus, chloral hydrate was in Amanda and in the glass only Janice used, giving the appearance that she must have done it. However, both the bottles ordered by the killer were the old prescription, which indicates that someone who didn't know about the change is guilty. However, this narrative won't reverse the conviction, so Perry asks if any of the innocent people present can think of anything that will help. Perry gets a phone call from Della - the state supreme court denied the appeal. Perry visits Janice, who already knows that her execution is set for 10 AM on a Wednesday, between 30 and 60 days from then.
At the mansion, Christopher keeps an appointment to see Emily. She says that in Perry's explanation of the two medicine bottles, he forgot about the existing bottle of the new prescription, which wasn't empty yet so still would have been used instead of the drugged one. Although she was out of the house part of the day, she was around to see Christopher, during his morning visit, grab the partially used bottle and discard it. She retrieved and hid it, knowing it would have his fingerprints. This would be enough for the police to find out if anyone at the pharmacy could identify him. Christopher angrily threatens to go to the police himself and reveal her blackmail attempt - then he leaves. Perry and Anderson emerge from hiding. It was a nice try, but didn't work. Perhaps they should try it on the other heirs, but for now they leave. Emily takes the stairlift to the second floor, then it descends again and reascends with a new passenger, hooded and dressed the way Emily described Janice on the murder night. The figure approaches Emily from behind with a scarf, obviously intending strangulation. A voice from behind calls "Hold it!". It's Paul, gun in hand. The figure turns, and it's Christopher, in drag. Perry and Anderson emerge from the shadows behind Paul.
As they wait outside the prison, Perry tells Paul that his trip to Brazil provided the clue to the killer's identity - the fact that Andrew knew he was dying. He would have told his son, so Christopher knew Amanda needed to die soon so Andrew would inherit his share. Christopher was his father's heir but wasn't in Amanda's will. Perry also mentions that Emily's story about saving the earlier medicine bottle was just a ruse to fool Christopher. Finally, Janice emerges from the building. It's 10 AM on a Wednesday, and she has nothing to breathe but air, even if it is a bit smoggy.
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