The Second Verdict story
A lawyer discovers that his acquitted client was really guilty of murder and may try to kill again. Directed by: Lewis Teague. Story by: Alfred Hayes (teleplay), Henry Slesar (story).
20 total · 2 choice · 7 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| duty vs. conscience | choice | Ned was confronted with the following troublesome dilemma: should he follow his conscience and try to expose his former client as the villainous murderer he was, or should he obey his duty to his law firm and his profession just let the matter drop? |
| legal occupation | choice | The story follows a defense attorney who becomes deeply conflicted upon discovering that a client for whom he secured an acquittal on a murder charge was actually guilty. |
| engaged couple | major | Ned was happily engaged to the boss' daughter at the law firm where he worked as an attorney. |
| husband and wife | major | Lew and Melanie Rydell were in a somewhat troubled marriage. |
| love vs. conscience | major | Ned was faced with the following troublesome dilemma: should he anger his future father-in-law, risk his fiancé's displeasure and perhaps jeopardize his impending marriage in order to expose his former client as the murderous villain said client had confessed himself to be? |
| murder | major | A key component of the story is Lew getting acquitted of a murder that he had indeed committed. |
| romantic jealousy | major | Lew was a stereotypically jealous and hot-tempered husband to Melanie. He killed two men over her. |
| the desire for justice | major | Ned was deeply troubled by the revelation his newly acquitted client was in fact guilty of the murder for which he was tried. He thereafter went to extraordinary means to see that justice was meted out. First, by exhausting judicial means, then by turning to extrajudicial means when push came to shove. |
| vigilante justice | major | Ned have Tony his tacit approval to extrajudicially kill the wrongly acquitted murderer. |
| capital punishment | minor | Ned consulted with Judge Arthur regarding Lew's hypothetical fate should he had been convicted of murder. Ned thought Lew would have been sentenced to death, but Judge Arthur said he would have had Lew confined to an insane asylum. |