Night of the Execution story
Warren Selvy, a prosecuting attorney with a long history of acquittals, delivers a guilty verdict in a crucial murder case. Afterward Warren is confronted by a homeless man, Ed, who claims to be the actual murderer. Warren tries to scare him off, but when that fails, Warren kills him. Warren then learns that Ed has a history of confessing to crimes that he did not commit. Directed by: Justus Addiss. Story by: Henry Slesar, Bernard C. Schoenfeld.
13 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| the desire for professional success | choice | Warren and his wife were both desperate to advance Warren's career, to the point of murder. |
| capital punishment | major | The story concerned a man that had been condemned to death, and the possibility that he might be innocent. |
| desire vs. conscience | major | Should Warren let an innocent man go the chair in order to protect his career? |
| husband and wife | major | Doreen was pressuring her husband, Warren, to secure a prestigious elected office, even if it meant sending an innocent man to the chair to obtain it. |
| legal occupation | major | The story followed an aspiring district attorney under pressure to get a conviction. |
| miscarriage of justice | major | The story built up to the execution of what was thought to be an innocent man. |
| murder | major | To protect his career, Warren killed Ed in the end. A man was convicted of having murdered his wife. |
| father-in-law and son-in-law | minor | Warren's influential father-in-law, Sidney, advised Warren on how to secure a nomination to become District Attorney. |
| human self-sacrifice for another | minor | Ed was willing to sacrifice his own freedom, and later life, for that of a convicted murderer. He had tried the same for others in the past. |
| perjury | minor | Old man Ed was willing to perjure himself in order to save a murderer from the electric chair. |