Suspense.
And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
the master of mystery and adventure, William N. Robeson.
Miss Nancy Kelly stars in Trial by Jury.
The sheriff escorted me down the jail card in person as though I were a VIP.
Well, I am now. To cops and bailiffs and wardens and lawyers and judges too.
All over the city, Hilda Warren is the name to conjure with.
Hilda Warren is the top criminal lawyer in the state.
For a woman, that means you've got to be twice as good as any man, and I am.
So, number nine was the last on the right.
There was a man inside lying on the bunk with his feet up against the wall,
reading the newspaper and smoking a cigarette.
That was my first sight of Tommy Eskiman.
He was taking things pretty easy for a man accused of murder.
There you are, Miss Warren. You take all the time you want.
Thank you, Sheriff.
Just holler when you want out.
I will.
Well, you took long enough getting here.
You're Mr. Eskiman?
Tommy, my friends call me.
You're Mr. Eskiman.
Better call me Tommy too. We'll get along better that way.
All right, Tommy. But we're not going to get along unless you and I get a couple things straight.
And right now.
Sure, like what?
I'm not doing any favors hiring me to handle your case because you're not.
You're lucky to get me. You understand?
Yeah. Yeah, I understand.
And the second thing is that I'm not in it for my health.
I want a power of attorney over everything you've got, and I'm taking half.
Half?
Mm-hmm, that's right. About $10,000, isn't it?
About.
Well?
That's pretty steep. It's a lot of dough.
All the dough in the world won't do you any good in the death house.
Go on.
So I want to know the truth, all of it.
Meaning I got to trust you, huh?
Don't you?
How do you know you can trust me?
I trust you?
Sure. Wouldn't look too good if it ever came out you were defending somebody you knew for a fact was guilty, would it?
Well, you let me worry about that.
Now, what's your story?
How much do you know?
Only what I read in the papers. I know you came out here from the East a couple of weeks ago.
Oh, and by the way, have you ever had any trouble with the law back in...
No, I've been lucky.
Where'd you get the money?
An uncle left me about five grand when he died about a year ago. I ran it up to 20.
Gambling?
Mostly.
Oh, in other words, you're a professional.
No, no, no. No, I'm a businessman. I invest in things, anything.
I decided to run the five grand up to 20 and then come out here and start a place of my own.
And did you?
I didn't have a chance. I came out here to look things over, see.
I went out to this place in the valley, Renzo's place.
It took me for my role. I didn't realize the game was crooked until after I left.
I started to think about it. So I went back.
To get your money?
Yeah.
You mean you held a gun on Renzo for it?
I got the money.
The police say that you shot him in cold blood. They say they've got witnesses.
Listen, there was so much hollering and running around and shooting, I bet you can get a dozen witnesses who think I was shooting at the guy who took the money.
But that isn't what I asked you. I asked if you would kill him.
Oh, this is where I have to trust you, huh?
That's right.
All right, sure. Sure, I killed him.
I'd gotten all I wanted for the moment, so I left.
Downstairs, I ran into S. Andrew Williams, Sandy Williams, the district attorney.
Sandy was a very nice guy who kept proposing to me with monotonous regularity and whom I kept defeating in court with the same regularity.
He was awfully stuffy about his ethics.
It was a sore point for me.
I was a very nice guy.
Down here on business, Hilda?
I'm going to defend Tommy Esterman.
Oh?
Is anything wrong with that?
No.
Are you going to handle the prosecution?
Somebody in our office will, of course.
Listen, Hilda.
Yes?
He's guilty. You know that, don't you?
If he is, you're going to have to prove it.
We will, because we know he's guilty.
And that's for the jury to decide, isn't it, Sandy?
Every trial of mine is a show, but Tommy Esterman's was a spectacular.
I got character witnesses from Tommy's hometown to prove what a good boy he'd always been.
I showed him as a dewy-eyed young businessman who'd come west with his life savings to make good,
only to be taken over the herd room by an unscrupulous crook.
I made Sandy Williams in the DA's office look practically half-witted,
having brought the case to trial at all.
I was sure it was in the bag, and I was right.
The jury was out in less than an hour.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Your Honor, we have.
I'll find you the defendant, Thomas Esterman.
Guilty or not guilty?
Not guilty.
That night Tommy invited me to help him celebrate his acquittal.
I don't usually mix business with pleasure, but Tommy was attracted in his cynical, rascuous way,
and it wasn't too difficult to forget that I was sitting across the table from a murderer.
Maybe I should have remembered, but I didn't.
Now, how does it feel to be a free man, Tommy?
Pretty good. If it didn't cost so much.
Oh, of course. You're a very lucky boy, no matter what the cost.
By the way, here's the power of attorney you gave me. I won't need it anymore.
Thanks. You did collect your fee first, I suppose.
Mm-hmm. And even 10,000.
Yeah. It's a good thing I held out a little.
You... you what?
Sure, I got a little more stashed away.
When I shot Renzo, I didn't stop to count the dough to get just what was mine.
I just grabbed what there was. It was about 50 grand.
I told you not to lie to me. I suppose that had come out in the trial.
How could it?
Nobody knew how much was there except Renzo, and he wasn't doing any talking.
And this is a poor young businessman who got taken for his life savings.
Just a plain ordinary sicko.
What's the difference? You'd have got me off anyway, wouldn't you?
Yes, I suppose I would.
You got me wrong, Hilda. It's like I told you. I'm just a businessman.
When I invest money, I get it back. With interest, always.
Which reminds me, if you stick to all your clients like you stuck me, you're still all right yourself, huh?
I get along.
Yeah, about 75 grand last year, wasn't it?
How do you know?
You can find those things out. You see, I've invested in you, too, Hilda.
You've invested in me?
Yeah, and I've been thinking you ought to have a partner.
Oh, what do you know about the law?
I wasn't thinking about a law partnership.
I was thinking you and I ought to get married.
Oh, no. Oh, no, Tommy. Thanks, bud. That's out of the question.
I think you ought to reconsider, Hilda. It may not be much of a proposal, but it's a pretty good proposition.
Sure, not from where I stand.
I wouldn't be too sure about that. But look at it from my point of view first.
It would be a good way of getting back my investment with interest.
Considering the community property laws in this state, that way I could really set myself up right.
Now look at it from your point of view, see? Your practice is worth 75 grand a year. Suppose you lost it. Suppose you would disbind.
All right, Tommy. All right. Let's have it.
Suppose I'd given the sheriff a sealed envelope with a full confession.
Suppose I'd said in that confession that you had a copy. Could you prove you hadn't?
You didn't.
But I did. You said it would take documentary evidence, remember?
Something in writing to prove you were defending a man you knew was guilty.
Now, I told the sheriff not to open that envelope until I tell him to.
What's the matter with you?
Oh, Hilda, you know better than that. Now you know they can't try a man twice for the same crime.
You confess to killing a man?
What's the difference? In my business, it doesn't hurt your reputation to have killed a man. It helps it.
No, I'm in the clear, Hilda. You're sort of over the bowels.
Marriage? To you?
Now, don't take it too hard. You can get a divorce after a year or so if things are breaking for me the way I think they are.
Oh, listen, you've got to... you're going to have to get any time to think about it.
I know. You're too fast on your feet, Hilda. You can check with the sheriff if you want to know.
Oh, no. I'm... I'm...
Well, hello, you two. Celebrating?
Uh, hello, Sandy.
I guess I was a little miffed in court today, Hilda, and I should have congratulated you. You did a swell job.
So, congratulations to both of you.
Thanks, Sandy.
Well, as long as you feel like that, Mr. District Attorney, you can congratulate us twice.
Twice?
Yeah. Hilda has just consented to become Mrs. Tommy Esterman.
Oh. Congratulations.
I think it was right then that Sandy, standing there at the table with that sickly smile on her face,
I think it was right then that I decided how Tommy Esterman was going to die.
And so I decided that Tommy Esterman would have to die, and then I married him.
He didn't bother me. He'd only married me for the money he could squeeze out of me.
And in spite of all the big talk about starting his own business, of course he didn't.
Then he hit a streak of bad luck and began losing money, a lot of his and some of mine.
But all that was fine. I even encouraged it because I knew that this was the kind of thing
that someday was going to give me my chance.
And it came about six months later.
Tommy had heard about a big no-limit poker game in one of the downtown hotels
with a lot of Eastern money behind it, and he wanted to get some of it.
I went with him.
There were five men seated around the table, and any one of them looked mean enough
to rob the church poor box on Christmas Eve.
I could see it was going to be a rough game. That was what I wanted.
Esterman, huh? Tommy Esterman. How did you get here?
Esterman, huh? Tommy Esterman. That's right.
And who's the dang lady? My wife.
Oh. You play too, Miss Esterman?
A little.
All right, you know what the stakes are?
No limit, dealer's choice, draw or start, and nothing wild.
Okay? Okay.
Harry, give me chips. Sure.
How much you want, Mr. Esterman? Give me a thousand.
A thousand may not last you too long in this game, Mr. Esterman.
That's what I came down to find out, deal them.
They played silently and with a deadly intensity.
I was breaking about even, but Tommy was losing consistently.
One after another, three of the men dropped out until there were only ourselves and Frank
and the other one called Harry.
I made an excuse to get a glass of water.
I went in the next room and switched the gun that Tommy always carried
from his overcoat pocket into my handbag.
When I got back, Tommy was still losing and his face said he didn't like it.
What's the matter, Mr. Esterman? You don't like the cards we're giving you?
Never mind what I like, deal them.
How many do you want, Harry?
Give me three.
Miss Esterman?
No, I'm out.
How about you?
One card.
We'll deal with X-Files.
Huh? Who bets?
A hundred.
I'm out.
I'll raise you to five.
And five more to you.
Oh.
And five.
All right, there it is, it works.
You know, you got maybe two grand out there, Miss Esterman.
I know what I got out there.
You gonna see it or just talk?
Money talk.
What do you got?
Straight Jack High.
No good.
Full house, tens over fours.
That's all, let's go, Hilda.
You quit?
You heard me.
Just a minute, Miss Esterman, just a minute.
You got a little tab here.
I know I got a tab, I'm good for it.
Seven thousand five hundred and sixty bucks to be exact.
We'll call it an even seven and a half grand.
And we want it now.
I told you I'm good for it, I don't happen to have it with me.
That's no good, Esterman.
We want the money now.
Will my personal check be all right?
You don't have to do that, Hilda.
Yeah, I guess so.
I'd rather, Tommy.
Thank you.
You know, it's lucky you got a skirt to get behind, Esterman.
Hey, hey, what's the big idea?
You're gonna make a crack like that again, I'll kill you.
I couldn't have ordered it better.
Tommy was feeling the way all gamblers feel when they've lost and made a fool of themselves.
He didn't say anything all the way home.
Here, let me hang up your coat.
Okay.
Hey, my gun's gone.
Your gun?
Yeah, I had it in my overcoat inside, it's gone.
Well, it must have slipped out on the floor down there at the hotel.
Yeah, maybe it did.
Well, don't worry about it, come on, I'll make some coffee.
Yeah, but I don't like the idea of guns registered in my name just floating around in the old place.
All right, so you can go downtown tomorrow and get it, can't you?
Huh?
Yeah, sure.
I can go downtown tomorrow.
All right, Tommy, tomorrow.
I gave him some coffee and pretty soon he went to bed.
I knew after what I'd put in that coffee that an earthquake wouldn't wake him,
but I listened outside his door for a while anyway until I was sure,
and then I started back downtown.
There was a long climb up the back stairs of the hotel,
but I had to make certain that I wasn't seen.
It must have been about 3.30 when I knocked on the door.
Yeah, where is it?
Frank? Frank?
Are you alone?
Yeah, who is it?
Mrs. Eskiman.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Oh, you're a little...
What do you want?
A hand.
Did I forget something?
No, not exactly.
Hey.
What is this? Is this a snicker?
No, no. I'm afraid you're just another innocent victim of circumstances, Frank.
Oh, Lord, no, wait a minute.
Oh, Lord.
I threw the gun on the floor and left, and when I got home, I...
I took a fetish of myself.
When I woke up, it was morning.
The doorbell was ringing like mad. I went down to answer it.
It was Sandy Wimlin.
Hello, Hilda.
Oh, Sandy, what a strange time to call. Come on, come on.
Hilda, I wanted to tell you myself.
Tell me what?
I've got some bad news.
Sandy? What is it?
A man named Frank Penrose, a gambler, was killed last night at a downtown hotel.
Frank Penrose?
Yes. Witnesses have placed you and your husband on the premises during the evening.
Well, yes, we were there, but I...
He was killed with Tommy's gun.
No. Oh, no, Sandy, it couldn't be.
I'm sorry, Hilda, but all the evidence points to it.
We're going to have to charge him.
Hey, what's going on here?
Oh, hello, Williams.
Tommy, Frank Penrose has been killed. They found your gun.
What? I thought...
I know you're innocent. I know it. You've got nothing to worry about, Tommy.
Look, Mr. Williams, would you mind if I talk to my wife in private for a minute?
Sure. Hey, come in here, will you, Hilda?
Now, Tommy, just don't say anything in front of him and don't...
Don't worry, Hilda, I beat the rap for one I did do. Now they got me for one I didn't do.
But they haven't got you, Tommy. It's all circumstantial. I can prove you're alibi myself. You're at home with me.
Look, baby, it's a mess. I don't want you to get into it.
But why?
Because... because everything's different now.
What are you talking about?
Don't laugh, Hilda. I guess it's... I'm falling in love with you.
Oh, Tommy.
You're not innocent, huh? I know I've given you a pretty bad time. I'm sorry. I can't take back what's past.
But at least I can keep you out of this.
I mean, don't be crazy.
It's a mess. Stay out of it. It'll do you lots more harm than good. You're my wife. They can't make you testify.
But I want to testify.
No, we'll get somebody else to defend me.
No, no, Tommy, I won't let anybody else defend you.
I couldn't let anyone else defend him. I was in too deep now to let anyone else near it, even if I'd wanted to.
I didn't want to. I didn't trust Tommy Esten in his Romeo any more than I did with a gun in his hand.
I was going through with it. On schedule.
The papers played the case for all it was worth, two or three extras a day with gushy headlines like,
Modern Porsche fights for life of mates.
Sandy Williams presented his witnesses one after the other, carefully and methodically,
and the case against Tommy looked worse and worse.
But naturally everyone expected me to pull some sort of surprise out of the hat when it came my turn, and I did.
The prosecution rests.
Very well. Is counsel for the defense prepared to call her witnesses at this time?
The defense will call only one witness, Your Honor.
Very well. Is your witness present in the court?
She is, Your Honor. The witness is myself.
I told a perfectly straight story. That is, it looked like a perfectly straight story.
A woman telling the truth as she knew it in defense of the man she loved.
I could see the jury lapping up every word of it.
When I was finished, I got up from my chair and started to leave the stand, and then it happened.
The thing I'd counted on all these many months, the thing that I knew must happen.
Just a moment, please, Mrs. Estenman.
Yes?
I'd like to ask you a few questions.
Oh, well...
Just a minute, Your Honor.
Order, please.
Does the defendant wish to address the court?
Yes, Your Honor. I thought a wife couldn't be made to testify against her husband.
A wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband, Mr. Estenman.
But once she has volunteered to testify, she is, of course, subject to cross-examination.
Ah, you are prepared for such cross-examination, of course, Mrs. Estenman.
Why, uh, yes?
Yes, of course.
Now, Mrs. Estenman, you have testified that on the night Frank Penrose was murdered,
you returned from his room at the hotel where you'd been playing cards,
and arrived at your home a little after two. Is that correct?
Yes.
And then somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.30 or quarter to three, you and your husband retired.
Yes.
Tell me, Mrs. Estenman, did you sleep well that night?
Well... yes.
You and your husband sleep in the same room or in separate rooms?
In... in separate rooms.
Then how can you say positively that your husband did not leave the house while you were asleep,
return to the hotel, kill Frank Penrose, and return home without your knowledge?
Well, I...
Remember, Mrs. Estenman, you're under oath.
Can you swear that your husband did not leave the house at any time that night after he had retired?
Can you? Answer yes or no.
Uh... no.
You cannot swear that he didn't leave the house.
Now, just one more question, Mrs. Estenman.
You have admitted that your husband had a slight quarrel with Frank Penrose.
Is that not true?
Yes.
What did your husband say to him?
I... I'm... I'm not sure.
I heard what another witness testified to.
Did he say those words or didn't he?
Yes.
And what were those words?
What were they, Mrs. Estenman?
Well... the next time... I'll kill you.
I did it.
The defendant's own wife and his lawyer have been forced to admit both the opportunity and the motive.
We did it.
And all I had to do now was to wait for the verdict.
Thomas Estenman was as good as in the gas chamber right now.
And we waited for the jury one hour, two, and then we filed back into the courtroom and we were standing on our feet to hear the verdict.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached the verdict?
We have.
I'll find you the defendant, Thomas Estenman.
Guilty or not guilty?
Not guilty.
Oh, it couldn't have happened.
Oh, it had.
And then everybody was crowding around me, the reporters, the jurors, the foremen of the jury, yourself coming up to congratulate me.
Tell us how you feel, Mrs. Estenman?
Did you know all the time you were going to win this case?
Is your woman's in the question?
All right, all right, boys, please, please, not now. Maybe later.
Mrs. Estenman, I'm the foreman.
I suppose I should say poor woman of the jury.
Oh, yes.
I just wanted you to know how happy I am that some of us were able to persuade the others that your husband was innocent.
As I told them, I knew, I simply knew that a woman fighting for the life of the man she loved couldn't be wrong.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Finally, we got out of the courtroom. He didn't say anything all the way home, not until we got inside the house.
I suppose I knew what was coming by now. The only thing I didn't know was how.
Well, you did your best anyway.
I bungled it, Tommy. I bungled it.
You did your best to frame me.
Oh, Tommy, no.
No, you're too smart to fall for a trap like that, baby. You didn't bungle it. You worked it just right.
Only thing you forgot to bribe the jury, that's all.
Tommy, listen to me. You're free. They can't try you again.
No, but they can try you.
Me?
Who else could have killed him?
Tommy? What are you doing?
I'm phoning your friend, the district attorney.
I guess I'll have to collect my investment in you a little different way.
Yes. All right.
I suppose so.
All right, Tommy. There's always this way.
Hello? Hello?
Sandy, you'd better come out, Sandy. I've just killed him.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Your Honor, we have.
I'll find you the defendant Hilda Warren Esterman. Guilty or not guilty?
Guilty.
Suspense.
In which Miss Nancy Kelly starred in William and Robeson's production of Trial by Jury with Kenny Del Mar as Tommy Esterman.
Listen. Listen again next week when we bring you another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Supporting Miss Kelly and Mr. Del Mar in Trial by Jury were Shirley Mitchell, Lauren Stobkin, Byron Cain, Parley Bear, and Jerry Hausner.