Twilight of Honor (1963)

US Air Force veteran Ben Brown has been charged with the murder of aging Cole Clinton, a leading citizen of Durango County, New Mexico. Months after the discovery of Clint’s dead body, Ben was turned in to the authorities by his wife, Laura Mae Brown, who claims she witnessed the murder. Ben has signed a confession to killing Clint, who picked up the Browns hitchhiking on the road on his way back home from an out-of-town cattle auction. In addition to the charge against Ben, Laura Mae is charged as a co-defendant, her trial to be separate from Ben’s. Although the alleged murder did not happen in Durango County, the trial is held there, most of Clint’s friends and family who will definitely be in attendance, their goal to see Ben convicted and proverbially hanged. Instead of District Attorney Paul Farish, Norris Bixby has been appointed special prosecutor to try the case. James Tucker, the presiding judge, appoints a surprised young attorney named David Mitchell to represent Ben. David’s surprise is because he is not a trial or criminal lawyer, his recent work, especially since the death of his wife Lillian three years ago, being solely research, specifically writing briefs. David learns that his appointment was orchestrated by his mentor, respected retired lawyer Art Harper, who wants to see Ben get a fair trial and who wants to see David spread his legal wings. Even before working on the case, David sees it as an overall losing situation, he who will not be able to get Ben off, and will get no business following this case for representing Clint’s killer. David doesn’t even yet realize how much the cards are stacked against him and Ben as Bixby, an ambitious man, has managed to manipulate the evidence for the trial to be a slam dunk in his favor to advance his political aspirations. As such, David believes the trial will not be such, but rather a lynch mob. In meeting Laura Mae for the first time, David finds that she is a young woman who uses sex to her advantage and who cares nothing for Ben as witnessed by she turning him in. Ben, on the other hand, seems only to care about Laura Mae and her welfare. As David comes closer to discovering the whole story which looks to be justifiable homicide, he has to decide how far he will go in questioning other innocent players, such as Clint’s faithful wife, Amy Clinton. Besides Art, standing by David’s side throughout the proceedings is Art’s daughter, Susan Harper, who admits she has always been in love with him.