TV Review: The Court of Last Resort
In 1948, seven lawyers, including Erle Stanley Gardner, the author of the Perry Mason series, formed a group called “The Court of Last Resort.” They investigated convictions that seemed to have irregularities, to see if the accused had actually committed the crime, much like the modern “Project Innocence.”
Mr. Gardner apparently thought some of the cases might make good television, and promote the work of the group, so a television series was made and aired 1957-1958. While the episodes were based on real cases, names were changed to avoid legal problems. Actors played the Court during episodes, but sometimes the actual lawyers would appear in a postscript.
I watched four episodes. “The Clarence Redding Case” involved a drifter accused of “assaulting” and murdering a girl in a barn (Rape is implied, but never mentioned.) “The Jim Thompson Case” has an ex-con mechanic accused of robbing and murdering a man who was shaving at the time. “The John Smith Case” is another drifter, accused of murdering a grocer in a robbery gone wrong. And “The Mary Morales Case” involves a Mexican-American woman accused of murdering a white woman while trying to kill her own husband.
Of the cases, two suspects are proved innocent, one is proved guilty (the irregularity turned out to be a witness covering their own crime) and one did the crime, but it was manslaughter, not murder.
A common theme is suspicion of police misconduct, as the suspects are disadvantaged people that the legal system is weighted against. It’s not always true. Certainly the episodes show what we would now consider shocking lack of proper procedure.
The episodes are fairly staid, but the conclusions tend to be very well done emotionally. The most affecting was the John Smith Case, when the friendless drifter with no family in the world learns that a small kindness he did 22 years ago has cleared him, and he is a free man.
I had never heard of this so found it interesting. I would definitely read this.
So much old TV!