- The Prestons defend a policeman who killed the teenage boy that attacked his five-year-old daughter. The officer stubbornly insists he had a right to do it and most of his neighbors agree with him.
- Patrolman George Helber is walking home when he sees a crowd gathered in front of his apartment house. Arnold McCabe, a young punk who lives in the same apartment house, tells Helber something has happened to his 5-year old daughter. Helber runs up to his apartment but no one is there. He goes to the roof and discovers his wife and daughter who tells him "Stevie hurt me." The doctor at the scene tells Helber his daughter has been raped. Helber runs off to find Steve. Steve did not return to work after lunch so Helber starts off to Steve's home. McCabe tries to stop Helber but gets a punch in the gut for his troubles. McCabe runs through the back alleys to try to get to Steve's apartment before Helber does. Helber forces his way into Steve's apartment. McCabe is on the fire escape trying to tell Steve to flee. Helber enters Steve's room and empties his service revolver into him. The Prestons are hired to defend Helber. In a meeting with the District Attorney, they sympathize with his almost impossible task of convicting a father of murdering his daughter's rapist. Helber's wife visits him in jail and he blames her for not keeping an eye on their daughter. When she tells him he should not have killed Steve, Helber explodes and smashes the glass window separating them. He is dragged away by the jail guards. While visiting the scene of the crime, the Prestons are confronted by McCabe who makes plain his hatred for the man who killed his friend. At the trial, Helber ignores his wife. He is always right and she has dared to tell him he was wrong. McCabe is to be a witness but in a private meeting with the Prestons says he is going to say Helber was cool, calm and collected when he was on his way to kill Steve - in contrast to his earlier statement that Helber looked like a maniac. When McCabe says Steve didn't rape Helber's daughter, the elder Preston confronts him and McCabe tells what really happened. He and Steve were on the roof looking over a map of their trip to the west coast which they were hoping to take sometime in the future. Helber's daughter tried to grab the map and ripped it. Steve knocked her unconscious and fled when he realized what he had done. McCabe then raped the girl while she was unconscious. These facts are irrelevant to Helber's case and the jury is not told of them. When Helber refuses the elder Preston's request to see his wife, he is told he killed the wrong man and realizes his wife was right and he was wrong. Helber and his wife are reconciled and the jury's verdict of not guilty only intensifies Helber's agony over what he has done.
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