Public Defender

Originally Aired: April 20, 1953

Suspense #509, "Public Defender," Philip James Penn finds himself in serious trouble when police arrive at his boarding house on a Sunday morning. Sergeant Quinn and Sergeant Lacey question him about a burglary at the Ace Haberdashery, where Penn worked briefly over Christmas. The store's owner, Walter Callaman, reports that four hundred dollars was stolen, and both he and his wife claim they saw Penn lurking outside the establishment the night of the crime. Penn insists he was home sleeping, but his landlady Mrs. Weaver won't corroborate his alibi, and police discover Callaman's store key in Penn's coat pocket—a key Penn swears he returned.

As the evidence mounts against him, Penn grows increasingly nervous, though not because he's guilty of the burglary. He has a far darker secret: he's the man who murdered Mrs. Tyler during the Armistice Day parade months earlier, stabbing her while stealing her purse as crowds watched the festivities. Now, facing interrogation by Hale from the district attorney's office and possible seven-year prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, Penn fears that too many questions will uncover the murder he actually did commit.