 District Attorney Stephen Pettijohn (Frank Craven) returns to his alma mater to lecture on circumstantial evidence, and uses a recent case,the murder of banker James Gardner (Jerome Cowan), to make his point: Constance Gardner (Mary Howard) had wed James to spite Ted Farnsworth (Donald Woods). Later, the pair drove to Gardner s country lodge to urge him to give Constance a divorce. He refuses and that night he is found dead with a bullet in his head. Pettijohn finds that all evidence points to Harry Beach (George Holmes), and the latter is convicted and sentenced to die.