Fact1: small-town lawyer Paul Biegler In Upper Peninsula of spends most of time fishing Michigan, Fact2: Frederick Manion has been arrested for first-degree murder of Bernard Quill, Fact3: getting Manion cleared of murder Even with be difficult such motivation, Fact4: local district attorney is assisted by high-powered prosecutor Claude Dancer from Attorney General 's office, Fact5: Weaver agrees to allow matter to be part of deliberations
Output: In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, smalltown lawyer Paul Biegler Stewart, a former district attorney who lost his reelection bid, spends most of his time fishing, playing the piano, and hanging out with his alcoholic friend and colleague Parnell McCarthy OConnell and sardonic secretary Maida Rutledge Arden. One day, Biegler is contacted by Laura Manion Remick, to defend her husband US Army Lieutenant Frederick Manny Manion Gazzara, who has been arrested for the firstdegree murder of innkeeper Bernard Barney Quill. Manion does not deny the murder, but claims that Quill raped his wife. Even with such a motivation, getting Manion cleared of murder would be difficult, but Manion claims to have no memory of the event, suggesting that he may be eligible for a defense of irresistible impulse—a version of a temporary insanity defense. Bieglers folksy speech and laidback demeanor hide a sharp legal mind and a propensity for courtroom theatrics that has the judge busy keeping things under control. However, the case for the defense does not go well, especially since the local district attorney Brooks West is assisted by highpowered prosecutor Claude Dancer Scott from the Attorney Generals office. Furthermore, the prosecution tries at every instance to block any mention of Manions motive for killing Quill. Biegler eventually manages to get the rape of Laura Manion into the record and Judge Weaver Joseph N. Welch agrees to allow the matter to be part of the deliberations. During crossexamination, Dancer insinuates that Laura openly flirted with other men, including the man she claimed raped her. Psychiatrists give conflicting testimony to Manions state of mind at the time that he killed Quill. Dancer says that Manion may have suspected Laura of cheating on him because he asked his wife, a Catholic, to swear on a rosary that Quill raped her. This raises doubt as to whether the act was nonconsensual. Quills estate is to be inherited by Mary Pilant Kathryn Grant, whom Dancer accuses of being Quills mistress. McCarthy learns that she is in fact Quills daughter, a fact she is anxious to keep secret since she was born out of wedlock. Biegler, who is losing the case, tries to persuade Pilant that Al Paquette Murray Hamilton, the bartender who witnessed the murder, may know if Quill admitted to him of raping Laura but Paquette is covering this up, either because he loves Pilant or out of loyalty to Quill. Through Pilant, Biegler is unable to get Paquette to testify on behalf of Manion. During the trial, Laura claims that Quill tore off her panties while raping her; the panties were not found where she alleges the rape took place. Pilant, unaware of any details of the case, testifies that she found the panties in the inns laundry room. Biegler suggests Quill may have attempted to avoid suspicion by dropping the panties down the laundry chute, located next to his room, to avoid suspicion. Dancer tries to establish that Pilants answers are founded on her jealousy. When Dancer asserts forcibly that Quill was Pilants lover and that Pilant lied to cover this fact, Pilant shocks everyone by stating that Quill was her father. Manion is found not guilty by reason of insanity. After the trial, Biegler decides to open a new practice, with a newly sober McCarthy as his partner. The next day, Biegler and McCarthy travel to the Manions trailer park home to get Manions signature on a promissory note which they hope will suffice as collateral for a desperately needed loan. It turns out the Manions have vacated the trailer park, the trailer park superintendent commenting that Laura Manion had been crying. Manion left a note for Biegler, indicating that his flight was an irresistible impulse, the same justification Biegler used during the trial. Biegler states that Mary Pilant has retained him to execute Quills estate; McCarthy says that working for her will be poetic justice.