Error in Judgment: The Case of Prisoner #16688

Overview

True-life drama of a young lawyer's untiring efforts to free a man he believes was unjustly convicted. The lawyer, Bob Gorman, examines the file of Roy Eaton, who has been serving time since 1940 in Joliet, Illinois for armed robbery. Eaton, bitter over the system which he feels discriminates against the poor and illiterate, is distrustful of the lawyer's efforts to prove there is equal justice under the law. The date for a re-trial is long since past and the State of Illinois must give a waiver. Barney Moran is responsible for this decision and he grants it. The evidence is submitted to the judge and Eaton is proclaimed innocent. At the end, Gorman speaks briefly on the fact that convicted people have rights and they must not be abrogated.