The Case of the Demure Defendant

There are too many goofy events in this one. People throwing pill bottles with buckshot into a pond. Little kids finding them and handing them off to investigators. The defendant is a bonafide knucklehead. With her brunet hairstyle, she was the wife of William Shatner in that Twilight Zone episode with the Gremlin on the wing. There is truth serum used. Cyanide lying around. And more. It was just ridiculous plotting. But they needed to come up with an hour every week for most of a year.

Perry comes into the case at the request of Dr. Bob (Atwater), a psychotherapist treating Nadine, who has admitted to killing (via cyanide) her nasty Uncle Martin in a taped conversation while under the influence of some kind of truth serum. Dr. Bob needs Perry's advice about what to do. The possible crime is misprision of a felony. Under FEDERAL law then in effect via Farrar-Neal, a failure to report by itself is not misprision. Don't know what Cal. law was in Jan. 1958. Tragg ends up with the tape, Nadine is arrested and Perry defends her. Prior to her arrest, Nadine had tried to get married to boyfriend John Locke in Nevada, because the cyanide had come from Locke's lab, and husband/wife privilege might have helped. This was at Della's implicit suggestion and Perry quipped Della might be charged with practicing law without a license. Nadine ended up in Logan City jail. Going with info on the tape, Perry visits a pond where evidence about the cyanide might be found. He pays a liitle boy and girl to go diving for the relevant bottle. Perry, paving the way for Ben Matlock, eats a hot dog with everything on it. Later, the hot dog vendor rats Perry out as to possible evidence tampering. Was this Perry's last hot dog on the series? Perry destroys the testimony of Uncle Martin's doctor as to cause of death and moves for dismissal. Berger springs the tape and of course Perry objects. The judge hears arguments, and states that without the tape, dismissal will result. Perry's possible evidence tampering arises. Now, here is a problem with the episode. Perry will likely succeed in keeping the tape out. Client wins but Perry has a problem. Perry says the tape can come in. Judge astounded. Asks client if she still wants Perry as lawyer. Right question was do you waive Dr./client privilege? Perry needs the tape in as evidence to show Nadine weighted the bottle with #5 shotgun pellets. This gets Perry off the hook for tampering and ensnares a perjurer and seemingly the murderer. **As to other reviews, enjoyed comment about "Bad Seed." Tragg looked for second bottle because he believed truth of tape as to cyanide in bottle. Sadly, for Tragg, he was not familiar with shotgun pellets.

This is more Trivia than Review. Two off-handed items. One, the papers that the creepy Uncle taunted poor Nadine with held a secret about her deceased father. Two, Perry makes a comment to Nadine in her cell. He asks he about being "A Bad Seed". Movie buffs will likely know that William Hopper played Rhoda's father in the feature film "The Bad Seed" released two years earlier. Fun trivia fact.

I really don't think this one was all that bad. Of course, Nadine was SUPPOSED to be demure. The episode has its moments, but I enjoyed Perry's foray into shotgun ballistics in court. For once, the killer came as a bit of a surprise. Good performances, especially by Walter Coy and Clem Bevans. It entertained me for an hour. That's all I can ask.

Young Christine White is Perry Mason's client in this episode. She gets to be that second hand because of her psychiatrist Barry Atwater who comes to Raymond Burr with an ethical dilemma. In a taped session White confesses to a murder by poison.

What does Atwater do. If he withholds evidence of a crime he could be arrested regardless of patient confidentiality. If he reports it and there wasn't a murder he could be sued. Those are the questions that would trouble Oliver Wendell Holmes let alone Perry Mason.

When he takes the case Burr finds himself accused of evidence tampering first by Ray Collins, second by William Talman. Now he has to find evidence and clear his name as well as White's.

He does find the murderer right at the very end and someone you'd least suspect. There were in fact any number of people who would like to have killed this particular victim who was Christine White's uncle.

I have a feeling that Perry Mason will take this murderer's case if that helps any in your guessing.