Twilight of Honor (1963)

US Air Force veteran Ben Brown has been charged with the murder of aging Cole Clinton, a leading citizen of Durango County, New Mexico. Several months after the discovery of Clint's dead body, Ben was turned in to the authorities for a reward by his wife, Laura Mae Brown, who claims she witnessed the murder. Ben has signed two confessions to killing Clint, who picked up the Browns hitchhiking on the road on his way back home from an out-of-town cattle auction. In addition to the charge against Ben, Laura Mae is charged as a co-defendant, her trial to be separate from Ben's. Although the alleged murder did not happen in Durango County, the trial is held there where most of Clint's friends and family will definitely be in attendance, their goal to see Ben convicted and executed. Instead of District Attorney Paul Farish, Norris Bixby has been appointed special prosecutor to try the case. James Tucker, the presiding judge, appoints a surprised young widowed attorney named David Mitchell, to represent Ben. David's surprise is because he is not currently a trial lawyer, his recent work, especially since the death of his wife Lillian three years ago, being solely research, specifically writing briefs. David learns that his appointment was partly orchestrated by his mentor, respected invalid lawyer Art Harper, who wants to see Ben get a fair trial and get David out of his funk and back into trying cases. Even before working on the case, David sees it as an overall losing situation, he will not be able to get Ben off, and will get no business following this case for representing the popular Clint's killer. David doesn't even yet realize how much the cards are stacked against him and Ben as Bixby, an ambitious man, has managed to manipulate the evidence for the trial to be a slam dunk in his favor to advance his political aspirations. As such, David believes the trial will be a lynching. In meeting Laura Mae for the first time, David finds that she is a young woman who uses sex to her advantage and who cares nothing for Ben. Ben, on the other hand, seems only to care about Laura Mae and her welfare. As David comes closer to discovering the whole story which looks to be justifiable homicide under New Mexico law, he has to decide how to negotiate the problematic case. Standing by David's side throughout the proceedings is Art's daughter, Susan Harper, who has interests other than the case.