The Public Defender

The Public Defender (1917)

DramaCrime

When bank president Leslie Morrison dips into the till, he seeks to place the blame on bank clerk David Moulton by altering the figures in Moulton's books. He lays his plan carefully, but upon leaving the building late one night, Morrison falls into an elevator shaft and is killed. Moulton, the one man known to have been there, is charged with murder and tried by district attorney Robert Murdock. Unable to afford a competent defense, Moulton is convicted and sentenced to die in an electric chair. However, Mary Reed, a stenographer who loves Moulton, appeals as a last resort to the newly elected public defender, Arthur Nelson. Nelson investigates the case and discovers evidence on the very eve of the execution, evidence that will warrant a stay. Rescued from death in the nick of time, Moulton is granted a new trial under the supervision of the public defender and is found innocent.

Director: Burton L. King
Writer: Fred Rath

Casts

	Frank Keenan as Robert Murdock
	Alma Hanlon as Mary Reed
	Robert Edeson as Arthur Nelson
	John St. Polis as David Moulton
	Florence Short as Rose Moulton
	Louis Stern as Leslie Morrison
	Tex La Grove as Walter Holmes
	Harry Kingsley as Arthur Stevens
	Helen Conwell as 'Queenie' La Mar
	James E. Sullivan as Father O'Malley
	F.A. Cronin as James Whalon
	John O'Keefe as John Hartley
	John K. Roberts as 'Billy' Means

Crew