This is the 13th episode of the 283 episode run of the original Police Detective series, DRAGNET. This series ran from 1951 to 1959.
Sgt Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Detective Ed Jacobs (Barney Philips) are working the day watch out of Homicide Division. They get a call to an apartment building about a possible murder. A woman has been found shot and it looks like the husband did it. The man, Harry Bartel, swears that the wife had put a gun to her head and blew out her brains. They had been arguing and the woman had grabbed up Bartel's ex-army .45 and did the deed.
The problem here is that the evidence does not jive with what Bartel is saying. The main bit is the shell casing which is in the other room from the gun, too far to have ejected there. The boys from the crime lab are called in to take a look. The forensic boy's early investigation seems to agree with the Detective's take, it is murder. Bartel is cuffed and hauled off downtown for a bit of "face to face".
The Detectives lay into the man with how they see the event happening. They figure that Bartel had become upset during the argument with his wife and shot her. Other people in the apartment building are interviewed and they all say the couple were always screaming and yelling. The Detectives are sure they have their man.
However, the take on the crime scene changes as the forensic team completes their exam. It now looks like Bartel was telling the truth about the woman killing herself. Gunpowder residue tests and ballistics work prove Bartel innocent.
This is a rather interesting episode featuring an early take on what would become the CSI type program of the future. Jack Webb also directs and shows a firm hand on the material.
Responses