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Doc pops in at the jail to make small talk with Matt. Chester joins in with a report of a robbery. Homer is a man who takes the blame for stealing a few potatoes out of hunger, but the man pressing charges wants justice and is ruthless about it.
Matt and Chester have to leave town on business, and let the man go on his own recognizance, after getting him a warm meal at the Long Branch. The loss of a few potatoes is only a few pennies after all. Homer is ar from being a serious, career bandit.
When coming back to town, Matt finds the man with the robbery complaint against Homer is now demanding Homer’s arrest again, this time for murder. When Matt looks into the matter, he learns that Homer has been busy at his new job, but his alibi is thin. All the circumstantial evidence is looking bad, but Matt is willing to stick up for Homer.
The judge, and his circuit riding legal team come to town. It’s out of Matts hands when the case is moved into the courtroom, and the judge and jury take over.
Witnesses claim they saw Homer rob the store. The defense lawyer just accepts the evidence, and leaves poor old Homer hanging out to dry. There’s no challenge or a closer look at the implausibility that Homer is really guilty.
On a break, Matt takes his concerns to the judge, but the judge is more concerned with his bottle of whiskey, and just wants to rush this through. It’s a serious crime, and deserves the penalty, but it takes Matt, using his style of rough justice to make the judge see that the evidence on Homer is too thin, and they simply have the wrong man.
What does Matt have up his sleeve? It seems he picks up the drunken judge on a bribery charge. It’s not clear that Homer got off his sentence, but Matt promises to do all he can to discredit the judge and his hired lawyers for the travesty of justice they are responsible for.
