Pendulum_1969_PARENTE

After securing the conviction of rapist-murderer Paul Sanderson, Washington, D. C., Police Captain Frank Matthews is awarded a medal of honor and granted a leave of absence to serve on a Senate subcommittee studying law and order. However, the Supreme Court reverses the death penalty against Sanderson when his attorney, Woodrow Wilson King, establishes the fact that Sanderson was not advised of his constitutional rights before making a voluntary confession. Adding to Matthew's bitterness over the fact that an admitted killer has been freed on a technicality is the growing suspicion that his wife, Adele, is carrying on an affair with a married man. Upon being told that he is to speak on law and order in Baltimore, Maryland, Matthews tells Adele that he is going to New York and will not return until the next day. That night while Adele and her lover, Brooks Elliot, are in bed, they are shot to death. When it is discovered that Matthews returned to Washington on the night of the murder, he becomes the prime suspect and is assumed guilty even by his colleagues. Retracting his initial hostility towards King's "civil rights" legal tactics, Matthews hires the liberal lawyer as his defense attorney. Despite King's efforts, however, circumstantial evidence against Matthews mounts, and eventually he is arrested for manslaughter. Convinced that he knows who the real killer is, Matthews escapes and makes his way to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, the home of Paul Sanderson. After admitting that he shot Adele and her lover, Sanderson tries to kill Matthews but is prevented from committing still another murder by his mother. Although cleared of all charges, Matthews returns to Washington to face an uncertain future with the police force.