State’s Attorney (1932) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Cardigan defends June Perry, a homeless woman accused of tapping at a window for prostitution, because he sees an injustice in the charges against her. He uses a clever legal tactic, secretly fitting her with a wedding ring he keeps in his pocket, to argue she couldn't have been loitering for prostitution, securing her release. This case marks a turning point where his professional life intersects with genuine compassion.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish Cardigan as a lawyer who handles cases for his friend Powers, but this case is different, he takes it pro bono out of principle.

• tom cardigan
• june perry
• defense attorney
• prostitution charge
• legal tactic

Cardigan secretly places a wedding ring on June's finger while she's in court, then points out to the judge that she is wearing a ring, suggesting she has a husband and therefore cannot be loitering for purposes of prostitution. This technical legal argument secures her immediate release, though the summary notes this plot twist was audacious for the era due to Production Code restrictions.

• wedding ring
• legal loophole
• june perry
• prostitution charge
• courtroom

Cardigan marries Lillian Ulrich, the daughter of a political kingmaker, during a drunken spree. This marriage is strategically intended to advance his political career as he rises as Attorney General and a likely candidate for Governor. However, when he returns home to tell June the news, he realizes he has made a terrible mistake, he loves June, not Lillian.

Foreshadowing: The political kingmaker's interest in Cardigan's candidacy creates pressure for him to marry into the right political family.

• lillian ulrich
• marriage
• drunken spree
• political ambition
• tom cardigan

After marrying Lillian during a drunken spree, Cardigan returns home to explain the situation to June. During his explanation, he experiences a sudden realization that he loves June, not Lillian. This moment of clarity triggers his personal crisis and leads to June leaving, believing he has chosen political ambition over their relationship.

Foreshadowing: The summary notes that June had been staying at Cardigan's home every night, establishing an emotional bond that makes his realization credible.

• tom cardigan
• june perry
• love realization
• emotional crisis
• lillian

After leaving Cardigan when he marries Lillian, June has nowhere else to go and returns to her old friends in the Powers mob at a bar. This return puts her in the wrong place at the wrong time, she walks outside and witnesses Powers murder a man in cold blood. Her connection to the criminal underworld originally came from being homeless, and returning there was her only option for survival.

Foreshadowing: June's background as a homeless woman and her earlier association with the Powers mob establish that this world is her only support network.

• june perry
• powers mob
• witness murder
• valentine powers
• homeless

At Powers' trial for murder, June is called as a surprise witness by the defense. She is forced to admit that she could see the killer but did not actually witness the murder itself and did not recognize Powers as the perpetrator. This ambiguous testimony becomes crucial, Cardigan later badgers and confuses her until she blurts out an identification of Powers as the killer.

• june perry
• powers trial
• murder witness
• testimony
• identification

When June testifies as a surprise witness for the defense, Cardigan shockingly decides not to cross-examine her. This appears to be a moment where he chooses not to attack her credibility, possibly still harboring feelings for her. However, Powers laughs at this decision, which triggers Cardigan to withdraw his waiver and instead badger June until she identifies Powers as the killer, turning the situation entirely around.

Foreshadowing: The tension between Cardigan and June, and his conflicted feelings, established earlier make his initial hesitation credible.

• cross-examination
• june perry
• cardigan trial
• powers
• courtroom drama

Cardigan reveals during the trial that he and Powers were sent to reform school together for burglary, they are childhood friends with a shared criminal past. Powers has been using this knowledge to blackmail Cardigan, threatening to expose his criminal history if Cardigan ever prosecuted him. This explains why Cardigan handled cases for Powers and why he was hesitant to pursue criminal charges against his former friend.

Foreshadowing: The opening scenes establish Cardigan as someone who handles many cases for Powers, hinting at a deeper relationship beyond professional courtesy.

• reform school
• burglary
• childhood friends
• blackmail
• powers cardigan past

After confronting Powers in the courtroom, Cardigan announces he will not run for Governor and will return to being a defense attorney. He makes this choice to expose Powers' corruption and blackmail scheme, choosing his moral values over political ambition. By revealing his own criminal past, he undermines Powers' leverage and demonstrates genuine redemption, choosing integrity over power.

Foreshadowing: Cardigan's earlier warning to Powers that crossing to the other side would erase Powers' leverage foreshadows this moral turnaround.

• governor race
• political ambition
• values
• criminal past
• redemption

June refuses to return to Cardigan after he becomes Attorney General because she believes he has abandoned his principles to pursue political power. When Cardigan interviews her as a material witness, she maintains she did not see the murder, partly because she thinks he has compromised his integrity for ambition. Her skepticism reflects the moral tension that defines his character arc throughout the film.

• june perry
• betrayal
• values
• material witness
• cardigan ambition

After witnessing Powers murder a man, June turns to walk away but Powers catches up to her and threatens to kill her unless she keeps her mouth shut about what she saw. She agrees to stay silent, but an off-stage policeman overhears her agreement and jails her as a material witness, forcing her into a position where she must testify despite Powers' threats.

• valentine powers
• june perry
• murder threat
• material witness
• police

June is arrested as a material witness because a policeman overhears her agreeing to Powers' threat to stay silent about the murder. Being a material witness means she is held in custody to ensure she will testify at trial, not because she is charged with a crime. This forces her into the courtroom confrontation with Cardigan that becomes pivotal to the film's climax.

• material witness arrest
• june perry
• powers murder
• testimony
• incarceration

When the Italian tenor Mario confronts Cardigan and announces he wants to marry Lillian, Cardigan feels relief because it gives him a convenient way to annul his marriage to Lillian without political fallout. Cardigan tells Mario he will annul the marriage, seeing this as an escape from the mistake he made during his drunken spree. However, the annulment becomes secondary to the larger moral revelations that follow.

Foreshadowing: Cardigan's realization that he loves June, not Lillian, makes any marriage to Lillian unsustainable regardless of Mario's intervention.

• mario
• annulment
• lillian ulrich
• tenor
• marriage resolution