Perry Mason Loses Case!

Irrespective of the mass opinion of the viewers, the truth remained that Perry Mason was not actually winning every one of the cases. Actually speaking, not less than three decisions went against the popular lawyer.

"The Case of the Witless Witness" commences with a judgment that was handed down by Judge Daniel Redmond against Perry. It read, "Perry's actually not trying a murder case; it's more likely a matter of civil law." Eventually, the judge goes to the extent of comforting Perry, suggesting that he could always take his chance by going to the appeals court. The situation actually turns out that Judge Redmond has serious political aspirations while Perry later successfully defends him on charges of influence-peddling and murder.

Also, in "The Case of the Terrified Typist," a jury passes on a guilty verdict charging Perry's client, offering Hamilton Burger goose bumps thinking that he'd finally succeeded in beating Mason. On the contrary, Perry is still able to successfully and easily clear the defendant.

However, Perry's most famous "loss" figured in "The Case of the Deadly Verdict." This is in fact a very strange episode. Breaking the normal trend, the episode directly opens up in the courtroom where a crucial decision is being handed down. Perry's client is charged with the guilt of murdering her aunt for money, and the verdict was issued that she should die in the gas chamber.

However, to boost up the interest of the viewers in this particular episode, which ran on the small screen in October 1963, Gail Jackson tactically released some teasers to the press in September, which was the official beginning of the 1963-64 season. These teasers ably sustained the interest of the viewers in the show besides foreshadowing publicity stunts that were to follow (remember "Who Shot J.R.?"), In fact, Jackson intended only to give an idea that Perry's client would be declared guilty during the start of the episode. During this occasion, The New York Times said having reviewed the entire galaxy of the preshow hype and writing that Perry would lose, "Presumably this is the first time in six years that . . . Burr has been called upon to register surprise."

Also, the newspaper pointed out that the central question was, can "Perry and his client . . . reverse the circumstances just before the final commercial?"