Presumed Innocent

Presumed Innocent is a legal thriller about a lawyer charged in the death of a colleague who also turns out to be his mistress. The movie is based off the novel of the same name by Scott Turow. Harrison Ford plays Rusty Sabich, a strong prosecuting attorney and deputy for Raymond Horgan, played by Brian Dennehy. Rusty is asked to take lead in the investigation on the rape and murder of their colleague Carolyn Polhemus, played in flashbacks by Greta Scacchi. Though he takes on the job there's a conflict - he once had an affair with Polhemus. Even though he has made up with his wife Barbara (Bonnie Bedelia) on the matter, he doesn't want the affair to surface. Enlisting a detective friend to narrow the suspect search so the affair won't come up, Rusty thinks he's in the clear. However, things start to fall apart when a former police officer and campaign partner for an opposing County Prosecuting Attorney running for election does some investigating on his own. When the investigation finds out about the affair and the killer's blood type, which is A, Rusty is accused of the crime. Rusty hires attorney Sandy Stern, played by Raúl Juliá, to defend him in the case. As the trial moves ahead, evidence begins to surface about a cover-up. Eventually, Stern is able to piece together a defense that Rusty was set up by the new County PA and his partner to avoid a bribery case. This, combined with evidence discovered about Polhemus, allows Sandy to be acquitted of the murder, but not without a final reveal of who the true criminal is. Presumed Innocent was directed by Alan J. Pakula and produced by Sydney Pollack and Mark Rosenberg. It was distributed by Warner Brothers and premiered in July of 1990.