Episode Details

Originally Aired: September 14, 1958

Gunsmoke #336, "False Witness," finds Marshal Matt Dillon in a difficult position as he prepares to transport young Tom Moray to Hayes City for his hanging. The convicted killer has been desperately ill with fever while in Dodge City's jail, and Doc Adams has only just pronounced him well enough to travel. Tom maintains his innocence, insisting he wasn't even present at the murder scene, but the key witness against him, a weasel-like man named Romy Hawkins, swore in court that he saw Tom pull the trigger. Matt finds himself troubled by the case, particularly by Hawkins, who keeps appearing to check on the prisoner and remind everyone of his important role as a witness. The situation becomes more suspicious when Doc suddenly remembers seeing Hawkins before, testifying as a witness in another murder trial a year earlier in Meade.

As Matt reluctantly carries out his duty to deliver the condemned young man to the gallows, doubts begin to surface about the testimony that sealed Tom's fate. With Hawkins proving increasingly eager to see justice carried out quickly, the question emerges whether this "important witness" might have more sinister motives than civic responsibility.