In 1941, Alcatraz prisoner Willie Moore stands trial for the violent murder of a fellow inmate. In what at first appears to be an open-and-shut case, a bold young lawyer intervenes with the claim that Moore cannot be held responsible for his actions due to the brutality visited upon him during three years of solitary confinement. Inspired by an actual event, Murder in the First is a gripping courtroom drama that exposes an undercurrent of injustice and hypocrisy throughout the federal justice system.