Preview of Presumed Innocent Summary:

Presumed Innocent revolves around questions of interpretation. Rusty Sabich is tried for the murder of Carolyn Polhemus because his motives seem the easiest to interpret — he was obsessed with his colleague who eventually dumped him for his boss, Raymond Morgan. Because of his jealousy, he killed Carolyn and, with the specialized knowledge acquired from his job, then made the scene of the crime look like a break-in, rape, and murder.

However, as both the reader and Rusty discover, the task of interpretation is not so easy. Throughout the novel, nearly every character is revealed to have a hidden agenda; the characters' motives and actions become increasingly difficult to assess. Rusty has to change his estimations of Horgan; Barbara, his wife; Sandy Stern, his defense attorney; Larren Lyttle, the judge; Carolyn; and himself. No one is how he/she first appears. The readers must also grapple with the...