Chapter 31, "Counsel for the Defense" Summary

The district legal officer of ComTwelve in San Francisco, Captain Theodore Breakstone, USNR, is stuck with the Caine's file. Breakstone longs to go to sea but is trapped by his excellent civilian record as a lawyer. The papers include the botched inquiry report of the board of investigation into the unauthorized relief of Lieutenant Commander P. F. Queeg as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Caine. The recommendations are stupid and the facts are a tangled mess. Lieutenant Commander Challee, the prosecutor, has finally found potential defense counsel, Barney Greenwald, a Jewish lawyer and a fighter pilot from Albuquerque, there on sick leave. The case is such a hot potato the regular defense attorneys will not touch it.

Breakstone meets with Barney Greenwald, who does not want the case. The defendants are...