For the Defense is a 1930 pre-Code crime drama film starring William Powell as a lawyer whose ethics are challenged when the woman he loves hits and kills a pedestrian while out driving with another suitor.

District Attorney Stone (William B. Davidson) displays a vial and says chemical tests have shown that the liquid in it is sensitive nitroglycerin.

Foster sniffs the liquid, questions him to verify the chain of custody, and then smashes the vial dramatically on the floor.

She stays out late enough at night with Defoe to leave only one implication of what they were doing, and while driving him home, she does agree to marry him.

To protect Irene's reputation, Defoe urges her to leave the scene, lying that the victim is not badly hurt.

Foster eventually puts his love for Irene first and, for the first time in his life, bribes a juror to vote not guilty, hanging the jury.