Franchot Tone, a New York City assistant district attorney, is angry when he hears that a criminal he arrested a few days earlier has been bailed. He says that he had ordered that the man be held without bail. This would not have been in his power. In New York, bail is decided by a judge - though they would be open to such a suggestion or outright recommendation from Tone's boss, the District Attorney, and "delays" in supplying a court with appropriate "paperwork" and complying with its directives are also common stratagems employed to elude the letter of the law.