Series I: State of Tennessee vs. Hiram Hall documents Paine's research into Hiram Hall's trial for the murder of his wife, Ida Hassler Hall. Ida Hall was bludgeoned to death with a rock and her body dumped into a well on August 18, 1897. The major question at the time was whether she had been killed by her husband, Hiram Hall, or her mother-in-law, Malinda Hall.

Series II: State of Tennessee vs. Eugene D. Blanchard shows Blanchard's trial for the murder of Harry Gervin. On the morning of May 16, 1930 in Knoxville, Blanchard shot Gervin (a contractor hired to work on the construction of the Church Street Methodist Church) five times in the back. The murder was apparently the result of Gervin's affair with Blanchard's wife, Iva.

Series III: State of Tennessee vs. Stanley Puryear documents Puryear's trials for the ax murder of his wife and young daughter on May 2, 1930. Immediately after these killings, Puryear murdered Will Jamison, a black citizen, with a shotgun. Puryear subsequently claimed that Jamison had committed the murders, and four trials and two appeals followed. Finally, on March 4, 1939, the Supreme Court of Tennessee affirmed Puryear's second degree murder conviction for his wife's death.