Mann developed the project as a gritty police procedural, but with a subtext focusing on institutionalized prejudice and the civil rights of suspects and witnesses. The result was a 1973 made-for-TV movie, "The Marcus-Nelson Murders". The opening and closing titles of the film emphasized the point that it was a fictional account of the events that led to the creation of Miranda rights by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966. Selwyn Raab's book "Justice in the Back Room" provided Mann with some of his inspiration for the story of "The Marcus-Nelson Murders", and the series subsequently included a credits reference to having been "suggested by a book by Selwyn Raab".