At the end of this episode Sheriff Coffee complains:" Them jury trials are gonna be the death of me yet! Now I got to go out and arrest that Ralph Black for stealing chickens and he'll probably want a jury trial too!" - Ralph E Black was a frequent assistant director on Bonanza and in fact was the assistant director on this episode.
This looks like a variation of the plot of the film "12 Angry Men"
Ray Teal, (Sheriff Coffee) portrayed the dissenting magistrate in "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961).