Justified — Jerry Guin

When Ruby Farley is accosted by a drunken local cowboy, Johnny Ray Ward, Ruby's husband, Brent, intervenes and beats the man senseless. The next day Johnny Ray murders Brent. Johnny Ray's father, wealthy rancher Tom Ward, assumes that the man he appointed to the office of Sheriff would take care of the matter and release his son. When the Sheriff finds out that the U.S. Marshal's office was getting involved he abruptly quits and leaves town.
U.S. Marshal Lou Kagel arrives to ensure justice is carried out. When a trial is held, Johnny Ray Ward is found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. Tom Ward is frantic in considering ways to free his son, which includes bribery, threats and armed assault. He finds out that Marshal Kagel is not a man to trifle with.
Ruby Farley is skeptical that the sentence will be carried out.

Jerry Guin aka J.L. Guin is the author of the western novel Drover's Vendetta. He has also written more than 30 short stories about the old west, some of which were included in the anthologies The Traditional West, Outlaws and Lawmen, Six Guns and Slay Bells a Creepy Cowboy Christmas. He wrote the 1st chapter of Murder in Dogleg City, Wolf Creek book 3. He is a member of Western Writers of America and Western Fictioneers. He and wife Ginny live in the northern California community of Salyer.