I think we have to assume that Devlin got the murder charge...and should be 2nd degree, because he was, in fact, defending himself when Mr. Pauley started loading a gun first. Devlin, Kate & George O'Connell...and maybe even young, Kerry, got the "conspiracy to illegally supply guns to Northern Ireland" rap.

All four characters were engaged in engineering a civil war in their old country and swindling charity donors to support it. Devlin alone was responsible for the murder however. I don't think Kate or anyone else would legally be held liable for the guns aboard the tug. I think that they would have in advance a scapegoat employee who would be in a position to take the rap if they got caught. The employee would confess, getting the publicly "shocked" O'Connell's off the hook. They would then in turn have to take care of his family, etc. That's how real the Columbo world seems sometimes, that we speculate on fictional characters.

On another note I always wondered, if Devlin is such a celebrity and publicly the face of making peace in Ireland, how could he go to the gun dealers himself? That was a strange plot hole.

I know a lot of people don't like this episode, but it's a guilty pleasure for me. I particularly love the part where Devlin holds George O'Connell and tells him how nobody can connect this "base crime" of murder to us. "Only Mr. Pauly knew his executioner, and only his executioner knew Mr. Pauly. And that's the end of it". That's immediately followed by Kerry intruding to say: "There's a policeman at the door to see you Mr. Devlin".

I love the shocked look on Devlin's face while Columbo plays pinball. Old Joe wasn't as smart as he thought. In fact, he was a serious idiot for leaving his whiskey bottle at the crime scene and then taking Columbo out to the pub and marking another bottle with his ring in front of him. That has to go down as one of Columbo's easiest cases.

Agreed. The whskey bottle was plain stupid. Let each man be paid in full. Especially Joe Devlin. Case closed.