Read everyone's comments with interest, but they've not changed my mind. I've never liked this episode.

To me it's in the second rank of episodes along others like A Matter of Honour.

I believe that his erroneous presence at the police meeting was a necessary device to explain his involvement. After all, as a homicide detective, he would ordinarily have no call to be involved.

I agree about the explanation for early involvement. My point above is that the staging/direction of that scene bordered on slapstick.
Columbo showed no restraint or decorum stumbling over the others to have an aside comment. It looked too forced that they were trying to get in a stumbling/bumbling incident/occurence to fit the formula.
Even Columbo's normal quirkiness is in a polite/civil/and more decorous mode.

This indeed is part of the problem in why as Columbo became a phenomenon the gimmicks and quirks of the character were stressed more and more at the expense of the character's credibility IMO.

it's funny you should say that jilted because i was just saying to someone just last night that i often confuse the titles of a case of immunity and a matter of honor..it must be because i classify them in the same way...a bit lacking as far as a columbo episode is concerned.