Today is the 136th anniversary of the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Although the shootout is legendary, it is less well known that Wyatt Earp and his brothers, and Doc Holliday, were prosecuted afterward for the murder of Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury.
The Earps were represented by Tom Fitch, one of the most accomplished trial lawyers of the late nineteenth century, who fortuitously happened to be living in Tombstone at the time. The evidence against the Earps and Holliday included eyewitness testimony from the county sheriff, who said that the dead men had been trying to surrender when they were shot down, but Fitch's brilliant lawyering managed to get the case dismissed at the preliminary hearing.
You can read the whole story in my book, Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp.
I find it really rich that the one and two star Amazon reviews focus on a material object, the gun. It's all about the gun and not much else. GUN, GUN, GUN One reviewer accuses Professor Lubet of not understanding a "weapon's" role in society. These reviews reflect the larger societal problem. Rather than understand the idea behind the Second Amendment, or as McCain noted, a nation of ideas rather than soil they focus on the gun; an easy concrete visualization.
Posted by: Deep State Special Legal Counsel | October 26, 2017 at 11:01 PM
I'm glad to see the _Tombstone_ clip - it's one of my two favorite movies with Val Kilmer, alog with the neglected _Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang_.
Posted by: Matt | October 28, 2017 at 06:11 AM