Insisted his execution be carried out
by firing squad (he had choice between hanging and firing squad), refused appeals and
was executed.
GARY GILMORE
Conviction overturned because his
confession was obtained without
informing him of certain constitutional rights.
ERNESTO MIRANDA
Slave who
unsuccessfully argued his transportation to free states had ended his
status as slave.DRED SCOTT
Only American since the Civil War to be
executed for desertion of
military duty (World War II court martial).EDDIE SLOVIK
Co-defendant in murder trial. Admitted
anarchist, the trial
and subsequent execution attracted world-wide sympathy for the
defendants, who were viewed as unjustly accused because of their political
beliefs and social status.BARTOLOMEO VANZETTI
Convicted of conspiracy to commit
wartime espionage - implicated in
passing atom bomb information to Soviets. ETHEL ROSENBERG
Tennessee schoolteacher convicted of
teaching evolution in defiance
of state law. JOHN SCOPES
Appointed by President John Adams as
judge before Adams left office.
He sued Secretary of State (Madison) to approve appointment.
WILLIAM MARBURY
Only U.S. president tried for
impeachment. (2/3 of Senate required,
he won by one vote) ANDREW JOHNSON
Indigent defendant in case that
established right to appointed
counsel in
felony cases.CLARENCE GIDEON
Convicted of unlawful voting, she
unsuccessfully argued before the
U.S. Supreme Court that 14th Amendment gave her voting rights equal to
men. SUSAN B. ANTHONY
Only confederate soldier tried for war
crimes. He was the commander
of
the prison camp at Andersonville. HENRY WIRZ
Challenged Louisiana law requiring
segregated railroad cars. HOMER PLESSY
Colonial publisher who defended libel
action brought by the
government by arguing truth as a defense. Jury acquitted despite hostile
judge. JOHN PETER ZENGER
official killed city
supervisor and mayor of San Francisco. Used the so-called "Twinkie
defense" (overindulgence in junk food) to persuade the jury to a verdict
of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder. Many homosexuals regarded
the verdict a result of leniency because the city supervisor was an
admitted homosexual and the defendant had made anti-gay remarks while a
public employee. DAN WHITE
One of the "Hollywood ten" convicted of
Contempt of Congress for
refusing to testify in House Un-American Activities Committee hearings
about communist affiliations. RING LARDNER, Jr.
Brain-dead, on a respirator, (through
her father) she successfully
established a right to die
based on right of privacy. KAREN ANN QUINLAN
She was sued for breaching a surrogate
mother contract. She lost
custody but won parental rights. MARY BETH WHITEHEAD
Army colonel highly critical of
unpreparedness of U.S. military, an
advocate of air warfare after World War I, he was court-martialed for
insubordination and forced out of military service.
BILLY MITCHELL
Co-defendant in
case
against demonstrators at 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
ABBIE HOFFMAN
Sued former movie star lover for
'palimony.' MICHELLE MARVIN
Labor organizer tried for treason in
his opposition to U.S. entrance
into World War I. EUGENE DEBS
A physician, he treated broken ankle of
Lincoln's assassin, and was
convicted of treason. He was pardoned by the President for his
humanitarian conduct in treating fellow prisoners during an epidemic.
SAMUEL MUDD
Former Vice President of the U.S. was
tried for treason but
acquitted. AARON BURR
Tried and convicted of perjury, he was a
state department official
who was accused of being a communist. ALGER HISS
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