True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Part VII

The 10 Most Influential Trials Affecting American History

The top ten most influential trials affecting American history:

1. William Penn (1670)
2. John Peter Zenger (1735)
3. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase (1804)
4. President Andrew Johnson (1868)
5. Boss Tweed (1873)
6. Sacco & Vanzetti (1921)
7. John Scopes (1925)
8. Colonel Billy Mitchell (1925)
9. Alger Hiss (1949)
10. President Bill Clinton (1999)

Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams felt strongly that jury trials were the best defense against government. Thomas Jefferson considered "trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by whom a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." John Adams said it was a jury's "duty . . . to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court."

Half of these important trials resulted in convictions; the other half resulted in acquittals. Here is a summary of the cases and their influence:

1. William Penn joined the Quakers in London, a religion disliked by the King. In 1670, Penn held a worship service and was arrested allegedly for disturbing the King's peace At trial, the jurors heard testimony and the judge, as is still the custom, delivered jury instructions prior to its deliberations. The jury instructions included an order to find Penn guilty.

But the jury refused to find Penn guilty. The judge angrily sent them back to continue deliberations. The jury returned with the same verdict. The judge demended "a verdict that the court will accept, and you shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco...We will have a verdict with the help of God or you will starve for it." The jury went out three more times, and returned with the same verdict each time. Then it refused to deliberate anymore and the judge fined and imprisoned them. Penn was also fined and imprisoned on a scurrilous new charge invented at trial (for donning a hat in the courtroom).

On appeal, the jurors won their independence and were released from jail, though that did not help Penn.

The impact of the Penn trial has been enormous in two respects. First, it established freedom of religion, which Penn brought to America in founding Pennsylvania a decade later. Philadelphia became the most populous city in the colonies, and the location for drafting the Constitution.

The case also established the principle of "jury nullification," whereby a jury's decision is final and dispositive even if it rejects the law. Jury nullification has been used frequently, as in acquitting defendants accused of violating the Alien and Sedition Act and the Fugitive Slave Act.

2. The John Peter Zenger trial in 1735 is the most important case ever for newspapers. He was a publisher accused of the crime of harshly criticizing the colonial New York governor. Zenger's defense was that he (and everyone else) has the right to print the truth. But the judge instructed the jury that the law did not recognize truth as a defense to the charges. Under the law at the time, the jury had no authority to acquit Zenger based on the truth of his statements.

The jury acquitted him anyway, thereby establishing freedom of the press. This was another important example of jury nullification.

3. By 1804, Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans had control of Congress and set their sights on removing Federalist Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. The House of Representatives impeached him, and trial began with the Senate as the jury. His prosecutor was John Randolph, a partisan Jeffersonian who was distantly related to the Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall. 25 out of 34 Senators were Jeffersonians, so conviction and removal of the Federalist Chase for his political biases seemed likely.

But the effort failed. During the trial Randolph himself criticized Jefferson over a separate issue, the infamous Yazoo land fraud in Georgia, an issue that split Jeffersonians. Meanwhile, the case against Chase amounted to little more than some intemperate remarks he made while sitting as trial judge in a grand jury proceeding. The Senators were unimpressed, and at most 19/34 voted to convict on any of the charges, far short of the requisite 2/3rd.