History on Trial

In 1854, a gruesome murder rocked the Oregon Territory. Charity Lamb stood accused of killing her husband, Nathaniel, with an axe. Newspapers called Charity a monster and speculated on her marriage. But there was more to the story. Would Nathaniel's history of physically abusing Charity convince jurors that she had acted in self-defense?

It's 1932, and Thalia Massie's husband, Tommie, and mother, Grace, are getting frustrated with what they see as the failings of the Hawaiian justice system. Soon they decide to take matters into their own hands. When events take a deadly turn, will Tommie and Grace's connections help them evade punishment? Or will Hawai‘i itself suffer the consequences of these visitors' actions?

In 1931, Thalia Massie, a white woman, told Honolulu police that she had been raped by a group of Hawaiian men. Police quickly zeroed in on five young men who'd been involved in a fight earlier that night. But there was a problem: the suspects had ironclad alibis. In the face of a political establishment determined to get convictions for Thalia Massie’s rape, would the truth be a good enough defense?

In 1881, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday faced the Clantons and the McLaurys in the Old West's most famous showdown: the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. When the smoke cleared, three men lay dead. Some called it Western justice. But would Western justice suffice as a defense when one of the survivors took the Earps and Holliday to trial for murder?

It's 1900, and Roland Molineux's murder trial is coming to a close. The prosecution has used some unorthodox methods to prove their case. Will their tactics secure them a conviction? Or will the defense manage to argue their way out? What happens next will create a precedent that still matters today.