Chapter 1
The most influential trial in history, pieced together from five differing accounts written well after the event.
10 Famous Trials — History's Most Significant Court Cases
Buy on AmazonHow Would You Decide? 10 Famous Trials that Changed History by J. Craig Williams
From the trial of Jesus to the O.J. Simpson murder case, these ten landmark trials shaped the course of history, law, and society. Based on the book "How Would You Decide? 10 Famous Trials that Changed History" by J. Craig Williams.
The Ten Trials
Chapter 2
Mass hysteria swept colonial Salem, resulting in the accusation of over 200 people for witchcraft.
Chapter 3
Future president John Adams defended eight British soldiers in one of America's first trials on an international stage.
Chapter 4
Three interconnected cases that defined the legal status of race in America and ignited the Civil War.
Chapter 5
Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday were tried for murder after the legendary O.K. Corral gunfight.
Chapter 6
Nine Chicago White Sox players threw the 1919 World Series, but were acquitted at trial — then banned from baseball forever.
Chapter 7
Clarence Darrow vs. William Jennings Bryan in the trial that pitted science against religion in a Tennessee courtroom.
Chapter 8
'A dingo's got my baby!' — Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murdering her infant, then exonerated six years later.
Chapter 9
The longest and most expensive criminal trial in U.S. history ended with no convictions, but left hundreds of children and four teachers permanently scarred.
Chapter 10
The 'Super Bowl of murder trials' — 91% of TV viewers watched the verdict in the most-watched trial in American history.
Select a trial above to read the full case history, key figures, and lasting significance.
About the Book
Pull up a chair and have a seat at the counsel table. You're going to sit right next to the lawyers in the throes of litigation while they fight off objections from opposing counsel, walk up to the sidebar at the bench to hear what the judges say privately and deal with anxious defendants as they stare down death sentences, long jail terms, big fines, constitutional questions, and large verdicts.
You'll have an intimate look through the eyes and ears of a double Board-certified civil trial advocate who's been in and around the trenches we're about to visit for his nearly forty-year legal career. Author J. Craig Williams has tried innumerable cases, starting his career as a Certified Practicing Law Clerk while in law school. He practiced in Iowa's Linn County Public Defender's Office, where he tried and won a week-long jury trial, 15 trials before a judge and earned a published opinion in his client's favor from the Iowa Supreme Court.
As a newly-minted lawyer in California, he switched sides and volunteered for the District Attorney's Office in San Bernardino County, prosecuting numerous criminal cases to favorable verdicts. As a civil lawyer, he now regularly tries cases for corporate defendants in complex business litigation and criminal matters for white-collar defendants. He has been recognized as one of the top 100 lawyers in Southern California and was named a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America — an invitation-only award given to the top one-half of one percent of North American lawyers, judges and law professors.
Craig is best known for creating a new copyright law that requires websites to pay artists for their streaming music. His seminal appellate case, Fonovisa v. Cherry Auction, 76 F.3d 259 (9th Cir. 1996), established for the first time the law of contributory copyright infringement and was cited as the precedent to shut down Napster.
This website gives you the chance to vote chapter-by-chapter how you would have decided the outcome of the trials and help pick the Trial of the Century. The book has also been adapted by Nathan Todhunter into a chapter-by-chapter podcast series broadcast on the Legal Talk Network, with approximately 100 voice actors playing the live-action parts of the judges, lawyers, and witnesses.
Other Books by J. Craig Williams
How to Get Sued: An Instructional Guide
Short, humorous vignettes about the foolish things that people do to get in trouble with the law, with advice on how to avoid similar situations. A great present for anyone involved with the law.
The Sled
A children's book written with his wife Christine Bartley Williams for their grandchildren Naomi Jo and Kingston, illustrated by former Disney artist Amelia Bernstein. The family must prevent Santa, his elves, and reindeer from being frozen by the Frost King.