Christopher Marlowe
On May 30, 1593, English playwright Christopher Marlowe is killed in a brawl over a bar tab.
Charles Harrelson
On May 29, 1979, Judge John Wood, known as "Maximum John," is assassinated outside his San Antonio, Texas, home as he bent down to look at a flat tire on his car. Actor Woody Harrelson's father, Charles Harrelson, was charged with the murder after evidence revealed that drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, whose case was about to come up before "Maximum John," had paid him $250,000 to kill the judge.
Phil and Brynn Hartman
On May 28, 1998, comedian and actor Phil Hartman, famous for his work on Saturday Night Live and News Radio, is shot to death by his wife, Brynn, in a murder-suicide.
Carl Edward Roland
On May 27, 2005, murder suspect Carl Edward Roland spends his third day perched atop a construction crane in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. Roland was wanted by police in connection with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Gonzalez.
Ilario Pantano
On May 26, 2005, murder charges are dropped against Ilario Pantano, a Wall Street trader and former Marine who had rejoined the service after the 9/11 attacks. Pantano had been accused of the premeditated murder of two suspected Iraqi insurgents, a crime punishable by death.
Abraham Lincoln
On May 25, 1861, John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus, and the general in command of Fort McHenry refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.
Henry Plummer
On May 24, 1863, the good citizens of Bannack, Montana, elect Henry Plummer as their new sheriff, not realizing he is a hardened outlaw who will use his office to rob and murder.
On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the city’s firefighters. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick O’Connor, the facts—or a lack of them—didn’t add up. Justice on Fire is OConnor’s detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters’ deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Also available from Amazon
