The Hillsville Courthouse ShootoutThe Hillsville Courthouse Shootout
In 1912 a Carroll County, Virginia, man was sentenced to serve a one year sentence in the state penitentiary. The announcement of that sentence set off a gun battle that
Category: Court
The Scopes Monkey Trial, Part TwoThe Scopes Monkey Trial, Part Two
In 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution in public schools. Today we tell part two of that
The Scopes Monkey Trial, Part OneThe Scopes Monkey Trial, Part One
In 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution in public schools. A group of men in Dayton, Tennessee,
The Murderous LandladyThe Murderous Landlady
After World War II a young vet moves to Abingdon, Virginia, to take a teaching and coaching position in an area high school. And, being short on funds, he rents
A Courtroom TragedyA Courtroom Tragedy
The Avery family is very well-known in western North Carolina, starting in the late 1700s with Waightstill Avery, a lawyer and the very first attorney general in the state. His
Worcester v. GeorgiaWorcester v. Georgia
In the 1830s the Cherokee of north Georgia had settled on a strategy of using litigation to establish and enforce rights that had been given to them by treaties with
Sara JaneSara Jane
On this episode we tell the story of Sara Jane Moore, the second woman to attempt to assassinate a president, who was born and raised in Charleston, West Virginia. You
The Escape Artist?The Escape Artist?
Today’s story is from Clay County, Kentucky, and involves a man who was arrested for allegedly killing his father and stepmother, but who escaped justice for years by breaking out
Homer and GenevaHomer and Geneva
In 1937 the state of Tennessee passed a law that forbade marriage for anyone under the age of 16, without their parents’ permission. The first case brought under that new
The Melungeon TrialsThe Melungeon Trials
Starting in the mid-19th century, just before the Civil War, there were several Tennessee court cases that helped define the role of the mysterious people known as “Melungeons” in Appalachian