The Fatty Arbuckle case (1962)

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THE SECOND TRIAL January 11th dawned bright, sunny and hopeful. Arbuckle entered the courtroom with a little smile. He had a light tan vest to give dash to a conservative brown suit. It was the start of trial number two. First there was the picking of the jury. There were about twelve members of the Women's Club Vigilante Committee in the courtroom, self-appointed messengers of justice. All looked grim and all were silent. It was the same legal line-up for both sides. There was a lot of bustling, and most officials were cheerful. Although there had been five women in the first jury, there were just three chosen for the second. The strategy was to line up this way: Gavin McNab had eliminated Maude Delmont as a threat in the first trial His biggest worry in this upcoming one was Zey Prevon. She was, in his opinion, the lone danger left to his client. McNab figured correctly that Brady, in his desperation to come up with facts which just weren't there, would be his own worst enemy. What McNab didn't figure was that one careless strategic gesture on his own part at the end of the trial, would almost cost his client his freedom. Brady and company, among their own group, felt they had failed in their first try. There were those among them who felt that, guilty or innocent, Arbuckle never should have been brought to trial because the State had no concrete evidence against him. Brady again felt the only way to beat Arbuckle was to break down his moral character. The motion picture industry, well aware of the hurtful effects of a second smear trial, came up with their ace in 113