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Protecting the Judiciary: Page One
The U.S. Marshals and Court Security:
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The drawing below depicts perhaps the most dramatic incident ever to involve a Deputy working in a court security role. Deputy U.S. Marshal David Neagle shot and killed David S. Terry after Terry had been ordered to stop assaulting U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field. While this historic incident occurred on August 14, 1889, it is not far removed from situations U.S. Marshals face today involving judicial security. Terry's death was the end of a long and bitter dispute he had with the federal courts. (While this was a private matter, there is some suggestion in the U.S. Supreme Court opinion Cunningham v. Neagle, U.S. 1 (1890), that David Terry was himself a local judge.)
David S. Terry and his wife Sarah had been involved as defendants in a
court proceeding before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in
the Northern District of California. This court proceeding been in 1883.
In January 1886, a U.S. Circuit Court Judge and a U.S. District Court
Judge sitting as a Circuit Judge rendered a decision against the
defendants. The Terrys were jailed to comply with the Court's order, but
returned
Continued: Page One | Two | Three | Four
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