During 1921 and 1922, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was the central figure in three notorious trials for manslaughter, and his case provides a prime example of business and political means used to derail justice. The veteran vaudeville and silent film star was accused of sexually assaulting a 25-year-old starlet who died of peritonitis from a ruptured bladder, and not an alleged Labor Day attack. Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887, in Smith Center, Kansas. His family moved to California in 1888, where Arbuckle enjoyed success as a singer. After several years of singing on vaudeville, Arbuckle met Mack Sennett, owner of the Keystone Film Company, in 1912. He became a star as a member of Sennett's frantic, slapstick Keystone Kops.

In 1921, while at the peak of his popularity, Arbuckle found himself in serious trouble. Arbuckle attended a party thrown by director Fred Fischback at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Labor Day...