John Adams' defense and the Boston Massacre

Inspired by these words of Cesare, Marchese di Beccaria, an opponent of capital punishment,

If, by supporting the rights of mankind, and of invincible truth, I shall contribute to save from the agonies of death one unfortunate victim of tyranny, or of ignorance, equally fatal, his blessings and years of transport will be sufficient consolation to me for the contempt of all mankind.

Patriot John Adams successfully defended British Captain Thomas Preston and the eight soldiers* who shot and killed five angry Bostonians that icy night of March 5, 1770. Apparently no one else was willing to take the case. At trial, after quoting the Marchese, Adams argued that it was "better that many guilty persons escape unpunished than one innocent person should be punished. The reason is, because it's of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished." He argued that the soldiers had acted in self-defense against the large, riotous crowd. After 2-1/2 hours of deliberation, the jury concurred.

Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

Adams was later to write in his diary:

I have Reason to remember that fatal Night. The Part I took in Defence of Captn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the jury was exactly right.

*six were acquitted and two found guilty of manslaughter