1962. At age 56, Nazi Colonel Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel for crimes committed against the Jews during the Holocaust. Eichmann, who taught himself both Yiddish and Hebrew, headed up the Nazis' Central Office for Jewish Emigration.

1790. The U.S. government creates copyright law to protect creators of original works. The Library of Congress houses the U.S. Copyright Office, which enforces the law. For more information, click here.

May 30

1431. At age 19, Joan of Arc is convicted of witchcraft and heresy and is burned at the stake in Rouen, France. A year or so before her death, voices instructed her to drive the English out of France and crown Dauphin Charles king, a mission she accomplished in two months. The English ended up capturing, then condemning, her as a heretic and witch. In 1456, the church overturned her condemnation but didn't declare her a saint until 1920.

May 29

1997. Closing arguments begin in the trial of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing. The jury later convicted and sentenced McVeigh to death. For full coverage, click here.

2001. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that handicapped golfer Casey Martin may use a golf cart during events on the PGA tour. As a child, Martin developed Klippel-Trenauny-Weber Syndrome, a rare circulatory condition for which there is no known cure. At first, he was able to play without a golf cart, but as the disease progressed in his right leg, he was in too much pain to walk the length of a golf course.

May 28

1998. The wife of comedian Phil Hartman fatally shoots her husband and shortly thereafter herself. In 1999, Hartman's brother-in-law sued the maker of Zoloft, claiming the drug's side effects prompted his sister to murder the "NewsRadio" star.

1987. West German pilot Mathias Rust makes a landing in Moscow's Red Square. The stunt netted the 19-year-old four years in a Soviet labor camp, from which he was released early.

1986. The U.S. Court of Appeals upholds the conviction of Wall Street Journal columnist R. Foster Winans, for giving brokers advance information about his articles. Winans became a reporter for the Journal in 1982 and became one of two writers to contribute to the daily "Heard on the Street," column, in which high-level executives discussed specific stocks. Winans would sometimes leak that information to brokers and his employer claimed that his actions constituted stealing information that belonged to the paper. The Supreme Court eventually upheld the decision and deemed an article can be considered property even before it is published.

May 27

1999. Slobodan Milosevic is indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

1998. Michael Fortier, the government's key witness in the Oklahoma City bombing trial, is sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to tell police about Timothy McVeigh's plans to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah building. A three-judge federal appeals panel ruled in June 1999 that the sentence was overly harsh for the crime. However, the sentence was reinstated later in the year. For full coverage, click here.

May 26

1999. Former N.Y. Yankees slugger Darryl Strawberry is sentenced to 18 months of probation and 100 hours of community service after giving a no-contest plea to charges of cocaine possession and the solicitation of a prostitute. Since then, he was broken probation five times, most recently in late March when he went on a four-day drug binge. Earlier in May, a judge sentenced him to two years at an Ocala, Fla., treatment center and gave him a ultimatum — either shape up or go directly to prison. For more on the case, click here.

May 25

1895. Playwright Oscar Wilde is sentenced to two years hard labor after being convicted of a morals charge for his homosexuality. Wilde's legal woes began when he sued his lover's father for libel and lost. After his release from prison in 1897, the playwright fled to France, where he died three years later — a broken man.

1787. The Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia to establish a new United States government. At first the 55 delegates present beleived they could just amend the Articles of Confederation, which had been used during the temporary government after the Revolutionary War. But, the framers soon decided to draft an entirely new document, which became the Constitution as we know it today. One of the most troubling issues the Constitution's writers faced was how to establish a central government that wouldn't be able to garner too much power, as they felt had happened in the country they had just emancipated themselves from, England. They established a system of checks and balances that is the foundation of many democracies throughout the world.

May 24

1995. The so-called Hollywood Madam, Heidi Fleiss, gets three years in prison for running an illegal call girl operation. Fleiss is also ordered to pay $1,500 in fines. For more on the case, click here.

1989. O.J. Simpson is ordered to contribute $500 to a battered women shelter and to serve two years probation after pleading no contest to spousal abuse of Nicole Brown Simpson. For more information on the Simpson murder case, click here.

May 23

2000. The trial of NFL star Ray Lewis, who was charged in the stabbing deaths of two men outside an Atlanta nightclub, begins. The Baltimore Raven ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice and testified on the prosecution's behalf in exchange for their dropping murder charges.

1934. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot dead near Sailes, La., in a police ambush. From 1932 until their deaths, the crime duo went on a multi-state crime spree that left 12 people, mostly law-enforcement officers, dead. Clyde became known as "public enemy number one" to lawmen in the southwestern United States where all of their crimes occurred. For more about Bonnie and Clyde, click here.

2001. Country singers Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney are acquitted of charges involving the theft of a police horse. At the George Strait Country Music Festival, Chesney decided it would be funny to ride a police horse into the area reserved for band members' family and friends. The horse's owner had stepped away and left it with his daughter, who gave Chesney permission to sit on the horse, but not to ride it. When he and the horse galloped away, she called out and several police officers chased after the country crooner. McGraw says he came to help because the officers wouldn't let Chesney off the horse and were pulling him. However the police claim McGraw was interfering with the arrest.

Read more about the country music trial at courttv.com.

May 22

1868. The Great Train Robbery occurs in Indiana where seven members of the Reno gang make off with nearly $100,000. The gang, founded by brothers John, Simeon, Frank and William, had committed the first known train robbery two years earlier. Although they successfully staged numerous train robberies in their short career, the brothers were captured later in 1868, and all, except John, were hung at a place later named Hangman's Crossing.

May 21

1924. College thrill killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnap and suffocate 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago. The trial was remembered partly for Clarence Darrow's eloquent defense and his impassioned speech against the death penalty. Both his clients got life in prison. Loeb was slashed to death in 1936. Leopold was released in 1958 and died in 1971.

May 20

1985. Suspected of selling secret encryption codes to the Soviet Union for nearly two decades, Naval officer John Walker Jr. is arrested on spy charges. Walker had constructed an elaborate spy ring that included members of his family and agreed to cooperate with the FBI in exchange for a reduced sentence for his son.

May 19

2000. A Nevada jury convicts Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish of killing Las Vegas gaming mogul Ted Binion in a scheme to steal his fortune. The two were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years. For more about the case, click here.

May 18

2000. Comedian Dana Carvey testified in court in a $7.5 million medical malpractice suit against a doctor accused of botching his double-bypass heart surgery. Carvey's condition was eventually properly treated.

May 17

1974. The Symbionese Liberation Army takes on the Los Angeles Police Department in a shootout that claims the lives of five members. The SLA first grabbed headlines for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst and converting her to their cause. Another alleged member of the SLA, Sara Jane Olson, prepares to stand trial later this year for her involvement in an attempted police car bombing.

May 16

1999. Former "NewsRadio" star Andy Dick is picked up by Los Angeles police after toppling a utility pole near the Hollywood Bowl and trying to flee the scene. The actor was ordered to spend two years in a drug diversion program after pleading guilty to pot and cocaine possession and no contest to DUI and hit-and-run driving.

May 15

1972. Alabama Gov. George Wallace is shot and paralyzed by a would-be assassin's bullet at a campaign stop during his presidential bid. Wallace, who declared "segregation forever," ended up recanting his views later in life and won a final gubernatorial term due in part to black voters' support. The governor battled Parkinson's disease as well as the effects of his bullet wounds until 1998 when he died at 79.

May 14

1999. Darryl Strawberry is arrested in Florida for cocaine possession and solicitation of a prostitute. He was convicted of and sentenced to drug treatment. For more information on Strawberry's recent legal woes, click here.

May 13

1981. Pope John Paul II is shot twice at close range in St. Peter's Square by Turkish jail escapee Mehmet Ali Agca. Agca gave several explanations for his actions, including a claim that he was acting for Bulgarian terrorism, but ultimately his motive remained a mystery. The pope recovered from his wounds but now travels in a bullet-proof "Popemobile."

May 12

1932. The body of Charles Lindbergh's son is discovered near a highway in Mercer County, N.J. The child had been kidnapped from the second-floor nursery of the Lindbergh's home and was held for ransom. Thirty-five-year-old Bronx carpenter Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested for the murder and later received the death sentence.

May 11

1996. Valu Jet flight 592 crashes into the Florida Everglades killing all 110 passengers and crew members aboard. The flight had been in the air for only 10 minutes, having taking off from the Miami International Airport, when it crashed in an uncontrolled descent from 10,000 feet. The airline was later renamed AirTran. For the first time, criminal charges were filed after an American aviation accident.

1998. Cast and crew of "Frasier" are awarded $431,000 by a jury, after being food poisoned by turkey sandwiches from Jerry's Famous Deli in Studio City. The employees had been afflicted with salmonella poisoning after being served contaminated cold cut platters in August 1994. The group of 19 originally sought $1.5 million.

May 10

1994. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy is executed by lethal injection. Gacy had been found guilty nearly 15 years earlier of murdering 33 boys and young men. The bodies of many of his victims were found in the crawl space under Gacy's brick bungalow in Norwood Park northwest of Chicago. Gacy, who was 51 years old at the time of his death, was executed in Illinois' Stateville Penitentiary.

1995. Terry Nichols is charged in connection with the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. After 98 prosecution witnesses and 92 defense witnesses, Nichols escaped a death sentence when his jury deadlocked. Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter for the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

1999. "Long Island Lolita" Amy Fisher is released from prison after serving seven years. Fisher had been sent to prison for shooting the wife of her lover, Joey Buttafuoco, in the face. The teen had been sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for first-degree assault. Fisher's mother commented that learning of her daughter's homecoming was "the best Mother's Day gift I could wish for."

May 9

1889. Convicted murderer, William Kemler is the first person sentenced to die in the electric chair. Kemler killed his lover Matilda Ziegler with an axe in Buffalo, N.Y. For two years, the company Westinghouse funded appeals for Kemmler because its executive felt that electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment. These and two subsequent appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court failed. On August 6, 1890, Kemler was electrocuted at the Auburn Prison.

1974. Impeachment hearings begin to investigate President Nixon's role in the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned before a vote was taken on the articles of impeachment.

1994. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait sets a chair on fire during an appearance on "The Tonight Show." The chair burst into flame after Goldthwait doused it with lighter fluid, causing him to be charged with a misdemeanor, given a $3,888 fine and be put on probation. It was not the first crazy antic of the comedian, who had lived in an Emerson College dorm for free while illegally posing as a student.

May 8

1984. A settlement is announced in a Vietnam veterans' lawsuit for illnesses suffered after exposure to "Agent Orange." Agent Orange was one of the weed-killing chemicals used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. The chemical allegedly caused several illnesses including prostate cancer and spina bifida in children of Vietnam veterans.

2001. Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is arrested after voluntarily returning to England, 35 years after escaping from prison and fleeing to Brazil. In 1963, Biggs took part in the Great Train Robbery, which netted the 17 men involved $7,500,000. Biggs claims his role was small and that a friend asked him to drive one of the gang members who knew how to operate a train to a meeting point in case the train's conductor refused to cooperate. Biggs was sentenced to 30 years in prison anyway, but escaped after two years. There have been reports that he returned to the U.K. to receive free health care after suffering several strokes. He is currently serving the rest of his sentence.

May 6

1994. Former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones files a lawsuit agianst President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. Jones accused Clinton of exposing himself and propositioning her three years earlier in a Little Rock hotel room. The case was later dismissed by a federal district court judge.

March 5

May 4

1970. The National Guard fatally shoots four students and injures nine others during a Vietnam War Protest at Kent State University. The tragic event caused thousands of students to strike nationwide and hundreds of universities to close. Kent State University holds a memorial each year for the shooting victims.

May 3

2000. More than eleven years after the airline tragedy, the trial of two suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 begins in the Netherlands. Two men, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah and Ali al-Megrahi were charged with the plane's midair explosion, killing 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. The charges were dropped against Fhimah because of lack of evidence, but Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison.

May 2

2001. Intern Chandra Levy mysteriously disappears in Washington, D.C. Congressman Gary Condit is questioned by police. The case has been in the headlines ever since Condit admitted to having in an affair with the 24-year-old intern of the Bureau of Prisons. However, police say Condit has never been considered a suspect. The case remains unsolved and Condit's wife recently sued the National Enquirer after the tabloid ran a story that claimed she had a yelling match with Levy before the girl's disappearance.

Read courttv.com's Full Coverage

2001. Almost forty years after the crime, 62 year old former Ku Klux Klan member is found guilty of murder in the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama church. Bobby Frank Cherry is sentenced to four life terms in prison for each of the lives of the four little girls he killed. Cherry had long been a suspect in the case, but in 1965, J. Edgar Hoover said the chances of prosecution in the white-dominated south were "remote." In 1971, the case was reopened by the Alabama attorney general and Robert Edward Chambliss was convicted of one count of murder, but authorities beleived more people were involved in the bombing. In 1997, the FBI reopened the case yet again and discovered enough evidence to also convict Cherry.

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