Candy Montgomery, a Texas housewife, became the center of a shocking murder case in 1980 when she was accused of brutally killing her friend Betty Gore with an axe. The gruesome crime and subsequent trial, in which Montgomery claimed self-defense and was ultimately acquitted, captivated the nation and left a lasting impact on the small town of Wylie, Texas.

Betty Broderick, a former suburban housewife, sparked a national debate about domestic violence after she murdered her ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, and his second wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, on November 5, 1989. The high-profile case, which resulted in Broderick's conviction for second-degree murder and a sentence of 32-years-to-life in prison, attracted extensive media attention and raised questions about the psychological effects of an acrimonious divorce.

Michael Peterson, a novelist, was convicted in 2003 of murdering his wife Kathleen, who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home, but the case took an unexpected turn years later when he was granted a new trial.

Gary Plauché was an American man who gained national attention in 1984 for killing his son's karate instructor and child molester, Jeffrey Doucet, in an act of vigilante justice that was captured live on television.

Two Just Stop Oil activists who glued themselves to a J.M.W. Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery in July 2022 have been acquitted by a judge who deemed their actions "proportionate" in view of the climate crisis, as reported by The Art Newspaper. This ruling comes just days after two other climate protesters received jail sentences for throwing soup at a Van Gogh painting, highlighting the complex legal landscape surrounding environmental activism and art.