Wow. Learn stuff every day. How did she manage to get off if this was so cut and dried?
I misremembered. While Davis was the head of the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee, she was not actually in the courtroom on the day of the breakout. She merely bought all four guns that were used in the breakout -- she bought the shotgun that was used to kill Judge Haley just two days before the event -- but the only other person who knew whether she was actively involved in the plot, or if (as was apparently the basis of her defense) the guns were taken and used without her knowledge or permission, was her friend and bodyguard, Jonathan Jackson, who died in the shootout.
D.A. Thomas was paralyzed? I'm sorry to hear that. From the contemporary news accounts it sounds like he was a real hero that day, and a lot more of the hostages would have died if he hadn't acted when he did.