Joseph Smith Treason Jail Killing
From his youth in New York through his final years in Illinois, Mormon founder Joseph Smith was arrested or tried at least 42 times on charges that included banking fraud, conspiracy to murder, perjury, and later polygamy-related accusations. Many early cases ended in acquittals or dismissals, but they cemented his reputation among critics as a lawbreaker even as followers saw them as persecution.
In June 1844, Illinois authorities charged him with treason for ordering the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press and jailed him in Carthage to await trial. While he awaited trial, an armed mob stormed the jail on June 27, 1844, and shot him to death as he tried to defend himself and flee. His killing turned the already controversial religious leader into a martyr figure for his followers.