Joseph Easton Gary (July 9, 1821 – October 31, 1906) was an American lawyer and judge in the state of Illinois.

He infamously presided over the trial of eight anarchists for their alleged role in the Haymarket Riot, and sentenced seven of them to death despite a lack of a clear connection to the bomber.

[2] As a judge on this court, Gary presided over the Haymarket Riot case in 1886, sentencing anarchists August Spies, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, and Louis Lingg to death, and sentencing Oscar Neebe to 15 years.

Gary allowed them to be convicted on the theory that their speeches had encouraged the unknown bomber to commit the act.

During the trial, anarchist sympathizers frequently made death threats against him, raising his general popularity.

[citation needed] On April 1907, a special election was held to fill the remaining four years of his term.