Samuel M. Bay

He was known for his prosecution of Dedimus Buell Burr, who had put ground glass in his ill wife's food over time.

He studied under Salmon P. Chase, who was later secretary of the treasury under President Abraham Lincoln, and chief justice of the Supreme Court.

His father was a contemporary of Martin Van Buren and his grandfather worked at the firm of Ambrose Spencer, who was a judge on the Supreme Court of New York for many years.

Chase held many political offices, including governor of Ohio, United States senator, secretary of the treasury under President Lincoln, and chief justice of the Supreme Court.

President Jefferson offered Judge Bay a seat on the United States Supreme Court, but he declined.

[2] Bay earned a wide reputation for his prosecution of Dedimus Buell Burr (1813-1842), who was convicted and executed for the murder of his wife Sally.

Bay found that Burr refused to have anyone else administer medicine to his wife and had also had two previous wives die under similar conditions.

[3] Francis B. Murdoch was the Scotts' original attorney and filed three suits against Irene Emerson, Dred and Harriet's former owner for trespass and false imprisonment.

[2] To argue his case, Bay needed to prove that Scott had been taken into a free state and that he was presently a slave owned by Irene Emerson.

Testimony attested to this fact, establishing that Scott was Irene Emerson's slave in Missouri and had accompanied her to Forts Armstrong and Snelling.

[4] Bay moved immediately for a new trial on the basis that Scott's case had been lost due to a technicality which could be rectified, rather than the facts.

The jury in the new trial decided in favor of Scott and awarded him his freedom, but the case was appealed, with eventual results that are well-known.