29. The Earps were charged with murder, but not indicted
The Earps and Doc Holliday were charged with murder by Ike Clanton, who couldn’t seem to grasp the idea that his “eyewitness” descriptions were somewhat flawed since he spent most of the gun battle running for his life. At any rate, the judge refused to indict any of the Earp party, citing insufficient evidence following a hearing which lasted for just over a month, and included written and oral testimony from witnesses. All witnesses supporting the Cowboys claimed that either Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday fired the opening shot, though testimony as to what weapon Holliday fired (shotgun or pistol) was often in conflict with other witnesses.
