Death Over a Diamond Stud

A true crime history of wrongful arrest, obsessive revenge, and an infamous murder in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century.

In July of 1903, the newly elected District Attorney J. Ward Gurley was shot to death in his office by a former client. After killing Gurley, Lewis Lyons turned his gun on himself. When his suicide attempt failed, Lyons became the subject of an explosive murder trial and sentenced to death. Once a hardworking family man, Lyons’ downward spiral began years before, when he was wrongly arrested for the theft of a diamond shirt stud.

Death Over a Diamond Stud recounts the gripping true story of the first judicial murder of the 20th century. Gurley’s murder sent shock waves through New Orleans not only because of the brutal and brazen nature of the killing, but because the suspect’s name had previously been in the city newspapers. Author Christopher G. Peña vividly recounts Lyons’ journey from innocent man to the cold-blooded killer of his own attorney.