After striking a profitable vein of lead and gold, the area was revitalized. It was through his connections in Beaver that Spicer was involved in one of Utah's darkest events. John D. Lee and the Mountain Meadows Massacre In November 1874, Sheriff William Stokes of Beaver arrested John D. Lee in Panguitch, less than 50 miles away, and jailed him near Beaver. Lee was one of eight men with arrest warrants for the murders at Mountain Meadows. It's not known how Spicer and Lee were introduced, but Lee would retain Spicer's services despite his initial wishes to represent himself. Spicer advised Lee to make a full confession, but Lee did not wish to implicate members of the Mormon hierarchy. Spicer assembled a legal team that consisted of Enos D. Hoge and William W. Bishop with eyewitness John McFarlane as an assistant (the team of George Bates and Jabez Sutherland was there more to protect the LDS Church than to defend Lee). Lee's trial began in late July 1875. After the prosecution spent several days detailing the "lurid and horrible details" of the massacre, Spicer presented his opening argument by spending 3 hours detailing other possible theories: that the Indians were solely responsible and Lee tried to save the doomed families; that the marauders were blind followers of the LDS church under orders from church leaders; or that the victims were reckless and "had no regard for property or person", behavior which served to anger the Indians. Spicer concentrated on the theory of religious fanaticism. Despite Spicer's tactics, no Mormons testified against Lee. The result was a hung jury with eight Mormons voting for acquittal and four Gentiles opting for a guilty verdict. Spicer now found himself ostracized: by non-Mormons who felt he became "the most complete jack Mormon" by defending Lee; and by Mormons who were incensed by his defense strategies. Both sides were openly critical of him in their respective newspapers, often referring to him simply as "One Spicer". Lee's silence was unrewarded; it was also his undoing. Church elders struck a deal with the prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney's office, who initiated a second trial and populated the jury with Mormons who would "exonerate Mormon authorities of complicity in the massacre". Charges against other church leaders were dropped. Despite defense claims that prosecution witnesses were also willing participants in the massacre as well as glaring inconsistencies in their