Number 2, The sentence was official, but the case was messy. Billy the Kid was tried in Mesilla for the killing of Sheriff William Brady, a death tied to the Lincoln County War. That war was not a formal battlefield war. It was a bitter local conflict involving business rivals, ranch interests, hired gunmen, cowboys, lawmen, and people who changed roles depending on the day. In that world, a lawman might also be tied to one side of a feud, and an outlaw might believe he had once been acting unde