"In 1851, Pedro Leon Lujan of New Mexico was arrested, tried, and convicted in the Utah Territory for Indian slave trading. For nearly 150 years, errors committed by early historians concerning this important legal case have been perpetuated and enlarged, clouding the incident and giving rise to the stereotypical image of the villainous Mexican trader." "The Trial of Don Pedro Leon Lujan explores and corrects those errors through examination of the complexities of the case and the clashing racial, cultural, and religious beliefs and biases that characterized it."--Jacket.