Ben Johnson killed a fellow actor in a duel. He was put on trial and faced hanging. At that time, in the 16th century, if you were a member of the clergy, a churchman, you could not be tried in a civil court. The clergy were tried according to Church law. Ben Johnson was not a member of the clergy, but pretended that he was. He "proved' it by reading some Bible verses in Latin, the language of the Church. He was branded, sent to prison, and forced to give up all his property, but he did escape hanging. I'm sure that Ben Johnson was happy that he had studied a foreign language. ;)

In 1597, Jonson co-wrote a play with Thomas Nashe entitled 'The Isle of Dogs' which was suppressed after causing great offence. Arrest warrants for Jonson and Nashe were subsequently issued by Queen Elizabeth 1st's interrogator, Richard Topcliffe. Jonson was jailed in Marshalsea Prison and famously charged with "Lewd and muitinous behaviour", while Nashe managed to escape to Great Yarmouth. A year later, Jonson was again briefly imprisoned, this time in Newgate Prison, for killing another man, an actor Gabriel Spenser, in a duel on 22 September 1598 in Hogsden Fields. Tried on a charge of manslaughter, Jonson pleaded guilty but was subsequently released by benefit of clergy, a legal ploy through which he gained leniency by reciting a brief Bible verse in Latin, forfeiting his 'goods and chattels' and being branded on his left thumb.