The most on point California law to prosecute Doc Brown was not enacted until 1891, six years after the destruction of Locomotive 131 at Eastwood Ravine. Connecting the dots to Doc Brown would not be hard, especially if anyone found Doc’s not-to-scale model in his shop. Exhibit A to the fact people knew Marty McFly was involved was the fact that Shonash Ravine was renamed Eastwood Ravine (Marty McFly’s alias in 1885). There were just too many witnesses in Hill Valley who watched Marty & Doc flee the scene after the fight with Mad Dog Tannen to not connect the train robbery to them. There is little doubt that California Governor George Stoneman would have sent troops to capture Doc Brown after stealing and blowing up a train in the name of science. There is no “science experiment” defense. Blowing up trains and promising terrorists you will make a nuclear bomb have substantial legal consequences. Who doesn’t like saying “88 miles per hour,” or “1.21 gigawatts”?īut Great Scott, Doc Brown would be a wanted man in at least two different centuries.

There will always be a place in my heart for Back to the Future.

Back to the future 3 train scene