In 1658, the town of Stirling became the setting for the legal proceedings against Jonet Mackley. During a period defined by intensifying judicial scrutiny of those suspected of maleficium, Jonet was identified as one of the individuals to be brought before the justice courts. This transition from local suspicion to the formal machinery of the state underscored the gravity of the accusations she faced, placing her within the broader framework of the Scottish witch trials that characterized the mid-17th century.
The surviving documentation, specifically the case file C/LA/3031 and the trial note T/LA/1298, records her name on an undated list of those slated for arraignment between 1658 and 1659. While the specific nature of the allegations brought against Jonet remains unstated in the extant records, her presence on this list marks her as a subject of the rigorous administrative processes of the time. As part of this judicial cohort, Jonet was drawn into a complex legal apparatus that saw numerous individuals across Scotland processed through the justice courts during these volatile years.