John Surratt's real parents?

[RJNorton]

He claimed he did not know of the gravity of her real situation until it was to late for him to do anything about it.

The idea of a intelligent young man like John Surratt not reading a newspaper while hiding in Canada or only reading Canadian journals which overlooked the most sensational crime story of the age with the lurid fillip of a woman facing a capital murder charge staggers the imagination.

Just curious if anyone has an opinion - what did he think he might have done about it? If John Surratt had come to Washington, surrendered to authorities, and been put on trial with the others, would it have made a difference in his mother's verdict/execution?