Why was Booth admitted into the presidential box?

[Gene C]

That is an interesting question Laurie, because I imagine that the process of a military trial has changed over the past 150+ years just as our civilian court system has changed. There are rules and guidelines for military commissions. The judge advocate can not make up rules as the court goes along.

My impression of the times is that the trial of the conspirators (whether it was a civilian or a military trial) was to convict and punish the eight accused prisoners quickly and severely. They were assumed to be guilty. At the time, Stanton was pretty much in control of the issue regarding how to get that done. As Sec of War, he felt the military trial would best serve that objective. His goal was to protect the govenment from further attacks, maintain a stable government, and retain the hard fought victory the union had won. In spite of the criticism and method used, he obtained that objective.