Vicarious liability and such

[RJNorton]

Ed, I would like to second Betty and thank you for this explanation. I am a retired middle school teacher who did a mock trial for 24 of the years I taught. Not a year went by when at least one student didn't ask a question such as, "Why was George Atzerodt hanged when he made no attempt on Andrew Johnson's life?" I often received similar questions regarding Mary Surratt and David Herold.

During our pretend trials the student judges nearly always sentenced Atzerodt, Mary Surratt, and David Herold to prison sentences rather than execution (assuming they were found guilty; in some cases one or more were found innocent). Lewis Powell was usually sentenced to hang. In a very few cases Lewis Powell was actually found innocent as I had some really sharp defense attorneys who did tactics such as putting William Bell through an eye exam which he failed.