"What If John Wilkes Booth Went To Trial?"

[RJNorton]

Tom, indeed he did. The first two sentences of what Doster read to the court were, "I am one of a party who agreed to capture the President of the United States, but I am not one of a party to kill the President of the United States, or any member of the Cabinet, or General Grant, or Vice-President Johnson. The first plot to capture failed; the second - to kill - I broke away from the moment I heard of it."

Possibly Atzerodt was trying to convince the court that he saved Andrew Johnson's life by not killing him. Still, I think it was a very risky move by Doster to read this, as I thought the government never acknowledged the difference between the two plots.