How I see John Surratt.

[L Verge]

(08-20-2018 05:44 PM)Gene C Wrote:  All of this talk about Surratt's trial just seems to add justification for the military trial for the Lincoln Conspirators.

I agree, Gene, but by that time the Milligan decision was in place. Also, two years later it was still hard to find an unbiased civilian jury. The one time that the jury did vote, the outcome was 8-4 for acquittal. Take a guess at how many Southern sympathizers were on the jury...

Many people say/think that that decision ended everything since it was a "hung jury," but actually the prosecution attempted one more time to get an indictment and failed. The end result of the case against Surratt was actually nolle proces, and I hope I spelled that correctly, meaning that no other charge would be brought against him.

The lawyers among us can explain all the things that the government did or didn't do that led to Surratt going free. It's quite a circus.