Lizzie Borden Acquitted Again

UPDATE: here is an even longer and better story about the latest mock trial in Taunton.

The third and final mock trial, LIzzie Borden Redux, has ended with the jury again finding for the defendant. Lizzie Borden was set free once again.

These retrials were quite interesting. I attended all of them and they were very different from one another. The actors and the judges were the same, but the attorneys for each of the events were pulled from the local areas. In New Bedford we had lawyers defending and prosecuting from New Bedford. Same with Fall River and Taunton.

One of the great good things about these shows is that we got to sit in these splendid courtrooms. The New Bedford courtroom was the best, of course, because it was in that very space that Lizzie was tried and acquitted in 1893.

I videotaped all there events as well, and in the coming days will be posting them to YouTube so you can watch the entire event, city by city, for yourself.

The retrial this week in Taunton was noteworthy because several members of the bar who had tried the Big Dan trial were playing roles. And for this showing, the jury of the audience acquitted Lizzie by the largest margin yet.

The story has been picked up by the AP. Here it is.

A great deal of work went into these productions, and the actors are to be commended for their work. With three different sets of lawyers, each approaching the case in a different way and asking different questions, they performed admirably. It was charming, albeit inaccurate, to have Lizzie herself testify at these mock trials, but even with her giving her story, she was still set free each time. The jury had to admit that there was no evidence to convict her of these heinous crimes. Perhaps if Lizzie had testified back in 1893 a similar outcome would have been in store for her.

Another observation I would like to make is that the living breathing recreation was a great historical event. Even with one as versed in the case as I am, I still learned new things, realized bits and pieces that had gone unnoticed before, and had a greater appreciation for the process of law by seeing these trials. It was as if one were watching the real thing, in a way, and for that, nothing can rival it as a learning experience.

Sometimes it was just the way an attorney phrased something that made me think anew about this case. For instance, when the defense attorney, who was trying to show there were other suspects not pursued and therefore doubt could be cast on Lizzie’s guilt, pointedly declared that Bridget Sullivan was the only one in the house that day who had direct access to a bucket of water and cleaning implements. If she was the killer, she could have changed clothes and bathed and no one would be the wiser. It was a thought that I had never entertained before hearing this lawyer make his case.

All in all, these mock trials were first rate and if you missed even one of them you should consider yourself deprived.