| Virginia v. John Brown | |
|---|---|
| Verdict | Guilty of all charges; sentenced to death by hanging |
| Charge | "Conspiring with negroes to produce insurrection" Treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia Murder |
| Prosecution | Andrew Hunter |
| Defence | George H. Hoyt Samuel Chilton Hiram Griswold |
Brown, while making various suggestions to his attorneys, was frustrated because under Virginia law, defendants were not allowed to testify, the assumption being that they had reason not to tell the truth. : 1792
The final plea by the defense team for mercy concerned the circumstances surrounding the death of two of John Brown's men, who were apparently fired upon and killed by the Virginia militia while under a flag of truce. The armed community surrounding the Federal Arsenal did not hold their fire when Brown's men emerged to parley.
Two experienced lawyers had at last arrived in response to Brown’s call for counsel. One was Hiram Griswold of Cleveland, sent as a substitute by Judge Tilden. The other was Samuel Chilton of Washington, D. C., a Virginian by birth and widely respected by fellow members of the bar.
John Brown was a criminal trial held in Charles Town, Virginia, in October 1859. The abolitionist John Brown was quickly prosecuted for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection, all part of his raid on the United States federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
The Browns made a modest living from the family farm near Torrington, Connecticut, enough to permit their son to enter school for training as a minister. John Brown was a poor student, however, and shortly returned to the family farm after failing his classes. This failure was to be the first of many. John Brown went on to try and fail at earning a living as a farmer, surveyor, real estate investor, postmaster, teacher, racehorse breeder, tanner, and wool merchant.
When the trial began, Botts made a critical motion to Judge Parker. Botts asked him to declare Brown insane, using a telegram from a certain A.H. Lewis of Akron, Ohio, to support this plea. Lewis, who apparently had known Brown from when the family lived in Akron, wrote, "Insanity is hereditary in that family. … These facts can be conclusively proven by witnesses residing here, who will doubtless attend the trial if desired."
Southerners wanted new states to be Slave, and thus potential areas of expansion for the plantation economy of the South. Both sides wanted to have the votes of the representatives that a new state would send to Washington, particularly in the U.S. Senate, where every state, large or small, has two votes.
The Trial of John Brown. Charlestown, Virginia. October 25 to November 2 , 1859. From “The Life, Trial and Execution of Captain John Brown, Known as “Old Brown of Ossawatomie,” with a Full Account of the Attempted Insurrection at Harpers Ferry”. New York: Robert M.De Witt, Publisher, 1859.
The jailer was ordered to bring Brown into court. He found him in bed, from which he declared himself unable to rise. He was accordingly brought into court on a cot, which was set down within the bar. The prisoner laid most of the time with his eyes closed, and the counterpane drawn up close to his chin.
Coffee says that he had a brother in the party, and that Brown had three sons in it. Also that there were two other persons, named Taylor and Hazlitt, engaged, so that, numbering Cook, five have escaped, twelve were killed, and five captured, making twenty-two in all.
The Grand Jury reported a true bill against the prisoners, and were discharged. Charles B. Harding, assisted by Andrew Hunter, represents the Commonwealth; and Lawson Botts and his assistant Mr. Green, are counsel for the prisoners.
Mr. Cockerel , one of the guards of the jail, said that Brown had always been ready to converse freely. The Court refused to postpone the trial and the whole afternoon was occupied in obtaining a jury for the trial of Brown, who was brought into court on a cot.
He did not think his wounds were such as to affect his mind of recollection. He had always conversed freely and intelligibly about this affair. He had heard him complain of debility, but not of hardness of hearing. Mr. Cockerel, one of the guards of the jail, said that Brown had always been ready to converse freely.
Shields Green, and John Copland, and other rebels and traitors assembled, organized, and acting with them, as aforesaid, to the evil example of all others in like case offending, and against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.
Brown’s petitions said that his defense lawyer had provided an inadequate legal defense by failing, at the second trial, to present the DNA evidence that excluded Brown and Vaughn, and by failing to locate witnesses to undercut the test imony of Bryant and others that Brown, Jimerson, and Vaughn knew each other.
The tests excluded Vaughn and Brown. Early could not be excluded. On March 16, 1990, Vaughn, Brown, and Early were charged with murder, rape and robbery. Police had interviewed Vaughn twice prior to his arrest. Both times, he denied involvement in the crime.
Bryant said she heard Jimerson crying and saying, “shut up.”. Bryant testified that Brown had a red stain on his knee and admitted that she had previously said Early had that same red stain on his clothes. Ellis Tidwell testified that Brown and Vaughn, who looked “wide-eyed,” came to his home on the night of the crime.
She said that she saw Vaughn with three other people—21-year-old John Brown, Jr., 23-year-old Tina Jimerson and 17-year- old Reginald Early—the day after the crime. Vaughn said that he had robbed the victim, that she was “big as an ocean” and that he “could fit a light pole up her.”. She said that Brown had a red stain on his knee.
Among those named as defendants were Poole, the former Fordyce police chief, and Ford, the former Dallas County Sheriff. On December 28, 2021, Brown died. He suffered from congestive heart failure resulting from years of untreated high blood pressure during his 26 years in prison.
Ellis Tidwell testified that Brown and Vaughn, who looked “wide-eyed,” came to his home on the night of the crime. Tidwell said that Vaughn, who was seeking payment for work, introduced Brown by name. Tidwell said he refused, and later caught them trying to break into his shed and chased them off.
At the request of deputy prosecutor Robin Wynne, Vaughn was declared a hostile witness and Wynne was allowed to read the transcript of Vaughn’s guilty plea before the jury. Five witnesses testified to seeing Brown and the others in the days before and after the crime.