Edwards Pierrepont - Prosecuted Surratt Trial

Prosecuted Surratt Trial

In 1867 Pierrepont conducted the case for the government against John H. Surratt, indicted as an accomplice in the murder of Abraham Lincoln. Surratt, a former Confederate spy, was the last person to be tried by a U.S. Military commission in the case of Abraham Lincoln's assassination . After Lincoln's assassination, Surratt fled the United States to Montreal, Liverpool, Rome, and was finally caught in Egypt on December 2, 1866, where he was indicted and returned to the United States to face U.S. military trial. The trial opened on June 10, 1867 under Judge George P. Fisher and held immense public interest in the United States. Pierrepont argued that Surratt was involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. Government and involved with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Pierrepont argued that the military trial was suited for Surratt's case and quoted Bible verses that he viewed supported government was created by God for the express purpose of finding the guilty. Pierrepont argued that because Surratt had assumed an alias name, John Harrison, in staying at a hotel, and had fled the country that this proved his guilt. The trial lasted until August 10, 1867 and ended with the jury unable to make any decision after a seventy hour deliberation. As a result of the hung jury, Judge Fisher set Surratt free.