The Trials

The First Trial

April 1871

Laura Fair's first trial lasted four weeks and three days. She was represented by Elisha Cook and Leander Quint, and the prosecution was led by Henry H. Byrne, the district attorney at the time, and Alexander Campbell, who was Crittenden's former law partner. During this trial, Fair wore all black for mourning, and her sole ground of defense was insanity. She received a great deal of support from suffragists, who would send her mail while she was in prison, including one woman who offered to take Fair's place in prison. In addition, two women applauded Fair during her trial when she claimed to have two husbands at one time, including Emily Pitts Stevens, a well-known San Francisco suffragist.

Fair's lawyers allowed her to testify and speak for herself, which did not go over well. Instead of convincing the jury that she was an innocent woman manipulated by Crittenden and under the influence of a female condition, she was "bold, defiant [and] unfeminine," playing right into the stereotypes created for her by the prosecution and the media. She had practiced "Free love sentiments" that had allowed her to take many lovers, sometimes that involved being in relationships with two different men at the same time.

The prosecution was able to reference Fair's past violent actions towards men and her former relationships in order to call her character into question. They also used her love letters to depict a gold-digging, manipulative woman scheming to get Crittenden to leave his wife.

After a month of the trial, the jury returned their verdict after only 40 minutes. Laura fair was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged.


“Such self-possession under the awful circumstance is absolutely amazing. It is heroism”

-A reaction to Laura Fair's demeanor in the courtroom, New Orleans Republican

The Second Trial

September 1872

While there was some difficulty gathering a jury for the second trial due to the widespread publicity and knowledge of the situation, Laura Fair was granted a second trial due to the argument that the prosecution's depiction of Laura Fair during the first trial was prejudicial. During the second trial, the defense put more emphasis on the temporary insanity Fair was dealing with due to menstrual conditions. This was not a common argument. The defense claimed that Fair was not ordinarily insane, but was driven momentarily insane due to the realization that Crittenden would never leave his wife and would never marry her. They called up several mental illness experts, and each had a different opinion on the topic, which ended up being to Fair's advantage. The conflicting opinions confused the jury as they did not fully understand the topic, and after three days, they found her not guilty.

"While the Clerk was reading this [the verdict] Mrs. Fair leaned a little forward, as if anxious to catch every word that fell from his lips, and, as he pronounced the last words, she gave a sudden start forward and fell into the arms of Judge Curtis."

-Laura Fair's reaction to the not guilty verdict, Helena Weekly Herald

Insanity Plea

The topic of the insanity plea was an extremely important factor in this trial. In order for someone to use that defense, they had to not be able to distinguish between right from wrong. In the past however, it had only been used as a defense of men who had killed other men, which was considered justified, as normally the murdered man had caused some sort of disturbance within the home of the killer.

The insanity plea had been used for a woman prior to the Laura Fair trial in the case of Mary Harris in 1865, but Fair's situation was different. Harris had killed a man that promised marriage and then abandoned her, but she did not have the same questionable romantic history as Fair, so she had more support from the general public.

Sources

  1. New Orleans Republican. [volume], April 16, 1871, Page 6, Image 6 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016555/1871-04-16/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1871&index=17&rows=20&words=Fair+Laura&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Louisiana&date2=1871&proxtext=Laura+Fair&y=5&x=17&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

  2. Alexandria Gazette. [volume], September 12, 1872, Image 3 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025007/1872-09-12/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1789&index=6&rows=20&words=Fair+Laura+Trial+trial&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=laura+fair+trial&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

  3. New Orleans Republican. [volume], October 13, 1872, Page 2, Image 2 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016555/1872-10-13/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1789&index=11&rows=20&words=Fair+Laura+Trial&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=laura+fair+trial&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

  4. The Albany Register. [volume], October 04, 1872, Page 7, Image 7 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022643/1872-10-04/ed-1/seq-7/#date1=1789&index=12&rows=20&words=Fair+Laura+trial&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=laura+fair+trial&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

  5. Helena Weekly Herald. [volume], October 17, 1872, Image 1 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84036143/1872-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1789&index=3&rows=20&words=Fair+guilty+Laura&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=laura+fair+not+guilty&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

  6. Streeter. (1995, January 01). DigitalGeorgetown Home. Retrieved from https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/1051402

  7. "In Washington, Mary Harris is acquitted of murder by reason of temporary insanity after a sensational trial," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/44318.

  8. "The Laura Fair Affair: Women & the Death Penalty in Victorian San Fransisco" 2005 https://www.cschs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2006-Newsletter-Spring-Laura-Fair-Affair.pdf