The First Sleepwalking Defense: The Tirrell Case, Part II – The Trial
At the trial, prosecutors called in numerous witnesses who established strong circumstantial evidence that Tirrell was the culprit. The defendant’s lawyer, Choate, emphasizing that the evidence was circumstantial and that nobody had seen Tirrell actually murder the victim, built his defense on the then-innovative sleepwalking defense. Choate contended that Tirrell was a chronic sleepwalker, and if he did kill Mrs. Bickford, he must have done so while in a somnambulistic state. As such, he would have been unaware of his actions and so could not legally be held responsible for them.
Defense witnesses testified to speaking with Tirrell on the morning of the murder, and that he seemed to be in a trance, sounding weird and appearing “in a strange state, as if asleep, or crazy“. Another witness testified to speaking with Tirrell upon his arrival in his hometown of Weymouth, claiming to be fleeing from an adultery indictment. When the witness informed Tirrell of Mrs. Bickford’s murder, he seemed genuinely shocked.
Choate also attacked the victim and her character and argued that, after ensnaring the hitherto innocent Tirrell with her charms and seducing him away from his wife and children, she could have committed suicide. As Choate pointed out, it was not uncommon for prostitutes to kill themselves in disgust and despair over their lifestyle and profession. It was an argument that resonated with the jurors’ cultural mores in early Victorian America, and at a time of disquiet over the recent proliferation of “fallen women” handing their cards to passersby on city streets, it was not difficult to convince them that the victim was as morally culpable as her killer.
After Choate delivered a 6-hour closing argument, the jury retired to deliberate, and returned two hours later with a not guilty verdict on grounds that Tirrell was unaware of his actions at the time of the killing, and was thus not legally responsible. Other defendants in subsequent years were acquitted based on a sleepwalking defense, but ironically, America’s first successful sleepwalking defense was probably a sham. While people in a somnambulistic state are capable of complex actions, Tirrell’s failed attempts at setting fire to the brothel after the murder are clear indicia that he sought to destroy evidence of his crime and cover his tracks. Such actions denote that he was well aware of his actions and their consequences: sleepwalkers do not try to destroy evidence of their crimes while sleepwalking.
Tirrell was probably guilty of the murder of Maria Bickford, and almost certainly guilty of the attempted arson of the brothel and the consequent attempted murder of its occupants, or at least the reckless endangerment of their lives. Today, it is highly unlikely that a defendant in similar circumstances would be acquitted on a sleepwalking defense.