Modern Horror/Action/Secret Fantasy in Boston

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I feel the need to nitpick.
Lizzie Borden was found not guilty.

There was only vague circumstantial evidence against her to begin with.

If all of that vague circumstantial evidence had been allowed at the trial, it is nearly certain she would have been found guilty. Neat piece of lawyering, managing to exlude both her inconsistent initial testimony and the testimony of the drugstore clerk who refused to sell her poison the day before.

Of course, that's no guarantee that she was. For one thing, modern scientific evidence might have cast considerable doubt on the time of death that the prosecution maintained. If there was no gap between the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Borden, it becomes less imperative that the murderer be someone who lived in the house.

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Also, she lived a quiet life afterward, something homicidal maniacs rarely do.

Who called her a homicidal maniac?

If she was guilty, and I'm not saying she was, it is unlikely in the extreme that the motive was simple gibbering madness. People can be driven to murder without descending thereby into a murderous madness which makes no distinction between targets.