Of course, logically, they would have been obliged either to
acquit entirely on the ground of insanity or convict of murder
in the first degree, but several voted for murder in the
second degree.
A year now elapsed, during which equally elaborate
preparations were made for a second trial. The State had
already spent some $25,000, and yet its experts had never had
the slightest opportunity to examine or interrogate the
defendant, for the latter had not taken the stand at the first
trial. The District Attorney still remained on record as
having declared Thaw to be insane, and his own experts were
committed to the same proposition, yet his official duty
compelled him to prosecute the defendant a second time. The
first prosecution had occupied months and delayed the trial of
hundreds of other prisoners, and the next bid fair to the do
same. But at this second trial the defence introduced enough
testimony within two days to satisfy the public at large of
the unbalanced mental condition of the defendant from boyhood.
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