George Sweeney Trial

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The George Sweeney Trial in 1806 in Richmond, Virginia was a trial in which George Sweeney, the grandnephew of George Wythe, one of the founding fathers of the United States, was acquitted of murdering Wythe. Wythe was a distinguished man who attended the Philadelphia Convention in 1775 and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776; in 1806, he died of arsenic poisoning. Black witnesses provided evidence that George Sweeney was the murderer of Wythe, but because blacks could not testify in a criminal case against a white man, Sweeney was tried and found not guilty. The case is used as an example of how racism in early American common law resulted in an acquittal because the law at that time did not allow consideration of the evidence provided by blacks.^[1][2]

Contents 1 Circumstances 2 Trial 3 Footnotes 4 External link

[edit] Circumstances

Although George Wythe was 80 years old, he was healthy and vigorous. He wrote his will leaving a large amount to George Sweeney, his grandnephew.^[3] When George Sweeney, a drinker and gambler, came to live with him in 1805, he began stealing Wythe's books to sell them and forging Wythe's name on personal bank account checks to help pay his debts.^[4] Since Sweeney was fearful that Wythe would discover the forgeries and he knew that he was a beneficiary of Wythe's estate, evidence suggests that he decided to murder his uncle. He bought arsenic as attested to by the shopkeeper, and testimony indicates that he poured it into the coffeepot in the kitchen from which Wythe and Michael Brown, a free black servant drank. Both died a slow and agonizing death over several days, Wythe dying on June 8, 1806.^[3][1]

However, as George Wythe lay on his death bed, the forgeries were discovered and Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney.^[5]

[edit] Trial

On June 18, Sweeney was arrested and charged with murder and on September 2 the trial began. Convincing testimony pointing to Sweeney as the culprit was provided by Lydia Broadnax, a free black woman who had been Wythe's cook for many years. She had witnessed Sweeney's suspicious behaviors around the coffee pot, which suggested that he had placed a substance in the coffee on May 25, while she was in the kitchen with him. Broadnax had partaken of a small amount of the coffee and had become ill. When Wythe and Brown also became ill from drinking the coffee, she suspected that Sweeney had put something in the coffee, she testified.^[6]

The two judges however, did not allow Broadnax's testimony or that of the other black servants who had seen suspicious behaviors into evidence.^[1] They were forced to adhere to the principle of law at that time which did not allow blacks to testify against a white person in a criminal trial: "It was gleaned from negroes, which is not permitted by our laws to go against a white man."^[6]

Hearsay evidence was introduced by the whites who testified that Sweeney had bought arsenic. The jail warden testified that Sweeney had not been searched upon arrest, and that later a packet with arsenic in it was found in the jail yard that could have been thrown from a jail window. Another person testified that George Wythe, while on his death bed, asked him to search Sweeney's room where he found a container of arsenic. Further, Wythe then changed his will on June 1, to disinherit Sweeney. However, hearsay evidence being excluded by law, the jury's verdict on September 8 after deliberating a few minutes was not guilty.^[1]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External link

• The Founding Fathers - George Wythe - Virginia