Historedia
Episode 1 of 2

Conviction and Sentencing

When
January 25, 1882
Where
Courtroom
Part of
Charles J. Guiteau convicted and sentenced to death for assassinating James A. Garfield

Jury finds Guiteau guilty of murder, rejecting insanity defense and sentencing him to death.

The jury convicted Guiteau on January 25, 1882, rejecting his claims of divine inspiration. His counsel had raised an insanity defense, but the jury was unconvinced. Guiteau was sentenced to death by hanging, a verdict that followed a chaotic trial.

Sources

  1. Charles J. Guiteau Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
  2. James A. Garfield Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-06
  3. Assassination of James A. Garfield Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-04

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.