They did their best to look sternly judicial, but the two Supreme Court justices couldn't help cracking a few smiles as they presided over a retrial of the infamous Lizzie Borden murder case.
Sandra Day O'Connor, '50, JD '52, and William Rehnquist, '48, JD '52, looked on imperiously as a "jury" of 750 audience members in Dinkelspiel Auditorium held up paper fans and voted Lizzie not guilty--again. She was first acquitted of the axe- bludgeoning murder of her father and stepmother in 1893.
The September 16 performance, which mixed history and legal fun, was part of a celebration of the new Judge John Crown Professorship in Law. Barbara Allen Babcock, a longtime member of the law school faculty and the newly appointed Crown Professor, played Lizzie's defense attorney. Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, '74, MA '75, played prosecutor.
In a dramatic summation that had the audience and the justices giggling, Babcock declared the state's case lacking in crucial evidence. "She has been convicted by a rhyme. Now it's time for reason," she said triumphantly. "Without an ax or bloody dress, Lizzie's not a murderess."
Even the justices got in a few laugh lines. At one point in the proceedings, Rehnquist quizzed the lawyers on the evidence, warning them that they should expect to be interrupted frequently, "following the custom of the court."
Just before the verdict was rendered, University President Gerhard Casper announced the Big Game Axe "was not involved in this unfortunate case. It was closely guarded. We almost never let it go."
