Borden's trial took place in New Bedford starting on June 5, 1893. Prosecuting attorneys were Hosea M. Knowlton and future Supreme Court Justice William H. Moody; defending were Andrew V. Jennings, Melvin O. Adams, and former Massachusetts governor George D. Robinson. Five days before the trial's commencement, on June 1, another axe murder occurred in Fall River. This time the victim was Bertha Manchester, who was found hacked to death in her kitchen. The similarities between the Manchester and Bordens' murders were striking and noted by jurors. However, Jose Correa deMello, a Portuguese immigrant, was later convicted of Manchester's murder in 1894, and was determined to not have been in the vicinity of Fall River at the time of the Borden murders.
A prominent point of discussion in the trial (or press coverage of it) was the hatchet-head found in the basement, which was not convincingly demonstrated by the prosecution to be the murder weapon. Prosecutors argued that the killer had removed the handle because it would have been covered in blood. One officer testified that a hatchet handle was found near the hatchet-head, but another officer contradicted this. Though no bloody clothing was found at the scene, Russell testified that on August 8, 1892, she had witnessed Borden burn a dress in the kitchen stove, claiming it had been ruined when she brushed against wet paint. During the course of the trial, defense never attempted to challenge this claim.
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Trial jury that acquitted Borden
Lizzie Borden's presence at the home was also a point of dispute during the trial; according to testimony, Sullivan entered the second floor of the home at around 10:58 am and left Lizzie and her father downstairs. Lizzie told several people that at this time, she went into the barn and was not in the house for "20 minutes or possibly a half an hour." Hyman Lubinsky testified for the defense that he saw Lizzie Borden leaving the barn at 11:03 am and Charles Gardner confirmed the time. At 11:10 am, Lizzie called Sullivan downstairs, told her Andrew had been murdered, and ordered her not to enter the room; instead, Borden sent her to get a doctor.
Both victims' heads had been removed during autopsy and the skulls were admitted as evidence during the trial and presented on June 5, 1893. Upon seeing them in the courtroom, Borden fainted. Evidence was excluded that Borden had sought to purchase prussic acid, purportedly for cleaning a sealskin cloak, from a local druggist on the day before the murders. The judge ruled that the incident was too remote in time to have any connection.
The presiding Associate Justice, Justin Dewey (who had been appointed by Robinson when he was governor), delivered a lengthy summary that supported the defense as his charge to the jury before it was sent to deliberate on June 20, 1893. After an hour and a half of deliberation, the jury acquitted Borden of the murders. Upon exiting the courthouse, she told reporters she was "the happiest woman in the world."
The trial has been compared to the later trials of Bruno Hauptmann, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and O.J. Simpson as a landmark in publicity and public interest in the history of American legal proceedings.
