Dan Webb Serves as Prosecutor in Mock Retrial of Mary Surratt

Winston & Strawn chairman Dan Webb was quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily Law Bulletin regarding his involvement with the mock retrial of Mary Surratt. Surratt was originally found guilty of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln and other high-ranking government officials; she was the first woman executed by the federal government in July 1865.

Webb served as prosecutor during the retrial of Mary Surratt, in which Surratt was acquitted. He explained that the retrial illustrates the danger of rushing to judgment: "Mary Surratt was put on trial within two months of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, in an emotional time in our country's history and in a (military) tribunal, in which by law she was not allowed to testify and defend herself. The result is that a woman who probably was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt was [hanged]."

He continued by saying: "That's something to sit back and ponder and recognize that while we sometimes think justice takes too long in our country, when we're talking about capital punishment, we need to make sure."

Chief U.S. District Judge James F. Holderman, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Thomas and Cook County Associate Judge Neil H. Cohen, along with other well-known judges and attorneys, participated in the retrial.