After fatally shooting United States President James Abram Garfield on July 2, 1881, Charles Julius Guiteau was apprehended and tried for murder the following year in what became one of the most celebrated and controversial cases of the nineteenth century. Guiteau was found guilty of pre-meditated murder in the first degree on January 25, 1882 and was subsequently sentenced to hang that summer as a consequence of his actions. While there can be no doubt that Guiteau was indeed the man who pulled the trigger of the pistol that fired two bullets into President Garfield, his motives and questionable mental competency to stand trial is something that is still argued to this day. As with many disciplines at the time, the field of psychiatry was still evolving and the concept of being mentally unfit to stand trial for ones actions was a relatively new and seldom used defense. Through a close investigation of the beliefs and actions of Charles Guiteau leading up to his crime, it becomes apparent that he was indeed insane.
Was Charles Guiteau Insane?