15 Minutes of Infamy

This is the true story of a self-taught lawyer whose never-before-used defense not only saved him from execution, but turned the entire judicial system on its head.  On the afternoon of Saturday, February 27, 1859, the nation's capital was thrown into a state of excitement over an incident which took place at Lafayette Square. At 2 o'clock, two distinguished gentlemen met each other on the square. One offered his hand for a handshake, the other refused. Instead, he put his hand in his pocket and drew a pistol. As the wounded victim reeled from the shot he advanced on his attacker, who fired a second shot. And finally, aiming for the groin, the man fired a third shot, before casually walking away. Stunned onlookers dragged the victim into a nearby club house, where he died. The victim of the Lafayette Square shooting was Philip Barton Key, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. His killer was 40-year-old New York congressman Daniel Edgar Sickles. But what was the c...