Defenders

After the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, an entire phalanx of police and prosecutors mobilized against Lizzie Borden, their only suspect, doing all they could to prove her guilty. Against the efforts of those dozens stood four men who determinedly battled to prove her innocence.

Defenders

• Andrew Jennings — A longtime family friend of the Bordens (he told the jury he had known the family since his boyhood), Andrew Jennings was also Andrew Borden’s personal attorney. It was Jennings who Emma contacted when she realized Lizzie would need a lawyer. Although Jennings was not a criminal attorney, he believed so strongly in Lizzie’s innocence that he took on the role of legal protector in every courtroom proceeding she faced. He did hire other attorneys to aid his efforts, but he made the majority of arguments on Lizzie’s behalf in court and proved himself to be a worthy opponent of the district attorney. Reporters often noted Jennings’ passion in her defense, and his skill at communicating why she could not be guilty. After the trial, he would ironically go on to replace the district attorney he defeated in the courtroom.
• George Robinson — After serving four terms as a U.S. Congressman (1876-1883) and three one-year terms as Governor of Massachusetts (1883-1886), George Dexter Robinson returned to the private practice of law. Known as an eloquent champion for the underdog, it is not surprising that Jennings approached him to help with Lizzie Borden’s defense. Press reports claimed that Robinson would not take the case until he sat and talked with Lizzie for several hours at Taunton jail, where she convinced him she was innocent. At trial, reporters were dazzled by his courtroom skills, especially in establishing a rapport with witnesses in a folksy and familiar way before getting them to say what would be most helpful to his client. From all accounts, he developed a fatherly relationship with Lizzie, and she was said to have adored him. His rumored fee of $25,000, a small fortune in those days, was clearly worth it, as he led the team that won her a verdict of “not guilty.”
• Melvin Adams — A native of Massachusetts and an 1875 graduate of Boston University’s law school, Adams spent over a decade as a district attorney for Suffolk County before moving to private practice in 1886. Six years later, Andrew Jennings tapped him to assist in Lizzie’s defense at her preliminary hearing; afterward, he was retained as a permanent part of her defense team, helping to shape strategy. At the trial, he was responsible for the cross examination of all the medical experts. After Lizzie was acquitted, he continued his legal career in various capacities, from adjutant general to the governor of the state in the early 1890s, to general counsel for a railroad that would soon choose him as its president. In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt would appoint him as the U.S. attorney for the state of Massachusetts.
• Arthur Phillips — The 27-year-old Phillips had just graduated law school in 1892 when he was offered a job as a legal assistant in the law office of Andrew Jennings. Within a few months, Phillips would be busy working on the biggest murder case in the country. He did much research and conducted numerous interviews for the defense team. He also took most of the photos that currently exist of the Borden house and of Second Street at the time of the murders. The year after the trial he opened his own law practice. In his later years, Phillips turned to writing the history of Fall River. In one of the three volumes of that history, Phillips recorded his memories assisting the defense at Lizzie’s trial. Even decades later, he remained convinced of Lizzie’s innocence.