Defense Witnesses
Harry Thaw Trial 1907

Mr. Gleason: “Assuming that any man was proved to you, as an expert, to have attended a roof garden the day of June 25, 1906, the occasion of the opening of a theatrical entertainment which was largely attended, and that on walking out from the theater, with his wife near him, and apparently in a quiet and orderly manner; that that man should turn aside and fire three shots from a revolver into a man who was sitting at the table and to whom he did not speak; that this man then held the pistol above his head and walked quietly toward an elevator; that he gave up the pistol without resistance and did not make any attempt to escape, and that he said, ‘He ruined my wife,’ and that immediately thereafter he said to his wife, ‘I have probably saved your life,’ I ask you sir, upon your judgment as an expert, whether you are able to give an opinion touching on the sanity of the man who made that answer?”

Dr. Wiley: ‘‘I can.’’

Gleason: "Will you express that opinion?’’

Wiley: ‘‘I believe that that man— —

District Attorney Jerome: [Objecting.] ‘‘ You must not state a belief, that is not evidence. You must give an opinion.’’

Wiley: ‘‘My opinion is that the man who committed the act described was suffering from insanity....The act of Harry K. Thaw was that of an insane man....The remark Thaw made to his wife after the tragedy, ‘I have probably saved your life,’ is an indication of an insane delusion....I have examined 800 people as to their sanity, and should know the prisoner’s condition. When I examined Harry in the Tombs prison after the murder his actions were irrational.’’