Jury Deadlock in Hamlet Case

Last year Justice Anthony Kennedy and the Shakespeare Theatre Company cooked up a mock trial: What would have happened if Hamlet had survived the final scene of the play and been tried for the murder of Polonius? A sold-out crowd at the Kennedy Center watched the lawyers call expert witnesses and argue the case: was Hamlet insane at the time of the homicide? And then the jury retired to deliberate -- and came back, deadlocked 6-6.Is He to Be Guilty, Or Not to Be Guilty?, Wash. Post, March 17, 2007.

Photo: Edwin Booth as Hamlet, from the Library of Congress.