Charles Guiteau, the man known to American history as the assassin of President James Garfield, may have been both innocent and guilty at the same time.
Guiteau himself famously said as much while he was being tried, convicted and ultimately executed. When prosecutors and public critics labeled Guiteau as a murderer, he didn't deny that he had shot Garfield twice on July 2, 1881; one bullet only grazed the president's arm, but a second burrowed itself deep into the right side of his back. Yet Guiteau's contention was that he was merely an attempted murderer, not a successful one.
