To prove his client's innocence, this lawyer killed himself with a bullet

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During trials, lawyers do not hesitate to defend their clients fiercely in the hope of saving them from harsh punishments that may sometimes lead to death. At a time when many trials have entered history thanks to lawyers who were valiant in defending their clients and resorted to presenting and presenting strange arguments and evidence.

Among these trials is the case of the accused Thomas McGeehan, who miraculously escaped execution after his lawyer, Clement Vallandingham, unintentionally killed himself.

In addition, Clement Vallandigham was born on July 29, 1820 in the New Lisbon area, Ohio, to a humble family. After studying at home for a while, he moved to study at the Jefferson Institute in Pennsylvania, from which he was expelled in 1841, due to a dispute with the director of the institute, without obtaining an academic degree.

To continue his education in the field of law, this young man borrowed a fair amount of $500 from his close friend Edwin Stanton, who later became Secretary of War in the government of US President Abraham Lincoln.

Despite their friendship and leanings towards the Democratic Party of that period, Vallandingham and Stanton had two different views on the issue of slavery; While Stanton called for the practice to be abolished, Vallandingham supported its preservation because of its economic benefits and the reliance of many states on it.

In addition to his legal career, Clement Vallandigham had a busy political career. Between 1845 and 1847, the latter was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1858, Democrat Clement Vallandigham was elected as a representative from Ohio in the US House of Representatives, a position he held until 1863.

Vallandingham was also active during the Civil War, among a group of Democrats who strongly opposed the policies of President Abraham Lincoln and opposed the continuation of the war, accusing the Lincoln administration of igniting its fuse. During the month of May 1863, this democratic politician was arrested by the Federalists and brought before a military court, which convicted him of disloyalty to the homeland and ruled that he be imprisoned until the end of the war.

Later, Vallandigham obtained a pardon and fled to Canada before returning again to American soil at the end of the Civil War to devote the remainder of his life to law.

In his most famous case, Vallandigham defended the accused Thomas McGeehan in a murder case that would have led to the latter being sentenced to death. As part of this case, McGeehan was accused of killing the victim, Tom Myers, with a gunshot during a dispute in a bar.

In addition, Vallandigham was certain of his client's innocence and spoke about Tom Myers accidentally fatally shooting himself while trying to pull his gun from his pocket as he got up. To prove this hypothesis, the lawyer tried to reenact the scene in front of the defense team in his hotel room in Lebanon, Ohio.

However, without intending to, Vallandigham chose a pistol that he thought was empty and put it in his pocket before he began to re-enact the events. While he was pulling it from his pocket, the pistol got stuck on his clothes, which led to a bullet being fired that lodged in his stomach and left him fighting for death for hours before he died on June 17, 1871, when he was fifty years old.

The death of Clement Vallandigham came to prove his point of view and his success in defending his client. Subsequently, the American authorities released the accused, Thomas McGeehan, who escaped execution thanks to the sacrifice of his lawyer.