It’s not every day that someone goes on trial for a murder committed 400 years ago, but in Los Angeles one of the most notorious killers in world history was tried by a jury of his peers.  The accused?  Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.  The victim?  Polonius, advisor to the king of Denmark.  The author?  That handsome devil William Shakespeare.  That’s right, a mock murder trial was held involving Hamlet, with the jury tasked to decide Hamlet’s mental state at the time of the murder of Polonius.  The murder trial of Hamlet ended in a hung jury after a 20-minute deliberation.  Ten jurors decided Hamlet was sane while two found him to be insane.

The case was held at the University of Southern California on behalf of the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.  The trial was presided over by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.  Dubbed “The Trial of Hamlet,” the case allowed some of Los Angeles’ most prominent lawyers to argue whether or not Shakespeare’s version of Hamlet was insane at the time he stabbed Polonius.

While Hamlet’s murder trial ended in deadlock, a more appropriate ending perhaps would have been hemlock, given how at the end of Hamlet everyone involved is dead due to stabbing, poisoning, or both.

Tags: mock trials, Hamlet mock murder trial, Los Angeles, California, University of Southern California, Hamlet Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Anthony Kennedy, Hamlet murder trial ends in deadlock, Hamlet, Polonius, fictional character tried for murder, unusual trials

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