Martin Wiley Littleton: NY lawyer known for high-profile defenses

Listen to this article

Martin Wiley Littleton was an American attorney known for his involvement in a number of high-profile trials during the early 1900s, including serving as chief defense counsel for Harry Kendall Thaw at his second trial in 1908 for the murder of renowned architect Stanford White.

In his book “The Art of Advocacy,” Lloyd Paul Stryker, himself a great trial lawyer, commented that Martin W. Littleton was the greatest trial lawyer of his generation. Littleton was born in poverty in Tennessee. He had no formal education but was inspired to become a trial lawyer when he watched a murder trial at the age of 17. One of the lawyers in that case became his mentor. By way of self-study, he qualified to take the Texas bar examination. Eventually, he moved to New York, where he developed a thriving practice with offices on Wall Street.

Stryker observed Littleton in a trial in which he was defending a street-cleaning commissioner for murder. Stryker described Littleton’s eloquence: “He was the master of what Justice Jackson so finely called the short Saxon word that pierces like a spear. His voice was well-pitched and strong. His closing argument was passionate. He made a clear, logical argument, but he lit his argument with a warm and glowing sympathy of his own heart. In expressing his own feelings and those of his client, he was spreading the contagion of sympathy in the jury box.”

As an assistant district attorney in the early years of his career, Littleton was prosecuting the defendant for shooting two people at a party and seriously wounding them. The defense claimed by virtue of insanity that the defendant did not know what he was doing. The key witness for the defense was a respected psychiatrist. Here is an excerpt of Littleton’s cross-examination:

Q. Doctor, you have expressed the opinion and conclusion that the defendant did not know the difference between right and wrong or appreciate the nature and quality of his act when he shot?

A. Yes, sir. That is my opinion and conclusion.

Q. When he put the gun in his right-hand pocket, did he know that he was putting a gun in his pocket, or did he think he was putting a violin in a violin case?

A. No, sir. He knew he was putting a gun in his pocket.

Q. And when he walked back through the rain to the house, did he know he was going back to the house where he previously had a quarrel, carrying a deadly loaded revolver?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. When he opened the front door of the house, did he know that if he turned the knob and opened the door, he could gain entrance to the house?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And when he walked into the living room where the young couples were dancing, did he know where he was?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And after he shot the first one, and turned the gun to the second, did he realize then that he had fired the gun and it was capable of inflicting serious injury or death, or do you think he was firing a garden hose around the room?

A. No, sir.

Q. Now, Doctor, in light of all these circumstances, are you not prepared to amend your previous opinion by saying at best it was speculative?

A. Well, Mr. Littleton, I will say that I might be wrong in my opinion. Anyone might honestly express a wrong opinion.

The jury returned a verdict for the prosecution.

Interestingly, Littleton represented Henry Kendall Thaw in his second trial for the murder of the famous architect Stanford White in what was deemed “the trial of the century.” The first trial ended with a hung jury. The jury in the second trial agreed with the defense of insanity. For more in-depth reading about the case, see “Courtroom Warrior: The Combative Career of William Travers Jerome” by Richard O’Connor. Jerome prosecuted both cases against Thaw.

Paul Mark Sandler is retired from the firm of Shapiro Sher. He can be reached at [email protected].

Sources: “The Art of Advocacy” by Lloyd Paul Stryker (Cornerstone Library, 1954); “The Fine Art of Trial Advocacy: A Young Lawyer’s Resource for Success,” (ABA, 2021)