Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.
In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. As the trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son.—Anonymous
The Conspirator is the true story of Mary Surratt, the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.—Production
One aspect of the aftermath of the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln is dramatized. Immediately after the fact, the authorities learn that despite the Civil War having officially ended, the assassination was only part of a larger "southern" conspiracy also to assassinate Vice-President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Most of the proverbial "shooters" are also known in not hiding their identities in the attempts. While Lincoln's assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, is assassinated himself shortly thereafter, several others are arrested including one female, Mary Surratt, in whose boarding house the other conspirators often met. In the military trial of which Surratt is a part, Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson is assigned her attorney. Feeling unable to try the case himself, Johnson in turn assigns the case to his underling, a reluctant Frederick Aiken, who, as a previous Union soldier, does not want to defend someone who conspired to kill for the rights that he fought for. Surratt is indeed a proud southerner but an even more protective mother. Given a possible out by Johnson from trying the case which does take a toll on his personal life for defending someone like Surratt, Aiken begins to have doubts as to her guilt and begins to believe that she is being used as a surrogate for her son, John Surratt, the true criminal who has gone into hiding, especially problematic as the proceedings are stacked against Surratt and thus by association him as Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton wants to find her guilty, true guilt or not, in the absence of her son solely for the sake of national peace.—Huggo
On April 14, 1865, five days after the Civil War ends with the South's surrender to the North at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, lawyer and Union veteran Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), with his friends, William Thomas Hamilton (James Badge Dale) and Nicholas Baker (Justin Long), and girlfriend, Sarah Weston (Alexis Bledel), celebrate.
Later that same night, Southerner Lewis Payne (Norman Reedus) unsuccessfully attempts to kill Secretary of State William Seward (Glenn R. Wilder), only seriously wounding him. German immigrant and carriage repair business owner George Atzerodt (John Michael Weatherly) is assigned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson (Dennis Clark) but becomes afraid at the victory party at the VP's house and runs away. Meanwhile, actor John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) enters Ford's Theatre and sees his target, President Abraham Lincoln (Gerald Bestrom). Booth sneaks into the President's box and shoots Lincoln, mortally wounding him. Booth stabs diplomat and military officer Henry Rathbone who was a guest in Lincoln's box, and leaps onto the stage, shouting, "Sic Semper Tyrannis! The South is avenged!" before escaping. A crowd, including Aiken, Hamilton and Baker, watch in horror as the unconscious President is taken to a nearby boarding house where he dies early the next morning.
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline) orders all suspects, including Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), arrested. Booth and David Herold (Marcus Hester) manage to evade capture for some days, but Union soldiers find a barn where they suspect the conspirators are hiding and set it on fire. Herold is arrested, while Booth is shot and killed by sergeant Boston Corbett.
Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) is Mary Surratt's lawyer. Her son, John Surratt (Johnny Simmons), had escaped with hundreds of agents looking for him. Feeling unable to defend Surratt because he's a Southerner, Reverdy asks Aiken, a Northerner, to take over, but he tries to refuse. He is ordered to defend her and tells Sarah and his friends, who are shocked to hear this. Reverdy is angry at Edwin Stanton who has ordered a military trial for civilian suspects. As such, he feels his moral duty to defend Mary, who is only an alleged suspect. Aiken is not so sure of Mary's innocence and greatly resents this burden thrust upon him.
Aiken visits Mary in her cell to question her. Mary asks Aiken to look in on her daughter Anna (Evan Rachel Wood). Aiken does so and searches the boarding house for clues. He finds a ticket with the initials "LJW" (Louis J. Weichmann). At the court, Weichman (Jonathan Groff) - a seminary friend of Mary's son John, is the first witness and describes John Surratt's meetings with Booth. Aiken incriminates Weichman, making him appear as guilty as the rest of the conspirators. But the court is adamant in not allowing Aiken any leeway in tarnishing the witness's credibility or the version of the story produced by the prosecution.
Aiken again tries to give up defending Mary, believing her guilty. He meets with her, intending to get evidence of her guilt. She explains that John and the others conspired to kidnap Lincoln, not to kill him. They were about to attack a carriage but were stopped by Booth who reported that Lincoln was elsewhere. Aiken is curious why a famous actor like Booth befriended Surrat in the first place. Mary reveals that John knew all the secret routes in and out of town and was supposed to lead everyone to safety that night. Instead, he was the only one that got away.
She says John left town and went into hiding after the failed kidnapping, two weeks before the assassination. Aiken asks Anna for information to help with his trial preparations, but she refuses. Mary swears that she did not conspire to assassinate the President.
Reverdy tries to convince Aiken to convince the court that it was John Surrat who is the conspirator and not Mary. Even though Aiken knows that Mary will not like this line of defense.At the court, Chief Prosecutor Joseph Holt (Danny Huston) brings Innkeeper John Lloyd (Stephen Root) to the stand. Lloyd claims that Mary sent binoculars to Booth and prepared shooting irons and whiskey for Booth and Herold on the night of the assassination. Aiken angers Lloyd, implying that he was bribed for his testimony in whiskey. Lloyd is dragged out of the courtroom after threatening Aiken.
While attempting to attend a party at the Century Club, Aiken finds his membership has been revoked due to his defending Mary Surratt. This triggers an argument with Sarah, and she disowns and leaves him. Aiken asks Anna to testify next. Anna testifies that Mary had no part in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but that it was her brother John instead. Anna visits Aiken at his house and tells him about Booth and John and sends him to where John Surratt is hiding. He brings the message that John must surrender, or his mother will hang for his crimes. On July 6, Mary is found guilty on all charges and, with Stanton's intervention (Due to Aiken's skillful defense, the commission only wanted life imprisonment for her, but Stanton intervened and secured her death penalty), sentenced to hang with three others on the 7th. Aiken procures a writ of Habeas Corpus to try Mary in civilian court, but President Johnson suspends the writ and Mary is hanged.
Sixteen months later, Aiken visits John Surratt, who was captured abroad and is in jail. John thanks him for his kindness to his mother. Aiken offers him Mary's rosary, but he declines. The epilogue goes on to state that a year later the Supreme Court ruled that citizens were entitled to trial by a civilian jury and not a military tribunal, even in times of war (Ex Parte Milligan). A jury of Northerners and Southerners could not agree on a verdict for John Surratt, so he was freed. Aiken left the law and became The Washington Post's first City Editor.
