ID
              2981
          Nationality
          English
          British
              Occupation
          Accused criminal
              Summary
              Tried in 1850 on a charge of attempted rape; the judge allowed the trial to continue when a witness said the defendant could understand and use sign language, but the trial was conducted without the use of an interpreter and Whitfield was found guilty and sentenced to prison, despite clearly having no comprehension of what was happening in his trial.
          References
              Deaf Crime Casebook, p.11.
          Dates
              fl. 1850
          