The prosecution had no choice but to concede to the eloquent, persuasive defense arguments that John Gibson was entitled to bail because he could not be charged with a capital crime.
Gibson and his family had concerns far different from those of the Lamberth’s. A barber by trade, Gibson wanted no taste of jailhouse food or incarceration. What he wanted was the best legal representation his family’s money could buy. And he got it. While Gibson remained in hiding, his attorneys arranged for his surrender to the county sheriff in Selmer. Six days after the shooting, on August 22, Gibson appeared at the county courthouse, surrounded by legal counsel. He was ushered into a courtroom for the first of several court appearances. Present in the courtroom with their client were four famed defense attorneys: W. C. Sweat, the brothers Abernathy and Abernathy, and H. P. Wood. The men seated at the prosecution’s table were no less impressive. Tennessee Attorney General T. B. Whitehorse and U.S. District Attorney William D. Kyser jointly announced they would represent the state. Attempts to have Gibson held without bond, a standard practice for a capital murder case, were thwarted by the fact that Tennessee had abolished the death penalty. The prosecution had no choice but to concede to the eloquent, persuasive defense arguments that John Gibson was entitled to bail because he could not be charged with a capital crime. The court reluctantly agreed but set bail at a staggering $15,000—a huge amount of money by 1917 standards. Gibson immediately posted bond and walked from the courthouse without spending even one day behind bars. On August 18, 1917, the day after Lamberth’s death, Acting Inspector in Charge Brannan issued a letter to the Inspectors in his division.