 
The election in 1800 resulted in a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives voted to break the tie and Jefferson was elected President and Burr Vice-President. Alexander Hamilton came into conflict with Burr. A duel was challenged and in 1804 Aaron Burr killed Hamilton. Though indicted for murder, Burr continued to preside over the Senate and act as Vice-President until his term ended. Upon leaving Washington, Burr become involved in a series of affairs that looked to all concerned like treason. He was suspected of attempting to divide the Southwest from the Union and building his own empire. Jefferson, intent on convicting Burr, had him arrested. Burr was to stand trial on treason in the Fifth Circuit Court in Richmond, VA (now the Fourth Circuit). During this time, it was customary for the Supreme Court Justices to sit on Circuit Courts. The Fourth Circuit Court was presided over by none other than Chief Justice Marshall.
Controversy surrounded the trial when it was held in 1806-1807. President Jefferson was subpoenaed to testify, but declined, claiming the independence of his office. Burr was treated hospitably by some of the citizens of Richmond. Dining on one occasion at John Wickham's home (his defense attorney), question arose of impropriety when John Marshall attended the same dinner. Others questioned whether John Randolph of Roanoke should have been named foreman of the jury given his anti-Jefferson feelings. However a polling of the jury found that fourteen of the Grand Jurors were Republicans (Jefferson's party) and two were Federalists (supporters of Marshall's point of view).
The air in the court room was electric when the court returned an acquittal. Marshall had followed a strict reading of the Constitution and excluded all evidence not directly related to the act of treason. He maintained that it took the testimony of at least two witnesses to the same "overt act" of treason to convict.
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