John Crane was executed, as his family, friends, and community looked on. Was this a triumph or a tragedy for the legal system? It depended on whom one asked. Men like Isaac Merchant, who had testified against Crane, had not requested his pardon – they may have seen Crane’s execution as justice, justice that defied Crane’s high connections. But Crane’s family may have seen it as a tragedy, as the execution of their loved one who was not responsible for his “lunatic” actions. But triumph or tragedy, the case reveals many the complex dynamics of law reform in post-Revolutionary Virginia, and Virginians’ changing ideas about what it meant to have law in a “republic.” Moreover, Crane’s case also highlights the fragility of class and familial privilege during this era. Soon, new reforms would create the category of second degree murder, which would have saved John Crane from death. For John Crane, Virginia may have been both too republican, and not republican enough.