Garfield DID die as a "direct result" of teh assassination, it just took a while. IIRC he was shot in the back; Guiteau's first bullet missed and Garfield turned away; the bullet landed somewhere in his abdomen and they could not find it. (no X-rays for another 20 years!) At some point the doctors thought a change in climate might help so they moved him by special train to Sea Bright NJ (not too far from Annap!) and he died there of infection, about three months after the assassination. Somewhere in English common law it states that the victim must die within "a year and a day" of the blow for the charge to be 1st degree murder -- I believe deep in the recesses of American law it says the same. Guiteau was tried, convicted (despite the insanity defense) and hanged.