 The brothers William and Daniel Cormack were arrested and convicted at Nenagh Assizes in March 1858, largely, it was felt at the time, on the evidence of an informer – “a villainous character” – who was widely believed to have been part of the murder plot.The judge was the notoriously corrupt and harsh William Keogh.The common belief was that a local landlord had shot Ellis in a crime of passion involving Ellis' sister, and that the Cormack brothers had been framed for murder; 2,357 people signed a petition attesting to the brothers' innocence

The brothers were hanged on Thursday, May 11, 1858 outside Nenagh Prison.