Sampson, a boy of 10 years of age, was dipped in boiling liquor, until all his skin peeled off. Hodge previously had over 100 healthy Negro slaves on his plantation, but when his wife Ann died in 1808, there were no longer enough slaves to dig a grave for her according to witness Daniel Ross. One witness testified that, in three years at least sixty Negroes had been buried, and only one had died a natural death. Hodge had a reputation on Tortola for cruelty towards slaves. The main evidence given at the trial relating to the death of Prosper was given by Perreen Georges, a free woman of color. She testified that:  The assaults took place on 2 October 1807 and the following day. Thirteen days later, on 15 October 1807, Prosper died of his wounds. Hodge was not indicted for three years, until 11 March 1811. He then fled from his estates and was arrested by warrant. The evidence against Hodge was strong and credible, and Hodge's defence was weak. The two strongest prosecution witnesses were Stephen McKeough, a white man who inspected the Hodge estate, and Perreen Georges. Hodge tried to discredit them by alleging that McKeough was a drunk, and Georges was a thief. Hodge did not try to impeach the reputation of the third prosecution witness, Daniel Ross, a Justice of the Peace. Hodge called his sister, Penelope, and a witness described as an "old black woman" to give testimony to his innocence, but reports suggest that their evidence was not regarded as credible. As is customary in common law legal systems, the defendant was allowed to address the jury before they retired to consider their verdict, and Hodge said this:  However, the jury were also charged with the words of Richard Hetherington, President of the Council of the Territory:  On 30 April 1811, the jury retired to consider their verdict at about half past six in the morning. By eight o'clock, they returned with a guilty verdict. A majority of the jurors recommended mercy for Hodge. Such recommendations were not binding, and the presiding judge, Chief Justice Robertson, pronounced that Hodge should be "hanged by the neck on Wednesday the 8 May following, until he was dead, on a spot near unto the common prison." The Governor of the Leeward Islands Hugh Elliot was compelled to commission a militia to prevent reprisals "in a conjuncture so replete with party animosity". He also imposed martial law every night from sunset to sunrise between the time of sentencing and the date of Hodge's execution.