Soon after the trial, one of William Randolph Hearst's newspapers, the "New York Journal", printed what was purported to be Toppan's confession to her lawyer, claiming that she had killed more than 31 people, and that she wanted the jury to find her sane so she could eventually have a chance at being released. Toppan insisted upon her own sanity in court, claiming that she could not be insane if she knew what she was doing and knew that it was wrong, but nonetheless she was declared insane and committed. On June 23, in the Barnstable County Courthouse, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed for life in the Taunton Insane Hospital.