All language subtitles for The Perfect Crime _ Full Documentary _ AMERICAN EXPERIENCE _ PBS_English (auto-generated)

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car.com no one knows what will be the

fate of the child they get or the child

they

bear the mother who looks Into the Blue

Eyes of her little babe cannot help but

wonder what will be the end of this

child whether it will be crowned with

the greatest promises which your mind

can

imagine or whether he may meet Death

From The

Gallows Clarence darl

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the body was found on the morning of May

22nd

1924 a 14-year-old boy named Bobby

Franks who'd gone missing from his

Chicago neighborhood the day

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before a ransom note had been sent to

his

parents but before they'd had a chance

to pay

the kidnappers had killed their

son the crime itself was so shocking

they bludgeoned a child to death poured

acid on his face to try to disguise his

features he was stripped of his clothes

and left in a Culver it was as desolate

a place as you could possibly imagine

leaving a

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body the murder would rivet the nation

all the more so when police at last

caught the

killers Nathan Leopold and Richard lobe

wealthy well-educated teenagers who had

done it they said for the sheer

thrill this is an inexplicable murder

these were children of privilege of high

ideals who had everything given to them

they were the last people who had any

reason to commit a kidnapping much less

a

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murder as the case unfolded over that

hot summer of

1924 with Cook County prosecutor Robert

Crowe and famed defense attorney

Clarence Darrow debating the death

penalty and scores of commentators

weighing in from the Sidelines the

question of motive would be turned over

and over

again and what at first seemed a simple

matter of evil gradually would give way

to a complex assessment of the

murderer's minds and a searing

indictment of the forces that had shaped

them I think that the murder said

something to people about American

society this was seen as a culmination

of trends that were dangerous that were

immoral so you had all of a sudden this

question thrown up against our culture

which is that is it rotten is there is

there something wrong are we going in

the wrong

direction there Mysteries wrapped inside

of a nigas in this case and it's why it

won't go away

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on May 22nd

1924 just hours after the body of Bobby

Franks was found the hunt for his

Killers got

underway to State's attorney Robert

Crowe a combative 45-year-old Irishman

who'd been elected on a promise to

Vanquish crime in Chicago the case was a

career-making

opportunity Robert Crow was very

politically ambitious and and his

ambition was eventually to become mayor

of Chicago to become one of the most

powerful men in the city Crow had

certainly hoped that a success in this

case would help him as a

politician the police had few Clues The

Ransom note a tip about a gray sedan

that had been idling where Bobby Franks

was last

seen and a pair of eyeglasses found near

the

body when the glasses first were found

it was thought that they were Bobby

Frank's glasses they were even put on

the corpse in the funeral home and when

his relative came in to identify the

body he said well those aren't his

glasses and at that point they thought

well they must be the glasses of one of

the

criminals the prescription was actually

a very average one what was unusual

about the eyeglass is is that they had a

certain hinge and when the police began

to inquire they found that only three

pairs of eyeglasses with that hinge had

been sold in the Chicago

district one of the three belonged to a

man who'd been abroad for

weeks another to a woman who was quickly

ruled out as a

suspect that left 19-year-old Nathan

Leopold from the exclusive neighborhood

of Kenwood on Chicago's South

Side although it seemed doubtful that

the boy had had any hand in the murder

Crow sent three detectives to the

Leupold home with orders to bring Nathan

in for

questioning Nathan lipold was studying

for law

school he was an extraordinary young man

with a potentially Fantastic Future

before him Nathan leap was not regarded

as a likely suspect simply because his

family was very prominent by 1924 the

family was worth about $4

million why would someone like Nathan

Leopold want to kidnap a young child it

didn't seem to make any

sense Crow would spend the rest of the

afternoon and long into the night

downtown interrogating Nathan

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Leopold when confronted with the

eyeglass es the young man

Shrugged he was a recognized expert on

birds he boasted to Crow the author of

an article about the rare kirtland's

warbler he frequently LED biring

Expeditions near the place Frank's Body

had been

found the glasses he said must have

fallen at some point from his jacket

pocket as for the night of Frank's

murder he'd spent it driving around town

in his red Willis night with his good

friend Richard

lobe Leopold's Alibi was that he and L

had gone off in the park started

drinking picked up a couple of girls

fooled around them a little bit those

two girls that they did pick up refused

to have sex with them so they dropped

them off and then they continued home

that was The Alibi they

had well Crow interrogated Le ped police

ransacked his bedroom and study and

turned up a letter to Richard lob which

suggested the boys were

lovers Crow found it odd if Leupold and

lob were homosexuals why would they have

spent an evening chasing

girls now he wanted Richard lobe brought

in for questioning as

well Richard lobe graduated from high

school when he was 14 years old and

immed imly matriculated at the

University of Chicago as a full-time

student he was very popular as a student

Richard L's father was the vice

president of Sears robok he was worth

about $10 million by

1924 lobe corroborated his friend's

Alibi still Crow felt there was

something suspicious about these young

men so long as their parents were

cooperating certain that their sons had

been involved in no wrongdoing Crow

planned to keep Leopold and lobe in

custody meanwhile the circumstantial

evidence was

mounting the handwriting on the ransom

notes envelope matched Nathan leopolds

and the note itself had been linked to a

typewriter he

owned then the Leopold family's

chauffeur showed up at Crow's office

he'd been sent by Nathan's father with

information Mr Leopold was sure prove

the boy's

innocence the two could not have been

anywhere near the place the body was

left the chauffeur said because on the

day in question Nathan's car was being

worked on in the

garage certain now that the boy's Alibi

was a lie Crow ramped up the

pressure they had been left in rooms by

themselves under drilling for 24 hours

this was a pinning down of these guts

and everything pointed to

them the two boys were originally held

separately in separate rooms and Robert

Crow first went to Richard Richard

confessed and then gave Crow details

that only the murderers could have

known Crow takes those details to Nathan

and Nathan realizes that Richard is

confessing and then immediately Nathan

also starts confessing but blaming

everything on

Richard so Richard is blaming Nathan

Nathan is blaming

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Richard the crime both boys admitted had

been months in the planning and they'd

had every expectation of getting away

with it

the intention was always to murder from

the very beginning it was all part of

the plan to commit the perfect crime to

do this crime that would be

Sensational and to get away with getting

the ransom that was the

intention as a police stenographer took

down their words first lobe then Leopold

described how they'd rented a car under

an assumed name to use on the day of the

murder and typed out the ransom note

even even before they chose their

victim the afternoon of the crime they

were rolling around the neighborhood in

their rental car looking for a victim

literally looking for a

victim and suddenly on the other side of

the street they saw Bobby Franks who was

the cousin of Richard

L they drive up behind Bobby Frank's

Richard who's sitting in the back seat

invites Bobby into the front seat and

then as soon as Bobby is inside the car

the murder takes place almost

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immediately Leopold and lobe confessed

that they'd bludgeoned Franks with a

chisel then crammed a rag into his mouth

which had suffocated

him then they driven out to the wetlands

near Lake Michigan stopping along the

way for hot dogs and root beer

poured acid over Bobby's face and

genitals to obscure his

identity and pushed him into the

drainage pipe where he'd been

found Crow hoping to build his case and

cement the boy's guilt in the public

mind now had Leopold and lobe retrace

their steps on the day of the murder

leading investigators and a caravan of

journalists from the hard ware store

where they'd purchased the

Chisel all the way to the spot where

they disposed of the

body the two most helpful people in

sorting out the evidence were Leopold

and L

themselves they were sort of giving a

guided tour to the people that were

going to eventually prosecute

them just sort of almost boggles the

mind how much they gave away

they literally demonstrated how they had

done it and walked them through the

scenes of the crime as if once they were

discovered they were proud of the

plotting they became almost braggards

about

it Crow was

elated it was an open and shut case he

told the Press a premeditated murder

carried out in Cold

Blood he vowed that Justice would come

in the form of the death

penalty the morning paper is after the

murder front page

story and literally for two three four

months it was the front page story on

every newspaper in

Chicago it is not possible to overstate

the media attention given to this

case this case made the headlines the

front page of the New York Times this is

not Chicago the New York Times 3 days in

a row it was a case of tremendous

sensation suddenly Leopold and lobe were

everywhere and the horror of the murder

began to pale before the Spectre of the

murderers two arrogant young men in

stylish suits smok smoking cigarettes

and chatting blly with reporters about

the killing of Bobby

Franks they said they did it CU they

could because he was there because it

was fun for the thrill of it they didn't

seem to show much remorse at

all of the two Nathan Leopold seemed the

more chilling

figure when asked how he felt about

Bobby Frank's murder Leopold casually

replied that it didn't concern him it is

as easy to justify such a death he said

as it is to justify an entomologist

impaling a beetle on a

pin Leopold was seen as the monster he

seemed like an evil mastermind where L

seed like such a Carefree Playboy who

could easily be led astray by this

stronger darker

intellect the truth of the matter of

course is the complete opposite

the boys had met four years earlier in

the summer of

1920 Richard lobe was then 15 he not

only graduated from high school but

already had completed his first year of

college at the University of

Chicago Nathan Leopold just 6 months

older was equally precocious

he was to begin his freshman term at the

University that

fall they both zoomed through school

zoomed into college well ahead of their

peers so I think once they were on each

other's radar there was a sense of them

sniffing each other out of realizing

here in a way is a kindred

spirit in many ways the two had been cut

from the same

cloth both the Scion of wealthy Jewish

families they had been raised in comfort

and had spent their childhoods in the

constant care of govern's mere blocks

from one

another they became Fast Friends

somewhat to the bewilderment of those

who knew them

both Richard lobe was a dazzling human

being he was the kind of human being

that when he walked through a room the

molecular energy changed you couldn't

help looking looking at him he wore

clothes incredibly well he had a

flashing smile he was dazzlingly

handsome Nathan Leopold was the complete

opposite there is something Beetle brow

and intense and dark about Leupold he

was the kind of guy I think you'd

instantly take a dislike to at a party

he was the no at all who would have an

opinion on

everything Leopold fell in love with

Richard lobe and idolized him and lobe

felt it was nice to have an acolyte it

was nice to have someone around him who

would always make him feel beautiful or

intelligent or

special I think the deeper truth they

sensed another Predator in the room and

they were drawn to each

other what would end with the murder of

Bobby Franks had begun almost innocently

with a scheme Richard devised to cheat

at cards

that small transgression had bound the

boys together put them in League against

the rest of the

world but Richard longed to play more

dangerous

games was crying that fascinated lobe he

read detective novels pul periodicals he

devoured the newspapers for stories of

crime and I think to him it's because

there's a certain exceptionality about

crime Criminal are not of the common run

of humanity and he felt he was not in

the common run of

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humanity Nathan was more than willing to

join in but he wanted something in

return so the boys made a secret

pact there was an arrangement that

Richard would agree to have sex with

Nathan if Nathan accompanied Richard

when he did his crimes

Richard started out by committing small

acts of

vandalism stealing cars setting fire to

buildings it escalated more and more and

then eventually Richard suggested the

idea to Nathan of committing a

murder Nathan was not only agreeable he

urged Richard on with a concept taken

from the German philosophy

Frederick n that of the Uber MCH or

Superman a being so exceptional that he

was bound by neither law nor

morality Unfortunately they invested in

their own sort of dark and twisted

version of the niichan ideal where they

began to

self-identify as the niichan

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Superman they wanted to create a unique

act do something that was in their view

exalted and befitting of Anan Superman

and they thought this act being so

clever committing the perfect murder

would be a way for them to demonstrate

their superiority over other people they

were a couple of boys playing a strange

and sadistic game now obviously this had

an erotic Dimension but it also had a

kind of intellectual Dimension and that

I think is is key to understanding what

was going on between Richard lobe and

Nathan

Leopold neither had ever considered the

possibility that they would be

caught now the two Supermen were behind

bars and if the States Attorney had his

way they would end on The Gallows

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hours after news of the confessions

broke the lobe family sought the Council

of the country's preeminent criminal

defense attorney Clarence Darrow soon to

be known as the attorney for the

Damned Clarence Darrow was at this point

in his life 67 years old he had just

come off an amazing string of Victories

I'm defending a bunch of corrupt

politicians in Chicago

Clarence Darrow was thought as a legal

Miracle Worker many of his cases his

guys or his gals are found with the guns

under bloody knife in their in their

hands and that's why he was seen as the

the attorney for the

Damned get them a life sentence instead

of death L's Uncle begged Darrow we'll

pay you anything only for God's sake

don't let them

hang it was a request Darrow could not

refuse

he hated capital punishment he did

probably 60 or more capital punishment

cases in his career he lost the first

one to the hangman and he never got over

it his philosophy was definitely hate

the sin and love The Sinner he believed

people act the way they act because

they're brought up in poverty or because

they themselves have been ill treated

and that the Supreme virtue was Mercy

he believe that everything we do is

determined by our upbringing by our

childhood by our parents and therefore

there's very little free choice no free

will so he believed accordingly that

capital punishment the death penalty was

something that should not take

place Darrow was by no means

alone the previous quarter Century had

seen movements to abolish the death

penalty in no fewer than 10 states while

the number of executions Nationwide had

sharply

declined with the issue still being

hotly debated all over the country

Darrow sensed an opportunity to tip the

scales he wants to make a statement

about capital punishment in the lipold

and L case he knows he has this amazing

Spotlight everybody's listening around

the world not just in the United

States the actor egoist in him sought up

opportunities to play great Parts one

writer said of

Darrow hero

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Parts Darrow showed up for his first

meeting with his clients in a rumpled

sear sucker suit and a shirt that bore

traces of his

breakfast my first impression Nathan

Leopold later said

was

horror you couldn't imagine three more

different planets in

constellation there was lobe who was

sleek and his his lapels could cut you

like a knife Leopold who was intense and

brooding his hair was all shining and he

was very sort of well put together and

then Clarence Darrow who was a complete

shambling mess it was like a hobbit

suddenly walked into a room of tango

dancers

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by the time Darrow arrived Leopold and

lobe had been in Crow's custody for 3

Days talking all the

while the state's attorney had even

arranged for Leupold and lob to be

examined by Chicago's leading alienists

as psychiatrists were known in an effort

to block what he assumed would be

Darrow's only possible line of

defense Not Guilty by reason of his

Insanity Crow's alienists all said that

the defendants were perfectly sane and

there was nothing wrong with them other

than that they simply failed to

appreciate the enormity of what they'

done but that was hardly Insanity that

was in the state's view you know evil

not

Madness on June 11th Darrow appeared

with his clients before judge John

Caverly as expected he entered a not-

guilty plea which gave him several weeks

to prepare his

defense next he gathered a team of

experts from all over the country to

evaluate Leopold and

lob including a physician an adolescent

criminologist and a psychiatrist versed

in the new analytic techniques of Sigman

Freud over the next five weeks Leopold

and lobe would be subject to rigorous

examinations derived from The Cutting

Edge of modern

science their bodily functions were

measured intelligence tested family

histories

probed meanwhile the boy's unfathomable

crime prompted a rash of national hand

ringing Over The Perils of Modern

Life he did say something about the 20s

you know the music is wild the skirts

were short there was Gin it was it was a

fast

living Society so the madcap

fun was suddenly a very dark implication

of unchecked emotion unchecked youth

unchecked wildness can lead to things so

there was a lot of uneasiness about who

we were and where we were going you had

some ministers saying it was because

Americans were over educating their

children there was too much Prosperity

too much modernism too much

Indulgence of American children taking

place at the

time all of these things rain down on

the Leopold and

locz concerned for his client's image

Darrow sent men into the streets of to

Chicago to gauge public

opinion 60% of those queried thought

Leopold and lobe should

hang Daryl's early letters to his son

and to his

ex-wife uh from early

June uh are very Bleak and they say I

doubt that I'll be able to save these

boys and this is a man who has pulled

the trick off dozens of times throughout

his career but he says you know the

newspapers are just too

bad on July 21st 2 months after Bobby

Frank's murder Darrow and his clients

joined prosecutor crow in the criminal

court building to present motions before

Judge John

cavarly it was 10: a.m. and though the

already sweltering courtroom was filled

to capacity the crowd was mostly

silent Darrow disheveled as ever his

thumbs hooked under his trademark

suspenders spoke first and turned the

entire case on its head by entering a

plea of

guilty he stood up and told the judge

that we're going to change the plea to

guilty reporters jumped and ran to the

rooms in all the afternoon newspapers

that Leopold and lob are pleading guilty

and when you plead somebody guilty that

changes a game entirely because now

you're not going to impanel a jury

so then it became the judge's decision

to decide uh whether they would hang or

whether they would be just sent to

prison for

life Crow who moments earlier had

confidently swaggered into the courtroom

chomping on a cigar was

apoplectic Crow thought he had

everything sewn up that he was already

ready for a plea by the defense of not

guilty on account of

insanity Darrow

has this radical idea that he's going to

introduce evidence about his clients

backgrounds and about their mental

states to argue for a sentence less than

death dar's strategy to introduce this

evidence was absolutely groundbreaking

it was so groundbreaking that no one had

ever heard of it the state's attorney

thought it was completely ridiculous and

he shouldn't be allowed to do this

Darrow wanted to present psychological

weak Ness as a mitigating factor for

sentencing so essentially what he was

saying to judge Cavalry was we admit

that we committed the crime but I'd like

to show you why we committed the

[Music]

crime when the sentencing hearing got

underway on the morning of July 23rd

1924 the stifling courtroom was so

thronged with spectators

that reporters commandeered the empty

jury

box Crow presented the state's evidence

first armed with a lengthy list of

witnesses who would provide testimony on

every ghastly detail of Leopold and L's

[Music]

crime even though it's not a trial Crow

has to present evidence to show of the

defendant's

guilt he does so quite thoroughly he

introduces more than 80 Witnesses and

when he's done there's absolutely no

doubt in anyone's mind that Leopold and

L committed these

offenses these Witnesses would appear

and darl would just sort of sit in the

corner and and do nothing because he

realized that to cross-examine the

witness even gave more Spirit to what

was there so he he remained

silent Crow hammered away at the facts

of the case for seven full days

the senseless brutal slaying of a

14-year-old

boy the calculated disposal of the

material

evidence the glib demeanor of The

Killers once they'd been

caught it was the prosecutor said the

most cruel cowardly dastardly murder

ever committed in the annals of American

jurist

Prudence he demanded the death

penalty throughout Leopold and lob sat

just behind their attorneys

snickering it was remarkable one

Observer noted to see two kids on trial

for their life acting like

that one of the things that was very

striking was their absence of remorse

they never apologized they never said

sorry and of course their families were

terribly destroyed and

upset Leopold's father came to every

single day of the

hearing the lobe family was represented

by one of lob's

Brothers the parents retreated to their

summer home I think they never came to

grips with what had happened I think

they were in as much shock as anybody

else on July 30th the defense finally

took charge of the

RO it was his intention Darrow told

judge cavarly to show that his clients

were diseased both physically and

mentally and therefore not responsible

for their

actions calling his team of experts to

the stand one by one Darrow spelled out

for the court the findings from the

elaborate pre-trial examinations of

Leopold and L offering a catalog of the

boy

abnormalities one witness testified to

their dysfunctional endocrine

glands another to the delusions that had

led to their

crime the psychiatrists argue that in

fact it was lobe and not Leopold who was

responsible and that Leopold had been

his servant that he there had been a

Master Slave relationship between the

two of them Richard had this fantasy of

being a master Criminal and Nathan had

the fantasy of being a slave to a King

and it's that inner Fantasy Life that

created the bond between the two

boys referring to the two as babe and

Dicky their childhood nicknames the

witnesses for the defense argued that

both boys suffered from stunted

emotional

growth Richard in particular was a

little child emotionally still talking

to his teddy bear once psychiatrist told

the court he is infantile I should say

somewhere around four or 5 years

old both boys had been neglected by

their parents both had a

governance and these

governesses exerted an enormous amount

of control over the

children Nathan Leopold had been abused

sexually by his Governor when he was

about 12 years old

old with Richard lobe it was a case that

his Governor virtually stepped in as a

mother figure pushed him to excel in the

classroom and as he tells it to the

psychiatrists he began to be so

resentful that he started to

lie and Richard himself traced his

crimes back to those lies that he told

his

Governor it took a tremendous amount of

Utah but Clarence Daryl made the

argument that these two very privileged

sons of very wealthy families were

actually

victims they were in this very sheltered

life with cold families and that

therefore they should be pied rather

than

hated to Crow the entire defense was

Preposterous he fairly wore himself out

with objections and V

cross-examinations constantly through

the trial he is going back returning to

the savagery of the crime because he

knows what darl is doing he knows that

he has to pressure judge cavarly in the

opposite direction so the whole thing is

a struggle between these two legal

Titans Crow and Darrow for the judge's

mind there were plenty of Americans who

agreed with crow that the boy's guilt

was all that mattered

but for many others darl's defense

offered an intriguing New Perspective on

human

behavior what the Leupold and lobe

defense team did was to introduce

Freudian interpretations into the

courtroom and that was all very

new and it just grabbed the American

public it riveted them

the parents who read the newspapers were

fixated on what they could learn about

their own more normal children from

these young

people what about my

child the major effect of all the

scientific testimony was that it

convinced the people of Chicago America

and around the

world that there were indeed motivations

it wasn't just a matter of Good and Evil

there were flaws in human beings and

triggers that make people act the way

they

do on August 18th after 2 and A2 weeks

of testimony the defense

rested what remained now were the

closing arguments the last chance for

both sides to convince judge cavarly to

either spare the boys lives or else

sentence them them to hang until they

were

[Music]

dead the Curious Spectators began to

descend on the criminal court building

at midday on Friday August

22nd by 2: p.m. more than 2,000 people

had mastered the doors and begun pushing

their way

in they had come to hear Clarence dar

closing argument rumored to be the last

the legendary attorney would give before

his

retirement Darrow teased the press that

this could be his last big case this was

a way of Darrow to focus attention it

wasn't just Clarence darl defending Liam

holdon l it was Clarence darl's Last

Stand your honor I have stood here for

three months as one might stand at the

ocean trying to sweep back the

tide I hope the seas are subsiding and

the wind is

falling and I believe they

are but I wish to make no false pretense

to this

court the easy thing and the popular

thing to do is to hang my

clients we are asking this court to save

their

lives speaking continuously for the

better part of three days Darrow offered

the court a rambling summary of the

reasons Leopold and lobe should be

spared if you read Clarence darl's

arguments today they sound in desperate

need of an editor but if you think about

the effect that they had in the

courtroom before the age of television

and radio when this was Supreme human

drama you realize that he was very

smoothly seductively creating a mood

casting a spell touching their emotions

quite

masterfully before I would tie a nuse

around the neck of a boy I would try to

call back into my mind the emotions of

Youth the brain of the child is the home

of dreams of castles of visions of

Illusions and

delusions and whether they take one

shape or another shape depends not on

the dreamy boy but on what surrounds

[Music]

him again and again Darrow spoke of

Youth reminding judge cavarly that

Nathan leapold and Richard lobe at 19

were but children

during the previous Century no one

younger than 23 had been executed in

Illinois on a guilty

plea for the prosecutor to demand such

an execution was barbarous Darrow said

and evidence of the savagery the recent

World War had

Unleashed we are used to blood your

honor we have not only had it shed in

buckets full we have it shed in rivers

lakes and

oceans we have delighted in it we have

preached it until the world has been

drenched in Blood and has left its

stains of blood upon every human

heart it was almost as though he had

been scripted by Shakespeare he was a

brilliant man he had a tremendous

capture of the law he didn't need notes

he was the consumate actor

I am not pleading so much for these boys

as I am for the infinite number of

others to

follow your honor stands between the

past and the future you may hang these

boys you may hang them by the neck until

they are dead but in doing it you will

turn your face towards the

past Clarence Darrow had that Court room

eating out of his hands he brought lobe

who giggled and chuckled and smirked

throughout his own trial to

tears the judge had tears in his eyes

when darl was

done prosecutor crow in his rebuttal

fought back

hard he even went so far as to insinuate

without any conclusive evidence that

there had been a sexual motive for the

crime Crow introduces the idea that poor

Bobby Franks was molested either before

and or after

death at which point judge cly tells the

female reporters that they have to leave

his courtroom because their dainty ears

can't be listening to such awful

testimony attorney Crow really was sort

of between a rock and a hard place they

were pleaded guilty so all he can do is

bring in the grotesque evidence of the

case how horrible it was

and show what terrible terrible beings

they

were if judge cly was leaning one way or

the other when the hearing finally

concluded on its 32nd day he gave no

indication but Chicago's bookies had

already begun offering three to1 odds

against a death

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sentence for 12 days Chicago and the

world waited while cavarly wrestled with

his

decision for many Americans what hung in

the balance was not merely the fate of

Leopold and low but the very meaning of

Justice you who sit there at your

breakfast table so comfortable one

columnist wrote would you stand for

justice no matter if by taking such a

stand you had to walk to the foot of the

Gallows with your own

son is it going to be life in prison or

is it going to be the death

penalty cavali is not very happy with

this situation because the whole

responsibility rests upon his shoulders

whatever decision he makes he's going to

be

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criticized finally on September 10th the

parties to the case assembled once again

in Cav's

courtroom security was tight

the mood tense as cavarly began to read

from three sheets of lined

paper judge cly comes out to give the

verdict and he says basically I'm not

going to be moved by any of the

scientific evidence it was interesting

gentlemen but they pleed guilty Nathan

Leopold thought he was heading for the

for the

hangman but the judge went on and it

swiftly became clear that Leopold and

lobe were headed not for The Gallows but

for

prison the court believes that it is

within his Province cavarly explained to

decline to impose the sentence of death

on persons who are not of full age one

of the most interesting things about

judge caverly's ruling is how in the end

how little all that scientific testimony

all the alienist testimony that talk

about glandular secretions how little it

all matter mattered in the end he clung

to that legal idea of of

precedent the judge says I am basing my

decision not to impose the death penalty

entirely on the defendants

youth I can only imagine what the

prosecution thought of the judge's

sentence because I could imagine them

saying if these guys don't get the death

penalty who should get the death penalty

Leopold and lobe were sentenced to life

in prison for the murder of Bobby Franks

plus 99 years for the

kidnapping the verdict would provoke

outrage across the country and

accusations that the defendants had

bought their way out of the hangman's

noose but Darrow had saved his clients

lives and dealt a powerful blow to the

death

penalty as he told the reporters who

Crow crowed around the defense table he

now planned to launch a campaign to end

capital punishment in

Illinois before leaving the courtroom

Leopold and lob shook Darrow's hand in

the morning the pair would be bound for

the penitentiary at

Joliet back in his cell at the county

jail Nathan called to the sheriff and

arranged for what surely would be the

boy's last good meal thick steak

smothered in onions and chocolate AC

Claires ladies and

gentlemen a month ago I begged the

members of the parole board for their

compassion they found it in their hearts

to Grant it today I am enjoying

the by the time Nathan Leopold was

released from prison in

1958 he'd been behind bars for more than

33

years Richard lob had died in prison two

decades before murdered by a fellow

inmate who claimed lobe had made

unwanted sexual

advances Clarence Darrow had died back

in

1938 at the age of 80 having spent much

of his time outside of the courtroom

advocating with little success against

the death

penalty swarmed by reporters outside of

the prison Leopold pleaded for

privacy I appeal as solemnly as I know

how to you and to your editors and to

your Publishers and the society at large

to agree that the only piece of news

about me is that I have cease to be

news Leopold and lobe would never again

dominate headlines but the perpetrators

of the Perfect Crime would continue to

compel Fascination for decades to

come I think this case has a continuous

hold on AR imaginations because of the

way it

interrogates the idea of

evil and whether or

not there really is such a

thing Darrow tried to get us away away

from thinking in terms of monsters and

kind of unfathomable Darkness to try to

understand the world in terms of

sickness and

health Youth and

maturity Shades of Gray rather than the

black and white of good and

evil one of the the terrifying

implications of the case in 1924 was if

the boys who had everything in the world

World ahead of them could do this act

why could not other people do this act

and I think in a way that's why we're

still discussing the case because they

did something

mad and we're all capable of doing

something mad given the forces upon them

or upon any of us what are we capable

of why then did these two boys Commit

This rash and horrible deed

I presume they know less about the

reason than others who have studied the

case and the boys as

well there are many things that human

beings cannot understand and of all the

fathomless questions that confront and

confuse men the most

baffling is the human mind

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