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Speaker 1: You're listening to History on Trial, a production of iHeart Podcasts.

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Speaker 1: Listener Discretion advised. Jacob and Flora Franks didn't start to

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Speaker 1: worry until Bobby missed dinner. Their youngest son was a

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Speaker 1: responsible boy who usually called home if he was going

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Speaker 1: to be late. May twenty first, nineteen twenty four, had

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Speaker 1: been a beautiful spring day, the kind of day where

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Speaker 1: you can lose track of time, especially if you're a

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Speaker 1: fourteen year old boy playing baseball with your friends. That's

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Speaker 1: what the Franks figured Bobby was doing. He and his

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Speaker 1: classmates liked to get a game going after school. Bobby

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Speaker 1: was small for his age, but he was a sports

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Speaker 1: fanatic and always found a way to join in. He

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Speaker 1: would be home soon, the Franks thought, But when the

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Speaker 1: dinner plates were cleared with still no sign of Bobby,

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Speaker 1: the couple became concerned. They called around to Bobby's friends,

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Speaker 1: who confirmed that, yes, they had played baseball after school.

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Speaker 1: Bobby had served as umpire, but the game had ended

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Speaker 1: at five hours earlier. After Bobby had headed towards home,

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Speaker 1: a journey of only a few blocks. No one had

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Speaker 1: seen him since. Increasingly fearful, Jacob Franks enlisted a friend

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Speaker 1: to help him search for Bobby. The men went to

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Speaker 1: check if the boy had somehow gotten locked in his

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Speaker 1: school building. Flora Franks stayed home. At about ten thirty PM,

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Speaker 1: as Flora waited for news, the phone rang. The caller

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Speaker 1: asked for her husband. When Flora said he was not

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Speaker 1: at home, but that she was missus Franks, the caller said,

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Speaker 1: your son has been kidnapped. He is all right. Further

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Speaker 1: news in the morning. Who is it, Flora asked, horrified.

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Speaker 1: George Johnson, the caller said, and hung up. When Jacob

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Speaker 1: Franks got back, he was shocked by Flora's news. After

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Speaker 1: several tense hours, he decided to report the kidnapping to

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Speaker 1: the police, who agreed to investigate the matter quietly so

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Speaker 1: as not to alert the kidnappers. At nine am the

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Speaker 1: next day, the ransom note arrived in the morning mail.

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Speaker 1: Dear sir, it began, as you no doubt know by

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Speaker 1: this time your son has been kidnapped. Allow us to

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Speaker 1: assure you that he is at present, well and safe.

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Speaker 1: It continued on in this same formal, stilted language, commanding

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Speaker 1: Jacob Franks to withdraw ten thousand dollars and then await

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Speaker 1: further instructions. It warned Jacob that if he disobeyed the

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Speaker 1: instructions in any way, Bobby's death will be the penalty.

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Speaker 1: Jacob hurried to the bank to make the withdrawal, then

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Speaker 1: came home to wait by the telephone. The kidnappers did

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Speaker 1: not call until after three pm. Jacob Franks answered the phone,

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Speaker 1: and a voice on the other end, once again calling himself,

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Speaker 1: George Johnson, described how Jacob would take a taxi to

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Speaker 1: a drug store where he would receive further directions. Jacob listened,

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Speaker 1: but inside his heart was breaking because only minutes before

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Speaker 1: he had received another phone call, one that changed everything.

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Speaker 1: From it, he had learned that Bobby's body had been

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Speaker 1: found earlier that morning. The body of a boy was

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Speaker 1: found in a concrete culvert in the nature preserve surrounding

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Speaker 1: Wolf Lake, some twenty miles southeast of the Franks house

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Speaker 1: in Chicago. A pair of glasses had been found near

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Speaker 1: the body, and the officer who arrived at the scene

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Speaker 1: assumed they were the boys and placed them on his face.

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Speaker 1: The Frank's family heard about the discovery but believed the

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Speaker 1: boy couldn't be Bobby. Bobby didn't wear glasses, but as

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Speaker 1: the day wore on. They thought it would be good

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Speaker 1: to know for sure, and so Bobby's uncle traveled to

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Speaker 1: view the body. When the uncle walked in, he removed

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Speaker 1: the glasses from the boy's still cold face and gazed

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Speaker 1: down at it. Then he looked at the boy's teeth.

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Speaker 1: Bobby had marks on his teeth from a childhood illness,

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Speaker 1: so did this boy. Bobby's uncle did not have to

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Speaker 1: look any longer. He knew this was his nephew. He

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Speaker 1: called home and told the Franks the news only minutes

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Speaker 1: before the kidnapper called to give Jacob Franks his instructions.

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Speaker 1: So Jacob had had to sit at the phone and

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Speaker 1: listen as the kidnapper spoke of his son as if

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Speaker 1: he was still alive. Jacob's plan now was to follow

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Speaker 1: the ransom instructions and hope they led to the killer.

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Speaker 1: But in his shock, Jacob did not retain the name

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Speaker 1: of the drug store he was supposed to go to.

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Speaker 1: The trail went cold for more than a week. The

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Speaker 1: appalled public wondered who could have committed such a crime.

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Speaker 1: Bobby had been beaten and suffocated, and then had acid

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Speaker 1: poured on his face after death. It was a senseless

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Speaker 1: awful killing. People could only speculate as to what kind

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Speaker 1: of monster the killer must be. But when the police

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Speaker 1: announced that they had obtained confessions for the crime, the

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Speaker 1: culprits were not at all what the public had expected.

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Speaker 1: The killers, for there were two of them, were the

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Speaker 1: clean cut, brilliant teenage scions of prominent families. Their names

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Speaker 1: were Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Leopold and Loebe's names

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Speaker 1: are infamous. The killing of Bobby Franks was called the

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Speaker 1: crime of the century. As the twisted tale of the

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Speaker 1: crime unfolded, people struggled to make sense of how the

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Speaker 1: two young men could do what they had done. Everyone

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Speaker 1: awaited the trial certain that the pair would be sentenced

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Speaker 1: to death, But the killer's family had hired one of

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Speaker 1: the most famous attorneys in American history, Clarence Darrow, and

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Speaker 1: what happened in the courtroom in that hot summer of

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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four has to be heard to be believed,

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Speaker 1: because the Leopold and Loeb trial, one of the most

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Speaker 1: well known trials of all time, was not really a

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Speaker 1: trial at all. Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your

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Speaker 1: host Mira Hayward. This week, Illinois v. Naan Leopold and

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Speaker 1: Richard Loeb. Leopold and Lobes lives ran like trains on

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Speaker 1: parallel tracks until fatefully their paths converged. Both boys were

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Speaker 1: born to wealthy families, Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Junior on November nineteenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen oh four, to Florence and Nathan Leopold, and Richard

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Speaker 1: Albert lob On June eleventh, nineteen oh five, to Albert

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Speaker 1: and Anna Loeb. Both boys had nicknames. Everyone called Nathan Babe,

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Speaker 1: everyone called Richard Dickie. Both boys grew up in Kenwood,

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Speaker 1: an affluent, predominantly Jewish neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Both

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Speaker 1: boys were precocious, skipping multiple grades and racing through their

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Speaker 1: school years in record time, and both boys were impacted

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Speaker 1: by disturbed nannies. Nathan was allegedly sexually abused by any

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Speaker 1: while Richard was allegedly emotionally abused by his domineering and

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Speaker 1: obsessive nanny. But the boys had differences too. They attended

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Speaker 1: different schools, had different interests, and very different personalities. Nathan

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Speaker 1: was aloof and egotistical. He had trouble connecting to his

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Speaker 1: peers his classmates at the Harvard School for Boys, nicknamed

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Speaker 1: him Flea because he was small and annoying. He was

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Speaker 1: obsessed with birds. He shot and taxidermied thousands of the animals,

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Speaker 1: placing them around the Leopold Home until it looked like

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Speaker 1: a natural history museum. Richard, on the other hand, was

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Speaker 1: popular and outgoing. He could easily fit into any social situation,

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Speaker 1: charming classmates and adults alike, but he sometimes seemed to

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Speaker 1: be playing a role, and when people tried to get

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Speaker 1: close to him, he would not let them in. He

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Speaker 1: moved on from friend ships quickly. No one quite had

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Speaker 1: a grasp on who the real Richard was. His defining

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Speaker 1: adolescent interest was not birds, but books, detective fiction to

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Speaker 1: be specific, which he consumed voraciously. Since the two boys

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Speaker 1: had grown up so close together and in such similar circles,

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Speaker 1: they likely met once or twice in their childhood, but

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Speaker 1: it would not be until nineteen twenty that they would

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Speaker 1: truly connect. With deadly consequences that fall, Nathan enrolled at

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Speaker 1: the University of Chicago, where Richard was beginning his sophomore year.

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Speaker 1: Both boys were only fifteen years old. They each had

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Speaker 1: different approaches to college. Richard went a little wild, drinking, gambling,

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Speaker 1: and losing his virginity at a brothel. Nathan, by contrast,

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Speaker 1: maintained his standoffish, superior attitude. Richard was stylish and handsome,

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Speaker 1: Nathan gawky and awkward. Over the course of the winter,

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Speaker 1: though the two began to get closer. They played cards

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Speaker 1: and stayed up late drinking and talking. In February nineteen

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Speaker 1: twenty one, Richard took Nathan on a trip to his

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Speaker 1: family's estate in Charlevoi, Michigan. Albert Loebe had built an

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Speaker 1: enormous working farm there, and the Lobes loved to escape

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Speaker 1: Chicago for the peace of the lakeside retreat. Now, Richard

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Speaker 1: invited his new friend to visit. The train trip from

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Speaker 1: Chicago took twelve hours, and the pair shared a private

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Speaker 1: train car. Over the course of the long journey, Richard

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Speaker 1: and Nathan opened up to each other, sharing their feelings

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Speaker 1: of loneliness their desire to fit in. They also shared secrets.

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Speaker 1: Richard told Nathan about the thefts he'd committed inspired by

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Speaker 1: his love of crime fiction. In return, Nathan told Richard

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Speaker 1: that he was gay. Nathan had known he was gay

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Speaker 1: since childhood. Richard's sexuality is more ambiguous. He had sex

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Speaker 1: with women and like to maintain a playboy image. However,

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Speaker 1: he would later tell psychiatrists quote, the actual sex act

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Speaker 1: is rather unimportant to me, and I could get along

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Speaker 1: easily without it. On that train ride, though, perhaps fueled

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Speaker 1: by an intoxicating sense of closeness and shared vulnerability, Richard

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Speaker 1: and Nathan began a sexual relationship. In many ways, this

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Speaker 1: was a normal teenage fling. However, it had to be

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Speaker 1: conducted in strict secrecy. Homosexuality was deeply stigmatized at the time.

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Speaker 1: The secret nature of their relationship seems to have brought

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Speaker 1: the pair even closer, as did their second secret. In

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Speaker 1: the spring, shortly after their trip to Charlevoi, Richard and

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Speaker 1: Nathan began committing crimes together. They stole cars and went

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Speaker 1: for joy rides, tossed bricks through the windshields of parked cars,

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Speaker 1: and vandalized businesses. The relationship seems to have fulfilled both

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Speaker 1: Richard and Nathan's childhood fantasies. For Nathan, the handsome, suave

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Speaker 1: Richard provided him social cachet and sexual gratification. For Richard,

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Speaker 1: the brilliant, fearless Nathan was the perfect partner in crime.

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Speaker 1: Both struggled to make genuine connections with others. With each other,

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Speaker 1: it seemed they could finally be themselves and be accepted,

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Speaker 1: but that summer things nearly fell apart. A fellow University

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Speaker 1: of Chicago student, Hamlin Bouchman, was working at the Lobe

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Speaker 1: farm at Charlevoi when Richard and Nathan came for a visit.

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Speaker 1: The three spent the evening drinking together and then fell asleep.

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Speaker 1: During the night, Buchman saw Richard go into Nathan's bed.

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Speaker 1: Richard and Nathan, realizing that their secret was out, decided

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Speaker 1: to take jurrass stick action. They attempted to kill Buchman.

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Speaker 1: They took Buuchman out on a boat, and, believing that

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Speaker 1: he could not swim, tipped the boat over. Buchman managed

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Speaker 1: to make it out of the lake in shock. He

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Speaker 1: immediately ran to Richard's brother, Allan and told him about

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Speaker 1: Richard and Nathan's relationship. The Low family did not believe

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Speaker 1: Buchman and fired him from the farm. Buchman traveled back

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Speaker 1: to Chicago and immediately told classmates what he'd seen. When

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Speaker 1: Richard and Nathan returned to campus, gossip about them raged

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Speaker 1: like wildfire. That fall in part due to the rumors

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Speaker 1: and in part due to a sense of restlessness. Richard

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Speaker 1: decided to transfer to the University of Michigan. Nathan decided

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Speaker 1: to transfer with him, but soon after the school year started,

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Speaker 1: Nathan learned that his mother, Florence, was dying. He managed

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Speaker 1: to make it home in time to be with her

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Speaker 1: when she died on October seventeenth, nineteen twenty one. It

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Speaker 1: was a devastating loss. When Nathan returned to Michigan, he

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Speaker 1: found that Richard had made new friends. These friends, along

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Speaker 1: with many other Michigan students, did not like Nathan. They

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Speaker 1: thought he was cold and pretentious. Rumors about the two

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Speaker 1: boys sexual relationship had also reached campus. Nathan and Richard

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Speaker 1: decided to quash the rumors by spending less time together.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the year, Nathan transferred back to

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Speaker 1: the University of Chicago. Richard stayed on at Michigan, where

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Speaker 1: he pledged a fraternity, drank, heavily, worked minimally, and read

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Speaker 1: detective novels. At Chicago, Nathan favored the intellectual life, studying

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Speaker 1: comparative language and becoming obsessed with the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

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Speaker 1: Nathan loved Nietzsche's conception of the Ubermensch, which he interpreted

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Speaker 1: to be quote a superman who, on account of certain

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Speaker 1: superior qualities inherent in him, is exempted for from the

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Speaker 1: ordinary laws which govern ordinary men. He is not liable

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Speaker 1: for anything he may do. Philosophers might disagree with Nathan's

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Speaker 1: definition of this concept, but it is an interpretation that

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Speaker 1: reveals Nathan's desire to transcend conventional definitions of morality. Over

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Speaker 1: the next year, Richard and Nathan did not keep in

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Speaker 1: close touch. In the summer of nineteen twenty three, however,

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Speaker 1: they found themselves reunited in Chicago. Both had graduated that

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Speaker 1: spring at age eighteen, the youngest graduates in the history

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Speaker 1: of their respective colleges. At loose ends, they reconnected and

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Speaker 1: resumed their life of crime. They cheated at cards, planned

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Speaker 1: break ins, and set fires. Nathan even managed to acquire guns,

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Speaker 1: which they carried with them on their nighttime expeditions. However,

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Speaker 1: the friendship was a fraught one. The pair argued constantly.

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Speaker 1: Nathan was jealous of the time Richard spent with other friends.

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Speaker 1: Richard was tired of Nathan's constant bragging about his intelligence.

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Speaker 1: In October, they had a falling out and almost ended

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Speaker 1: their relationship. Nathan confessed in a letter to Richard that

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Speaker 1: he had thought about killing him. He also threatened to

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Speaker 1: expose Richard, either for their sexual relationship or for their crimes.

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Speaker 1: For some reason, even after all of this, the friendship continued.

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Speaker 1: In November, while Richard and Nathan were both enrolled in

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Speaker 1: graduate classes at the University of Chicago, they decided to

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Speaker 1: commit their most daring crime yet. On Saturday the tenth,

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Speaker 1: they drove up to Ann Arbor to rob Richard's old

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Speaker 1: fraternity house. They brought guns, masks, flashlights, and a chisel

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Speaker 1: with them. It wasn't a very complicated crime. Upon arrival,

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Speaker 1: they walked through the unlocked front door and stole items

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00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,679
Speaker 1: they found lying around, loose change, a pen and pencil,

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Speaker 1: a knife, and notably, a portable underwood typewriter. They had

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Speaker 1: agreed earlier in the night to break into two fraternities,

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Speaker 1: but after pulling off the first tist, Richard wanted to

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Speaker 1: go home. Nathan demanded that they follow through on the plan.

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00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,439
Speaker 1: They went into another house and stole a camera, but

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Speaker 1: when Richard heard someone snoring, he panicked and ran. On

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00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,600
Speaker 1: the drive home, Nathan was furious, he called Richard a

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Speaker 1: coward and questioned their connection. The argument built and built,

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Speaker 1: and the two nearly ended things right there, but ultimately

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Speaker 1: they didn't. Instead, deciding to once again double down on

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00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:52,919
Speaker 1: their toxic bond, the pair created a pact. The terms

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00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,000
Speaker 1: of the pact, which they determined would last until Nathan

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00:17:56,119 --> 00:18:00,439
Speaker 1: left for Europe the following summer. Were this agreed to

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Speaker 1: participate in any crime that Richard asked him to, unless

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Speaker 1: he thought it would put him or his family in danger.

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00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,400
Speaker 1: In exchange, Richard agreed to have sex with Nathan three

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00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,920
Speaker 1: times every two months. Lastly, the two agreed to embark

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Speaker 1: on a new project, one that they believed would strengthen

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Speaker 1: their relationship. Leopold and Lobe decided to kidnap someone. Progress

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00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,400
Speaker 1: was slow on the kidnapping plan. In March nineteen twenty four,

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00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:38,359
Speaker 1: Nathan and Richard had another fight and renegotiated the pact.

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00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,920
Speaker 1: Now Richard agreed to have sex with Nathan every time

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Speaker 1: they committed a crime. They also began planning the kidnapping

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Speaker 1: in earnest. Richard had long been obsessed with committing the

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00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:55,880
Speaker 1: perfect crime. Nathan had long been obsessed. Without smarting others,

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00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:02,480
Speaker 1: their obsessions combined with tragic consequences. That spring, they were

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00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,919
Speaker 1: determined to execute a flawless kidnapping. They plotted out an

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00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:12,040
Speaker 1: elaborate ransom plan, which involved multiple stops, phone calls, and

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00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,280
Speaker 1: a money drop off of a moving train. They even

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00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,640
Speaker 1: rehearsed the money drop, throwing a bundle of newspapers from

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00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:22,119
Speaker 1: the train to see where it landed. The pair also

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00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,919
Speaker 1: decided that they would have to kill their victim to

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00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,919
Speaker 1: avoid being identified. They discussed different methods of murder and

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00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:34,280
Speaker 1: settled on either strangulation or drugging with ether. They chose

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00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,959
Speaker 1: a location to dump the body. Nathan suggested the area

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00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:42,480
Speaker 1: around Wolf Lake, where he often led birding trips. The

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00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,119
Speaker 1: only thing that the two could not decide on was

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00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,520
Speaker 1: a victim. They eventually decided that it would be best

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00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,760
Speaker 1: to take a young boy from a wealthy family who

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00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,199
Speaker 1: would pay the ransom. There were many such boys at

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00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:59,720
Speaker 1: the Harvard School for Boys, Nathan's alma mater. Richard and

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00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: Nate and spent the month of May getting the final

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00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:06,840
Speaker 1: details in place. They constructed a fake identity, Morton Ballard,

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00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:09,680
Speaker 1: which they used to open a bank account and rent

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00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:14,199
Speaker 1: a car. They bought a chisel rope and hydrochloric acid.

280
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: They typed up a ransom letter and scripts to use

281
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:23,159
Speaker 1: for their calls by May twenty first they were ready.

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00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,480
Speaker 1: That morning, they rented a dark blue car, ate lunch,

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00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 1: and drove to the Harvard School. They lurked around the area,

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00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 1: using a pair of Nathan's birding binoculars to spy on

285
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,480
Speaker 1: the boys for several hours. A little after five PM,

286
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:44,880
Speaker 1: they spotted Bobby Franks walking down Ellis Avenue. Bobby Franks

287
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:50,159
Speaker 1: was Richard Loebe's second cousin. Their families lived across the

288
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:54,600
Speaker 1: street from each other. Bobby had played tennis with Richard

289
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,960
Speaker 1: the day before. He had no reason to be suspicious

290
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,359
Speaker 1: when Nathan and Richard pulled up alongside him and offered

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00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,560
Speaker 1: him a ride home. Bobby declined, though his home was

292
00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 1: only two blocks away. Richard tried again, saying he wanted

293
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,919
Speaker 1: to ask Bobby about his tennis racket. Bobby agreed and

294
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:20,960
Speaker 1: hopped in the car. Within minutes, the attack began. Richard

295
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,359
Speaker 1: and Nathan never agreed on who had done the actual killing,

296
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,679
Speaker 1: each blaming the other. One of them, though, began to

297
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,200
Speaker 1: beat Bobby with the chisel, then shoved an ether soaked

298
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: rag down his throat. Unconscious, Bobby lay bleeding on the

299
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,800
Speaker 1: floor of the car As it sped out of Chicago.

300
00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:44,080
Speaker 1: Around six, Richard and Nathan stopped for dinner. They ate

301
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 1: hot dogs and drank root beer at a picnic table

302
00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:51,199
Speaker 1: while Bobby suffocated to death in the car. Once it

303
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 1: got dark, they drove to wolf Lake and dumped Bobby's

304
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:59,360
Speaker 1: body in a culvert, first pouring acid on his face, genitals,

305
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,119
Speaker 1: and on a skin on his abdomen in an effort

306
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:06,840
Speaker 1: to prevent identification. On the drive home, Nathan stopped and

307
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,040
Speaker 1: called the Franks and told Flora that her son had

308
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 1: been kidnapped. Nathan and Richard's so called perfect crime fell

309
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:22,359
Speaker 1: apart quickly. Bobby's body was discovered sooner than they had expected,

310
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 1: and Jacob Franks could not remember the complicated ransom instructions. However,

311
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,760
Speaker 1: no one had any idea who had committed the crime.

312
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,359
Speaker 1: It was the talk of Chicago, and Richard himself couldn't

313
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: help but bring up the subject. He even involved himself

314
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:43,359
Speaker 1: in the investigation, taking reporters on an expedition to discover

315
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: which drug store Jacob Franks was supposed to have gone to.

316
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: On this trip, the reporter asked Richard about Bobby, hoping

317
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:55,320
Speaker 1: to get family details for their story. Richard, to their horror,

318
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: told them quote, if I were going to murder anyone,

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00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 1: I would murder just such a cocky little son of

320
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:05,480
Speaker 1: a bitch as Bobby Frank's. On May twenty fifth, the

321
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 1: Frank's family held Bobby's funeral at their home. A distraught

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00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 1: Flora Franks, who refused to believe that her son was dead,

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00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 1: ran her hands tenderly over the faces of his classmates.

324
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,880
Speaker 1: Jacob Franks told the Chicago Tribune, I'd try to put

325
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,199
Speaker 1: things out of my mind, but they come back. My

326
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,680
Speaker 1: wife keeps showing me pictures of him, and I lay

327
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:34,440
Speaker 1: awake until dawn thinking about it all, thinking about that baby. Meanwhile,

328
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:39,600
Speaker 1: Richard and Nathan continued their normal lives, attending dinners, taking

329
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,200
Speaker 1: girls out on dates, drinking and dancing the nights away,

330
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:49,719
Speaker 1: but unbeknownst to them, the police were circling. Ultimately, it

331
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: was a pair of glasses that proved to be the killers.

332
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,720
Speaker 1: Undoing the glasses had been found by Bobby's body. The

333
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 1: first officer on the scene had assumed they were the boys,

334
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:04,159
Speaker 1: but after learning they were not, investigators wondered if the

335
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 1: killer had dropped them. They spent all week tracing the

336
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 1: glasses and caught a huge break. The frames had a

337
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 1: distinctive hinge, only manufactured by one company in Brooklyn and

338
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: only sold by one optometrist in Chicago, Almer and Co.

339
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 1: The company searched its records and discovered that it had

340
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 1: sold three pairs of the glasses, one to a man

341
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,000
Speaker 1: who was now in Europe, one to a woman who

342
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: still had her glasses, and one to Nathan Leopold. Nathan

343
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,160
Speaker 1: had in fact been brought in by the police already,

344
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,600
Speaker 1: but for unrelated reasons. A game warden at wolf Lake

345
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,639
Speaker 1: had identified him to police as someone who frequented the

346
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: area for birding trips, and the police had questioned him

347
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,800
Speaker 1: on May twenty fifth, the day of Bobby's funeral. Nathan

348
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 1: was not a suspect at this point. The police simply

349
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 1: wanted to know when he was last in the area.

350
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 1: Nathan said he had last been there the weekend before

351
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 1: Bobby's murder, and the police released him. But with the

352
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 1: glass's revelation, everything changed. Now the police focused their energy

353
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 1: on Nathan. On May twenty ninth, States attorney Robert Crowe,

354
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 1: who was leading the investigation and would soon lead the

355
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:27,040
Speaker 1: prosecution sent detectives to question Nathan. When Nathan could not

356
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: produce his glasses, the detectives decided to bring him in

357
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: for questioning. Under questioning, Nathan claimed that his glasses must

358
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 1: have fallen out of his pocket while bird watching at

359
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 1: Wolf Lake. However, when given his glasses and asked to

360
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 1: recreate the fall, Nathan could not dislodge the glasses from

361
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 1: his jacket pocket. He denied owning a portable typewriter, the

362
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,639
Speaker 1: kind of typewriter used to make the ransom note, and

363
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 1: he claimed that on the day of the kidnapping, he

364
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,399
Speaker 1: had been out driving, drinking, and picking up girls with

365
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:03,200
Speaker 1: Richard Loeb. The detectives then searched his house again, uncovering

366
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 1: bottles of poisons and drugs, including ether, and two unlicensed handguns.

367
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: Detectives arrived at Richard's house the next day, Friday, May thirtieth.

368
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,199
Speaker 1: Richard claimed not to remember what he had done on

369
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,399
Speaker 1: the day of the murder, but later, after receiving a

370
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 1: message from Nathan that he should quote remember what happened,

371
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,760
Speaker 1: he told the police the same story about driving around

372
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:33,119
Speaker 1: in Nathan's car. Robert Crowe and the police were convinced

373
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,360
Speaker 1: that they had their men, and two events on Friday

374
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 1: solidified their case. First, a typewriter expert matched the type

375
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: in Nathan's study group notes to the type in the

376
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:49,320
Speaker 1: ransom note. Though Nathan had denied having a portable typewriter,

377
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 1: Robert Crowe brought in members of his study group, who

378
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 1: all stated that he had once used a portable typewriter.

379
00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 1: It would later emerge that the typewriter used was the

380
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 1: Underwood portable typewriter that Nathan and Richard had stolen from

381
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: the Michigan fraternity. The final nail in the coffin came

382
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: from the Leopold family chauffeur Spen England. England had believed

383
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 1: that his information would help exonerate Nathan. According to his statement,

384
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: England had been working on the brakes on Nathan's car

385
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 1: on May twenty first, so Nathan could not have used

386
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,719
Speaker 1: his car to kidnap anyone. But England didn't know that

387
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: Nathan claimed to have driven around in his car that day. Inadvertently,

388
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:38,879
Speaker 1: England had broken Nathan's alibi. England also told police that

389
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,919
Speaker 1: he saw Nathan and Richard cleaning stains out of a

390
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 1: dark colored car on the twenty second, Bobby Franks was

391
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: last seen in the vicinity of a dark colored car,

392
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 1: and a dark colored car had been spotted near wolf

393
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: Lake around the time the killers had dumped Bobby's body.

394
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,199
Speaker 1: With these four pieces of evidence, the broken alibi, the

395
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: matching glasses, the matching typewriter, and Leopold and Loebe's possession

396
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 1: of a dark colored car, Robert Crowe believed he had

397
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:14,920
Speaker 1: enough to get a confession. He decided to confront Richard first.

398
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,719
Speaker 1: When Crowe told Richard about England's evidence, Richard responded that

399
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: the man must be lying or mistaken. But then Assistant

400
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:30,879
Speaker 1: States Attorney Joseph Sparbaro confronted Richard with all the evidence.

401
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 1: My god, my god, Richard cried, this is terrible. He

402
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 1: burst into tears, then he started to talk. He gave

403
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 1: Crow and Sparbarro a detailed confession of the kidnapping and

404
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 1: murder of Bobby Franks. With one confession obtained, Crow turned

405
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: his attention to Nathan. Even after hours of questioning, Nathan

406
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 1: was self assured when Crow walked into his room that evening.

407
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: Nathan wanted to ask the attorney what he called a

408
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:10,000
Speaker 1: hypothetical question quote supposing John Doe had committed this murder,

409
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 1: and John Doe's family was as wealthy and influential as

410
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 1: mine is, and could hire able lawyers and get a

411
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 1: friendly judge and bribe the jury. Don't you think he

412
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: could beat it well, Nathan, said Crow. I will let

413
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:31,240
Speaker 1: you try to find out. What do you mean, asked Nathan,

414
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: I'm going to charge you with murder. Nathan was incredulous.

415
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 1: Even when Crow told him that Richard had confessed. Nathan

416
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 1: did not believe it until Crow began to recite details

417
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 1: of the crime that only Richard could have known. For

418
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: a moment, Nathan paused. Then he lit a cigarette and

419
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 1: said to Crow, well, if Lobe is talking, I will

420
00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 1: tell you the real truth over the ni The next

421
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 1: two days, Crow took Nathan and Richard on an evidence

422
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: gathering tour, stopping at the businesses they had used to

423
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 1: prepare for their crime. They visited the car rental agency,

424
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 1: the hardware store where they'd bought the rope, the drug

425
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: store where they'd bought the hydrochloric acid. Everywhere they went,

426
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: shopkeepers identified them so much for committing a perfect crime. Still,

427
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: the peril of their situation seemed not to have sunk in.

428
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: Nathan joked with reporters and repeatedly stated that he had

429
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: no remorse for the crime. Richard told a reporter that

430
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 1: a few years in jail would be good for him, quote,

431
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 1: I'll be released and come out to a new life.

432
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: I'll go to work and I'll work hard, and I'll

433
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 1: amount to something, have a career. A nearby police captain, astonished,

434
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 1: told Richard, you have taken a life. You've killed a boy.

435
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 1: The best you could possibly expect would be a life

436
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: sentence to an en inane asylum. Richard was stunned. Robert

437
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,360
Speaker 1: Crowe was determined to make sure that Leopold and Loeb

438
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: did not go to an insane asylum. He brought in

439
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: a number of psychiatrists to examine the pair, all of

440
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: whom concluded that they were not legally insane. They had

441
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 1: both understood that their actions were wrong. On June first,

442
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: Robert Crowe held a press conference. He had already announced

443
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: the identity and confessions of the killers. Now Crow declared

444
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 1: his intentions. I have he told reporters a hanging case.

445
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: Most people agreed, but Crow had not reckoned with the

446
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 1: wealth and desperation of the Leopold and Loeb families. They

447
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 1: were about to throw an unexpected factor into the trial.

448
00:31:54,040 --> 00:32:00,720
Speaker 1: The most famous defense attorney in America enter Clarence Darrow.

449
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 1: Clarence Darrow made a name for himself as a labor

450
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: lawyer representing unions and political activists. Darrow had honed a folksy,

451
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 1: effective style. Journalist Ben Hecht once described to Darrow in court,

452
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:22,400
Speaker 1: quote the great barrister, artfully gotten up in baggy pants,

453
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: frayed linen and string tie, and playing dumb for the jury,

454
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: as if he were no lawyer at all, but a

455
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: cracker barrel philosopher groping for a bit of human truth.

456
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: Darrow was sixty seven in nineteen twenty four and was

457
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 1: tired and often unwell when Jacob Lobe, Richard's uncle, came

458
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:47,719
Speaker 1: to his Chicago apartment on the night of May thirty, first,

459
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: begging Darrow to take on his nephew's defense. The lawyer hesitated.

460
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 1: Jacob Lobe pleaded with Darrow, quote, save their lives. Get

461
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: them a life sentence instead of a death sentence. That's

462
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 1: all we ask of you. Moneis no object, will pay

463
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 1: you anything you ask. Only for God's sake, Don't let

464
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: them be hung Jacob Loebes plea resonated with Darrow for

465
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 1: two reasons. The first was one of principle. Darrow was

466
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:26,000
Speaker 1: strongly opposed to the death penalty. The second was more prosaic.

467
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,240
Speaker 1: He really needed the money. He told Jacob Loebe he

468
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 1: would take the case. Darrow would be joined in the

469
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 1: defense by two Chicago lawyers, brothers named Benjamin and Walter Backrack,

470
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: who the Leopold family hired. The Backracks also happened to

471
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,840
Speaker 1: be Richard Loeb's cousins. The defense was certainly facing an

472
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: uphill battle. This was before the advent of the Miranda warning,

473
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,520
Speaker 1: and both Richard and Nathan had freely confessed to the

474
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: police and had even helped them gather evidence. The case

475
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 1: against the pair was watertight. Public sentiment was also against

476
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 1: the killers. People were horrified by their callous attitudes, as

477
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,520
Speaker 1: exemplified by Nathan, who described the crime to a reporter

478
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 1: as quote an experiment and an exemplary and commendable thing.

479
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,720
Speaker 1: People were also angry at Darrow for taking the case.

480
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 1: Darrow had made his reputation defending the poor and depressed.

481
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 1: Now he was defending the privileged. People worried that the

482
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,040
Speaker 1: wealth of the families would allow the killers to escape punishment.

483
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 1: The Leopold and Lobe families responded publicly to this claim,

484
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,839
Speaker 1: saying in a statement, quote, in no event will the

485
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: families of the accused boys use money in any attempt

486
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 1: to defeat justice. On July eleventh, Richard and Nathan were arraigned.

487
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 1: Thousands of people showed up, and so many of them

488
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 1: tried to push into the courtroom that they tore the

489
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: doors off their hinges. Richard and Nathan both pled not

490
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 1: guilty to the charges of murder and kidnapping. The trial

491
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 1: date was set for August fourth. The defense team began

492
00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 1: to prepare for trial. They had decided to pursue an

493
00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 1: insanity defense. Walter Backrach went to the American Psychiatric Association's

494
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 1: annual convention to recruit experts to testify for the defense.

495
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 1: He found four doctors willing to do so. These doctors

496
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,920
Speaker 1: all spoke to Nathan and Richard personally, but also relied

497
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,720
Speaker 1: on a comprehensive report prepared by two additional doctors, Carl

498
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: Bowman and Harold Hulbert. Bowman and Hulbert spent a week

499
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:44,400
Speaker 1: interviewing the defendants. Based on these interviews, Hulbert and Bowman

500
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 1: compiled a large report focusing on all aspects of the

501
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:53,720
Speaker 1: defendant's upbringing, moral views, and mental and physical health. Robert

502
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: Crowe heard the rumors about the defense's plan, but was unconcerned.

503
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,840
Speaker 1: He had had his own team of psychiatrists examined Richard

504
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 1: and Nathan, and all these experts were prepared to testify

505
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 1: that the defendants were not legally insane. The state of

506
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:13,360
Speaker 1: Illinois used the McNaughton rule to determine insanity. The mcnoton

507
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,759
Speaker 1: rule is covered in more detail in our episode on

508
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,359
Speaker 1: Charles Guittou, but the basics are this. A defendant can

509
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:23,000
Speaker 1: only be found not guilty by reason of insanity if

510
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 1: they both did not understand the nature of their crime

511
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,759
Speaker 1: and also could not distinguish right from wrong at the

512
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 1: time they committed the crime. Crowe was confident he could

513
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 1: beat Darrow in an insanity trial, but Darrow was about

514
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 1: to change the game. On July twenty first, the lawyer's

515
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:47,279
Speaker 1: defendants and hundreds of spectators assembled in Judge John Caverly's

516
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: courtroom at the Criminal Courts Building. No one expected anything dramatic.

517
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,319
Speaker 1: This was simply the first day that either side could

518
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,880
Speaker 1: present motions to the judge. But then Clarence Darrow stood

519
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 1: and began to speak. Quote, after long reflection and thorough discussion,

520
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,840
Speaker 1: we have determined to make a motion in this court

521
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:15,919
Speaker 1: to withdraw a plea of not guilty and enter a

522
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 1: plea of guilty. A stunned silence filled the courtroom. Darrow's

523
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 1: change of tactics came as a complete surprise, which was

524
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,720
Speaker 1: just how he wanted it. He had made the decision

525
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:34,839
Speaker 1: to plead the defendants guilty weeks earlier, but had kept

526
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:39,280
Speaker 1: his intentions secret from almost everyone, including Richard and Nathan,

527
00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: who only learned of the plan on the morning of

528
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 1: the twenty first. Darrow believed that a guilty plea was

529
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 1: his only chance to save the defendants' lives. He did

530
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 1: not believe that a jury would buy an insanity plea.

531
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,760
Speaker 1: By pleading guilty, the trial would become a sentencing hearing,

532
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:02,319
Speaker 1: and Darrow would only have to convince one man, the judge,

533
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:06,279
Speaker 1: that his clients did not deserve death. He believed that

534
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,240
Speaker 1: he could so convince Judge Caverley, who had never before

535
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:14,839
Speaker 1: condemned anyone to death. In his motion to change the plea,

536
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 1: Darrow also asked that the defense be allowed to offer

537
00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:23,320
Speaker 1: information to mitigate punishment, in other words, to provide information

538
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:28,719
Speaker 1: that might contextualize the defendant's actions. He specifically asked to

539
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:32,880
Speaker 1: be allowed to introduce evidence on the defendant's mental conditions.

540
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 1: Robert Crowe objected. He argued that allowing the defense to

541
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 1: introduce such evidence was subverting the law. If they wanted

542
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 1: to introduce this evidence, he said, they should have pled

543
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: not guilty by reason of insanity. Judge Cavalley wanted time

544
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 1: to decide. He told Darrow that he was shocked by

545
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 1: the guilty plea, saying, you have unloaded a big responsibility

546
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,960
Speaker 1: upon me. It was totally unexpected. Then declared that the

547
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:05,280
Speaker 1: sentencing hearing would begin two days, hence on Wednesday, July

548
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:11,120
Speaker 1: twenty third. July twenty third was a hot day. All

549
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,960
Speaker 1: of the days of the sentencing hearing would be turning

550
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 1: the courtroom into a steam room. At ten am, the

551
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:22,279
Speaker 1: hearing began. Although this was no longer a trial per se,

552
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:26,640
Speaker 1: both the prosecution and defense intended to present full cases,

553
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:32,279
Speaker 1: including opening statements. Robert Crowe began he did not pull

554
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 1: his punches. The state will show. He said that these

555
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 1: men are guilty of the most cruel, cowardly, dastardly murder

556
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 1: ever committed in the annals of American jurisprudence. The state

557
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:52,400
Speaker 1: will demonstrate their guilt here so conclusively that there is

558
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 1: not an avenue for them to escape. We are going

559
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: to demand the death penalty for both of these cold,

560
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 1: blowe udded, cruel and vicious murderers. Darrow pushed back on

561
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: Crowe's characterization, saying that this was not the worst crime

562
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:13,760
Speaker 1: ever committed. When Crowe objected to this, Darrow reframed, arguing

563
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:19,280
Speaker 1: instead that quote terrible as this is, terrible as any

564
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:23,360
Speaker 1: killing is, it would be without precedent if two boys

565
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,480
Speaker 1: of this age should be hanged by the neck until dead,

566
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 1: and it would in no way bring back Robert Franks

567
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,239
Speaker 1: or add to the peace and security of this community.

568
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 1: He emphasized the defendant's youth, describing them as boys, a

569
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,759
Speaker 1: term he and the defense lawyers and experts would use

570
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:45,520
Speaker 1: throughout the trial. At the time of the crime, Nathan

571
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:50,799
Speaker 1: had been nineteen and Richard eighteen. Robert Crowe now presented

572
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 1: his case. As Nina Barrett notes in her book The

573
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:59,240
Speaker 1: Leopold and Lobe Files, Judge Cavalley had a quote liberal

574
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 1: attitude toward hearing any and all evidence that might help

575
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:05,840
Speaker 1: him weigh the terms of justice in his own mind,

576
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:10,480
Speaker 1: and Crowe was determined to paint a comprehensive picture of

577
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 1: both the killer's guilt and of their lack of remorse.

578
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,800
Speaker 1: Over the course of the next week, he would present

579
00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:26,200
Speaker 1: eighty one witnesses. He introduced Bobby's parents, Jacob and Flora,

580
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:30,880
Speaker 1: whose grief seemed to overwhelm them. He brought on coroner

581
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:35,440
Speaker 1: doctor Joseph Springer, who described Bobby's injuries and how he

582
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 1: had slowly suffocated on the ether soaked rag. He brought

583
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,400
Speaker 1: on the various shopkeepers who had all identified Nathan and Richard.

584
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,600
Speaker 1: At this point, Darrow objected to Crowe's case, saying that

585
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:52,760
Speaker 1: given the guilty plea, such a recitation of evidence was unnecessary.

586
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,840
Speaker 1: Crow responded that he wanted to demonstrate that the defendants

587
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:01,680
Speaker 1: had only confessed because of the quote mountain of evidence

588
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 1: against them, not out of any sense of remorse. Judge

589
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:10,680
Speaker 1: Caverly told Crow to proceed. Crow next called the experts

590
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,120
Speaker 1: and investigators who had helped gather the evidence against the pair.

591
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: The typewriter expert who had matched the ransom note to

592
00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 1: Nathan's study notes, the optometrist who had prescribed Nathan's glasses,

593
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,240
Speaker 1: the doctor who had found bloodstains on the pair's clothes

594
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: and in their rental car. Throughout this presentation, Nathan and

595
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:36,560
Speaker 1: Richard's behavior shocked observers. They whispered to one another, laughed,

596
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:41,520
Speaker 1: made faces, fidgeted in their chairs. They did not seem

597
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 1: to be taking anything seriously, and they certainly showed no

598
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,880
Speaker 1: respect for the victim's family nor remorse for their crimes.

599
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,960
Speaker 1: When a reporter asked Richard to explain his behavior, he responded,

600
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,799
Speaker 1: what do they want me to do? I sit in

601
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:02,840
Speaker 1: the courtroom and watch the play as its On July thirtieth,

602
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,520
Speaker 1: after the defendant's police interviews and confessions were read into

603
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,839
Speaker 1: the record, Robert Crowe concluded his case. It was now

604
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 1: time for the defense to begin. The first defense witness

605
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 1: was doctor William White, president of the American Psychiatric Association.

606
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:24,040
Speaker 1: Crowe objected to this testimony, using the same argument he'd

607
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,800
Speaker 1: made on July twenty first. The defense he believed should

608
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 1: not be allowed to introduce evidence of insanity since they

609
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,880
Speaker 1: had pled guilty. The arguments over this issue continued for

610
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:39,680
Speaker 1: three days. Finally, Judge Caverley decided to allow the evidence,

611
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:42,879
Speaker 1: but added that if any of the defense witnesses made

612
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,680
Speaker 1: a claim about insanity as opposed to providing context for

613
00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:49,719
Speaker 1: the defendant's mental health, he would call a jury and

614
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:54,239
Speaker 1: begin a jury trial. With this matter resolved, doctor White

615
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:59,279
Speaker 1: began his testimony. He delved into the psychology of the defendants.

616
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,640
Speaker 1: That Richard, who he and all the other defense experts

617
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 1: referred to by his nickname of Dickie, had a fantasy

618
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 1: of being a master criminal, a fantasy so compelling that

619
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 1: it prevented him from understanding the real world. About Nathan,

620
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 1: who he again using his nickname, called Babe, Doctor White

621
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,560
Speaker 1: said that he had developed a hardened shell of superiority

622
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:27,800
Speaker 1: and coldness as a way of protecting himself. He discussed

623
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:32,320
Speaker 1: the troubled childhoods of both defendants, the abuses of their nannies,

624
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:36,799
Speaker 1: and the unexpected costs of privilege. He described the defendants

625
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,759
Speaker 1: as emotionally disturbed young men, who, while say, did not

626
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 1: have the same capacity for understanding right and wrong that

627
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 1: a normal person would. On cross examination, Crowe tried to

628
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:54,080
Speaker 1: trigger a jury trial. He asked White to show his

629
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:59,000
Speaker 1: initial psychiatric report to crow. It seemed suspicious that White

630
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:03,320
Speaker 1: would diagnose the defendants with so many psychological issues without

631
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:08,440
Speaker 1: also labeling them insane. Under discovery rules, Crowe was entitled

632
00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:13,280
Speaker 1: to see White's original report, but the defense objected. After

633
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,320
Speaker 1: some back and forth, Judge Caverlely asked White to produce

634
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,960
Speaker 1: his report. White responded that he had given his report

635
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:24,320
Speaker 1: to defense lawyer Walter Backrack and no longer had it. Backrack,

636
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:29,040
Speaker 1: in turn refused to produce it. Crow pushed, saying, if

637
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,240
Speaker 1: I can prove that this man has changed his conclusions,

638
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:35,120
Speaker 1: that at one time he was willing to swear for

639
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 1: pay to one thing, and on another occasion he is

640
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: willing to swear to a different set of facts for pay,

641
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:44,239
Speaker 1: I think I have destroyed the value of his testimony.

642
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:49,319
Speaker 1: But then, for some reason he gave up, saying that

643
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:52,160
Speaker 1: if the defense would not produce the report, he would

644
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:57,279
Speaker 1: let the issue rest. Crow had come very near to

645
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:04,600
Speaker 1: exploding Clarence Darrow's plan. In July twenty seventeen, Northwestern University

646
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 1: managed to obtain the initial psychiatric reports made by the

647
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:12,120
Speaker 1: defense experts and found that three of them, including that

648
00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:16,480
Speaker 1: of doctor White, had indeed initially declared the defendants insane,

649
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:21,279
Speaker 1: they had changed their testimony. When the defendants changed their plea,

650
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:26,000
Speaker 1: Darrow suppressed these reports in order to ensure that the

651
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 1: doctor's testimony would not trigger a jury trial. This had

652
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 1: long been rumored, but the discovery of the reports confirmed

653
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:39,400
Speaker 1: it and revealed the extremely ethically dubious actions of Darrow

654
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:44,000
Speaker 1: and these experts. But back in nineteen twenty one, the

655
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 1: defense proceeded with its case. The next witness, doctor William Healey,

656
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:53,520
Speaker 1: also discussed the defendant's mental instability. The most important part

657
00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: of his testimony was his discussion of the pact between

658
00:46:56,680 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 1: Nathan and Richard, including the fact that the terms included sex.

659
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:05,919
Speaker 1: Nathan and Richard's homosexual relationship had been rumored and hinted at,

660
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:11,040
Speaker 1: but Healey's testimony confirmed it. After Healey, the defense called

661
00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:15,240
Speaker 1: two more psychiatrists, doctor Bernard Gluck and doctor Harold Hulbert.

662
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:20,440
Speaker 1: Then they presented a series of character witnesses, classmates and friends,

663
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:25,960
Speaker 1: who discussed Richard's immaturity and Nathan's obsession with Nietzsche. With that,

664
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:31,280
Speaker 1: the defense concluded their case. For his rebuttal case, Robert

665
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:35,479
Speaker 1: Crowe presented his own series of psychiatrists, all of whom

666
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:40,120
Speaker 1: believed that Nathan and Richard were not mentally ill. None

667
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:44,320
Speaker 1: of the psychological evidence on either side was particularly compelling,

668
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 1: but the defense experts did provide the public with a

669
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:52,120
Speaker 1: new picture of the defendants. Instead of being monstrous murderers,

670
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:56,239
Speaker 1: they were traumatized children lashing out at a world that

671
00:47:56,320 --> 00:48:01,600
Speaker 1: had hurt them. After the testimony concluded, the closing arguments began,

672
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 1: Assistant States Attorney Thomas Marshall kicked things off, saying that

673
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:08,840
Speaker 1: the precedent in cases like this was to give the

674
00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:13,839
Speaker 1: murderers the death penalty. ASA Joseph Savage continued the prosecution's

675
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 1: argument in a moving, powerful speech. Savage detailed the crime

676
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:23,000
Speaker 1: and pushed back on how Darrow had constantly described Richard

677
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:27,440
Speaker 1: and Nathan as boys, saying, Darrow asks your honor for mercy,

678
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:31,480
Speaker 1: and he tells your honor that they are both youths. Boys.

679
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 1: What mercy did they show that boy? Savage's closing brought

680
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:42,000
Speaker 1: the courtroom to tears. Even Nathan was affected in his

681
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:46,239
Speaker 1: own way, asking his brother, my God, do you think

682
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:50,760
Speaker 1: we'll swing? After that, it was now the defense's turn.

683
00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:55,360
Speaker 1: Walter Backrach gave a brief speech. He recapped the testimony

684
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:58,600
Speaker 1: of their psychiatric experts, and returned to the theme of

685
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:03,480
Speaker 1: the defendant's youth, saying, quote, your honor stands in relationship

686
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:08,200
Speaker 1: of a father to these defendants. Once Backrack concluded on

687
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:13,680
Speaker 1: the afternoon of August twenty second, Clarence Darrow rose he

688
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:17,800
Speaker 1: would deliver a defense for the Ages, an eight hour

689
00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:20,880
Speaker 1: tour de force that is one of the most famous

690
00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:24,640
Speaker 1: closing arguments in legal history. He discussed the lack of

691
00:49:24,719 --> 00:49:27,360
Speaker 1: legal precedent for a death sentence in such a case,

692
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:31,319
Speaker 1: noting that only three people had ever been hanged after

693
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 1: pleading guilty. He described the evolution of the application of

694
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:38,879
Speaker 1: the death penalty, stating that it had been used more

695
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:43,560
Speaker 1: and more selectively over the years, and called for judicial progressiveness.

696
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:47,920
Speaker 1: He also focused on moral objections to the death penalty,

697
00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:51,840
Speaker 1: saying do you think you can cure the hatreds and

698
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:56,359
Speaker 1: the maladjustments of the world by hanging them? You may,

699
00:49:56,440 --> 00:50:00,880
Speaker 1: here and there cure hatred with love and understanding, but

700
00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 1: you can only add fuel to the flames by hating.

701
00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:09,000
Speaker 1: In return, he made the stakes of Judge Caverley's decisions stark,

702
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:13,600
Speaker 1: saying of the concept of justice, quote, who knows what

703
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 1: it is does Crow know, Do I know? Does your

704
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:22,640
Speaker 1: honor know? Is there any human machinery for finding it?

705
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: Can your honor appraise these two young men and say

706
00:50:27,239 --> 00:50:31,360
Speaker 1: what they deserve? It means that you must appraise every

707
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,400
Speaker 1: influence that moves them, the civilization where they live, they're living,

708
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:40,799
Speaker 1: their society, all society which enters into the making of

709
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 1: a child. If your honor can do it, If you

710
00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 1: can do it, you are wise. And with wisdom goes

711
00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 1: mercy for all its eloquence and humanity. Darrow's closing could

712
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:59,879
Speaker 1: also be callous and inaccurate. He said that quote poor

713
00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:04,319
Speaker 1: little Bobby Franks suffered very little and died quickly, which

714
00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:07,400
Speaker 1: was not true. He said that perhaps it was Bobby's

715
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:10,080
Speaker 1: fate to die young, and replied that he might not

716
00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 1: have done anything with his life. Quote perhaps the boy

717
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:16,680
Speaker 1: who died at fourteen did as much as if he

718
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:20,280
Speaker 1: had died at seventy. He said of Richard and Nathan,

719
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:25,560
Speaker 1: these two are the victims. But Darrow ended on a

720
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:33,040
Speaker 1: powerful note, saying, I am pleading for life, understanding, charity

721
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:38,400
Speaker 1: and kindness and the infinite mercy that forgives all. I

722
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:42,800
Speaker 1: am pleading that we overcome cruelty with kindness and hatred

723
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:47,239
Speaker 1: with love. I am pleading for the future. I am

724
00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 1: pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not

725
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:55,600
Speaker 1: control the hearts of men. At the end of his closing,

726
00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:59,200
Speaker 1: as at the end of Savages, many in the courtroom

727
00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:04,800
Speaker 1: wherein tears, defense attorney Benjamin Backrack now gave a brief

728
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:07,680
Speaker 1: statement in which he again outlied the evidence of the

729
00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:12,080
Speaker 1: defendant's mental instability. Robert Crowe would have the final word

730
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:18,080
Speaker 1: in the trial. Crow was angry, frustrated by Darrow's characterization

731
00:52:18,280 --> 00:52:21,360
Speaker 1: of the defendants as boys who could not control their actions,

732
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:24,880
Speaker 1: upset by the defense's attempt to make the crime seem

733
00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:28,360
Speaker 1: less brutal than it had been, and his fury showed

734
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 1: in his closing arguments. He spoke loudly and shook his

735
00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:37,320
Speaker 1: fists and stamped his feet for emphasis. He also introduced

736
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:40,960
Speaker 1: a new theory, the idea that Bobby Franks was molested

737
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:44,920
Speaker 1: before he was murdered. The defense objected, but cavally allowed

738
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:47,880
Speaker 1: the evidence, although he ordered all women to leave the

739
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:52,320
Speaker 1: courtroom first. There was not conclusive evidence one way or

740
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:57,200
Speaker 1: another about this claim. The medical evidence was ambiguous. The

741
00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:02,120
Speaker 1: next day, Crow continued his argument. He attacked the defense psychiatrists,

742
00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:07,400
Speaker 1: the defense attorneys, and the defendants. We ought to treat

743
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:13,359
Speaker 1: them with kindness and consideration, he asked, incredulously, why from

744
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:16,880
Speaker 1: the evidence in this case, they are as much entitled

745
00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 1: to the sympathy and mercy of this court as a

746
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:25,040
Speaker 1: couple of rattlesnakes. They are a disgrace to their honored families,

747
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:29,080
Speaker 1: and they are a menace to this community. The only

748
00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:32,840
Speaker 1: useful thing that remains for them now in life is

749
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:35,520
Speaker 1: to go out of life, and go out of it

750
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:40,440
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible under the law. Crow's forceful words

751
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:45,040
Speaker 1: seem to be effective in undermining Darrow's arguments, but then

752
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:49,880
Speaker 1: the prosecutor made a misstep. He brought up Nathan Leopold's

753
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:55,000
Speaker 1: statement during interrogation that quote, a friendly judge would let

754
00:53:55,040 --> 00:53:59,440
Speaker 1: them off. Crow had meant to illustrate the defendants smugness

755
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:03,319
Speaker 1: and lack of remorse, but Judge Caverley interpreted this as

756
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: an attack on his integrity, Believing that Crow was implying

757
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:11,640
Speaker 1: that he had been bribed. He rebuked Crow and ordered

758
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:14,960
Speaker 1: that the words be stricken from the record, as they

759
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:20,960
Speaker 1: were a quote cowardly and dastardly assault upon the integrity

760
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:25,200
Speaker 1: of this court uncomfortable. Crow tried to explain that that

761
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:29,840
Speaker 1: had not been his intent, but Caverlely was furious on

762
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,239
Speaker 1: this awkward note. On the afternoon of August twenty eighth,

763
00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:39,040
Speaker 1: the sentencing hearing ended after thirty two days. Judge Cavalley

764
00:54:39,160 --> 00:54:42,320
Speaker 1: stated that he would announce his decision on September tenth,

765
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:45,720
Speaker 1: and said that anyone who bothered him during his deliberations

766
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:50,320
Speaker 1: would be quote sent to jail instantly. Despite this, morning,

767
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 1: Judge Caverley and his wife received multiple death threats, and

768
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:57,239
Speaker 1: someone threatened to bomb the courthouse if he did not

769
00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:02,759
Speaker 1: sentence Nathan and Richard to death. At nine thirty a m.

770
00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:07,960
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, September tenth, Judge Cavalley called the court to order.

771
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 1: He said that given the interest the country had in

772
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:15,919
Speaker 1: the case, he wished to explain his decision. He said

773
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,840
Speaker 1: that the psychiatric testimony did not impact his decision because

774
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:23,800
Speaker 1: he believed that quote similar analyzes made of other persons

775
00:55:23,840 --> 00:55:28,000
Speaker 1: accused of crime will probably reveal similar or different abnormalities

776
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:32,640
Speaker 1: and thus were not necessarily mitigating factors. He described the

777
00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:37,040
Speaker 1: crime as having been premeditated and planned and executed with

778
00:55:37,239 --> 00:55:42,560
Speaker 1: quote callousness and cruelty, but he said he could not

779
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:48,160
Speaker 1: ignore the youth of the defendants given their age and quote.

780
00:55:48,800 --> 00:55:52,319
Speaker 1: In accordance with the progress of criminal law, with the

781
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:56,920
Speaker 1: dictates of enlightened humanity, and the precedents hitherto observed in

782
00:55:56,960 --> 00:56:01,600
Speaker 1: this state, he would be sentencing Nathan Leepold and Richard

783
00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:08,840
Speaker 1: Lob to life in prison. The decision to sentence Leopold

784
00:56:08,960 --> 00:56:12,400
Speaker 1: and Lobe to prison, specifically a life sentence for the

785
00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:15,200
Speaker 1: murder plus a ninety nine year sentence for the kidnapping,

786
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:19,240
Speaker 1: came as a surprise to many, but people also seemed

787
00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:23,600
Speaker 1: to understand and accept the sentence. This public reaction to

788
00:56:23,640 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 1: the sentence reflected evolving perceptions of the crime itself. When

789
00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:31,120
Speaker 1: the identities of the killers had first been announced, and

790
00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:34,799
Speaker 1: when Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb gave shocking interviews in

791
00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:38,320
Speaker 1: which they could not explain their motives and expressed no remorse,

792
00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:43,359
Speaker 1: the crime had seemed beyond understanding to many people, but

793
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:47,000
Speaker 1: the trial, or more specifically, the press coverage of the trial,

794
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:51,520
Speaker 1: had changed that view. As the historian PAULA Fast says

795
00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:55,040
Speaker 1: in her article Making and Remaking an Event, the Leopold

796
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:59,080
Speaker 1: and Lobe case in American culture. Quote, the killers became

797
00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:03,480
Speaker 1: anything the Nietzschean superman whom they claimed to be and

798
00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:09,400
Speaker 1: whose self sufficiency initially alarmed the public. Instead, they became children,

799
00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:14,920
Speaker 1: precocious and wounded, certainly, but children who could provide lessons

800
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:19,480
Speaker 1: about how to normalize childhood. This last point was an

801
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:23,680
Speaker 1: especially important one. People wanted to find a lesson from

802
00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:28,120
Speaker 1: the crime, and they found several lessons about how society

803
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:32,960
Speaker 1: should change. For example, what had initially been understood as

804
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:37,000
Speaker 1: an unfathomable thrill killing was now seen as a representation

805
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:41,120
Speaker 1: of the era's troubles. People saw Leopold and Lobe as

806
00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:44,320
Speaker 1: the culmination of all of the trends of the twenties.

807
00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:48,480
Speaker 1: Were they jaded by the jazz life of ginnin girls

808
00:57:49,080 --> 00:57:51,800
Speaker 1: so that they needed so terrible a thing as murder

809
00:57:51,880 --> 00:57:56,240
Speaker 1: to give them new thrills? Asked the Chicago Daily Tribune.

810
00:57:56,280 --> 00:58:00,360
Speaker 1: The same article asked, quote, were they bored by life

811
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:04,800
Speaker 1: which left them nothing to be desired, no obstacles to overcome,

812
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:09,200
Speaker 1: no goal to attain? The idea that the pair's wealth

813
00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:12,320
Speaker 1: had negatively influenced them had been a key part of

814
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:16,720
Speaker 1: the defense's case. There were echoes in this defense and

815
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:19,600
Speaker 1: in the public discussion of the trial of the twenty

816
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:23,120
Speaker 1: sixteen case of Ethan Couch, a sixteen year old who

817
00:58:23,200 --> 00:58:27,520
Speaker 1: killed four people while drunk driving. Like Leopold and Lobe,

818
00:58:27,720 --> 00:58:32,400
Speaker 1: Couch pleaded guilty. At his sentencing hearing, defense psychologist Gary

819
00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:36,120
Speaker 1: Miller stated quote, he never learned that sometimes you don't

820
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:38,680
Speaker 1: get your way. He had the cars, and he had

821
00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:41,760
Speaker 1: the money. He had freedoms that no young man would

822
00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:45,120
Speaker 1: be able to handle. Though prosecutors had asked for a

823
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:49,320
Speaker 1: twenty year prison sentence, Couch was instead handed ten years

824
00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:53,800
Speaker 1: of probation. Speaking about the sentence, Eric Boyles, whose wife

825
00:58:53,840 --> 00:58:57,120
Speaker 1: and daughter had been killed by Couch, said, had he

826
00:58:57,200 --> 00:58:59,680
Speaker 1: not had money to have the defense there, to also

827
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:02,760
Speaker 1: have the experts testify, and also offered to pay for

828
00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:05,840
Speaker 1: the treatment, I think the results would have been different.

829
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:09,560
Speaker 1: Whether or not you buy the so called affluenza defense.

830
00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:12,960
Speaker 1: It's hard to deny the influence on both Couch and

831
00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:17,600
Speaker 1: Leopold and Loeb's case. The Leopold and Loeb family's wealth

832
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:21,280
Speaker 1: allowed them to pay a top defense lawyer, and Darrow's

833
00:59:21,320 --> 00:59:25,280
Speaker 1: shrewd work on the case, particularly his closing argument, certainly

834
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:30,000
Speaker 1: influenced the verdict, as the Chicago Daily Tribune recorded, quote,

835
00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:33,680
Speaker 1: it was the opinion in legal circles that mister Crow's

836
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:38,280
Speaker 1: mountain high evidence had been displaced by Clarence S. Darrow's

837
00:59:38,360 --> 00:59:42,640
Speaker 1: sage philosophizing. Had Leopold and Lob not been able to

838
00:59:42,680 --> 00:59:47,000
Speaker 1: afford talented defense attorneys, their outcome would likely have been different.

839
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:52,480
Speaker 1: The Frank's family responded to the verdict with grace. Flora

840
00:59:52,600 --> 00:59:56,000
Speaker 1: Franks told newspapers that she had not wanted the death penalty,

841
00:59:56,840 --> 01:00:00,640
Speaker 1: in large part because of Bobby's view on the subject.

842
01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:04,360
Speaker 1: In a school debate several weeks before his murder, Bobby

843
01:00:04,400 --> 01:00:10,040
Speaker 1: had spoken against the death penalty, saying punishment should be reformative,

844
01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:15,160
Speaker 1: never vindictive. Jacob Frank said he was just happy that

845
01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:19,360
Speaker 1: it was over. Quote. There can be no more torture

846
01:00:19,440 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 1: of seeing this thing spread over the front pages of newspapers.

847
01:00:23,520 --> 01:00:26,080
Speaker 1: It will be easier for missus Franks and for me

848
01:00:26,360 --> 01:00:29,320
Speaker 1: to be relieved of the terrible strain of all this publicity.

849
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:34,080
Speaker 1: The publicity had indeed been relentless for the Frank's family

850
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:38,080
Speaker 1: during the trial. Thousands of curious people had flocked the

851
01:00:38,120 --> 01:00:42,040
Speaker 1: Frank's home in Kenwood, looking through their windows and invading

852
01:00:42,080 --> 01:00:46,160
Speaker 1: their privacy. In late September, Jacob Franks decided to sell

853
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:49,919
Speaker 1: the family home and move to a different part of Chicago.

854
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:54,760
Speaker 1: They auctioned off everything in their home, and twelve hundred

855
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:59,720
Speaker 1: people showed up just to see Bobby Franks's room. Jacob

856
01:00:59,720 --> 01:01:04,160
Speaker 1: Frank died in nineteen twenty eight. A newspaper article announcing

857
01:01:04,200 --> 01:01:08,200
Speaker 1: his death said he was quote never able to recover

858
01:01:08,440 --> 01:01:14,200
Speaker 1: from his grief. Flora died in nineteen thirty seven. Within

859
01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:17,880
Speaker 1: five years of the trial, Richard's father, Albert, and Nathan's father,

860
01:01:18,040 --> 01:01:23,120
Speaker 1: Nathan Senior, were also dead, and then on January twenty eighth,

861
01:01:23,480 --> 01:01:27,680
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, Richard Loeb was stabbed to death in

862
01:01:27,760 --> 01:01:33,440
Speaker 1: prison by another inmate. That left only Nathan Leopold, and

863
01:01:33,560 --> 01:01:35,960
Speaker 1: he was determined that he would not spend the rest

864
01:01:35,960 --> 01:01:38,680
Speaker 1: of his life in prison. Though his first years in

865
01:01:38,720 --> 01:01:42,200
Speaker 1: prison had been defined by rule breaking and trouble making,

866
01:01:42,640 --> 01:01:45,600
Speaker 1: he began to settle down and volunteered around the jail.

867
01:01:46,280 --> 01:01:49,280
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty three, he had his first parole hearing.

868
01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:53,080
Speaker 1: When asked about the motives for his crime, Nathan refused

869
01:01:53,120 --> 01:01:56,520
Speaker 1: to answer, saying only I don't know why I did it.

870
01:01:56,760 --> 01:01:59,880
Speaker 1: I'm a different man now. I was a smart Alec kid.

871
01:02:00,680 --> 01:02:04,080
Speaker 1: Being a smart Alec kid did not impress the parole

872
01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:08,320
Speaker 1: board as justification for murder. Nathan's lack of remorse also

873
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:12,920
Speaker 1: troubled the board, they denied his parole request. Over the

874
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:17,800
Speaker 1: next five years, Nathan promoted his reformed image, heavily participating

875
01:02:17,840 --> 01:02:21,000
Speaker 1: in interviews that promoted his volunteer work and distanced him

876
01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:25,280
Speaker 1: from the crime. In a Saturday Evening Post profile, Nathan

877
01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:29,160
Speaker 1: described the murder as something he'd only quote been present at.

878
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:33,720
Speaker 1: He also insisted that he was no longer gay. In

879
01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:37,320
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven, he published a memoir called Life plus

880
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:41,920
Speaker 1: ninety nine Years, in which Nathan portrayed himself as deeply remorseful,

881
01:02:42,600 --> 01:02:45,600
Speaker 1: while also claiming that he only did the crime because

882
01:02:45,720 --> 01:02:50,200
Speaker 1: Richard Loeb forced him to. In February nineteen fifty eight,

883
01:02:50,440 --> 01:02:54,400
Speaker 1: Nathan had another parole Board hearing. He continued his denial

884
01:02:54,480 --> 01:02:57,919
Speaker 1: of responsibility, repeating the claim that he was forced into

885
01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:01,320
Speaker 1: the crime by Richard Loeb and said I had no

886
01:03:01,440 --> 01:03:05,200
Speaker 1: wish to do this dreadful thing. However, he also said

887
01:03:05,240 --> 01:03:09,040
Speaker 1: he was overwhelmed by remorse and said it is not

888
01:03:09,200 --> 01:03:12,320
Speaker 1: easy to live with murder on your conscience, The fact

889
01:03:12,320 --> 01:03:14,560
Speaker 1: that you didn't do the actual killing yourself does not

890
01:03:14,600 --> 01:03:18,840
Speaker 1: make it any easier. Despite this shifting of blame, the

891
01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:21,840
Speaker 1: parole board was more receptive to Nathan this time around,

892
01:03:22,200 --> 01:03:25,680
Speaker 1: and granted him parole on February twentieth. He moved to

893
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:28,080
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico, where he took a job in a hospital

894
01:03:28,400 --> 01:03:32,080
Speaker 1: and married a woman. In nineteen seventy one, he visited

895
01:03:32,160 --> 01:03:35,320
Speaker 1: Chicago and went on a trip to the area around

896
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:38,920
Speaker 1: Wolf Lake where he had dumped Bobby Franks's body nearly

897
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:43,640
Speaker 1: fifty years earlier. The area, once a wild land, had

898
01:03:43,680 --> 01:03:47,800
Speaker 1: been built over. In a letter to his attorney, Nathan

899
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:51,520
Speaker 1: described the area only as quote where I used to

900
01:03:51,560 --> 01:03:56,280
Speaker 1: go birding. Soon after this trip, Nathan, already in poor health,

901
01:03:56,800 --> 01:04:01,960
Speaker 1: fell ill. On August twenty ninth, nineteen seventy one, Nathan

902
01:04:02,080 --> 01:04:09,720
Speaker 1: Leopold died. The Leopold and Loeb case has achieved mythical

903
01:04:09,760 --> 01:04:12,720
Speaker 1: status in the annals of true crime. It seems to

904
01:04:12,760 --> 01:04:16,280
Speaker 1: have all the elements of a fictional story. The remorseless,

905
01:04:16,360 --> 01:04:21,280
Speaker 1: eccentric killers, the impassioned defense attorney, the debates over society

906
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:25,400
Speaker 1: and morals and justice. It can be hard to remember

907
01:04:25,440 --> 01:04:27,640
Speaker 1: that at the heart of this story is a fourteen

908
01:04:27,720 --> 01:04:30,400
Speaker 1: year old boy who thought he was stepping into a

909
01:04:30,440 --> 01:04:34,120
Speaker 1: relative's car to talk about tennis rackets and then was

910
01:04:34,160 --> 01:04:38,400
Speaker 1: brutally killed. There is a human reality to this case.

911
01:04:39,360 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 1: For all its drama. It is a sad, sordid tale.

912
01:04:43,920 --> 01:04:47,160
Speaker 1: But as one of Nathan's parole board members said, quote,

913
01:04:47,920 --> 01:04:53,360
Speaker 1: the story is already a legend. That's the story of

914
01:04:53,400 --> 01:04:57,920
Speaker 1: Illinois v. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Stay with me

915
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:00,840
Speaker 1: after the break to learn about the presses prizing role

916
01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:07,480
Speaker 1: in the case. Like many so called crimes of the century,

917
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:11,120
Speaker 1: the press were all over the Leopold and Loeb case,

918
01:05:11,920 --> 01:05:15,040
Speaker 1: but the press played an unusual role in this story.

919
01:05:15,800 --> 01:05:20,720
Speaker 1: Two reporters, James Mulroy and Alvin Goldstein, were instrumental to

920
01:05:20,800 --> 01:05:25,440
Speaker 1: solving the crime. On May twenty second, Mulroy, a reporter

921
01:05:25,520 --> 01:05:28,680
Speaker 1: for the Chicago Daily News, received a tip that Bobby

922
01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:31,640
Speaker 1: Franks had been kidnapped. He got in touch with the

923
01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:35,880
Speaker 1: Frank's family friend, Samuel Edelson, who confirmed the story in

924
01:05:35,960 --> 01:05:40,160
Speaker 1: exchange for Mulroy promising not to publish anything yet. Mulroy

925
01:05:40,240 --> 01:05:42,800
Speaker 1: agreed and traveled over to the Frank's house to see

926
01:05:42,840 --> 01:05:47,840
Speaker 1: what more he could learn. Meanwhile, Mulroy's colleague Alvin Goldstein

927
01:05:48,240 --> 01:05:50,240
Speaker 1: had been sent to write up the discovery of a

928
01:05:50,240 --> 01:05:54,320
Speaker 1: boy's body in Indiana. When Mulroy's editor told him about

929
01:05:54,320 --> 01:05:57,600
Speaker 1: the body, Mulroy connected the dots and suggested that it

930
01:05:57,680 --> 01:06:01,400
Speaker 1: might be Bobby Franks. Infrom was the reason the Frank

931
01:06:01,520 --> 01:06:04,720
Speaker 1: sent Bobby's uncle to look at the body and ultimately

932
01:06:04,880 --> 01:06:10,000
Speaker 1: identify it. On May twenty third, Mulroy and Goldstein stopped

933
01:06:10,040 --> 01:06:12,840
Speaker 1: for lunch at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house at

934
01:06:12,840 --> 01:06:16,320
Speaker 1: the University of Chicago. Richard Loebe happened to be there

935
01:06:16,440 --> 01:06:19,880
Speaker 1: chatting with another reporter named Howard Mayer about the Franks case.

936
01:06:20,600 --> 01:06:23,200
Speaker 1: Loebe suggested to the reporters that they could find out

937
01:06:23,240 --> 01:06:25,800
Speaker 1: which drug store Jacob Franks was supposed to have gone

938
01:06:25,840 --> 01:06:28,960
Speaker 1: to for the ransom. The four men traveled to sixty

939
01:06:28,960 --> 01:06:31,520
Speaker 1: third Street and were able to discover the drug store,

940
01:06:31,880 --> 01:06:35,840
Speaker 1: which the journalists then reported to the police. Mulroy and

941
01:06:35,880 --> 01:06:39,680
Speaker 1: Goldstein had their biggest break on May thirty. First. They

942
01:06:39,720 --> 01:06:43,080
Speaker 1: had been talking to Nathan's classmates and discovered that Nathan

943
01:06:43,160 --> 01:06:46,320
Speaker 1: was the note taker for his study group. One student

944
01:06:46,400 --> 01:06:49,560
Speaker 1: told the reporters that while Nathan usually used a Hammond typewriter,

945
01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:53,040
Speaker 1: he had once seen Nathan use a portable typewriter instead.

946
01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:57,480
Speaker 1: The student gave mulroy and Goldstein copies of the group notes,

947
01:06:58,080 --> 01:07:00,880
Speaker 1: which they took to the typewriter expert who had examined

948
01:07:00,880 --> 01:07:04,880
Speaker 1: the ransom note for the police. Upon examining the study notes,

949
01:07:05,120 --> 01:07:07,880
Speaker 1: the expert was sure that one set of them, the

950
01:07:07,920 --> 01:07:11,000
Speaker 1: set that differed from all the rest, was typed by

951
01:07:11,000 --> 01:07:15,120
Speaker 1: the same typewriter that had produced the ransom note. Mulroy

952
01:07:15,160 --> 01:07:18,840
Speaker 1: and Goldstein took this information to Robert Crowe, who proceeded

953
01:07:18,880 --> 01:07:21,800
Speaker 1: to call in the study group members and question them.

954
01:07:22,120 --> 01:07:24,560
Speaker 1: This would be one of the final pieces of evidence

955
01:07:24,720 --> 01:07:28,840
Speaker 1: that sealed the case against Leopold and Loeb for their

956
01:07:28,880 --> 01:07:33,160
Speaker 1: dogged reporting and four quote their service towards the solution

957
01:07:33,320 --> 01:07:36,360
Speaker 1: of the murder of Robert Franks in Chicago on May

958
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:40,280
Speaker 1: twenty first, nineteen twenty four, and the bringing to justice

959
01:07:40,440 --> 01:07:44,680
Speaker 1: of Nathan F. Leopold and Richard Loeb. James Mulroy and

960
01:07:44,760 --> 01:07:49,480
Speaker 1: Alvin Goldstein were awarded the nineteen twenty five Pulitzer Prize

961
01:07:49,680 --> 01:07:54,120
Speaker 1: in Reporting. Thank you for listening to History on Trial.

962
01:07:54,920 --> 01:07:57,920
Speaker 1: My main sources for this episode were Nina Barrett's book

963
01:07:58,320 --> 01:08:01,400
Speaker 1: The Leopold and Low Files, An intimate look at one

964
01:08:01,440 --> 01:08:06,440
Speaker 1: of America's most infamous crimes, Eric Rabaine's website Lobe and

965
01:08:06,600 --> 01:08:11,520
Speaker 1: Leopold dot Com, Greg King and Penny Wilson's book Nothing

966
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:14,800
Speaker 1: But the Night Leopold and Loeb and The Truth Behind

967
01:08:14,800 --> 01:08:19,040
Speaker 1: the Murder that rocked nineteen twenties America, and Paula Fass's

968
01:08:19,120 --> 01:08:23,439
Speaker 1: article Making and Remaking an event, the Leopold and Loeb

969
01:08:23,560 --> 01:08:27,920
Speaker 1: Case in American Culture. For a full bibliography, as well

970
01:08:27,960 --> 01:08:31,599
Speaker 1: as a transcript of this episode with citations, please visit

971
01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:37,760
Speaker 1: our website History on Trial podcast dot com. History on

972
01:08:37,880 --> 01:08:41,840
Speaker 1: Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. The

973
01:08:41,880 --> 01:08:45,560
Speaker 1: show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising

974
01:08:45,560 --> 01:08:50,640
Speaker 1: producer Trevor Jung and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams,

975
01:08:50,960 --> 01:08:54,639
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show

976
01:08:54,720 --> 01:08:58,640
Speaker 1: at History on Trial podcast dot com and follow us

977
01:08:58,680 --> 01:09:03,000
Speaker 1: on Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at

978
01:09:03,240 --> 01:09:08,439
Speaker 1: Underscore History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by

979
01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:12,799
Speaker 1: visiting the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen

980
01:09:12,840 --> 01:09:14,800
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,