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1:15

listening to History on Trial,

1:17

a production of iHeart Podcasts.

1:20

Listener discretion advised. Jacob

1:27

and Flora Franks didn't start to

1:30

worry until Bobby missed

1:32

dinner. Their youngest

1:34

son was a responsible boy who

1:36

usually called home if he was going to be late.

1:40

May 21st, 1924 had been a beautiful spring day, the

1:45

kind of day where you can lose track of time,

1:48

especially if you're a 14-year-old boy

1:50

playing baseball with your friends. That's

1:53

what the Franks figured Bobby was doing.

1:57

He and his classmates liked to get a game

1:59

going after school. dollars

4:01

and then await further instructions. It

4:04

warned Jacob that if he disobeyed the

4:06

instructions in any way, Bobby's

4:08

death will be the penalty. Jacob

4:12

hurried to the bank to make the withdrawal, then

4:14

came home to wait by the telephone. The

4:17

kidnappers did not call until after 3 p.m.

4:21

Jacob Franks answered the phone and

4:24

a voice on the other end, once

4:26

again calling himself George Johnson,

4:28

described how Jacob would take a

4:31

taxi to a drugstore where he

4:33

would receive further directions. Jacob

4:36

listened, but inside

4:38

his heart was breaking, because

4:41

only minutes before, he

4:43

had received another phone call, one

4:46

that changed everything. From

4:49

it, he had learned

4:52

that Bobby's body had been found.

4:57

Earlier that morning, the body

4:59

of a boy was found in a

5:01

concrete culvert in the Nature Preserve surrounding

5:03

Wolf Lake, some 20

5:05

miles southeast of the Franks' house in

5:08

Chicago. A pair of glasses

5:10

had been found near the body, and

5:12

the officer who arrived at the scene assumed

5:14

they were the boys and placed them on

5:17

his face. The Franks family

5:19

heard about the discovery, but

5:21

believed the boy couldn't be Bobby. Bobby

5:24

didn't wear glasses. But

5:26

as the day wore on, they thought it would

5:28

be good to know for sure, and

5:31

so Bobby's uncle traveled to view the body.

5:34

When the uncle walked in, he

5:36

removed the glasses from the boy's

5:38

still, cold face and gazed

5:40

down at it. Then

5:42

he looked at the boy's teeth. Bobby

5:45

had marks on his teeth from a

5:47

childhood illness. So did

5:49

this boy. Bobby's uncle

5:51

did not have to look any longer. He

5:54

knew this was his nephew. He called

5:57

home and told the Franks the news only

5:59

minutes before the news. before the kidnapper called

6:01

to give Jacob Franks his instructions. So

6:04

Jacob had to sit at the phone

6:06

and listen as the kidnapper spoke of

6:09

his son as if he was still

6:11

alive. Jacob's plan

6:13

now was to follow the ransom instructions

6:15

and hope they led to the killer.

6:18

But in his shock, Jacob did not retain the

6:20

name of the drugstore he was supposed to

6:22

go to. The trail

6:25

went cold. For

6:27

more than a week, the appalled public

6:29

wondered who could have committed such a

6:31

crime. Bobby had been

6:34

beaten and suffocated, and then had

6:36

acid poured on his face after

6:38

death. It was a

6:40

senseless, awful killing. People

6:43

could only speculate as to what

6:45

kind of monster the killer must

6:47

be. But when

6:50

the police announced that they had obtained

6:52

confessions for the crime, the

6:54

culprits were not at all what the

6:57

public had expected. The

6:59

killers, for there were two of them, were

7:02

the clean-cut, brilliant, teenage

7:05

scions of prominent

7:07

families. Their

7:09

names were Nathan

7:11

Leopold and Richard Loeb. Leopold

7:16

and Loeb's names are

7:18

infamous. The killing

7:20

of Bobby Franks was called

7:22

the crime of the century. As

7:25

the twisted tale of the crime

7:27

unfolded, people struggled to make

7:29

sense of how the two young men could

7:32

do what they had done. Everyone

7:34

awaited the trial, certain

7:36

that the pair would be sentenced to death.

7:40

But the killer's family had hired

7:42

one of the most famous attorneys

7:44

in American history, Clarence

7:46

Darrow. And what happened in

7:48

the courtroom in that hot summer of 1924 has

7:50

to be heard to be believed. Because

7:56

the Leopold and Loeb trial, one

7:58

of the most well-known trials in the world, trials of

8:00

all time was not really

8:03

a trial at all. Welcome

8:06

to History on Trial. I'm

8:09

your host, Mira Hayward. This

8:11

week, Illinois v. Nathan

8:14

Leopold and Richard Loeb. Leopold

8:19

and Loeb's lives ran like

8:22

trains on parallel tracks, until,

8:25

fatefully, their paths converged.

8:28

Both boys were born to wealthy families.

8:31

Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. on November

8:34

19, 1904, to Florence and Nathan

8:36

Leopold, and

8:40

Richard Albert Loeb on June 11, 1905, to Albert

8:42

and Anna Loeb. Both

8:47

boys had nicknames. Everyone

8:49

called Nathan Babe. Everyone

8:51

called Richard Dickie. Both

8:54

boys grew up in Kenwood, an

8:56

affluent, predominantly Jewish neighborhood on Chicago's

8:58

south side. Both

9:00

boys were precocious, skipping multiple grades

9:02

and racing through their school years

9:05

in record time. And

9:07

both boys were impacted by

9:09

disturbed nannies. Nathan

9:11

was allegedly sexually abused by a

9:14

nanny, while Richard was

9:16

allegedly emotionally abused by his

9:18

domineering and obsessive nanny. But

9:21

the boys had differences, too. They

9:23

attended different schools, had

9:25

different interests, and very

9:27

different personalities. Nathan

9:30

was aloof and egotistical. He

9:33

had trouble connecting to his peers. His

9:36

classmates at the Harvard School for

9:38

Boys nicknamed him Flea because he

9:41

was small and annoying. He

9:44

was obsessed with birds. He

9:46

shot and taxidermied thousands of the

9:48

animals, placing them around the

9:51

Leopold home until it looked like a

9:53

natural history museum. Richard,

9:55

on the other hand, was popular

9:57

and outgoing. He could

10:00

easily fit into any social situation, charming

10:03

classmates and adults alike. But

10:06

he sometimes seemed to be playing a role,

10:08

and when people tried to get close to him, he

10:11

would not let them in. He

10:13

moved on from friendships quickly. No

10:16

one quite had a grasp on who the

10:18

real Richard was. His

10:21

defining adolescent interest was not birds,

10:23

but books, detective fiction

10:25

to be specific, which he

10:28

consumed voraciously. Since

10:30

the two boys had grown up so close

10:32

together and in such similar circles, they

10:35

likely met once or twice in their childhood.

10:38

But it would not be until 1920

10:40

that they would truly connect, with

10:43

deadly consequences. That

10:45

fall, Nathan enrolled at the University of

10:48

Chicago, where Richard was beginning

10:50

his sophomore year. Both

10:52

boys were only 15 years old. They

10:55

each had different approaches to college. Richard

10:58

went a little wild, drinking, gambling,

11:00

and losing his virginity at a

11:03

brothel. Nathan, by

11:05

contrast, maintained his

11:07

standoffish superior attitude. Richard

11:10

was stylish and handsome, Nathan

11:13

gawky and awkward. Over

11:15

the course of the winter, though, the two

11:17

began to get closer. They

11:19

played cards and stayed up late,

11:22

drinking and talking. In

11:25

February 1921, Richard

11:27

took Nathan on a trip to

11:29

his family's estate in Charlevoix, Michigan.

11:32

Albert Loeb had built an enormous

11:34

working farm there, and the

11:36

Loeb's loved to escape Chicago for the peace

11:38

of the lakeside retreat. Now,

11:41

Richard invited his new friend to visit.

11:44

The train trip from Chicago took 12 hours,

11:46

and the pair shared a private train

11:49

car. Over the course of

11:51

the long journey, Richard and Nathan

11:53

opened up to each other, sharing

11:55

their feelings of loneliness, their

11:57

desire to fit in. They

12:00

also shared secrets. Richard

12:02

told Nathan about the thefts he'd committed

12:05

inspired by his love of crime fiction.

12:08

In return, Nathan told Richard

12:10

that he was gay. Nathan

12:13

had known he was gay since childhood.

12:16

Richard's sexuality is more ambiguous.

12:19

He had sex with women and liked to

12:21

maintain a Playboy image. However,

12:23

he would later tell psychiatrists, quote,

12:26

The actual sex act is rather unimportant

12:28

to me, and I could

12:30

get along easily without it. On

12:33

that train ride, though, perhaps

12:35

fueled by an intoxicating sense

12:37

of closeness and shared vulnerability,

12:40

Richard and Nathan began a sexual

12:43

relationship. In many

12:45

ways, this was a normal teenage fling. However,

12:48

it had to be conducted in

12:50

strict secrecy. Homosexuality was

12:53

deeply stigmatized at the time.

12:56

The secret nature of their relationship seems to

12:58

have brought the pair even closer, as

13:01

did their second secret. In

13:04

the spring, shortly after their trip to

13:06

Charlevoix, Richard and

13:08

Nathan began committing crimes together.

13:11

They stole cars and went for

13:13

joy rides, tossed bricks through the

13:15

windshields of parked cars, and vandalized

13:18

businesses. The relationship

13:20

seems to have fulfilled both

13:22

Richard and Nathan's childhood fantasies.

13:25

For Nathan, the handsome suave

13:27

Richard provided him social cache

13:29

and sexual gratification. For

13:32

Richard, the brilliant, fearless Nathan was

13:35

the perfect partner in crime. Both

13:38

struggled to make genuine connections with

13:40

others. With each other,

13:42

it seemed they could finally be

13:44

themselves and be accepted. But

13:47

that summer, things nearly fell

13:49

apart. A

13:51

fellow University of Chicago student, Hamlin

13:54

Bookman, was working at the Loeb

13:56

Farm at Charlevoix when Richard and Nathan came

13:58

for a visit. The three

14:00

spent the evening drinking together and then

14:02

fell asleep. During

14:04

the night, Bookman saw Richard go into

14:06

Nathan's bed. Richard

14:09

and Nathan, realizing that their secret was

14:11

out, decided to take

14:13

drastic action. They

14:16

attempted to kill Bookman. They

14:19

took Bookman out on a boat and,

14:21

believing that he could not swim, tipped

14:23

the boat over. Bookman

14:25

managed to make it out of the lake. In

14:28

shock, he immediately ran to Richard's brother

14:30

Alan and told him about Richard and

14:33

Nathan's relationship. The

14:35

Loeb family did not believe Bookman and fired

14:37

him from the farm. Bookman

14:39

traveled back to Chicago and immediately

14:41

told classmates what he'd seen. When

14:44

Richard and Nathan returned to campus,

14:46

gossip about them raged like wildfire.

14:50

That fall, in part due to the rumors,

14:52

and in part due to a sense of

14:54

restlessness, Richard decided to transfer

14:56

to the University of Michigan. Nathan

14:59

decided to transfer with him. But

15:02

soon after the school year started,

15:04

Nathan learned that his mother, Florence,

15:06

was dying. He managed to

15:08

make it home in time to be with her when she

15:11

died on October 17, 1921. It

15:14

was a devastating loss. When

15:17

Nathan returned to Michigan, he found that

15:19

Richard had made new friends. His

15:22

friends, along with many other Michigan students,

15:25

did not like Nathan. They

15:27

thought he was cold and pretentious. Rumors

15:31

about the two boys' sexual relationship had

15:33

also reached campus. Nathan

15:35

and Richard decided to quash the rumors by

15:37

spending less time together. At

15:39

the end of the year, Nathan transferred back to

15:42

the University of Chicago. Richard

15:44

stayed on at Michigan, where he pledged a

15:46

fraternity, drank heavily, worked

15:48

minimally, and read detective novels.

15:52

In Chicago, Nathan favored the

15:54

intellectual life, studying comparative language,

15:57

and becoming Nietzsche.

16:01

Nathan loved Nietzsche's conception of

16:03

the Ubermensch, which he

16:06

interpreted to be, quote, a

16:08

superman who, on account of

16:10

certain superior qualities inherent in

16:12

him, is exempted from

16:14

the ordinary laws which govern ordinary

16:16

men. He is not

16:18

liable for anything he may do.

16:21

Philosophers might disagree with Nathan's

16:23

definition of this concept, but

16:26

it is an interpretation that

16:28

reveals Nathan's desire to transcend

16:31

conventional definitions of morality. Over

16:34

the next year, Richard and Nathan did not

16:36

keep in close touch. In

16:39

the summer of 1923, however,

16:41

they found themselves reunited in

16:43

Chicago. Both had graduated

16:45

that spring at age 18, the

16:48

youngest graduates in the history of

16:50

their respective colleges. At

16:52

loose ends, they reconnected and

16:55

resumed their life of crime. They

16:58

cheated at cards, planned break-ins,

17:00

and set fires. Nathan

17:03

even managed to acquire guns, which

17:05

they carried with them on their

17:07

nighttime expeditions. However,

17:11

the friendship was a fraught one. The

17:14

pair argued constantly. Nathan

17:16

was jealous of the time Richard spent with

17:18

other friends. Richard was

17:20

tired of Nathan's constant bragging about

17:22

his intelligence. In

17:24

October, they had a falling out and

17:27

almost ended their relationship. Nathan

17:29

confessed in a letter to Richard that

17:31

he had thought about killing him. He

17:34

also threatened to expose Richard, either

17:37

for their sexual relationship or

17:39

for their crimes. For some

17:41

reason, even after all of this, the

17:44

friendship continued. In

17:46

November, while Richard and Nathan were both

17:48

enrolled in graduate classes at the University

17:51

of Chicago, they decided to

17:53

commit their most daring crime yet. On

17:56

Saturday the 10th, they drove up to

17:58

Ann Arbor to rob Richard's old

18:00

fraternity house. They brought

18:03

guns, masks, flashlights, and a

18:05

chisel with them. It

18:07

wasn't a very complicated crime. Upon

18:10

arrival, they walked through the unlocked

18:12

front door and stole items they

18:14

found lying around. Loose

18:17

change, a pen and pencil, a knife,

18:20

and, notably, a portable

18:23

Underwood typewriter. They

18:25

had agreed earlier in the night to break

18:27

into two fraternities, but after pulling

18:29

off the first heist, Richard wanted to go

18:31

home. Nathan demanded that they

18:34

follow through on the plan. They

18:36

went into another house and stole a camera, but

18:39

when Richard heard someone snoring, he panicked

18:41

and ran. On

18:44

the drive home, Nathan was furious.

18:46

He called Richard a coward and questioned

18:48

their connection. The argument

18:51

built and built and the two nearly

18:53

ended things right there, but

18:55

ultimately, they didn't. Instead

18:58

deciding to once again double

19:00

down on their toxic bond.

19:03

The pair created a pact. The

19:06

terms of the pact, which they determined

19:08

would last until Nathan left for Europe

19:10

the following summer, were this. Nathan

19:13

agreed to participate in any crime that

19:16

Richard asked him to unless

19:18

he thought it would put him or his

19:20

family in danger. In

19:22

exchange, Richard agreed to have sex with

19:24

Nathan three times every two months. Lastly,

19:28

the two agreed to embark on a

19:30

new project, one that

19:32

they believed would strengthen their relationship.

19:36

Leopold and Loeb decided

19:38

to kidnap someone.

19:43

Progress was slow on the kidnapping

19:45

plan. In March 1924,

19:48

Nathan and Richard had another fight

19:50

and renegotiated the pact. Now,

19:53

Richard agreed to have sex with Nathan every

19:55

time they committed a crime. They

19:58

also began planning the kidnapping. in

20:00

earnest. Richard had

20:02

long been obsessed with committing the

20:04

perfect crime. Nathan

20:06

had long been obsessed without

20:08

smarting others. Their

20:10

obsessions combined with

20:13

tragic consequences that spring.

20:16

They were determined to execute a

20:18

flawless kidnapping. They plotted

20:20

out an elaborate ransom plan,

20:22

which involved multiple stops, phone

20:25

calls, and a money drop off

20:27

of a moving train. They even

20:29

rehearsed the money drop, throwing a

20:31

bundle of newspapers from the train to

20:33

see where it landed. The pair also

20:36

decided that they would have to kill

20:38

their victim to avoid being identified. They

20:41

discussed different methods of murder and

20:44

settled on either strangulation or

20:46

drugging with ether. They chose a

20:48

location to dump the body. Nathan

20:50

suggested the area around Wolf Lake,

20:53

where he often led birding trips. The

20:56

only thing that the two could not decide

20:58

on was a victim. They

21:00

eventually decided that it would be best to take

21:03

a young boy from a wealthy family who would

21:05

pay the ransom. There

21:07

were many such boys at the Harvard School

21:09

for Boys, Nathan's alma mater.

21:13

Richard and Nathan spent the month of May

21:15

getting the final details in place. They

21:18

constructed a fake identity, Morton Ballard,

21:21

which they used to open a bank account and rent

21:23

a car. They bought

21:25

a chisel, rope, and hydrochloric acid.

21:29

They typed up a ransom letter and

21:31

scripts to use for their calls. By

21:34

May 21st, they were ready. That

21:38

morning, they rented a dark blue car, ate

21:41

lunch, and drove to the Harvard School. They

21:44

lurked around the area using a pair

21:46

of Nathan's birding binoculars to spy on

21:49

the boys for several hours. A

21:52

little after 5 p.m., they

21:54

spotted Bobby Franks walking down

21:56

Ellis Avenue. Bobby

21:58

Franks was Richard Lowe. second

22:01

cousin. Their families

22:03

lived across the street from each other.

22:06

Bobby had played tennis with Richard the

22:08

day before. He had

22:11

no reason to be suspicious when Nathan

22:13

and Richard pulled up alongside him and

22:15

offered him a ride home. Bobby

22:18

declined though, his home was only

22:20

two blocks away. Richard

22:23

tried again, saying he wanted to ask Bobby

22:25

the day about

22:27

his tennis racket. Bobby agreed and hopped in

22:29

the car. Within minutes, the attack began.

22:33

Richard and Nathan never agreed on who

22:35

had done the actual killing, each blaming

22:39

the other for his own

22:52

killing. One of them, though, began to beat Bobby with the

22:54

chisel, then shoved an ether-soaked

23:02

rag down his throat. Unconscious,

23:05

Bobby lay bleeding on the floor

23:07

of the car as it sped

23:09

out of Chicago. Around six, Richard

23:11

and Nathan stopped for dinner. They

23:14

ate hot dogs and drank root beer

23:16

at a picnic table while Bobby suffocated

23:18

to death in the car. Once

23:21

it got dark, they drove to Wolf Lake and

23:24

dumped Bobby's body in a culvert, first

23:27

pouring acid on his face, genitals, and

23:29

on a scar on his abdomen in

23:32

an effort to prevent identification. On

23:35

the drive home, Nathan stopped and called

23:37

the Franks and told Flora that her

23:40

son had been kidnapped. Nathan

23:43

and Richard's so-called perfect

23:45

crime fell apart

23:48

quickly. Bobby's

23:50

body was discovered sooner than they

23:52

had expected, and Jacob Franks could

23:54

not remember the complicated ransom instructions.

23:57

However, no one had any idea

24:00

who had committed the crime. It

24:02

was the talk of Chicago, and

24:04

Richard himself couldn't help but bring up the

24:06

subject. He even

24:09

involved himself in the investigation, taking

24:11

reporters on an expedition to discover which

24:13

drugstore Jacob Franks was supposed to have

24:16

gone to. On this

24:18

trip, the reporters asked Richard about Bobby,

24:21

hoping to get family details for their story.

24:24

Richard, to their horror, told

24:26

them, quote, if I

24:28

were going to murder anyone, I would murder just

24:30

such a cocky little son of a bitch as

24:32

Bobby Franks. On

24:35

May 25th, the Franks family held Bobby's

24:37

funeral at their home. A

24:39

distraught Flora Franks, who refused to

24:41

believe that her son was dead,

24:44

ran her hands tenderly over the faces

24:46

of his classmates. Jacob

24:49

Franks told the Chicago Tribune, I'd

24:51

try to put things out of my mind, but

24:54

they come back. My wife

24:56

keeps showing me pictures of him, and

24:58

I lay awake until dawn thinking about it

25:01

all, thinking about that baby.

25:04

Meanwhile, Richard and Nathan

25:06

continued their normal lives, attending

25:09

dinners, taking girls out on dates,

25:11

drinking and dancing the nights away.

25:14

But unbeknownst to them, the

25:16

police were circling. Ultimately,

25:19

it was a pair of

25:21

glasses that proved to be the killer's

25:23

undoing. The glasses

25:25

had been found by Bobby's body. The

25:28

first officer on the scene had assumed they were the

25:30

boys, but after learning they were not,

25:33

investigators wondered if the killer had dropped

25:35

them. They spent all

25:37

week tracing the glasses and

25:40

caught a huge break. The

25:43

frames had a distinctive hinge, only

25:45

manufactured by one company in Brooklyn,

25:48

and only sold by one optometrist

25:50

in Chicago, Almer & Co.

25:54

The company searched its records and discovered that

25:56

it had sold three pairs of the glasses,

25:59

one to a man. who was now in Europe, one

26:01

to a woman who still had her glasses, and

26:04

one to Nathan Leopold. Nathan

26:07

had, in fact, been brought in by

26:10

the police already, but for unrelated reasons.

26:13

A gay morden at Wolf Lake had

26:15

identified him to police as someone who

26:17

frequented the area for birding trips, and

26:20

the police had questioned him on May 25th,

26:22

the day of Bobby's funeral. Nathan

26:25

was not a suspect at this point. The

26:28

police simply wanted to know when he was last in

26:30

the area. Nathan said

26:32

he had last been there the weekend

26:34

before Bobby's murder, and the police released

26:36

him. But with

26:38

the glasses revelation, everything

26:40

changed. Now,

26:42

the police focused their energy on

26:45

Nathan. On May

26:47

29th, State's Attorney Robert Crow, who

26:49

was leading the investigation, and would

26:51

soon lead the prosecution, sent

26:54

detectives to question Nathan. When

26:57

Nathan could not produce his glasses, the

26:59

detectives decided to bring him in for

27:01

questioning. Under questioning,

27:03

Nathan claimed that his glasses must have

27:05

fallen out of his pocket while birdwatching

27:07

at Wolf Lake. However, when

27:10

given his glasses and asked to recreate

27:12

the fall, Nathan could not

27:14

dislodge the glasses from his jacket pocket.

27:17

He denied owning a portable typewriter, the

27:19

kind of typewriter used to make the

27:21

ransom note. And he

27:23

claimed that on the day of the

27:25

kidnapping, he had been out driving, drinking,

27:27

and picking up girls with Richard Loeb.

27:30

The detectives then searched his house

27:33

again, uncovering bottles of poisons and

27:35

drugs, including ether, and

27:38

two unlicensed handguns. Detectives

27:41

arrived at Richard's house the next

27:43

day, Friday, May 30th. Richard

27:46

claimed not to remember what he had done on the

27:48

day of the murder, but later,

27:50

after receiving a message from Nathan

27:53

that he should, quote, remember what

27:55

happened, he told the police

27:57

the same story about driving around in Nathan's

27:59

car. car. Robert

28:01

Crowe and the police were convinced that they

28:03

had their men, and two

28:06

events on Friday solidified their case. First,

28:09

a typewriter expert matched the type

28:11

in Nathan's study group notes to

28:13

the type in the ransom note.

28:17

Though Nathan had denied having a portable

28:19

typewriter, Robert Crowe brought in

28:21

members of his study group who all

28:23

stated that he had once used a

28:26

portable typewriter. It would

28:28

later emerge that the typewriter used

28:30

was the Underwood portable typewriter that

28:33

Nathan and Richard had stolen from

28:35

the Michigan fraternity. The

28:37

final nail in the coffin came from

28:39

the Leopold family chauffeur Sven

28:42

Englund. Englund had

28:44

believed that his information would help

28:46

exonerate Nathan. According to

28:48

his statement, Englund had been working on

28:50

the brakes on Nathan's car on May

28:53

21st, so Nathan could not have used

28:55

his car to kidnap anyone. But

28:57

Englund didn't know that Nathan claimed to have

29:00

driven around in his car that day. Inadvertently,

29:04

Englund had broken Nathan's alibi.

29:07

Englund also told police that he

29:09

saw Nathan and Richard cleaning stains

29:12

out of a dark-colored car on

29:14

the 22nd. Bobby

29:16

Franks was last seen in the

29:18

vicinity of a dark-colored car, and

29:21

a dark-colored car had been spotted near

29:23

Wolf Lake around the time the killers

29:25

had dumped Bobby's body. With

29:27

these four pieces of evidence, the

29:30

broken alibi, the matching glasses,

29:32

the matching typewriter, and

29:35

Leopold and Loeb's possession of a

29:37

dark-colored car, Robert Crowe

29:39

believed he had enough to get a

29:41

confession. He

29:43

decided to confront Richard first. When

29:47

Crowe told Richard about Englund's evidence,

29:50

Richard responded that the man must be

29:52

lying or mistaken. But

29:54

then, Assistant State's attorney Joseph

29:57

Sparborough confronted Richard with a

30:00

all the evidence. My

30:03

God, my God, Richard cried, this

30:05

is terrible. He burst

30:07

into tears. Then he started

30:10

to talk. He gave

30:13

Crow and Sparbaro a detailed confession

30:15

of the kidnapping and murder of

30:17

Bobby Franks. With

30:19

one confession obtained, Crow turned

30:21

his attention to Nathan. Even

30:24

after hours of questioning, Nathan

30:27

was self-assured. When

30:29

Crow walked into his room that evening, Nathan

30:32

wanted to ask the attorney what

30:34

he called a hypothetical question. Quote,

30:37

supposing John Doe had committed

30:39

this murder and John Doe's

30:41

family was as wealthy and influential

30:44

as mine is and

30:46

could hire able lawyers and

30:48

get a friendly judge and bribe

30:50

the jury. Don't you think he

30:52

could beat it? Well,

30:54

Nathan, said Crow, I

30:57

will let you try to find out. What

30:59

do you mean? Asked Nathan. I'm

31:03

going to charge you with murder. Nathan

31:06

was incredulous. Even

31:08

when Crow told him that Richard had

31:10

confessed, Nathan did not believe it until

31:13

Crow began to recite details of the crime

31:15

that only Richard could have known. For

31:18

a moment, Nathan paused. Then

31:22

he lit a cigarette and said to Crow, well,

31:25

if Loeb is talking, I will

31:27

tell you the real truth. Over

31:30

the next two days, Crow took Nathan

31:32

and Richard on an evidence gathering tour,

31:35

stopping at the businesses they had used to

31:37

prepare for their crime. They

31:39

visited the car rental agency, the

31:42

hardware store where they'd bought the rope, the

31:44

drug store where they'd bought the hydrochloric acid.

31:47

Everywhere they went, shopkeepers identified

31:50

them. So much for

31:52

committing a perfect crime. Still,

31:56

the peril of their situation seemed not

31:58

to have sunk in. Nathan

32:01

joked with reporters and repeatedly stated that

32:03

he had no remorse for the crime.

32:06

Richard told a reporter that a few years in jail would

32:09

be good for him. Quote, I'll be

32:11

released and come out to a new life.

32:13

I'll go to work and I'll work hard and

32:16

I'll amount to something. Have a career. A

32:19

nearby police captain, astonished, told

32:21

Richard, you have taken a

32:24

life. You've killed a boy.

32:26

The best you could possibly expect would

32:29

be a life sentence to an insane

32:31

asylum. Richard was

32:33

stunned. Robert

32:35

Crowe was determined to make sure that

32:38

Leopold and Loeb did not go to

32:40

an insane asylum. He

32:42

brought in a number of psychiatrists to examine the

32:44

pair, all of whom concluded

32:46

that they were not legally insane. They

32:49

had both understood that their actions were

32:51

wrong. On

32:53

June 1st, Robert Crowe held a press

32:56

conference. He had already

32:58

announced the identity and confessions of the

33:00

killers. Now

33:02

Crowe declared his intentions. I

33:06

have, he told reporters, a hanging

33:09

case. Most

33:11

people agreed. But

33:13

Crowe had not reckoned with the

33:15

wealth and desperation of the Leopold

33:17

and Loeb families. They

33:20

were about to throw an unexpected

33:22

factor into the trial, the

33:25

most famous defense attorney in

33:27

America. Enter Clarence

33:30

Darrow. Clarence

33:33

Darrow made a name for himself as

33:36

a labor lawyer. Representing

33:38

unions and political activists, Darrow

33:41

had honed a folksy, effective

33:43

style. Most

33:45

Ben Hecht once described Darrow in

33:47

court, quote, the great

33:50

barrister artfully gotten up in baggy

33:52

pants, frayed linen and

33:54

stringed high, and playing

33:56

dumb for the jury as if

33:59

he were no lawyer. at all, but

34:01

a cracker-barrel philosopher groping for a

34:03

bit of human truth. Darrow

34:07

was 67 in 1924 and

34:10

was tired and often unwell. When

34:13

Jacob Loeb, Richard's uncle, came to his Chicago

34:15

apartment on the night of May 31, begging

34:19

Darrow to take on his

34:21

nephew's defense, the lawyer hesitated.

34:24

Jacob Loeb pleaded with Darrow,

34:26

quote, Save their lives.

34:28

Get them a life sentence instead

34:30

of a death sentence. That's

34:33

all we ask of you. Money's

34:35

no object. We'll pay

34:37

you anything you ask. Only

34:40

for God's sake, don't let them be

34:42

hung. Jacob Loeb's

34:44

plea resonated with Darrow for two

34:46

reasons. The first was

34:48

one of principle. Darrow

34:51

was strongly opposed to the

34:53

death penalty. The second

34:55

was more prosaic. He

34:57

really needed the money. He

34:59

told Jacob Loeb he would take the case.

35:02

Darrow would be joined in the defense by

35:05

two Chicago lawyers, brothers

35:07

named Benjamin and Walter Bachrach, who the

35:10

Leopold family hired. The

35:12

Bachrachs also happened to be Richard

35:14

Loeb's cousins. The

35:16

defense was certainly facing an uphill

35:18

battle. This was before

35:20

the advent of the Miranda warning, and

35:23

both Richard and Nathan had freely confessed

35:25

to the police and had

35:27

even helped them gather evidence. The

35:30

case against the pair was watertight. Public

35:33

sentiment was also against the killers.

35:35

People were horrified by their callous

35:38

attitudes, as exemplified by

35:40

Nathan, who described the crime to

35:42

a reporter as, quote, an experiment

35:44

and an exemplary and commendable

35:46

thing. People were

35:48

also angry at Darrow for taking the

35:50

case. Darrow had made

35:53

his reputation defending the poor and

35:55

oppressed. Now he was

35:57

defending the privileged. People

36:00

worried that the wealth of the families

36:02

would allow the killers to escape punishment.

36:05

The Leopold and Loeb families responded

36:07

publicly to this claim, saying

36:10

in a statement, quote, "...in

36:12

no event will the families of

36:14

the accused boys use money in any

36:16

attempt to defeat justice." On

36:19

July 11th, Richard and Nathan were

36:22

arraigned. Thousands of

36:24

people showed up, and so many of

36:26

them tried to push into the courtroom that

36:28

they tore the doors off their hinges. Richard

36:31

and Nathan both pled not guilty to

36:33

the charges of murder and kidnapping. The

36:36

trial date was set for August 4th. The

36:40

defense team began to prepare for trial. They

36:43

had decided to pursue an insanity

36:45

defense. Walter Backrack

36:48

went to the American Psychiatric Association's

36:50

annual convention to recruit experts to

36:52

testify for the defense. He

36:55

found four doctors willing to do so. These

36:58

doctors all spoke to Nathan and Richard

37:00

personally, but also relied on

37:03

a comprehensive report prepared by two

37:05

additional doctors, Carl Bowman and Harold

37:07

Holbert. Bowman and

37:09

Holbert spent a week interviewing the

37:11

defendants. Based on these

37:13

interviews, Holbert and Bowman compiled a

37:15

large report, focusing on

37:17

all aspects of the defendant's upbringing,

37:20

moral views, and mental and physical

37:22

health. Robert Crowe

37:24

heard the rumors about the defense's plan,

37:27

but was unconcerned. He

37:29

had had his own team of psychiatrists

37:31

examine Richard and Nathan, and

37:33

all these experts were prepared to testify

37:36

that the defendants were not legally insane.

37:39

The state of Illinois used the McNaughton

37:41

Rule to determine insanity. The

37:43

McNaughton Rule is covered in more detail in

37:45

our episode on Charles Guiteau, but the basics

37:48

are this. A defendant can

37:50

only be found not guilty by reason

37:52

of insanity if they both did

37:54

not understand the nature of their crime, and

37:57

also could not distinguish right from wrong at the

37:59

time the crime. Crowe

38:03

was confident he could beat Darrow in

38:05

an insanity trial, but Darrow

38:08

was about to change the game.

38:10

On July 21st, the lawyers,

38:13

defendants, and hundreds of spectators assembled

38:15

in Judge John Kaverley's courtroom at

38:17

the Criminal Courts Building. No

38:20

one expected anything dramatic. This

38:23

was simply the first day that either side

38:25

could present motions to the judge. But

38:28

then Clarence Darrow stood and

38:31

began to speak. Quote,

38:34

After long reflection and thorough

38:37

discussion, we have determined

38:39

to make a motion in this court

38:41

to withdraw a plea of not

38:43

guilty and enter a

38:46

plea of guilty. A stunned

38:49

silence filled the courtroom.

38:52

Darrow's change of tactics came

38:54

as a complete surprise, which

38:57

was just how he wanted it. He

39:00

had made the decision to plead

39:02

the defendants guilty weeks earlier, but

39:04

had kept his intentions secret from almost

39:07

everyone, including Richard and Nathan,

39:10

who only learned of the plan on the

39:12

morning of the 21st. Darrow

39:14

believed that a guilty plea was his

39:17

only chance to save the defendant's lives.

39:20

He did not believe that a jury would buy

39:22

an insanity plea. By

39:24

pleading guilty, the trial would become

39:26

a sentencing hearing, and

39:29

Darrow would only have to convince

39:31

one man, the judge, that his

39:33

clients did not deserve death. He

39:36

believed that he could so convince Judge Kaverley,

39:39

who had never before condemned anyone to

39:41

death. In

39:43

his motion to change the plea, Darrow

39:46

also asked that the defense be

39:48

allowed to offer information to mitigate

39:50

punishment. In other

39:52

words, to provide information that might

39:54

contextualize the defendant's actions. He

39:57

specifically asked to be allowed to

40:00

introduce evidence on the defendant's mental

40:02

conditions. Robert Crow

40:04

objected. He argued that

40:06

allowing the defense to introduce such evidence

40:09

was subverting the law. If

40:11

they wanted to introduce this evidence, he said,

40:14

they should have pled not guilty by reason

40:16

of insanity. Judge

40:18

Kaverly wanted time to decide. He

40:21

told Darrow that he was shocked by the

40:23

guilty plea, saying, you have

40:25

unloaded a big responsibility upon me. It

40:28

was totally unexpected. He

40:30

then declared that the sentencing hearing would

40:32

begin two days hence, on

40:34

Wednesday, July 23rd. July

40:38

23rd was a hot day. All

40:41

of the days of the sentencing hearing would be turning

40:44

the courtroom into a steam room. At

40:47

10 a.m., the hearing began. Although

40:50

this was no longer a trial, per se, both

40:53

the prosecution and defense intended

40:55

to present full cases, including

40:58

opening statements. Robert

41:00

Crow began. He did

41:02

not pull his punches. The

41:04

state will show, he said, that

41:06

these men are guilty of

41:08

the most cruel, cowardly,

41:11

dastardly murder ever committed

41:13

in the annals of

41:16

American jurisprudence. The

41:18

state will demonstrate their guilt here

41:20

so conclusively that there is

41:22

not an avenue for them to escape. We

41:25

are going to demand the death penalty

41:28

for both of these cold-blooded,

41:31

cruel, and vicious murderers. Darrow

41:34

pushed back on Crow's characterization, saying

41:37

that this was not the worst crime ever committed.

41:40

When Crow objected to this, Darrow

41:42

reframed, arguing instead

41:44

that, quote, terrible

41:46

as this is, terrible as

41:49

any killing is, it would

41:51

be without precedent if two boys of

41:53

this age should be hanged by the

41:55

neck until dead. And it

41:58

would in no way bring back Robert Crow. or

42:01

add to the peace and security of this

42:03

community. He emphasized the

42:05

defendants' youth, describing them as

42:07

boys, a term he and

42:09

the defense lawyers and experts would use

42:12

throughout the trial. At

42:14

the time of the crime, Nathan had been 19 and

42:16

Richard 18. Robert

42:19

Crow now presented his case. As

42:22

Nina Barrett notes in her book, The Leopold

42:24

and Loeb Files, Judge

42:27

Kaverle had a, quote, liberal

42:29

attitude toward hearing any and all

42:31

evidence that might help him weigh

42:33

the terms of justice in his

42:35

own mind. And Crow

42:37

was determined to paint a comprehensive

42:39

picture of both the killer's

42:41

guilt and of their lack of

42:43

remorse. Over the course of

42:46

the next week, he would present 81

42:48

witnesses. He

42:53

introduced Bobby's parents, Jacob and

42:56

Flora, whose grief seemed

42:58

to overwhelm them. He

43:00

brought on coroner Dr. Joseph Springer, who

43:03

described Bobby's injuries and

43:05

how he had slowly suffocated on the

43:07

ether-soaked rag. He brought

43:10

on the various shopkeepers who had all

43:12

identified Nathan and Richard. At

43:15

this point, Darrow objected to Crow's

43:17

case, saying that given

43:19

the guilty plea, such a recitation

43:21

of evidence was unnecessary. Crow

43:24

responded that he wanted to demonstrate

43:26

that the defendants had only confessed

43:28

because of the, quote, mountain

43:31

of evidence against them, not

43:33

out of any sense of remorse. Judge

43:36

Kaverle told Crow to proceed. Crow

43:39

next called the experts and investigators who

43:41

had helped gather the evidence against the

43:44

pair. The typewriter expert

43:46

who had matched the ransom note to

43:48

Nathan's study notes. The

43:50

optometrist who had prescribed Nathan's glasses.

43:53

The doctor who had found bloodstains on

43:55

the pair's clothes and in their rental

43:57

car. Throughout this

43:59

presentation, Nathan and Richard's

44:01

behavior shocked observers. They

44:04

whispered to one another, laughed,

44:06

made faces, fidgeted in their

44:09

chairs. They did

44:11

not seem to be taking anything seriously,

44:14

and they certainly showed no respect for

44:16

the victim's family, nor remorse

44:19

for their crimes. When

44:21

a reporter asked Richard to explain his

44:23

behavior, he responded, what

44:26

do they want me to do? I sit

44:28

in the courtroom and watch the play as it

44:30

progresses. On

44:32

July 30th, after the defendant's police

44:34

interviews and confessions were read into

44:36

the record, Robert Crow

44:38

concluded his case. It

44:40

was now time for the defense to begin. The

44:44

first defense witness was Dr.

44:46

William White, president of the

44:48

American Psychiatric Association. Crow

44:51

objected to this testimony using the same argument

44:53

he'd made on July 21st. The

44:56

defense, he believed, should not be allowed

44:59

to introduce evidence of insanity, since they

45:01

had pled guilty. The

45:03

arguments over this issue continued for three

45:05

days. Finally, Judge

45:07

Kaverley decided to allow the evidence,

45:10

but added that if any of the defense

45:12

witnesses made a claim about insanity, as

45:15

opposed to providing context for the defendant's

45:17

mental health, he would call a jury

45:19

and begin a jury trial. With

45:23

this matter resolved, Dr. White began

45:25

his testimony. He

45:27

delved into the psychology of the defendants,

45:30

claiming that Richard, who he

45:32

and all the other defense experts referred

45:34

to by his nickname of Dickie, had

45:37

a fantasy of being a master criminal,

45:40

a fantasy so compelling that it prevented

45:42

him from understanding the real world. Not

45:45

Nathan, who he, again using his

45:48

nickname, called Babe, Dr.

45:50

White said that he had developed

45:52

a hardened shell of superiority and

45:54

coldness as a way of protecting

45:56

himself. He discussed the

45:58

troubled childhoods of both the defendants, the

46:01

abuses of their nannies, and the

46:03

unexpected costs of privilege. He

46:06

described the defendants as emotionally disturbed

46:08

young men who, while sane, did

46:10

not have the same capacity for

46:12

understanding right and wrong that a

46:14

normal person would. On

46:18

cross-examination, Crowe tried to trigger a

46:21

jury trial. He

46:23

asked White to show his initial psychiatric

46:25

report. To Crowe, it

46:27

seemed suspicious that White would

46:29

diagnose the defendants with so

46:32

many psychological issues without also

46:34

labeling them insane. Under

46:36

discovery rules, Crowe was entitled to

46:38

see White's original report. But

46:41

the defense objected. After

46:43

some back and forth, Judge Calverly asked White

46:46

to produce his report. White

46:48

responded that he had given his report to

46:50

defense lawyer Walter Backrack and no longer had

46:53

it. Backrack, in turn,

46:55

refused to produce it. Crowe

46:57

pushed, saying, If I can

47:00

prove that this man has changed his

47:02

conclusions, that at one time he

47:04

was willing to swear for pay to one

47:06

thing, and on another occasion he

47:08

is willing to swear to a different set of

47:10

facts for pay, I think I

47:12

have destroyed the value of his testimony. But

47:16

then, for some reason, he

47:18

gave up, saying that if the defense

47:20

would not produce the report, he

47:22

would let the issue rest. Crowe

47:25

had come very near

47:27

to exploding Clarence Darrow's

47:29

plan. In

47:32

July 2017, Northwestern University managed

47:34

to obtain the initial psychiatric

47:36

reports made by the defense

47:38

experts, and found that

47:41

three of them, including that of Dr. White,

47:43

had indeed initially declared the defendants

47:46

insane. They had

47:48

changed their testimony when the defendants

47:50

changed their plea. Darrow

47:53

suppressed these reports in order to

47:55

ensure that the doctor's testimony would

47:57

not trigger a jury trial. This

48:00

had long been rumored, but the discovery

48:03

of the reports confirmed it, and

48:05

revealed the extremely ethically dubious

48:08

actions of Darrow and these

48:10

experts. But

48:12

back in 1921, the defense proceeded

48:14

with its case. The

48:17

next witness, Dr. William Healy, also

48:20

discussed the defendant's mental instability. The

48:23

most important part of his testimony was

48:25

his discussion of the pact between Nathan

48:27

and Richard, including the

48:29

fact that the terms included sex. Nathan

48:32

and Richard's homosexual relationship had been

48:35

rumored and hinted at, but Healy's

48:37

testimony confirmed it. After

48:40

Healy, the defense called two more

48:42

psychiatrists, Dr. Bernard Gluck and Dr.

48:44

Harold Halbert. Then they

48:47

presented a series of character witnesses, classmates

48:50

and friends who discussed Richard's

48:52

immaturity, and Nathan's obsession

48:54

with Nietzsche. With

48:56

that, the defense concluded their case. For

48:59

his rebuttal case, Robert Crowe

49:02

presented his own series of

49:04

psychiatrists, all of whom

49:06

believed that Nathan and Richard were not

49:08

mentally ill. None

49:10

of the psychological evidence on

49:12

either side was particularly compelling, but

49:15

the defense experts did provide the public

49:17

with a new picture of the defendants.

49:20

Instead of being monstrous murderers,

49:22

they were traumatized children, lashing

49:25

out at a world that had hurt them. After

49:28

the testimony concluded, the closing

49:31

arguments began. Assistant State's

49:33

attorney Thomas Marshall kicked things off,

49:36

saying that the precedent in cases like this was

49:38

to give the murderers the death penalty. ASA

49:41

Joseph Savage continued the prosecution's

49:44

argument. In a

49:46

moving, powerful speech, Savage detailed

49:48

the crime and pushed

49:50

back on how Darrow had constantly described

49:52

Richard and Nathan as boys, saying, Darrow

49:56

asks your honor for mercy, and he tells

49:58

your honor that they are better than others.

50:00

both youths, boys. What

50:03

mercy did they show that boy? Savage's

50:06

closing brought the courtroom to

50:08

tears. Even Nathan was

50:11

affected, in his own way, asking

50:13

his brother, my god, do

50:16

you think we'll swing after that? It

50:19

was now the defense's turn. Walter

50:22

Bachrak gave a brief speech. He

50:24

recapped the testimony of their psychiatric

50:26

experts and returned to the theme

50:28

of the defendant's youth, saying,

50:30

quote, your honor stands

50:33

in relationship of a father to

50:35

these defendants. Once

50:37

Bachrak concluded, on the afternoon of August

50:39

22, Clarence

50:41

Darrow rose. He

50:44

would deliver a defense for the ages,

50:46

an eight-hour tour

50:48

de force that is one of

50:50

the most famous closing arguments in

50:52

legal history. He discussed the

50:54

lack of legal precedent for a death sentence

50:56

in such a case, noting

50:58

that only three people had ever

51:00

been hanged after pleading guilty. He

51:03

described the evolution of the application of

51:05

the death penalty, stating that

51:08

it had been used more and more selectively

51:10

over the years, and called

51:12

for judicial progressiveness. He

51:15

also focused on moral objections to the

51:17

death penalty, saying, do you

51:20

think you can cure the hatreds and

51:22

the maladjustments of the world by hanging

51:24

them? You may

51:27

hear and there cure hatred with

51:29

love and understanding, but

51:31

you can only add fuel to the

51:33

flames by hating in return. He

51:36

made the stakes of Judge Kaverly's decision

51:39

stark, saying of the

51:41

concept of justice, quote, Who

51:43

knows what it is? Does Crow

51:45

know? Do I know? Does

51:48

your Honor know? Is

51:50

there any human machinery for finding

51:52

it? Can your Honor

51:54

appraise these two young men and

51:57

say what they deserve? that

52:00

you must appraise every influence that

52:02

moves them, the civilization where they

52:05

live, their living,

52:07

their society, all society

52:09

which enters into the making of a

52:11

child. If your honor can

52:13

do it, if you can do

52:15

it, you are wise, and

52:17

with wisdom goes mercy." For

52:21

all its eloquence and humanity, Darrow's

52:24

closing could also be callous and

52:26

inaccurate. He said

52:29

that, quote, poor little Bobby Franks

52:31

suffered very little and died

52:33

quickly, which was not true. He

52:36

said that perhaps it was Bobby's fate to die

52:38

young and applied that he might not

52:40

have done anything with his life. Quote,

52:43

perhaps the boy who died at 14 did as

52:45

much as if he had died at 70. He

52:49

said of Richard and Nathan, these

52:51

two are the victims. But

52:54

Darrow ended on a powerful note, saying,

52:59

I am pleading for life, understanding,

53:02

charity and kindness, and

53:05

the infinite mercy that forgives all. I

53:08

am pleading that we overcome cruelty

53:11

with kindness and hatred with love.

53:15

I am pleading for the future. I am

53:17

pleading for a time when

53:20

hatred and cruelty will not

53:22

control the hearts of men.

53:24

At the end of his closing, as

53:26

at the end of Savages, many in

53:29

the courtroom were in tears. Defense

53:32

attorney Benjamin Bachrak now gave a

53:34

brief statement in which he again

53:36

outlined the evidence of the defendant's

53:38

mental instability. Robert Crowe

53:40

would have the final word in the trial.

53:44

Crowe was angry, frustrated

53:46

by Darrow's characterization of the defendants

53:48

as boys who could not control

53:50

their actions, upset by the

53:53

defense's attempt to make the crime seem less brutal

53:55

than it had been, and his

53:57

fury showed in his closing argument.

54:01

He spoke loudly and shook his fists

54:03

and stamped his feet for emphasis.

54:06

He also introduced a new theory,

54:09

the idea that Bobby Franks was

54:11

molested before he was murdered. The

54:13

defense objected, but Calverly allowed the

54:15

evidence, although he ordered

54:17

all women to leave the courtroom

54:19

first. There was not conclusive evidence

54:21

one way or another about this claim.

54:24

The medical evidence was ambiguous. The

54:27

next day, Crowe continued his argument. He

54:30

attacked the defense psychiatrists, the

54:32

defense attorneys, and the

54:35

defendants. We ought

54:37

to treat them with kindness and

54:39

consideration, he asked incredulously.

54:42

Why, from the evidence in this case, they

54:45

are as much entitled to the sympathy

54:48

and mercy of this court as a

54:50

couple of rattlesnakes. They

54:52

are a disgrace to their honored families

54:55

and they are a menace to this

54:57

community. The only

54:59

useful thing that remains for them now

55:01

in life is to go out of

55:03

life and go out of it as

55:06

quickly as possible under the law. Crowe's

55:09

forceful words seemed to be

55:11

effective in undermining Darrow's arguments.

55:14

But then, the prosecutor made a

55:17

misstep. He brought

55:19

up Nathan Leopold's statement during

55:21

interrogation that, quote, a

55:23

friendly judge would let them off.

55:26

Crowe had meant to illustrate the

55:28

defendant's smugness and lack of remorse,

55:31

but Judge Calverley interpreted this as an

55:33

attack on his integrity, believing

55:35

that Crowe was implying that he had been

55:38

bribed. He rebuked

55:40

Crowe and ordered that the words

55:42

be stricken from the record, as

55:45

they were a, quote, cowardly

55:47

and dastardly assault upon the

55:50

integrity of this court. Uncomfortable,

55:53

Crowe tried to explain that that had

55:55

not been his intent, but Calverley

55:57

was furious. On

56:00

this awkward note, on the afternoon

56:02

of August 28th, the sentencing hearing

56:04

ended after 32 days. Judge

56:08

Kaverley stated that he would announce his

56:11

decision on September 10th, and

56:13

said that anyone who bothered him

56:15

during his deliberations would be, quote,

56:17

sent to jail instantly. Despite

56:20

this warning, Judge Kaverley and his

56:22

wife received multiple death threats, and

56:25

someone threatened to bomb the courthouse if he

56:27

did not sentence Nathan and Richard to death.

56:31

At 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday,

56:34

September 10th, Judge

56:36

Kaverley called the court to order. He

56:39

said that, given the interest the country had

56:41

in the case, he wished

56:43

to explain his decision. He

56:46

said that the psychiatric testimony did

56:48

not impact his decision, because he

56:50

believed that, quote, similar analyses made

56:53

of other persons accused of crime

56:55

will probably reveal similar or different

56:57

abnormalities, and thus were

56:59

not necessarily mitigating factors. He

57:02

described the crime as having been

57:04

premeditated and planned, and

57:06

executed with, quote, callousness and

57:09

cruelty. But, he

57:11

said, he could not ignore the

57:13

youth of the defendants. Given

57:16

their age, and, quote,

57:19

in accordance with the progress of criminal

57:21

law, with the dictates

57:23

of enlightened humanity, and

57:25

the precedents hitherto observed in this state,

57:28

he would be sentencing Nathan

57:30

Leopold and Richard Loeb to

57:33

life in prison. The

57:37

decision to sentence Leopold and Loeb

57:39

to prison, specifically a life

57:41

sentence for the murder, plus a 99-year

57:44

sentence for the kidnapping, came

57:46

as a surprise to many. But

57:48

people also seemed to understand and

57:50

accept the sentence. This

57:53

public reaction to the sentence reflected

57:55

evolving perceptions of the crime itself,

57:58

when the identities of the killers had first been been

58:00

announced, and when Nathan Leopold

58:02

and Richard Loeb gave shocking interviews in

58:05

which they could not explain their motives

58:07

and expressed no remorse, the

58:09

crime had seemed beyond understanding to

58:11

many people. But the

58:14

trial, or more specifically the press coverage

58:16

of the trial, had changed

58:18

that view. As

58:20

the historian Paula Fass says in

58:22

her article, Making and Remaking an

58:24

Event, the Leopold and Loeb case

58:26

in American culture, quote, The

58:28

killers became anything but the

58:31

Nietzschean supermen whom they claimed

58:33

to be and whose self-sufficiency

58:35

initially alarmed the public. Instead,

58:38

they became children, precocious

58:41

and wounded certainly, but

58:43

children who could provide lessons

58:45

about how to normalize childhood.

58:48

This last point was an especially important

58:50

one. People wanted to find

58:53

a lesson from the time, and

58:55

they found several. Lessons about

58:57

how society should change. For

59:00

example, what had initially

59:02

been understood as an unfathomable thrill-killing

59:04

was now seen as a representation

59:07

of the era's troubles. People

59:09

saw Leopold and Loeb as the culmination

59:12

of all of the trends of the

59:14

twenties. Were they jaded

59:16

by the jazz life of gin and girls?

59:18

So that they needed so

59:20

terrible a thing as murder to give

59:22

them new thrills? asked the

59:24

Chicago Daily Tribune. The

59:27

same article asked, quote, Were

59:29

they bored by a life which left them

59:31

nothing to be desired? No

59:33

obstacles to overcome? No goal

59:36

to attain? The

59:38

idea that the pair's wealth had negatively

59:40

influenced them had been a key part

59:42

of the defense's case. There

59:45

were echoes in this defense and in the

59:47

public discussion of the trial of the

59:49

2016 case of Ethan Couch,

59:52

a sixteen-year-old who killed four people

59:54

while drunk driving. Like

59:56

Leopold and Loeb, Couch pleaded guilty.

1:00:00

At his sentencing hearing, defense psychologist

1:00:02

Gary Miller stated, quote, "'He

1:00:05

never learned that sometimes you don't get your way. "'He

1:00:07

had the cars and he had the money. "'He

1:00:10

had freedoms that no young man would be able

1:00:12

to handle.'" The prosecutors had

1:00:14

asked for a 20-year prison sentence. Couch

1:00:17

was instead handed 10 years of probation.

1:00:21

Speaking about the sentence, Eric Boyles,

1:00:23

whose wife and daughter had been

1:00:25

killed by Couch, said, "'Had he

1:00:27

not had money to have the defense there

1:00:29

"'to also have the experts testify "'and to

1:00:31

also offer to pay for the treatment? "'I

1:00:34

think the results would have been different. "'Whether

1:00:37

or not you buy the so-called affluenza

1:00:39

defense, "'it's hard to deny

1:00:41

the influence "'on both Couch and Leopold

1:00:43

and Loeb's case. "'The

1:00:46

Leopold and Loeb family's wealth "'allowed them

1:00:48

to pay a top defense lawyer, "'and

1:00:51

Darrow's shrewd work on the case,

1:00:53

"'particularly his closing argument, "'certainly influenced

1:00:55

the verdict.'" As

1:00:58

the Chicago Daily Tribune recorded,

1:01:00

quote, "'It was the opinion

1:01:02

in legal circles "'that Mr.

1:01:04

Crow's mountain-high evidence "'had been

1:01:06

displaced by Clarence S. Darrow's

1:01:09

"'sage philosophizing. "'Had Leopold

1:01:11

and Loeb not been able "'to

1:01:13

afford talented defense attorneys, "'their

1:01:15

outcome would likely have been different.'" The

1:01:18

Franks family responded to the verdict with

1:01:21

grace. Flora Franks

1:01:23

told newspapers that she had not wanted

1:01:25

the death penalty. In

1:01:27

large part because of Bobby's view on the

1:01:29

subject. In a

1:01:31

school debate several weeks before his murder, Bobby

1:01:34

had spoken against the death penalty,

1:01:37

saying, "'Punishment should be

1:01:39

reformative, "'never vindictive.'"

1:01:43

Jacob Franks said he was just happy that

1:01:45

it was over. Quote,

1:01:47

"'There can be no more

1:01:49

torture "'of seeing this thing spread "'over

1:01:51

the front pages of newspapers. "'It

1:01:54

will be easier for Mrs. Franks "'and for

1:01:56

me to be relieved of the terrible strain

1:01:58

"'of all this publicity.'" The

1:02:01

publicity had indeed been relentless for the

1:02:03

Franks family. During the

1:02:06

trial, thousands of curious people had flocked

1:02:08

the Franks' home in Kenwood, looking

1:02:10

through their windows and invading their privacy.

1:02:13

In late September, Jacob Franks decided to

1:02:15

sell the family home and move to

1:02:17

a different part of Chicago. They

1:02:20

auctioned off everything in their home, and

1:02:24

twelve hundred people showed up

1:02:26

just to see Bobby Franks'

1:02:28

room. Jacob Franks

1:02:30

died in 1928. A

1:02:33

newspaper article announcing his death said he

1:02:35

was, quote, never

1:02:37

able to recover from his grief. Flora

1:02:41

died in 1937. Within

1:02:44

five years of the trial, Richard's

1:02:46

father Albert and Nathan's father Nathan

1:02:48

Sr. were also dead. And

1:02:51

then, on January 28th,

1:02:54

1936, Richard Loeb

1:02:56

was stabbed to death in prison

1:02:58

by another inmate. That

1:03:01

left only Nathan Leopold, and

1:03:03

he was determined that he would not spend the rest

1:03:06

of his life in prison. Though

1:03:08

his first years in prison had been

1:03:10

defined by rule-breaking and troublemaking, he

1:03:13

began to settle down and volunteered around the

1:03:15

jail. In 1953, he had his first

1:03:17

parole hearing. When

1:03:20

asked about the motives for his crime, Nathan

1:03:23

refused to answer, saying only, I

1:03:26

don't know why I did it. I'm a different man

1:03:28

now. I was a smart aleck kid. Being

1:03:31

a smart aleck kid did not

1:03:33

impress the parole board as justification

1:03:35

for murder. Nathan's lack

1:03:37

of remorse also troubled the board. They

1:03:40

denied his parole request. Over

1:03:43

the next five years, Nathan promoted

1:03:45

his reformed image heavily, participating

1:03:47

in interviews that promoted his volunteer work

1:03:50

and distanced him from the crime. In

1:03:53

a Saturday evening post profile, Nathan

1:03:55

described the murder as something he'd

1:03:57

only, quote, been present at. He

1:04:00

also insisted that he was no longer

1:04:02

gay. In 1957,

1:04:04

he published a memoir called Life Plus

1:04:06

99 Years, in

1:04:09

which Nathan portrayed himself as deeply remorseful,

1:04:12

while also claiming that he only did

1:04:15

the crime because Richard Loeb forced him

1:04:17

to. In

1:04:19

February 1958, Nathan had another

1:04:21

parole board hearing. He

1:04:23

continued his denial of responsibility, repeating

1:04:26

the claim that he was forced into the crime

1:04:28

by Richard Loeb, and said, I had

1:04:31

no wish to do this dreadful thing. However,

1:04:34

he also said he was overwhelmed by

1:04:36

remorse, and said, it is

1:04:39

not easy to live with murder on your conscience.

1:04:42

The fact that you didn't do the actual killing

1:04:44

yourself does not make it any easier. Despite

1:04:47

this shifting of blame, the parole board

1:04:49

was more receptive to Nathan this time

1:04:51

around, and granted him parole on February

1:04:53

20th. He moved

1:04:56

to Puerto Rico, where he took a job in

1:04:58

a hospital and married a woman. In

1:05:00

1971, he visited Chicago, and

1:05:03

went on a trip to the area

1:05:06

around Wolf Lake, where he had dumped

1:05:08

Bobby Franks's body nearly 50 years earlier.

1:05:11

The area, once a wild land, had

1:05:13

been built over. In

1:05:16

a letter to his attorney, Nathan described

1:05:18

the area only as, quote, where

1:05:21

I used to go birding. Soon

1:05:23

after this trip, Nathan, already in

1:05:25

poor health, fell ill. On

1:05:29

August 29th, 1971, Nathan Leopold died. The

1:05:37

Leopold and Loeb case has achieved mythical

1:05:39

status in the annals of true crime.

1:05:42

It seems to have all the elements of a

1:05:44

fictional story, the remorseless eccentric

1:05:47

killers, the impassioned defense attorney,

1:05:49

the debates over society and

1:05:51

morals and justice. It

1:05:54

can be hard to remember that at the heart

1:05:56

of this story is a 14-year-old boy who

1:05:59

thought he was... stepping into a relative's car

1:06:01

to talk about tennis rackets, and

1:06:04

then was brutally killed. There

1:06:06

is a human reality to this case. For

1:06:10

all its drama, it is a

1:06:12

sad, sordid tale. But

1:06:14

as one of Nathan's parole board members said, quote,

1:06:18

The story is already a legend.

1:06:22

That's the story of Illinois v.

1:06:24

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Like many so-called crimes of the

1:08:44

century, the press were all

1:08:46

over the Leopold and Loeb case. But

1:08:49

the press played an unusual role in

1:08:51

this story. Two reporters,

1:08:53

James Mulroy and Alvin Goldstein,

1:08:56

were instrumental to solving the

1:08:58

crime. On

1:09:00

May 22nd, Mulroy, a reporter for

1:09:02

the Chicago Daily News, received a

1:09:04

tip that Bobby Franks had been

1:09:06

kidnapped. He got in

1:09:08

touch with the Franks family friend, Samuel

1:09:11

Edelson, who confirmed the story in exchange

1:09:13

for Mulroy promising not to publish anything

1:09:15

yet. Mulroy agreed and

1:09:17

traveled over to the Franks house to see

1:09:19

what more he could learn. Meanwhile,

1:09:23

Mulroy's colleague, Alvin Goldstein, had been

1:09:25

sent to write up the discovery of

1:09:27

a boy's body in Indiana. When

1:09:30

Mulroy's editor told him about the body,

1:09:32

Mulroy connected the dots and suggested that

1:09:34

it might be Bobby Franks. This

1:09:37

information was the reason the Franks sent

1:09:39

Bobby's uncle to look at the body

1:09:41

and ultimately identify it. On

1:09:44

May 23rd, Mulroy and Goldstein stopped for

1:09:46

lunch at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity

1:09:49

house at the University of Chicago. Richard

1:09:52

Loeb happened to be there, chatting with another

1:09:54

reporter named Howard Mayer about the Franks case.

1:09:57

Loeb suggested to the reporters that they could find

1:10:00

out which drugstore Jacob Franks was supposed to

1:10:02

have gone to for the ransom. The

1:10:05

four men traveled to 63rd Street and were

1:10:07

able to discover the drugstore, which

1:10:09

the journalists then reported to the police. Mulroy

1:10:12

and Goldstein had their biggest break on

1:10:14

May 31st. They

1:10:16

had been talking to Nathan's classmates and

1:10:19

discovered that Nathan was the note-taker for

1:10:21

his study group. One

1:10:23

student told the reporters that while Nathan

1:10:25

usually used a Hammond typewriter, he had

1:10:27

once seen Nathan use a portable typewriter

1:10:29

instead. The student gave

1:10:32

Mulroy and Goldstein copies of the group

1:10:34

notes, which they took to

1:10:36

the typewriter expert who had examined the ransom

1:10:38

note for the police. Upon

1:10:40

examining the study notes, the expert

1:10:42

was sure that one set of them, the

1:10:44

set that differed from all the rest, was

1:10:47

typed by the same typewriter that had produced

1:10:49

the ransom note. Mulroy

1:10:52

and Goldstein took this information to Robert

1:10:54

Crowe, who proceeded to call in

1:10:56

the study group members and question them. This

1:10:59

would be one of the final pieces

1:11:01

of evidence that sealed the case against

1:11:03

Leopold and Loeb. For

1:11:06

their dogged reporting and for, quote, their

1:11:08

service toward the solution of the murder

1:11:10

of Robert Franks in Chicago on May

1:11:12

21st, 1924 and

1:11:16

the bringing to justice of Nathan F.

1:11:18

Leopold and Richard Loeb, James

1:11:21

Mulroy and Alvin Goldstein were awarded

1:11:23

the 1925 Pulitzer Prize in reporting.

1:11:29

Thank you for listening to History on Trial.

1:11:32

My main sources for this episode were Nina

1:11:34

Barrett's book The Leopold and Loeb

1:11:36

Files, an intimate look at one

1:11:38

of America's most infamous crimes, Eric

1:11:42

Rebain's website, loebandleopold.com,

1:11:45

Greg King and Penny Wilson's book, Nothing

1:11:48

But the Night, Leopold and Loeb and

1:11:50

the Truth Behind the Murder That Rocked 1920s

1:11:52

America, and Paula Fass's

1:11:56

article Making and Remaking an

1:11:58

Event, The Leopold, and

1:12:00

lobe case in American culture. For

1:12:03

a full bibliography, as well as a

1:12:05

transcript of this episode with citations, please

1:12:08

visit our website,

1:12:10

historyontrialpodcast.com. History

1:12:14

on Trial is written and hosted

1:12:16

by me, Mira Hayward. The

1:12:19

show is edited and produced

1:12:21

by Jessi Funk, with supervising

1:12:23

producer Trevor Young and executive

1:12:25

producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams,

1:12:27

Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward.

1:12:30

Learn more about the

1:12:32

show at historyontrialpodcast.com and

1:12:34

follow us on Instagram

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at historyontrial and on

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1:12:50

favorite shows. you

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