For The Thrill Of It: Leopold, Loeb, And The Murder That Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz

Author:Simon Baatz
Format: mobi
Tags: , 20s, History: American, Chicago, 20th Century, Infamous Crimes And Criminals, Illinois, Murder - General, United States - 20th Century, Criminals & Outlaws, Midwest, Espionage, Richard A, Murder, True Crime, History - U.S., Law, Leopold, State & Local, United States - State & Local - Midwest, 1904-1971, Murder - Illinois - Chicago, Legal History, U.S. History - 1920s, History, United States, Loeb, Murderers - Illinois - Chicago, General, Nathan Freudenthal, Case studies, Biography, Biography & Autobiography, Murderers
ISBN: 9780060781002
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2008-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

There was a momentary silence in the room. Then a low buzz of conversation came from among the spectators. Was Darrow saying that Leopold and Loeb were insane? But why, then, plead guilty? Would the judge sentence the prisoners now, or later?7

At the rear of the room, reporters stumbled over chairs in their haste to get to the telephones and read their reports to their editors in time for the midday editions. Crowe and his assistants were on their feet, looking first at Darrow and then at the judge, seeking somehow to retrieve an initiative that had slipped from their grasp.

And, sitting among the spectators, Nathan Leopold Sr. had a stricken look, his face twisted in anguish, as he realized that the guilty plea left only a slender hope that Nathan might now escape the gallows.8

Crowe had immediately realized the implications of Darrow's maneuver. Illinois law mandated that an insanity plea be heard before a jury. If the plea had been not guilty by reason of insanity, Darrow would have had to argue his case before a jury--an impossible task. How could any jury have found the defendants insane?

But by changing the plea to guilty and arguing that their mental condition--along with their youth and their guilty plea--should be considered a mitigating factor in determining their punishment, Darrow had cleverly avoided a trial by jury. There would now be no trial. John Caverly would instead preside over a hearing to determine the punishment, which might range over several distinct possibilities from the death penalty to a minimum of fourteen years in prison. Caverly was a liberal judge, and clearly it was preferable for Darrow to argue his case before a single judge than before twelve jurors susceptible to public opinion and to Crowe's inf lammatory rhetoric.

Darrow had turned the case on its head. He no longer needed to argue insanity in order to save Leopold and Loeb from the gallows. Now he needed only to persuade the judge that they were mentally ill--a medical condition, not at all equivalent or comparable to insanity--to obtain a reduction in their sentence. And Darrow needed only one reduction--from death by hanging to life in prison--to win his case.

Crowe's long-standing antipathy toward Darrow could not prevent him from acknowledging his adversary's brilliance. Darrow was using the insanity defense yet pretending it was something else. Moreover, he was introducing it by a back door so as to avoid confronting a jury.

John Caverly gestured to the defendants to approach the bench. Both Nathan and Richard stood before the judge, their faces pale, Richard chewing nervously on his lower lip, Nathan looking directly ahead at the judge.

9

"Nathan Leopold Jr.," Caverly began, "if your plea is guilty, and the plea of guilty is entered in this case, 33623, the court may sentence you to death; the court may sentence you to the penitentiary for the term of your natural life; the court may sentence you to the penitentiary for a term of years not less than fourteen. Now, realizing the consequence of your plea, do you still desire to plead guilty?"

"I do.

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