The Perfect Crime
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Why?
For no reason than to commit the “perfect crime”
This
fiendish duo had become close friends in 1920, when Leopold, just 15 started at
the University of Chicago, where the 14-year-old Loeb was a fellow freshman
prodigy. In 1921, they had both transferred to the University of Michigan. By
1924, Leopold had mastered five languages, gained recognition as an
ornithologist and was bound for Harvard Law School. Loeb, who had immersed
himself in detective stories as a youngster – to the point where he not only fantasised
about lawlessness but committed several petty crimes – had become one of the
youngest-ever graduates from Michigan, and he too intended to study law.
As
an extracurricular activity, they decided to plot a foolproof felony. Combining
Loeb’s interest in crime and Leopold’s devotion to philosopher Friedrich
Nitzche, who thought some men were inherently superior (Leopold and Loeb ranked
themselves among these “supermen”), they schemed to get away with kidnapping a
wealthy boy, killing him and collecting a ransom. With Frank’s death, steps one
and two were complete.
Less
than 24 hours after the conspiracy was set in motion, it started to fall apart.
Shortly after Frank’s father received a call instructing him to deliver $10,000
ransom, his phone rang again: The body of a boy found near Wolf Lake was that
of his missing son. The other shoe dropped when police discovered a pair of
eyeglasses near Frank’s corpse. Though the prescription proved common among
Chicagoans, the unique hinges on the frame narrowed possible owners down to
three, including Leopold.
He
told detectives he must have dropped them while birding. His alibi included
Loeb, so that police brought him in as well. Meanwhile, investigators connected
the ransom note to Leopold’s Underwood typewriter.
The
star of this courtroom drama was the teens’ 67-year-old lawyer, Clarence
Darrow. A staunch critic of capital punishment, Darrow devised a defence that
would inflame the debate. Instead of declaring themselves not guilty by reason
of insanity, his clients pleaded guilty. During the hearing that determined
whether Leopold and Loeb would hang, Darrow presented psychiatric evidence,
which was rare at that time, from a team of experts who said that the “perfect
crime” fantasy was a by-product of immaturity and emotional instability.
Finally, Judge John Caverly sentenced each young man to life in prison for
murder, plus 99 years for kidnapping, citing their youth as a primary reason
for sparing them death.
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