Life for Slayers of Franks
Judge Scores Crime, Declares Boys Sane in 'Mercy Sentence'
"No Mitigating Circumstance," Caverly Asserts, Branding Murder as a "Crime of Singular Atrocity"; Says "Humanity" Dictates Decision
Ninety-Nine Years Added for Kidnaping as Means of Circumventing Future Hope of Parole — Boys Show Little Interest as Caverly Speaks Fateful Words.
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Source: Chicago Daily News, 10 September 1924, pg. 1.
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Analysis of Decision.
Judge John R. Caverly spared the lives of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr., today by sentencing them to prison, "each of you for the rest of his natural life," with the recommendation that they never be paroled.
He could find "no mitigating circumstances" in the kidnaping and murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks, he said, as he pronounced the fate of the two wealthy, college-trained boys, but "in accordance with the progress of criminal law all over the world" and "the dictates of enlightened humanity," he saved them from death on the gallows.
Life imprisonment for the murder, was his degree: ninety-nine years for the kidnaping and ransom.
Builds Barrier to Parole.
How those sentenced will run under the Illinois parole law isn't easily reckoned, disagreeing lawyers said. State's Attorney Crowe said he thought the boys would be eligible for parole in twenty years; others figured thirty, thirty-five, and fifty years. But if Judge Caverly's pronouncement is heeded Loeb and Leopold will not leave the gray walls of Joliet until they die, for the judge recommends that they never be admitted to parole.
"In the case of such atrocious crimes," he said, "it is entirely within the discretion of the department of public welfare never to admit these defendants to parole. To such policy the court urges them strictly to adhere."
Guards stood at the judge's side as he pronounced sentence in "the murder case of the century." Others, a small army in all, guarded the murderers, watched the crowd inside the room, did sentry duty at the doors, in the hallways, and in an iron cordon all about the building and the jail, lest some of the hundreds of "cranks" who had written threatening letters should try to do violence.
Quick Trip to Joliet Planned.
And as soon as the two boys—happy now, and smiling—had been led back to their cells the patrols outside the jail were doubled while Sheriff Hoffman made plans to hurry his prisoners down to Joliet to begin their double life terms. He would have them in the penitentiary before night, he said, for safety's sake.
Afternoon found the boys still in the jail, though, with the wreckage of a banquet of steak and onions beside them. Clerk Passmore had held up the papers in the case for the state's attorney's scrutiny, "so that there will be no slip," and it seemed possible that the trip to Joliet might be put off until to-morrow.
Loeb and Leopold laughed about it. "We don't care when we go," said Leopold. "To-morrow or next week is all right with us. We've got plenty of time."
Packed into the brief hour of the last act of the Franks tragedy was drama of the richest kind—tense, colorful, trying. The interest of the outside world, focused for the moment on that dingy little room, could almost be felt: The two hundred-odd spectators breathed excitedly, stood tense and still.
Carries Verdict in Bundle.
The judge took his seat promptly at the appointed hour, carrying in his hand a great bundle of papers—the verdict and copies of the verdict.
"Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr.," the clerk called. And in from the hidden lockup outside the courtroom came the two boys, with guards before and behind them. They were white as ghosts, but they managed smiles of greeting as they came through the doorway, to see their families and the lawyers waiting for them.
The judge fixed his steel-rimmed glasses down toward the end of his nose and began slowly to read, in a calm, unexcited voice. The clicking of a battery of cameras interrupted him, but left him unruffled. "When you are through," he said to the photographers, "I will go on."
Judge Stops Photographers.
The cameras cliked in unison. "That will be all, now, until I'm through."
The white faces of the boys, sitting directly under the judge's eyes, grew whiter. Nathan Leopold, Sr., seated back of his son, gripped the arm of his bench, and looked down at the floor. Jacob Loeb, Dick's uncle, and young Allan Loeb, the brother, leaned forward.
The words that reached their ears were cruel words. Judge Caverly had found no mitigating circumstances in the crime. To be sure, the defendants had pleaded guilty, but not in the usual way. There had been no agreement with the state's attorney, as is customary, and the state's labor had not been lessened by the plea. The fact that the murderers had admitted their guilt could not be considered a circumstance in their favor.
Noose Certainty Fills Room.
"It's hanging," neighbor whispered to neighbor. The elder Leopold's face was like a death mask. Jacob Loeb, the smiling, optimistic commander in chief of defense, looked as if he had been struck a blow.
The judge's colorless, controlled voice went on. No evidence of insanity. An interesting presentation of personal history and personal pathology, but would not any criminal case show much the same thing.
(There seemed no doubt of it now. Judge Caverly had decided to sentence the boys to death.)
Young Leopold shifted his feet as the judge paused, but his face did not show a flicker of emotion. If he was reading doom in the judge's words, he kept control of himself. Loeb stared sullenly at the base of the judge's dais.
Judge Caverly went on. He was constrained to call attention, he said, to the fact that there is no evidence in the case that Bobby Franks' body was abused after death. To clear up a general misapprehension, he said, he ought to express his firm belief that there was no such after-crime.
"No Mitigating Circumstances."
But that does not mitigate the enormity, the brutality of the murder. There is indeed, no mitigating circumstance in all the ghastly record.
(Correspondents and messengers moved restlessly, ready to race away with the news that the slayers of Bobby Franks had been condemned to die.)
But suddenly there was a change in the judge's tenor. Given by the law the responsibility of fixing punishment, the court was determined to be merciful.
Leopold's head jerked upward just a trifle. He had noticed the new turn toward the climax.
"This determination," the gray-haired judge continued, looking unsmiling into the faces of the boys before him, "appears to be in accordance with the progress of criminal law all over the world and with the dictates of enlightened humanity. More than that, it seems to be in accordance with the precedents hitherto observed in this state."
The pressing, excited crowd breathed fast. Here was the climax. In a moment the world would be spoken.
"In the history of Illinois, only tow minors have been put to death by legal process—to which number the court does not feel inclined to make an addition."
Mercy Hope Eases Relatives.
There was a pause. Color returned in a rush to the elder Leopold's drawn face. Jacob Loeb sat up a little straighter. It was to be life, then. The next words confirmed the hope.
"Life imprisonment," said the judge, "may not at the moment strike the public imagination as forcibly as would death by hanging, but to the offenders, particularly of the type they are, the prolonged suffering of years of confinement may well be the severer form of retribution and expiation."
There was a sudden shuffling of feet as the messengers raced to their wires with the news. Before it had died down the judge had closed the case. Life imprisonment for murder. Ninety-nine years for kidnaping. Concurrent sentences, likely to keep Loeb and Leopold inside the walls of Joliet until they are old men. If not until they die.
But it was mercy. For once the second gravest sentence the law provides for any crime was accepted as a victory. The boys relaxed, smiling, and reached over to shake the hands of their lawyers. Tears trickled from the senior Leopold's worn face as he smiled his thanks.
The judge rose, and the courtroom snapped out its taut attention, while eager men and women pressed forward with congratulations.
Loeb and Leopold had not time to receive the handshakes of friends who fought to reach them. Their guards pushed them football fashion through the crowd, and with smiling waves of their hands they were gone, to say good-by to the county jail and go on to Joliet.
Crowe's Hopes Dashed.
Crowe heard the verdict glumly. His fight of months for a hanging verdict, his bitter denunciation of the murderers, his meticulous preparations, had brought him nothing. But he offered his congratulations to the boyishly delighted Darrow and forced his way out to dictate a statement accepting the verdict, but repeating his belief that the boys should have been hanged.
[End of news article]
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Page compiled: 6 June 1997
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