Thursday, November 12, 2009

... wandering fairly far astray

In replying to Wolf Blitzer's bullying of Col. John Galligan (ret.), I'd hoped to find some pithy quote from Clarence Darrow explaining why he took the Leopold & Loeb case.
[yeah - i sent email to Wolf - with no pithy Darrow quotation, only the dialog from "A Man for all Seasons"]

... anyway, I found no pithy Darrow quotation with his explanation. But I DID find this pithy quotation from Darrow's summation, in which he argued against the death penalty:
"If the state in which I live is not kinder, more humane, and more considerate than the mad act of these two boys, I am sorry I have lived so long."
Note: Darrow's 'defense' consisted of...
-1) having both young men plead guilty (thus avoiding a jury trial)
-2) arguing passionately for life-imprisonment - NOT the death penalty.

If you're curious, there's a webpage: Illinois v. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.

Digression: in his novel, Jailbird, Kurt Vonnegut laments that Sacco & Vanzetti are now so forgotten as to be confused with Leopold & Loeb.

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