The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
Honor, or the excitement? What does the doctor
further say on that? " The patient " (Loeb) '' did
not anticipate the actual kiHing with any pleasure."
It was not for the thrill or the excitement. The
original crime was the kidnaping for money. The
killing was an afterthought, to prevent their identi-
fication and their subsequent apprehension and pun-
ishment. He said he did not anticipate the killing
with any pleasure. It was merely necessary in order
to get the money. Motive? " The killing appar-
ently has no other significance " — now, this is not
my argument, your Honor; but on page 103 of their
own report, their own evidence — " the killing
apparently has no other significance than being an
inevitable part of a perfect crime in covering one
possible trace of identification."
That is the motive for the murder: self-preserva-
tion; the same as a thief at night in your house,
when suddenly surprised, shoots to kill.
See whether the mere wantonness of killing gave
them the thrill that you are asked to believe. The
report says, " They anticipated a few unpleasant
minutes in strangling him." Not the thrill and the
delight and the fast-beating heart that they tell you
Dickie Loeb has — if he has any heart at all.
No.
And I might tell you at this point, your Honor,
that the original plan of Loeb was not to kill him
with a chisel, but they were to strangle him to
death with the ropes that they procured. He was
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