The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
turpitude was sufficient to take Savant to the
gallows.
In 1908, David Anderson, nineteen years of age,
was sentenced to death in Cook County for murder.
It was the shooting on the street of a police officer
under a chance meeting, with such malice as goes
with that kind of a killing, of course, but with no
extended premeditation such as we have here. Yet,
Anderson, at nineteen years of age, upon a convic-
tion in this court, was sentenced to die.
Mr. B. C. Bachrach: Mr. Marshall, you know
that it was commuted to life because he was only
nineteen?
Mr. Marshall: I am not discussing that phase at
all. What other agencies do is beyond us. This is
a court.
Mr. Darrow: That was not a hearing before a
court on a plea of guilty; it was a jury trial.
Mr. Marshall: But where lies the difference be-
tween a jury trial and a plea of guilty? All that
you have in mitigation and all that the State has
in aggravation goes into the record on a jury trial.
Mr. Darrow: It doesn't mean they are decided the
same way, a court and a jury.
Mr. Marshall: It is the same decision whether it
be through a jury or as here upon your plea. It
amounts to a conviction upon the record, and, if
you please, a conviction of the highest order.
SI