The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
And he tells your Honor that that indicated to
him, that philosophy, that he was mentally diseased.
And he tells your Honor that this defendant Leo-
pold would lie down and before he would go to sleep,
he would have phantasies.
Why, every one has phantasies, and the only dif-
ference between the other people, your Honor, and
this defendant is that they respect the law of God
and man and he respected neither.
How many men walking the streets today have
evil phantasies, or desires, your Honor? But they
pass them out of their minds.
But not so with this superman. As he argued in
the criminal law class at the University of Chicago,
he thought that a superman was above the law.
Dr. Hulbert brings in before your Honor his re-
port, but says, on cross-examination, that the de-
fendants, when being examined, would not go into
certain things upon advice of counsel. And he told
your Honor upon being questioned that if he had
received the other information that they refused to
divulge, his opinion might have been different.
And if his opinion might have been different, your
Honor, it is fair to assume that the opinions of the
other three doctors who relied on the Bowman-Hul-
bert report might have been different, too.
In conclusion, your Honor has never had a case
before you with such evidence presented for mitiga-
tion as you have had in this case.
Why, your Honor, at the outset of this case, Mr.
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