in the leo frank’s case, an attorney who knew the real killer

by Simone Friesen 6 min read

How would you defend Leo Frank in his murder trial?

Based on reports of when Frank was kidnapped, at about what time was he hanged? 2. You are one of the attorneys hired by Leo Frank to defend him in the murder trial. Come up with different defense tactics than what was originally proposed during Leo Frank's trial. 3. Stage a mock trial of the Leo Frank Case.

Was Leo Frank innocent?

Feb 23, 2018 · The crucial role of the janitor Jim Conley has come under particular scrutiny - the bloody shirt, his lies to the police, his admission that he wrote the so-called murder notes, and his rehearsed testimony at the trial make Conley stand out as the likely real murderer for many advocates of Frank's innocence. The unsettling case of Leo Frank had largely been forgotten by …

What did Leo Frank do?

Leo Frank, convicted in 1913 and lynched in 1915 in one of the most notorious murder cases in American history, was innocent, according to a sworn statement given by a witness in the case.

What societal issues played a role in the Leo Frank case?

May 31, 2019 · Leo Frank on trial in August 1913. Photograph by Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP Images. In early May, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced that he will reopen one of the most ...

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Feb 22, 2022 · Documents on Behalf of the Leo M. Frank Legal Defense Team and Partisan Side of the Leo Frank Equation 1913 to 2013: This section lists documents, videos, and articles, divided as primary and secondary sources that directly attempt or tend to argue in favor of Leo Frank’s innocence and promote the theory Jim Conley was the real murderer. Begin this section by …

Why did the defense request a mistrial?

Meanwhile, the defense requested a mistrial because it believed the jurors had been intimidated by the people inside and outside the courtroom, but the motion was denied. Fearing for the safety of Frank and his lawyers in case of an acquittal, Roan and the defense agreed that neither Frank nor his defense attorneys would be present when the verdict was read. On August 25, 1913, after less than four hours of deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous guilty verdict convicting Frank of murder.

What was the reason for the commute of Frank's murder conviction to life imprisonment?

Slaton's legal rationale was that there was sufficient new evidence not available at the original trial to justify Frank's actions. He wrote:

Where was Leo Max Frank born?

Early life. Leo Max Frank was born in Cuero, Texas on April 17, 1884 to Rudolph Frank and Rachel "Rae" Jacobs. The family moved to Brooklyn in 1884 when Leo was three months old. He attended New York City public schools and graduated from Pratt Institute in 1902.

Who was Leo Frank?

v. t. e. Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884 – August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His trial, conviction, and appeals attracted national attention.

Was the murder notes written in the third person?

Osborn reviewed the previous evidence at the commutation hearing and commented, for the first time, that the notes were written in the third person rather than the first person. He said that the first person would have been more logical since they were intended to be the final statements of a dying Phagan. He argued this was the type of error that Conley would have made, rather than Frank, as Conley was a sweeper and not a Cornell -educated manager like Frank.

What is the Beilis trial?

Comparison has been made to the contemporaneous trial known as "the Beilis trial" and "the Beilis affair." A book titled The Jew Accused: Three Anti-Semitic Affairs (Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank), 1894–1915 also compared aspects of these two trials to that of Alfred Dreyfus ("the Dreyfus affair ").

Where did Mary Phagan live?

Shortly after Mary's birth, her mother, Frances Phagan, moved the family back to their hometown of Marietta, Georgia. During or after 1907, they again relocated to East Point, Georgia, in northwest Atlanta, where Frances opened a boarding house. Mary Phagan left school at age 10 to work part-time in a textile mill. In 1912, after her mother married John William Coleman, the family moved into the city of Atlanta. That spring, Phagan took a job with the National Pencil Company, where she earned ten cents an hour operating a knurling machine that inserted rubber erasers into the metal tips of pencils, and worked 55 hours per week. She worked across the hallway from Leo Frank's office.

Who was Mary Phagan?

Mary Phagan, a 13 year old factory worker , became a symbol of child labor and the issues it posed. Leo Frank, a Jew and the manager of the factory, represented a northern capitalist who was viewed as exploiting young children. 2.

What is an affidavit?

affidavit: a sworn statement in writing; a declaration in writing, signed and made upon oath before an authorized magistrate. Anti-Defamation League: formed in 1913, the Anti-Defamation League's mission is "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike".

Can DNA be used to identify a killer?

DNA would be one of the main tools investigators would have used to identify the real killer. Witnesses would certainly be questioned, but the use of polygraph tests – while not admissible in court – might be considered in deciding the identity of the killer.

What does bias mean in a sentence?

bias: a leaning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent inclination. commute (the sentence): to diminish; as, to commute a sentence of death to one of imprisonment for life.

What is the chief executive of the government?

chief executive: the person who holds the office of head of state of the government defense. attorney: a lawyer representing the accused. due process: the administration of justice according to established rules and principles. industrialism: devotion to industrial pursuits; labor; industry.

What is the meaning of "lynching"?

lynching: to inflict punishment upon, especially death, without the forms of law, as when a mob captures and hangs a suspected person. pardon: the act of pardoning; forgiveness, as of an offender, or of an offense; release from penalty; remission of punishment; absolution.

What is a petition?

petition: a written document that people sign to show that they want a person or organization to do or change something. populist: a member of the People's party. propaganda: any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles.

Why was Frank arrested?

On the basis of this evidence, and his nervy demeanour, Frank was arrested on suspicion of the murder. Another man, the factory's black janitor Jim Conley, was also arrested after witnesses saw him washing red stains out of a shirt in a faucet behind the factory.

What happened to Leo Frank?

Leo Frank took his terrible fate with a quiet dignity. As the blind-fold was placed over his eyes he asked only that his wedding ring be given to his wife. Watched on by Atlanta's great and good, he was then hung to death from the branch of a tree.

How old was Alonzo Mann when he was Leo Frank's office boy?

As Leo Frank's 14-year-old office boy in 1913, Mann had actually witnessed a co-worker trying to dispose of the body of Mary Phagan.

Who commuted Leo Frank's death sentence?

After all of his appeals failed, Leo Frank's supporters turned to state Governor John Slaton. Slaton had personally reviewed the case and come to the conclusion Frank was innocent. In the face of fierce opposition, Slatton made the fateful decision to commute Leo Frank's deaths sentence to life imprisonment.

Was Mary Phagan sexually motivated?

At the trial, Mary Phagan's murder was portrayed as sexually motivated. Leo Frank, the jury was told, was a pervert and deviant with a history of sexually harassing young female employees and even boys.

What was Leo Frank's behavior?

In the aftermath of the murder, numerous witnesses testified that Leo Frank was behaving in an odd manner, unusually edgy and nervous to the extent that he was unable to perform simple tasks like unlocking a door or operating the factory time clock.

Did Jim Conley's testimony seal Leo Frank's fate?

Jim Conley's testimony did more than anything to seal Leo Frank's fate. Yet one strange and unpleasant admission from Frank's supposed accomplice, largely overlooked at the time, appears to seriously contradict a key aspect of his story.

Who was the Jewish factory manager who was lynched?

Frank, a Jewish factory manager, was lynched amid a wave of anti-Semitism after his conviction. On Sunday, March 7, 1982, The Tennessean printed a 10-page special section titled "Justice Betrayed: A Sin of Silence," in which a key witness in the Leo Frank case, Alonzo Mann, said false testimony led to Frank 's conviction.

Was Leo Frank lynched?

An Innocent Man Was Lynched. Leo Frank, convicted in 1913 and lynched in 1915 in one of the most notorious murder cases in American history, was innocent, according to a sworn statement given by a witness in the case. The testimony used to convict Frank was perjured, and the real killer of 14-year-old Mary Phagan was the man who gave ...

Who commuted Frank's sentence to life imprisonment?

This fact was cited as crucial by Georgia Gov. John Slaton when he commuted Frank's sentence in 1915 to life imprisonment. There is no way that what Mann says today can be reconciled with the version of events which Conley related in court in 1913. Either Conley lied then, or Mann is lying now.

Who killed Mary Phagan?

Atlanta police, under extreme pressure to solve the case, accused Leo Frank of having murdered Mary Phagan. Sex was implied as the motive. The evidence was flimsy and circumstantial — except for the detailed testimony of the prosecution's chief witness, Jim Conley.

What volume is the American State Trials 1918?

American State Trials 1918, Volume X. The introduction tends to side with Leo M. Frank, followed by an extremely abridged version of the trial testimony, the four closing arguments, the appeals, and the lynching.

Who wrote the mystery of the pencil factory?

The Mystery of the Pencil Factory by Sidney Sutherland, published in 1929. Despite its mistakes and errors, it is a good read and takes the side of Leo M. Frank.

What is the movie The People vs Leo Frank about?

The People v. Leo Frank, 2009, by Ben Loeterman and Steve Oney. A fictionalized docudrama taking the side of Leo Frank as having been framed. The movie makes the suggestion that if Leo Frank had answered the phone in the middle of the night after the murder occurred, the course of his destiny might have been radically different.

Who wrote the book "Guilty or Not Guilty"?

Guilty or Not Guilty. An Account of the Trial of the Leo Frank Case By Francis Xavier Busch. In the conclusion of this book on the chapter about Leo M. Frank, it suggests the verdict could have easily gone either way.

What is the book An Unspeakable Crime about?

An Unspeakable Crime by Marie Alphin: Elaine Marie Alphin takes the side of Leo Frank and writes the book to convince high school students that Frank was an innocent Jew from Brooklyn railroaded in a bigoted and media conspiracy. She doesn’t add any new and interesting analysis to the case, but she certainly leaves out as much damaging evidence against Leo Frank as possible. The book completely fabricates the Leo Frank case, turning it into a weird racist book. Read the reviews on Amazon.com to get an idea of what a total disaster this book is despite being printed on exquisitely gorgeous paper.

Who is the musical parade?

Parade is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. The musical was first produced on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on December 17, 1998. The production was directed by Harold Prince and closed 28 February 1999 after only thirty-nine previews and eighty-four regular performances. It starred Brent Carver as Leo Frank, Carolee Carmello as Lucille Frank, and Christy Carlson Romano as Mary Phagan (Wikipedia, 2011).

When was Jimmy Hoffa last seen?

Jimmy Hoffa was last seen standing outside the restaurant on July 30, 1975. Periodic searches for Hoffa's body have always turned up empty, including one in a Detroit lumberyard in 2009; a Roseville, Michigan, driveway in 2012; and a farm in Oakland Township, Michigan, in 2013.

Who was the man who killed Jimmy Hoffa?

Charles "Chuckie" O'Brien, left, appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa in 1975. The conventional wisdom was that O’Brien picked up Hoffa from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Michigan on July 30, 1975, and drove him to his death, Goldsmith told Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ in an ...

When will the Irishman be released on Netflix?

A new film about Hoffa's death and disappearance, "The Irishman," written and directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Al Pacino as the labor leader, premieres at the New York Film Festival this week and will be released on Netflix in November .

The Evidence

  • Because eyewitness accounts placed both Frank and Phagan at the factory prior to her death, police arrived at Frank’s home early on April 27 for questioning. Frank denied knowing Phagan by name, but police reported that he seemed nervous. Detectives then took Frank to the morgue to …
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The Trial

  • Basedmainly on the testimony of the janitor, who had been held in seclusion for six weeks before the trial on orders from Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey, the jury convicted the defendant. Frank’s attorneys were unable to break Conley’s testimony on the stand. They also allowed evidence to be introduced suggesting that Frank had many dalliances with girls, and perhaps bo…
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The Appeals

  • Within weeks of the trial’s outcome in early September, friends of Frank sought assistance from northern Jews, including constitutional lawyer Louis Marshall of the American Jewish Committee. Marshall gave advice about what information to include in the appeal, but Frank’s Georgia attorneys ignored his counsel. Frank’s lawyers filed three successive appeals to the Supreme Co…
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The Governor’s Decision

  • Whenall the court appeals had been exhausted, Frank’s attorneys sought a commutation from Georgia governor John M. Slaton. Thomas E. Watson, a former Populistand the publisher of the Jeffersonian, had conducted a campaign denouncing Frank that struck a chord, and Georgians responded to it. Watson’s accusations against Jews and Leo Frank, in particular, increased the p…
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The Lynching

  • After Slaton’s commutation, Frank was interned at a prison farm in Milledgeville for just under two months. During his internment, a fellow prisoner slashed Frank’s throat with a knife, though he survived. Frank’s stay at the prison farm was cut short on the night of August 16, 1915, when twenty-five prominent citizens of Marietta, identifying themselves as the Knights of Mary Phaga…
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Conclusion

  • TheFrank case not only was a miscarriage of justice but also symbolized many of the South’s fears at that time. Workers resented being exploited by northern factory owners who had come south to reorganize a declining agrarian economy. Frank’s Jewish identity compounded southern resentment toward him, as latent anti-Semitic sentiments, inflamed by Tom Watson, became mo…
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Overview

Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884 – August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His trial, conviction, and appeals attracted national attention. His lynchingtwo years later, in response to the commutation of his death sentence, became the focus of social, regional, polit…

Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884 – August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His trial, conviction, and appeals attracted national attention. His lynchingtwo years later, in response to the commutation of his death sentence, became the focus of social, regional, polit…

Trial

On May 23, 1913, a grand jury convened to hear evidence for an indictmentagainst Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan. The prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey, presented only enough information to obtain the indictment, assuring the jury that additional information would be provided during the trial. The next day, May 24, the jury voted for an indictment. Meanwhile, Frank's legal team suggested t…

Background

In the early 20th century, Atlanta, Georgia's capital city, underwent significant economic and social change. To serve a growing economy based on manufacturing and commerce, many people left the countryside to relocate in Atlanta. Men from the traditional and paternalistic rural society felt it degrading that women were moving to the city to work in factories.
During this era, Atlanta's rabbis and Jewish community leaders helped to resolve animosity towa…

Murder of Mary Phagan

Mary Phagan was born on June 1, 1899, into an established Georgia family of tenant farmers. Her father died before she was born. Shortly after Mary's birth, her mother, Frances Phagan, moved the family back to their hometown of Marietta, Georgia. During or after 1907, they again relocated to East Point, Georgia, in southwest Atlanta, where Frances opened a boarding house. Mar…

Appeals

Under Georgia law at the time, appeals of death penalty cases had to be based on errors of law, not a re-evaluation of the evidence presented at trial. The appeals process began with a reconsideration by the original trial judge. The defense presented a written appeal alleging 115 procedural problems. These included claims of jury prejudice, intimidation of the jury by the crowds outside the courthouse, the admission of Conley's testimony concerning Frank's alleged …

Commutation of sentence

On April 22, 1915, an application for a commutation of Frank's death sentence was submitted to a three-person Prison Commission in Georgia; it was rejected on June 9 by a vote of 2–1. The dissenter indicated that he felt it was wrong to execute a man "on the testimony of an accomplice, when the circumstances of the crime tend to fix the guilt upon the accomplice." The application then pass…

Antisemitism and media coverage

The sensationalism in the press started before the trial and continued throughout the trial, the appeals process, the commutation decision, and beyond. At the time, local papers were the dominant source of information, but they were not entirely anti-Frank. The Constitution alone assumed Frank's guilt, while both the Georgian and the Journal would later comment about the publi…

Abduction and lynching of Frank

The June 21, 1915 commutation provoked Tom Watson into advocating Frank's lynching. He wrote in The Jeffersonian and Watson's Magazine: "This country has nothing to fear from its rural communities. Lynch law is a good sign; it shows that a sense of justice lives among the people." A group of prominent men organized themselves into the "Vigilance Committee" and openly planned …