CJ 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 58: Pullman Company, Clarence Darrow, American Railway Union
Introducing the Defense Attorneys
“Do I need to argue to your honor that cruelty only breeds cruelty; that hatred only causes hatred;
that if there is any way to soften this human heart, which is hard enough at its best … it is not
through evil and hatred and cruelty? It is through charity, love and understanding.” With these
words, Clarence Darrow pleaded with a judge to spare the lives of two murderers in one of the
most famous trials in U.S. history. Darrow used psychiatric evidence to argue that 19‐year‐old
Nathan Leopold and 18‐year‐old Richard Loeb were mentally ill. His goal was to keep the
youths from receiving the death sentence, which Darrow strongly opposed. Darrow took three
days (August 22–25) in 1924 to scorn the idea of capital punishment. He argued that the death
penalty did not deter murderers and urged the court to have mercy on his clients. Leopold and
Loeb each received a sentence of life imprisonment plus 99 years.
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) was the most famous American lawyer of the early
1900s. Clever and eloquent, he earned a worldwide reputation as a criminal defense
attorney and was an advocate in the true sense of the word.
He shot to fame in 1894 when he defended the American Socialist leader Eugene Debs,
president of the American Railway Union, who had been arrested on a federal charge of
contempt of court arising from a strike against the Chicago Pullman Palace Car
Company. Although Darrow lost the case, he won a reputation as a champion of radical
causes. By the time of the Leopold and Loeb trial in 1924, Darrow had already applied
his skill to saving 102 people from the death penalty.
The following year, Darrow defended the right of a biology teacher to teach Darwin's
theory of evolution in public school. The so called monkey trial attracted national ‐
attention because of the participation of two celebrities, William Jennings Bryan and
Darrow. Bryan, an unsuccessful candidate for president of the United States three
times, was the prosecutor. Darrow framed the case in terms of a broad tolerance of new
ideas in education: “If today you can take a thing like evolution and make a crime to
teach it in the public school, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private
school. … At the next session you may ban books and the newspapers.” Darrow
outdueled Bryan but lost the case. Nevertheless, Darrow's powerful advocacy of the
cause of academic freedom helped to stem the tide of religious intolerance in the mid‐
1920s.
The Adversary Justice System
The best way to discover the truth, according to the adversary model of criminal justice, is by
having an advocate for the prosecution and for the defense. Each advocate has the
responsibility for presenting the facts from a partisan point of view. This system is supposed to
maximize the chances that all the relevant facts and arguments will be placed before a fact‐
finder.
An important difference between the prosecution and the defense is that the prosecutor
plays the double role of government lawyer and government representative, whereas
the defense attorney acts primarily as the protector of the defendant's interests. These
role differences produce divergent ethical responsibilities. As a matter of fundamental
fairness, a prosecutor is obligated to turn over factual evidence that is favorable to the
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Document Summary
It is through charity, love and understanding. with these words, clarence darrow pleaded with a judge to spare the lives of two murderers in one of the most famous trials in u. s. history. Darrow used psychiatric evidence to argue that 19 year old. Nathan leopold and 18 year old richard loeb were mentally ill. his goal was to keep the youths from receiving the death sentence, which darrow strongly opposed. Darrow took three days (august 22 25) in 1924 to scorn the idea of capital punishment. He argued that the death penalty did not deter murderers and urged the court to have mercy on his clients. Loeb each received a sentence of life imprisonment plus 99 years. Clarence darrow (1857 1938) was the most famous american lawyer of the early. Clever and eloquent, he earned a worldwide reputation as a criminal defense attorney and was an advocate in the true sense of the word.
