Page:The plea of Clarence Darrow, August 22nd, 23rd & 25th, MCMXXIII, in defense of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr., on trial for murder.djvu/31

 needs nothing but a bare recitation of these facts, and a fair consideration of them, to convince any human being that this act was the act of diseased brains.

The state, in their usual effort to magnify and distort, to force every construction against the defendants, have spoken about this act having its inception in their going to Ann Arbor to steal a typewriter six months before.

This is on a plane par with their statement that this crime was committed for the purpose of getting ten thousand dollars.

What is the evidenced?

The getting of the typewriter in Ann Arbor had nothing to do with this offense; not the slightest. The evidence in this case shows that they went to Ann Arbor on the 12th day of November. This act was committed on the 21st day of May.

They went to Ann Arbor one night, after the football game, drove through in the night time. Nobody knew they were going and nobody knew they had been there. They knew the next morning that somebody had been there, because they missed things.

They went there, under the evidence in this case, purely to steal something from the fraternity house. I will explain the reason for that further on. Among the rest of the things that they took was the typewriter on which these ransom letters were written.

And yet the State with its fertile imagination says:

"Aha, these wonderful planners." Who Dr. Krohn has told you showed such great knowledge, such active brain, such consistent action, such plans and such schemes that they must be sane. And yet a three-year-old child would not have done any of it.

These wonderful planners foresaw that six months later they were going to write a ransom letter to