Robert Franks

…who kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks for what they called an “intellectual” thrill. The case, widely dubbed “the crime of the century,” gripped the public with its gruesome details and privileged defendants. A fierce opponent of capital punishment, Darrow did not aim to exonerate the pair—who had confessed to…

…kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Robert (Bobby) Franks for an “intellectual” thrill. Pleading guilty, the men were defended in a bench trial by famed lawyer Clarence Darrow, who secured them life imprisonment rather than execution. Dubbed “the crime of the century,” by contemporaries and scholars, the trial dominated the news…