The People v. Leo Frank, the 100 year old true crime trial is the subject of a new and powerful PBS Documentary. On April 27, 1913, the body of 13-year old Mary Phagan was found by the janitor at the Atlanta pencil factory where she worked. She had been beaten, strangled and possibly raped. Although there were other suspects, Leo Frank, a Jew from Brooklyn, was the prosecutor's prime suspect. The sensational trial lasted a month. It's pretty much agreed that Frank had not received a fair trial. His sentence was commuted from death to life in prison. However, an elite group of Georgians including a sitting judge and the former governor, made plans of their own. They went to the state penitentiary and without firing a shot, abducted Frank, took him back to Marietta and lynched him. Frank's hanging helped inspire the founding of the Anti-Defamation League and provoked more than 3,000 Jews to flee the state. Leo Frank was posthumously pardoned for the murder of Mary Phagan by the state of Georgia in 1986.
The PBS Documentary of this infamous trial and lynching is airing on some PBS channels now. For more information, go HERE. Watch the Trailer HERE. For articles about this travesty in American History and Justice, go HERE and scroll down.
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