[Crowd outside Courthouse Building during Leopold and Loeb Trial]

The trial of Nathan Leopold (1904-1971) and Richard Loeb (1905-1936), at Chicago's Courthouse Place, was a media spectacle drawing hundreds of spectators every day. Loeb’s family hired famed attorney Clarence Darrow, one of the most renowned criminal defense lawyers in the country and a staunch opponent of capital punishment. Darrow’s passionate twelve-hour plea at the conclusion of the hearing has been called the finest speech of his career and is often referred to as a masterful narration against the death penalty.