396. Leo Frank and the Murder of Mary Phagan Part 3
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What were the key events leading up to Leo Frank’s conviction and death sentence?
The moment a body is found, the clock starts ticking. Forty-eight hours before the trail goes cold. From AE and Crime House, this is the official podcast from the famous true crime series, The First 48. I'm Carter Roy. Every Thursday I revisit a landmark homicide investigation in depth with long-form storytelling built for your ears. Listen to and follow the first 48 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
I'm Brett.
And I'm Alice.
And we are the prosecutors.
Today on The Prosecutors, we finish our look at the Leo Frank case.
Hello everybody and welcome to this episode of The Prosecutors. I'm Brett, and I'm joined as always by my sagacious co-host, Alice.
Is that like suggestive with an accent?
No, it's it means like Sage like.
Oh, s I think that is the only way to pronounce it. I
don't really know how else you do it. I
actually just got a bundle of sage in my farm box. My CS I don't know what CSA stands for, but other people know what that means. And so Sage is on my mind. Sagacious. I might start using that word.
Sagacious. I don't know if people actually say that anymore. Somebody sent it to me, so I was like, why not?
I am sageful because I have a bunch of sage on my kitchen counter right now.
Okay. Here's something interesting.
Tell me about it.
I Googled it because I wanted to know the actual definition, which is exactly what you would expect it to be, someone with who has keen mental discernment, good judgment, and deep insight. But it is not etymologically related to the word sage. Interesting. Yeah. It actually derives from the Latin word sagiri, which means to perceive keenly.
But isn't the English word sage probably based on the Latin?
I mean I'm just telling you what Etymologically it would
make sense that sage in the English is also derived from the Latin.
Well now we're down, we're going with it. We're down a
rabbit hole. Let's figure out what's going on.
So Sage. One distinguished for wisdom. Let's see if there's an etymology for
Nope, the Latin term is sapiens. No, no, that's a wise person. Hold on. Let's see. Salvia is the actual herb.
How did Leo Frank’s legal team secure a stay of execution and file appeals in 1913‑1914?
Let's see.
I have not found. One who is sage. Wise. Now we're just down a
rabbit hole. Okay, let's see.
Sapere. is what I'm finding for the Latin verb for the English word sage.
That's interesting. Which means to taste or to know. Huh.
I like that knowledge has to do with tasting.
Knowing how something tasted showed you had good judgment. Over time this led to the old French word sage, meaning a smart or learned person. So someone who likes to
eat is sage. I love it. I actually am gonna adopt that. I'm gonna go Sagacious. I was gonna say I'm gonna go be sagacious with all the ice cream in my freezer.
Exactly.
All right. But anyways, I wonder how we get to three episodes on a case when this is what we do for the first time.
It's because we turn our wisdom and discernment to those cases to really dig deep and find out what happened. And that's what we're going to do today as we wrap up.
And maybe the core of this case has to do With the digestion of cabbage which was eaten. There you go. There
you go. Look at that. Look at that. Alice always brings it back around. So with that, we've been talking about the Leo Frank case. Very controversial case. We got to the end of the trial last week when Leo Frank was convicted for the murder of Mary Fagan. So obviously you should listen to the first two episodes to get some background on that. Because at this point, he has now been sentenced. To hang with an execution date of October 10th, 1913. So on August 27th, 1913, his defense files an appeal and his execution was stayed. Now, this was the kind of thing that didn't always happen back then. Frankly, most people, one of the reasons that executions were carried out so quickly in the past is you weren't guaranteed a lawyer or a paid-for lawyer, as you know, and you weren't.
They didn't waive filing fees for you. And so if you couldn't afford to appeal a case, you just didn't appeal. And the sentence was carried out. So this was somewhat unusual, not unusual, but obviously there were a lot of people very interested in Leo Frank's case.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What were the key events leading up to Leo Frank’s conviction and death sentence?
0:01–3:20
2
How did Leo Frank’s legal team secure a stay of execution and file appeals in 1913‑1914?
3:20–7:12
3
Why did the Georgia Supreme Court deny a new trial and what was the dissenting opinion?
7:12–14:02
4
What prompted Governor John Slayton to commute Leo Frank’s sentence to life imprisonment?
14:02–20:14
5
How was Leo Frank rescued from prison and what led to his murder by the mob in August 1915?
20:14–28:53
6
What were the immediate and long‑term consequences of the lynching for Georgia and the nation?
28:53–38:54
7
How did the Leo Frank case influence the formation of the ADL, NAACP, and modern civil‑rights movements?
38:54–51:11
8
What lessons does the Leo Frank case offer for today’s legal system and mob mentality?
51:11–1:20:20
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Prosecutors
Prosecutors After Dark: Costco
394. Leo Frank and the Murder of Mary Phagan Part 2
393. The Lindsay Clancy Trial Part 20
392. Leo Frank and the Murder of Mary Phagan Part 1 of 3 -- The Devil Went Down to Georgia
391. The Lindsay Clancy Trial Part 19 -- Jury Madness
390. The Lindsay Clancy Trial Part 18 -- Verdict or Hung Jury