Jewish Lawyers and Jurists Ask Georgia State Legislature to Adopt a Law Exonerating Leo Frank

The American Section of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists is calling on the Georgia State Legislature to adopt a law exonerating Leo Frank, a young Jew who was lynched by a mob in Milledgeville, Ga. in 1915, two years after his unjust conviction for the murder of a young woman, Mary Phagan.

The resolution, addressed to the Georgia lawmakers, called on them to override the decision of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on December 22, 1983 to refuse to grant Frank a posthumous pardon on grounds that his innocence could not now be proved.

By so doing, "the state compounded its early transgressions, " the resolution stated, pointing out that in the American system of justice, a defendent is presumed innocent until proved guilty in a "fair trial."

‘COULD NOT HAVE BEEN A FAIR TRIAL’

Inasmuch as the "atmosphere" at Frank’s 1913 trial was "charged with prejudice in hysteria" it "could not have been a fair trial," the resolution stated.

It noted that "in Atlanta, Ga. on February 10, 1984, the Black-Jewish Coalition … of which Atlanta City Councilman John R. Lewis is the cochairman and Georgia State Senator Julian Bond is one of 37 members, declared: ‘… In order to refuse the application for a posthumous pardon the State Board of Pardons and Paroles had to invent a new standard of proof … requiring that Frank’s innocence be proved "beyond any doubt’ instead of beyond ‘a reasonable doubt’."

The resolution noted further that the Board of Pardons took its decision despite the fact that "the trial judge himself, Leonard S. Roan, is on record as having stated his belief in the innocence of Leo Frank" and "William M. Smith, lawyer for the chief prosecution witness, is on record as having informed Judge Roan that in his opinion, Leo Frank was innocent."

The resolution was adopted at the annual meeting of the American Section here last Sunday. It stated: "The American Section, consisting of 760 members of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, appeals to both houses of the Georgia State Legislature at their next session to pass legislation that would exonerate Leo Frank of the charge of having murdered Mary Phagan, thus belatedly restoring his good name and thereby removing from the State of Georgia the stain of having been a party to the gross injustice done to Leo Frank."

The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists was established in Jerusalem in 1969. French Nobel Laureate Rene Cassin was named honorary president and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg was elected president.