Caricature vs. Clarence Darrow

David Carlson’s The Hunting Accident provides a gripping take on the infamous Leopold-Loeb case.  In 1924, two students at the University of Chicago abducted and murdered a 14-year-old boy for kicks.  They were caught, but Loeb’s rich family hired the nation’s most famous lawyer, Clarence Darrow, to defend him.*  Darrow opted for a bench trial, and delivered a now-legendary multi-day speech that convinced the trial judge not to execute the sadistic duo.

When I actually read Darrow’s statemen...