In October of the year nineteen hundred and eighty-two, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles was presented with a formal entreaty for the posthumous absolution of Leo Frank. This supplication was tendered by a consortium comprising the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Commission, and the Atlanta Jewish League, presided over by a coterie of legal practitioners under the stewardship of Dale N. Schwartz, an eminent immigration barrister from Atlanta. The Chamber of Commerce aspires to scrutinize this matter with scant external influence and minimal public exposition, whilst the claimants have been assiduously laboring to submit a petition for clemency ever since Alonzo Mann proffered his deposition. Dale Schwartz has vociferously proclaimed that the quintessential pursuit in seeking Leo Frank’s exoneration is to effectuate an official repudiation of anti-Semitism and intolerance, thereby expunging a conspicuous blemish from Georgia’s historical annals. The proponents of this cause are advocating for clemency predicated upon supplementary juridical considerations, rather than contesting the legitimacy of Leo Frank’s judicial proceedings and subsequent conviction. An official from the Anti-Defamation League subsequently elucidated that this endeavor transcended the mere rectification of an individual’s fate, extending beyond the singular instance of Leo Frank.
The Atlanta Black Jewish Coalition has asserted the imperative to seize this juncture, culminating their petition with the biblical injunction, “Judgment and justice ye shall pursue.” Critics have reproached this initiative for ostensibly diminishing potential affronts to the African American populace, disavowing prejudice against both blacks and Jews, and mirroring Georgia’s historical ethos as it pertains to the personal identity and regional dignity of Georgians in their quest for equity. Attorney Edgar Neely contended that the Georgian judicial apparatus of nineteen hundred and thirteen besmirched the repute of its legal fraternity at large, and particularly impugned the counsel representing Frank. The vanguard of this clemency campaign responded comprehensively, delineating the emergent testimony of Alonzo Mann. Mobley Hall, then chairman of the Amnesty and Parole Board, meticulously evaluated Mr. Neely’s assertions.
Four juridical avenues existed for Leo Frank’s acquittal: a gubernatorial proclamation of innocence, a legislative decree from the Georgia House of Representatives and/or Senate affirming his non-culpability, an impromptu motion for retrial and pardon via the Georgia Commission protocol, and finally, gubernatorial clemency accompanied by resonant maxims. Governor Joseph Harris, District Attorney Louis Slayton, and the Georgia Senate collectively expressed approbation for endeavors to absolve Leo Frank, advocating that the Board of Pardons and Paroles pursue such a course. The petitioners began to perceive that a pardon would optimally fulfill the ulterior legal o
