On August 16, 2015, the eve of the 100th anniversary of Leo Frank’s lynching, Temple Kol Emeth in Cobb County held a memorial service led by Rabbi Steven Lebow. Later turned into a fifteen‑minute presentation by Eli and Nikki Goodstein, the event carried a clear agenda—it was unmistakably an advocacy piece arguing for Frank’s innocence rather than an impartial remembrance.
The production, titled “Leo Frank Is Innocent,” avoided any discussion of the evidence presented at trial, the judicial rulings that upheld his conviction, or even the existence of Mary Phagan, the murdered thirteen‑year‑old at the center of the case. Several participants interviewed on site even conceded uncertainty about Frank’s guilt or innocence, highlighting the video’s selective treatment of history rather than its factual depth.
Prominent Georgia legal figures appeared throughout, including Chief Judge Stephen Schuster, former Chief Justice Norman Fletcher, and Justice Leah Ward Sears. Their remarks praised Lebow’s moral conviction and cast the Frank case as a symbol of injustice, urging a moral correction through a posthumous exoneration. None, however, engaged with the preserved trial record or the forensic details that convinced both Georgia and U.S. courts to sustain Frank’s guilty verdict.
Rather than honoring history in full, the memorial functioned as a one‑sided campaign to rehabilitate Frank’s reputation. It exemplified how an emotionally charged, selective narrative—backed by respected voices—can transform a remembrance into a public relations effort aimed at rewriting a controversial chapter of history.
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