What “REALLY” happened to Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr.?

Patience Smith
Intro to CJ System
CJ101-02
Prof. Dan Bilodeau

On June 22, 1930, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was born to the infamous “Lucky Lindy” and his wife, Anne. When he was a mere 20 months old, he was kidnapped from his crib in the house where parents and staff were in the house beneath him. The kidnapping occurred from a second story window in a rainstorm where no one heard a thing! Here in lie the questions that we will discuss in this paper. The police suspected an inside job from the beginning. Whomever carried out the abduction knew the whereabouts of the nursery and the parent’s plans for the particular evening in questions. With the residence being in …show more content…

Attorney General Wilentz had many times tried to persuade witness testimonies. Both of the witnesses that placed Hauptmann at or near the scene of the crime were discredited and paid very nicely for their time. One witness that was called was partially blind but the jury was not told of this. There were people that confirmed the whereabouts of Bruno Hauptmann at the exact time of the kidnapping but were later threatened with arrest and given an offer of money to change their testimony. The Attorney General demanded the death penalty calling Hauptmann “a fellow that had ice water in his veins, not blood…an animal lower than the lowest form in the animal kingdom, Public Enemy Number One of this world…no heart, no soul.” (www.lindberghkidnap.proboards.com) During the summation, Wilentz violated jurisprudence by introducing new arguments. He stated that the defendant used a chisel to bludgeon the child in the nursery, but there were no signs of blood in the nursery. The judge continually gave the Attorney General leeway with the trial. When the jury deliberated, there was a mob around the courthouse. The mob was chanting to “kill Hauptmann”. Some jurors probably feared for their lives if they didn’t come back with the correct verdict.
In another grotesque twist of fate, Hauptmann was told that if he didn’t confess to the kidnapping, the death sentence that he was going to be handed down, would be changed to life in prison. Bruno Hauptmann was