Legal Career
As a law student, Gertz had been inspired by Clarence Darrow's famous argument against the death penalty in the Leopold-Loeb trial. He himself achieved national fame when he won parole for Nathan Leopold, the surviving half of the infamous thrill-killing duo, in 1958. He made a point of walking out of the prison gates with his client.
He and Miller became good friends after he persuaded a court to lift the ban on Tropic of Cancer, a decision the Supreme Court upheld in 1964's Grove Press, Inc., v. Gerstein.
In the mid-1960s, Gertz emulated his legal inspiration, Clarence Darrow, when he argued against the death sentence handed down to Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald. It was overturned, and Ruby, who was terminally ill, served the remaining few years of his life in prison.
In addition to his law practice, he was an adjunct professor teaching Civil Rights Law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.
Read more about this topic: Elmer Gertz
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