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The Buried Bodies Case

In 1973, a massive manhunt in New York's Adirondack Mountains ended when police captured a man named Robert Garrow.  And that’s when this story really gets started.   This episode we consider a string of barbaric crimes by a hated man, and the attorney who, when called to defend him, also wound up defending a core principle of our legal system.  When Frank Armani learned his client’s most gruesome secrets, he made a morally startling decision that stunned the world and goes to the heart of what it means to be a defense attorney - how far should lawyers go to provide the best defense to the worst people? NOTE: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault and violence. Produced by Matt Kielty and Brenna Farrell. Reported by Brenna Farrell. Special thanks to Tom Alibrandi, author of Privileged Information, with Frank Armani, Laurence Gooley, author of Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow, Charl Bader and the students in her Criminal Defense Clinic at Fordham University, Leslie Levin and the students in her Legal Profession class at The University of Connecticut School of Law, Clark D. Cunningham at Georgia State University College of Law, Debra Armani, Mary Armani, Lohr McKinstry, Tom Scozzafava, Stephanie Jenkins, Brian Farrell, Jennifer Brumback and Nick Capodice.   
Duration
50m
Broadcast on
03 Jun 2016
Audio Format
other

In 1973, a massive manhunt in New York's Adirondack Mountains ended when police captured a man named Robert Garrow.  And that’s when this story really gets started.
 
This episode we consider a string of barbaric crimes by a hated man, and the attorney who, when called to defend him, also wound up defending a core principle of our legal system.  When Frank Armani learned his client’s most gruesome secrets, he made a morally startling decision that stunned the world and goes to the heart of what it means to be a defense attorney - how far should lawyers go to provide the best defense to the worst people?

NOTE: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault and violence.

Produced by Matt Kielty and Brenna Farrell. Reported by Brenna Farrell.

Special thanks to Tom Alibrandi, author of Privileged Information, with Frank Armani, Laurence Gooley, author of Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow, Charl Bader and the students in her Criminal Defense Clinic at Fordham University, Leslie Levin and the students in her Legal Profession class at The University of Connecticut School of Law, Clark D. Cunningham at Georgia State University College of Law, Debra Armani, Mary Armani, Lohr McKinstry, Tom Scozzafava, Stephanie Jenkins, Brian Farrell, Jennifer Brumback and Nick Capodice. 

 


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RIDILEB is supported by AT&T. We all love to connect via video calls or texts. Right now, at AT&T, you can get the new iPhone 18 Pro for $0 with iPhone trade-in. Any condition. It has the ultimate pro camera system and big leap in battery life, so you can turn this deal into a long-lasting connection. Learn how you can trade in your iPhone for the new iPhone 18 Pro requires trade-in of iPhone 14 or higher, excluding iPhone 16E, an eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply, subject to change, visit an AT&T store for details. 32 on Hey, I'm Chad Abumraw. I'm Robert Krollwich. This is Radio Lab, and today we have a legal case. Well, it's actually, it's really more than just a legal case. This case, it's what my husband and I refer to as a mental magnet. Once you start thinking about it, it won't go away. It gets under your skin. This is Lisa Lerman. I'm a law professor at Catholic University. At the Columbus School of Law, where she teaches legal ethics, and she sat down not too long ago with me and our producer, Brenna Farrell, who brought us this story, and under whose skin, it also seems to have gotten. It just made me not know whether to side with my head or my heart. And let me just jump in and say, this episode contains some violence and explicit imagery in it. So, if you're listening with kids, you just know that going in and you might want to skip this one. So, to get the story started, Jim Tracy. My name's Jim Tracy, and I'm an award-winning journalist. Former newspaper guy. For the poster in Glenn's Falls. He's been reporting on this story since about 2000. He's interviewed hundreds of people. And I think the reason he's been so focused on it is that it's pretty close to home for him. I live in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Which is where this story begins. So, Saturday night, July 28, 1973, four young people, ages 18 to 23, three men and a woman go camping in the Adirondacks. Pulled off the road, a side road off Route 30. They made up a makeshift campsite, a grass clearing. They set up two tents and went to sleep for the night. And then Sunday, they, you know, woke up and about 9 a.m. To the campers. I heard somebody walking outside their tent, and all of a sudden, they heard the zipper on the tent go up. And what they saw was this middle-aged man peering into the tent. Who looked like a conservation officer. He had a fedora with a feather on it, sunglasses, a rifle, he had a buck knife, binoculars around his neck, and very calmly, he told them almost politely to step out of their tent, which they did.

Transcription truncated.

In 1973, a massive manhunt in New York's Adirondack Mountains ended when police captured a man named Robert Garrow.  And that’s when this story really gets started.   This episode we consider a string of barbaric crimes by a hated man, and the attorney who, when called to defend him, also wound up defending a core principle of our legal system.  When Frank Armani learned his client’s most gruesome secrets, he made a morally startling decision that stunned the world and goes to the heart of what it means to be a defense attorney - how far should lawyers go to provide the best defense to the worst people? NOTE: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault and violence. Produced by Matt Kielty and Brenna Farrell. Reported by Brenna Farrell. Special thanks to Tom Alibrandi, author of Privileged Information, with Frank Armani, Laurence Gooley, author of Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow, Charl Bader and the students in her Criminal Defense Clinic at Fordham University, Leslie Levin and the students in her Legal Profession class at The University of Connecticut School of Law, Clark D. Cunningham at Georgia State University College of Law, Debra Armani, Mary Armani, Lohr McKinstry, Tom Scozzafava, Stephanie Jenkins, Brian Farrell, Jennifer Brumback and Nick Capodice.