Homer and Harold

December 20, 2016 9:42 AM

In 1924, Connecticut prosecutor Homer Cummings saved accused murderer Harold Israel from a death sentence. Their shared story didn't end there.
posted by mudpuppie (17 comments total)

Note: This is a feel-good story at a time when we need more of them.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:42 AM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Nice to see that there is at least one state's attorney whose interest is in seeing justice done, rather than getting re-elected. The bad guys get all the press. (My dad and uncle are both good attorneys.)
posted by corvikate at 10:33 AM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

The movie, Boomerang, is worth seeing even now that you know the ending.
posted by ubiquity at 11:04 AM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is absolutely amazing. Thank you!
posted by Slinga at 11:04 AM on December 20, 2016

Well, that's marvelous.
posted by suelac at 11:44 AM on December 20, 2016

Cummings is a stone cold badass.

"My dear Mr. Attorney General: We have read with interest the Associated Press dispatch of December 21 that you ordered the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice to find a cloak which Mrs. Campbell Pritchett lost at a party given by you and Mrs. Cummings. Has the Bureau found Mrs. Pritchett’s cloak yet? If so, may we inquire if it would be possible for you to assign the operatives thus freed by completion of that job to investigate the interstate kidnapping and subsequent lynching of Claude Neal …"

posted by corb at 12:04 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Corb, don't disagree, but the badass in that letter is the NCAAP official who wrote it. Deep sarcasm from the moral high ground, AAAAAA++++++
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:21 PM on December 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

Yeah, the badass in questions is Walter White of the NAACP. And considering he's a black man who would pass for white to go undercover with the Klan, that letter is one of the less badass things he's done.
posted by Myca at 12:27 PM on December 20, 2016 [8 favorites]

Whoops! Apologies for getting the badass in question wrong! But holy hellllll, that's crazy ballsy.
posted by corb at 12:29 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I know, right? It bums me out to much that nowadays everyone thinks of the meth guy when you say Walter White.
posted by Myca at 12:42 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

Walter White had brass ones.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:58 PM on December 20, 2016

Yeah, this Walter White was a real guy. Breaking Bad is a great series, but I think real life people are always going to be more impressive than fictional ones.

As for Mr. Cummings and Mr. Israel, I agree with Slinga that this story is absolutely amazing! Both that Cummings went out of his way to do the right thing, and that they kept in touch afterwards and had such a close relationship. And it's fascinating how someone like Cummings has been (according to the article) mostly dismissed by historians as a minor figure, but when you really look at his life it has all the drama and moral rectitude of a fine work of literature. Clearly the man had depths to him.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:11 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

The Marshall Project does good work and deserves everyone's cashbucks.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:51 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I needed this story. Thank you.
posted by branravenraven at 5:39 PM on December 20, 2016

His name is also on an award, given to a Connecticut prosecutor who exemplifies Cummings’s principles. Kevin Kane, Connecticut’s chief state’s attorney, says the award helps “make sure that we don’t forget what our role is” — to do justice and to represent all the people.

Good on you, Connecticut.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:16 PM on December 20, 2016

I went to High School in Stamford, and spent significant time in Cummings Park, usually doing things that Homer would not have approved of. I had no idea. Amazing guy, great story.
posted by Vcholerae at 7:18 AM on December 21, 2016

This story gives me warm fuzzies about my state, thank you for sharing.
posted by spinturtle at 8:49 AM on December 21, 2016