Paul Crump
Encyclopedia
Paul Crump was a former death row inmate who gained international notoriety and parole after writing the novel Burn, Killer, Burn.
took on his case and the sentence was commuted to 199 years by Gov. Otto Kerner
. He was paroled in 1993.
He returned to prison after being convicted of harassing a family member and violating an order of protection.
produced and directed a documentary for television in 1962, titled The People vs. Paul Crump when Crump had been on death row for nine years. The program was not aired, due to content regarded as controversial. Nizer's involvement with attorney Donald Moore in the legal battle to have Crump's death sentence commuted was the subject of Robert Drew
's 1963 documentary The Chair.
wrote a song that chronicled Crump's life, entitled "Paul Crump". It appears on Ochs' album The Early Years.
Crimes and Prison Sentences
Crump served 39 years in prison for killing a security guard in the armed robbery of a Chicago meatpacking plant in 1953. His four accomplices received prison sentences, but Crump was sentenced to die in the electric chair and had fifteen execution dates before Louis NizerLouis Nizer
Louis Nizer was a noted Jewish-American trial lawyer and senior partner of the law firm Phillips Nizer Benjamin Krim & Ballon...
took on his case and the sentence was commuted to 199 years by Gov. Otto Kerner
Otto Kerner, Jr.
Otto Kerner, Jr. was the 33rd Governor of Illinois from 1961 to 1968. He is best known for chairing the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and for accepting bribes....
. He was paroled in 1993.
He returned to prison after being convicted of harassing a family member and violating an order of protection.
Book
His novel is autobiographical and was published in 1962. It is about a murderer who commits suicide rather than be executed.Documentaries
William FriedkinWilliam Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
produced and directed a documentary for television in 1962, titled The People vs. Paul Crump when Crump had been on death row for nine years. The program was not aired, due to content regarded as controversial. Nizer's involvement with attorney Donald Moore in the legal battle to have Crump's death sentence commuted was the subject of Robert Drew
Robert Drew
Robert Lincoln Drew is an American documentary filmmaker known as a pioneer of cinéma vérité, or direct cinema, in the United States....
's 1963 documentary The Chair.
In Song
Folksinger Phil OchsPhil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
wrote a song that chronicled Crump's life, entitled "Paul Crump". It appears on Ochs' album The Early Years.