This AI-generated video examines Newt Lee’s testimony as the third witness in the Leo Frank trial on July 28, 1913, at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta, Georgia. Lee, a night watchman at the National Pencil Company, testified that on April 26, 2013, Leo Frank instructed him to arrive at 4:00 PM, earlier than usual, and sent him away until 6:00 PM, an unusual break. Lee noted Frank’s nervous demeanor—rubbing his hands, fumbling with the time clock, and showing fear when J.M. Gantt appeared. Frank’s call to Lee that night was unprecedented, suggesting guilt. Lee discovered Mary Phagan’s body in the basement at 3:00 AM, raped and strangled, directly implicating Frank, who had the opportunity to commit the murder. Lee’s testimony about the locked double doors, which Frank controlled, supported the prosecution’s case that Frank killed Phagan during Lee’s absence. The trial, per the Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence, ended with Frank’s conviction, his 2015 lynching, and the ADL’s founding. As of May 26, 2025, at 08:45 PM EDT, debates persist, with the Georgia Innocence Project seeking exoneration, opposed by Phagan’s family. X discussions highlight this divide, with some citing Alonzo Mann’s 1982 affidavit, while others affirm Frank’s guilt.
