Railroaded!
There are two decent films based on the Majczek and Marcinkiewicz case, Railroaded! and the better known Call Northside 777. The real-life case revolved around a miscarriage of justice resulting in two young men being sentenced to 99 years in jail for the murder of a cop. The Majczek and Marcinkiewicz case scandalised the mid-1940s and shook the public’s faith in the justice system. But the fact that the two men got 99 years rather than the electric chair – the normal tariff for cop killers – suggests the trial judge knew something wasn’t right about the men’s conviction. It took 11 years, a lot of digging by a Chicago Times reporter and a … Read more