"Boomerang" is a movie made in 1947 by director Elia Kazan that offers an unusual perspective on the American criminal justice system. Instead of trying to prove that the defendant in a murder case is guilty, the prosecutor goes out of his way to prove to the court that the defendant is innocent. Highly unusual to say the least, and not something we come to expect from a criminal justice system that is based on an adversarial relationship between prosecutors and defense lawyers, and a system that heavily favors those defendants with the money, resources and political connections to afford the best lawyers while the poor receive only nominal representation that almost always results in a guilty verdict or, at best, a plea deal that satisfies the prosecutor. What's even more remarkable is that "Boomerang" is based on a true story which took place in 1924.
A priest is shot dead on a street at night in a Connecticut city. Although there are several witnesses to the shooting, none of them can provide positive identification. The killer gets away, and the police are clueless in finding him. Since the victim was well-known and very popular in the community, the failure of police to apprehend a suspect becomes a political issue and intense pressure is brought to bear on the mayor, police commissioner and police chief to resolve the case as quickly as possible. After a massive nationwide manhunt a homeless veteran who fit the description provided by witnesses and possessed a handgun matching the one used in the crime is apprehended. He is interrogated for two days by police until, deprived of sleep, he confesses.
The prosecuting State's Attorney initially believes he has an overwhelming case against the defendant, and everybody in the community including the police chief, mayor and other city officials, newspapers and residents alike assume a conviction will be quickly obtained. However, after examining the evidence more thoroughly, the prosecutor concludes the case against the defendant may not be as overwhelming as he first thought. The testimony from witnesses is inconsistent and contradictory, while ballistic tests on the gun were inconclusive. The defendant also insists that his confession was coerced, mainly because he was deprived of sleep for two days.
At a preliminary hearing the prosecutor lays out a prima facie case against the defendant before a judge. However, in a highly unusual presentation, the prosecutor subsequently assumes the role of defense attorney and lays out the flaws in the case before the judge who later dismisses the charges and the defendant is set free. The movie concludes with the prosecutor escorting the accused out of the courthouse as a free man, with a narrator explaining that though this is based on a true story fictitious names were used. However the narrator goes on to mention the real name of the prosecutor in the case on which this story was based, Homer Cummings, who several years later became Attorney General of the United States.
The name of the city in Connecticut is never mentioned, though it is Bridgeport and the movie was filmed in Stamford. Another difference is the movie version takes place after World War Two, and the defendant is a homeless World War Two veteran. The actual case took place in 1924 and the accused was a homeless World War One veteran named Harold Israel. The case gained nationwide attention, and in 1931 the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement released a report that criticized police interrogation methods and specifically cited the coerced confession of Harold Israel as an example.
Homer Cummings was politically active in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party for many years prior to the Bridgeport murder. He ran for Congress three times but lost by narrow margins, and in 1919-1921 served as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. However, partly as the result of his handling of the Harold Israel case (which was never solved), his political career was pretty much over after 1924.
Circumstances changed in 1932 with the election of Franklin Roosevelt and a Democratic takeover of Congress. All was forgiven (or perhaps forgotten) in the Harold Israel case, and because of his long-time service as a leader in the Democratic Party and his help in getting the nomination for Roosevelt, Homer Cummings was offered the post of Attorney General in the new administration. After six years in that post he became the second-longest serving Attorney General in US history.
As Attorney General Cummings was responsible for protecting Roosevelt's New Deal policies from legal challenges. He successfully enabled Roosevelt to use his executive authority to regulate banks and monetary policy. However, he could not prevent reactionary judges on the Supreme Court from overturning some of the most significant New Deal programs such as the National Industrial Recovery Act and Agricultural Adjustment Act. To overcome reactionary resistance to the New Deal, Cummings devised a plan which would enable Roosevelt to appoint six additional judges to the Supreme Court and would tilt the Court to upholding the progressive policies of his administration. The scheme backfired when many Congressional Democrats, as well as Republicans, opposed the measure for infringing on the independence of the Judicial branch of government.
Somewhat ironically the director of Boomerang, Elia Kazan, became embroiled in political controversy a few years after the movie when he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Kazan admitted to his former membership in the Communist Party during the 1930s, but in addition to that he named names of other party members he worked with including those in movies and theater. He justified his actions on grounds that, though still sympathetic to socialist ideals, he wasn't going to jeopardize his own career for the sake of others. Hardly the stuff that his protagonist in Boomerang, Homer Cummings, was made of.
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