Forensic Files

For 70 years, there have been serious questions about the execution of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby. It remains one of the most controversial decisions in the history of American justice. At the time experts said his handwriting matched the ransom note and that the ladder found at the crime scene was constructed using a piece of wood from his attic. Today most experts agree that the handwriting comparisons were done improperly and that the wood comparison was highly suspect. Three of America's top forensic handwriting experts along with the results of a two-year study of the wood from Hauptmann's attic help answer the question -- Was Bruno Richard Hauptmann wrongly convicted?