Paul Crump (April 2, 1930 – October 11, 2002) was a death row inmate who gained international notoriety and parole after writing the novel ''Burn, Killer, Burn''.

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 15 execution dates before Louis Nizer 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.

Book

His novel ''Burn, Killer, Burn!'' is autobiographical and was published by the black-owned Johnson Publishing Company in 1962. It is about a murderer who commits suicide rather than be executed. ''Life'' magazine on July 27, 1962, featured a 4-page article on Paul Crump, "Facing Death, A New Life Perhaps Too Late".

Documentaries

William Friedkin produced and directed a documentary for television titled ''

The People vs. Paul Crump ''The People vs. Paul Crump'' is a 1962 documentary about the prisoner Paul Crump who was on death row for robbery and murder. The film was made for Chicago television and was highly praised and crucial to the career of its director William Fried ...

'' in 1962, 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''.

In song

Folk singer

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...

wrote a song entitled "Paul Crump" that chronicled Crump's life. The song appears on three albums by Ochs: '' The Early Years'', ''

A Toast to Those Who Are Gone ''A Toast to Those Who Are Gone'' is a 1986 compilation album of recordings that Phil Ochs made in the early to mid-1960s, mostly between his contracts with Elektra Records and A&M Records. In line with recordings made on the former, Ochs espouse ...

'', and '' On My Way''.

Death

Crump died of cancer at age 72, on October 12, 2002, at the Chester Mental Health Center in Chester, Illinois.

References

1930 births 2002 deaths American prisoners sentenced to death 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Recipients of American gubernatorial clemency 20th-century American male writers {{US-novelist-1930s-stub