The controversy over Hauptman started,in the main, with that vacuous being Eleanor Roosevelt who wrote a blurb criticising the fact that circumstantial evidence was used to convict Hauptman.
Good circumstantial evidence is far better than eye witnesses as circumstantial evidence never lies.(Indeed, you claim one of the "eyewitnesses" was near blind and received money.) Once again, as far as man can be sure of anything on this earth, Bruno Hauptman was guilty of the kidnapping and murder of the child.
You liked the book and that is ok, I would point out to you another who dunnit involving the unsolved murder of Hollywood movie director William Desmond Taylor in February 1922. Do a Google search Using Taylorology. Also, WIKI has a good summary under his name of William Desmond Taylor(Not his real name.)
Maybe not, but the witnesses who present the circumstantial evidence and lawyers who evaluate it sometimes do. Problem is that too many jurors accept too much on face value.
I know that Hauptmann may have been seen as a detestable character, but until you can place him on the Lindbergh property on the night of the purported kidnapping, you can't convict him of murder. One other important clue or lack thereof: No fingerprints were found on the ladder or even in the child's nursery.
I never heard of Eleanor Roosevelt's involvement in the Lindbergh case nor what her theory was, but I do know that Gov. Hoffman (Republican) of New Jersey thought that Hauptmann didn't perpetrate the kidnapping, but more likely that the baby died a few days earlier while under the care of his erratic aunt: Ann Lindbergh's older sister. Hoffman maneuvered to delay the execution of Hauptmann for about a year, but ran out of time because of intense political pressure in support of the death penalty for the defendant.
In a just world, Hauptmann should have been acquitted of the murder-kidnapping in New Jersey. and extradited back to New York to face charges of extortion and grand larceny, but the investigation should not have stopped at that point. Even those who believe that Hauptmann was guilty of the murder-kidnapping (like author Robert Zorn) know that he had accomplices. It could not have been a one-man job.
Never heard of the murder of William Desmond Taylor, but thanks for your recommendation.
It may be hard to find now, but there was a book titled "Lindbergh: The Crime," by the late Noel Behn, originally published in 1994 (hardcover edition by Atlantic Monthly Press) and 1995 (paperback edition by Onyx). It goes into a large amount of detail in regard to Gov. Hoffman's unofficial post-trial investigation, which is not to be overlooked.