Fred A. Leuchter

Who is Fred A. Leuchter?

Frederick "Fred" A. Leuchter, Jr. is an author of forensic Holocaust denial material. In the past, he had been contracted by governmental authorities of several states of the United States to improve the design of instruments for capital punishment, but no longer does so, primarily because of his lack of any formal engineering experience, but also because of charges of running a "death row shakedown" in which Leuchter threatened to testify for the defense in capital cases if he was not given contracts for his services by the state.

Leuchter became known around the world for his testimony in defense of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel in 1988. His study for Zündel's trial is referred to as the Leuchter Report after it was published by Zündel as such and is often framed as a scientifically based work of Holocaust denial, though his research methods and findings were shown to be discredited in a 1999 Errol Morris documentary on the controversy, entitled Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.