Evening star., 1951-02-04
Public Faith al Stake
In Cop|on Conviction,
Supreme Court Told

SuPICIIIC vUuIl IVlu
Public faith in orderly legal
procedure will be shaken unless
the conviction OF Judith Coplor
as a Russian spy is allowed to
stand, the Justice Department
told the United States Supreme
Court yesterday.
In a 29-page brief warning
that the 29-year-old former JUS
tice Department employe prob
ably could not be convicted if
brought to trial again, Solicitor
General Philip B. Perlman urged
the Supreme Court to set aside a
decision of the New York Circuit
Court of Appeals reversing her
conviction.
The Appellate Court in revers-
ing her conviction on espionage
charges by jury in New York
City held that "her guilt is plain"
but insisted she was entitled to a
new trial because FBI agents ar
rested her without a warrant and
were guilty of wiretapping law
violations in their investigation.
A purseful of confidential Gov
eminent documents taken from
Miss Coplon when she was ar
rested in March, 1949, in New
York in the company of Valentine
A. Gubitchev, third secretary of
the Soviet Foreign Office. could
not be introduced as evidence at
a new trial under the appeals
court ruling, Mr.. Perlman de-
clared.
Was Sentenced to Is Years.
Both Miss Coplon and Gubit-
chev were sentenced to Is years
imprisonment. His sentence was
suspended when he agreed to re-
turn to Russia without appealing
the case. Earlier Miss Coplon had
been tried alone in District Court
here and convicted of stealing
confidential Government docu-
ments with intent to transmit
them to foreign agent. She was
sentenced to serve from 40 months
to 10 years on this charge.
The attractive former Govern
ment girl who married one of her
lawyers after her New York trial
is at liberty under bond. The
Court of Appeals here has not yet
handed down its decision on her
appeal from her conviction in the
Federal court here.
FBI agents arrested Miss Coplon
after they had trailed her to three
furtive meetings with Gubitchev
on the streets of New York. The
Appellate Court held that FBI
agents lacked power to arrest a
suspected felon without warrant
unless they had good reason to be-
lieve their quarry planned to es-
cape the country.
Because the arrest was illegal
the seizure of the documents from
Miss Coplon's purse was illegal,
the court held, and therefore can
not be used as evidence against
her.
THE documents seized from
the respondents persons" the
Justice Department told the Su-
preme Court" constitute a vital
part of the Governments proof
against her.
Has No Additional Evidence.
THE Government does not ex-
pect to have any additional evi-
dence as to the likelihood of es-
cape in relation to the validity
of respondents arrest.
Unless the documents are ad-
missable in evidence the retrial
suggested by the Court of Appeals
would be futile even though, as
that court has noted. her guilt is
plain
An erroneous construction of
the arrest statute which results in
granting immunity from prosecu-
tion to a former Government en-
ploye who has engaged in espion-
age on behalf of a foreign govern
ment and whose guilt is plain, can
only create public lack of faith
In orderly legal procedure"
The Government brief chal-
lenged the Appellate Courts con-
tention that Congress intended to
give FBI agents less power to
arrest than that possessed by an
ordinary citizen. 1t pointed out
that Congress-, Immediately after
the Court of Appeals ruled, enacted
new statute specifically authoriz-
ing FBI agents to make arrests
without warrants when they have
reasonable grounds to believe a
felony has been committed.
Court Contention Disputed.
The Justice Department also
disputed the Court of Appeals
contention that Miss Coplon at
her trial in New York was not
given full opportunity to support
her contention that evidence
gained by wire tapping led to her
arrest.
The Government admitted it
had tapped her wires and made
full disclosure of all evidence
gained from that source to the
trial Judge.
IT, \A/-lL> L