Opinion ID: 1487677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: indictment summarized.

Text: The indictment charged that the defendant, in various places within the German Reich, and at all times beginning on December 11, 1941, and continuing thereafter up to and including May 8, 1945, he then and there being a native-born citizen of the United States, and a person owing allegiance to the United States, in violation of said duty of allegiance, did knowingly, intentionally, and traitorously adhere to the enemies of the United States, and more particularly, to wit, the Government of the German Reich, and the German Radio Broadcasting Company and the officials and employees thereof, giving to the said enemies of the United States aid and comfort within the United States and elsewhere; that the aforesaid adherence of the defendant and the giving of aid and comfort by him to the aforesaid enemies of the United States consisted of working as a radio speaker and commentator in the U. S. zone of the Short Wave Station of the German Radio Broadcasting Company, a company controlled by the German Government, which work included the preparation and composition of commentaries, speeches, talks and announcements, and the recording thereof for subsequent broadcast by radio from Germany to the United States; that these activities of the defendant were intended to persuade citizens and residents of the United States to decline to support the United States in the conduct of said war, and to weaken and destroy confidence in the administration of the Government of the United States. Paragraph 4 of the indictment enumerates 23 overt acts alleged to have given aid and comfort to the said enemies and which were knowingly and traitorously committed by the defendant with treasonable intent to adhere to and give aid and comfort to said enemies. Thirteen of these overt acts were withdrawn from consideration, some by the United States and others by the district judge, so that ten were submitted to the jury as possible acts of treason. Generally described, one of these overt acts was arranging for the making of a recording, two were speaking into a microphone in the actual recording of talks for broadcast, one was participation in a conference for improvement in the operation of the Short Wave Station, two were attendance and participation in conferences of radio commentators at which directives were received from higher authority relative to the content of broadcasts, four were participation in conferences aimed at securing the resumption or continuance of defendant's broadcasting activities. The offense charged was similar to that on which Lord Haw Haw was convicted. Rex v. Joyce, 173 L.T. 377 (1945), aff'd sub nom. Joyce v. Director of Public Prosecutions, [1946] A.C. 347. After arraignment, the court conducted a preliminary hearing to determine the mental capacity of the defendant to understand the nature of the proceedings against him and to aid rationally in the conduct of his defense, and found that he had such capacity. Various preliminary motions were made by defense counsel and disposed of by the court. The jury trial commenced on June 6, 1947, and lasted three weeks. The Government offered the testimony of some thirty witnesses and numerous exhibits. Chandler did not testify at the trial. The testimony of the seven witnesses called on his behalf was all directed to the defense of insanity, an issue that was fully tried, submitted to the jury under appropriate instructions, and resolved against the defendant by the verdict of the jury. On this appeal no error is alleged with respect to the disposition below of the issue as to defendant's sanity. On June 28, 1948, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, finding specially that each and every one of the ten overt acts submitted to it was a treasonable act committed by the defendant Chandler with an intent to betray the United States. We shall discuss first the points of law raised by the defendant in various preliminary motions submitted to the district judge.