Spies on Trial: True Tales of Espionage in the Courtroom

Attorney Kuhne (Sherlock Holmes for Lawyers) recounts 16 spy trials in fascinating detail. He begins with the 1951 trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the first U.S. citizens to be tried, convicted, and executed for espionage during peacetime. More recent trials include that of Greg Chung, a Boeing engineer accused of funneling secret documents pertaining to the space shuttle to China in 2006, and the ACLU trial against the U.S. government over the telephone metadata collections leaked by Edward Snowden. One of the most unusual trials is that of “Jane” and “John Doe,” foreign spies for the CIA who retired to America with the promise of financial and personal security for life. But when the husband was laid off from his American job in 1997, the CIA wouldn’t pay them. The court ruled against the couple, citing that the contract was secret and therefore could not be used as evidence in court. Six appendices cite the U.S. espionage laws that define and complicate these cases. Readers interested in the legal aspects of prosecuting spies will be rewarded. (Nov.)