This Day in History: May 11, 1973 - Espionage charges against Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo are dismissed

Context

In 1969 Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo embarked on their crusade to find a way to make the Pentagon Papers public knowledge. Initially Ellsberg tried to get a Senator to release the papers but was unsuccessful. Eventually Ellsberg would find himself working with the New York Times to publish the report.

The Nixon administration was not about to let the Times publish without a fight though. They got a federal district court to issue a ruling stopping the Times from publishing the papers. The legal fight would be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Two days before SCOTUS would issue its ruling saying the Times could publish the papers Daniel Ellsberg handed himself over to the DoJ, admitting he was the one who leaked the papers.

The wrath of the Nixon administration would then come down on Ellsberg and his associate, Russo. Both were charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, and faced the potential of 115 and 35 years in prison respectively. Nixon being Nixon though, his criminal ways would derail the prosecution as breakins at Ellsberg's psychologist and illegal wire-taps were revealed in court. On May 11th U.S. District Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. dismissed all charges against Ellsberg and Byrne saying:

"The totality of the circumstances of this case which I have only briefly sketched offend a sense of justice. The bizarre events have incurably infected the prosecution of this case."

The courtroom erupted in cheers.