Trial(s) of the Century(ies)

On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. You'll find a wealth of primary source material about that case at Famous Trials . That site, compiled by Douglas O. Linder at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law, features a copy of the indictment handed down against the Rosenbergs, excerpts of the trial transcript, the judge's sentencing statement, and the couple's heartbreaking letter to their two young sons, written on the day of their execution - June 19, 1953. Linder's site has similarly rich collections for more than four dozen landmark criminal proceedings - from the trial of Socrates to the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th September 11 hijacker. Ethel Rosenberg's arrest photo (above) comes from the National Archives and Records Administration.