19731776 Club
Judge Byrne dismisses all charges against Ellsberg; "bizarre events" have "incurably infected the prosecution"
Counts of espionage, conspiracy, and theft collapse after evidence surfaces of a White House burglary, missing wiretap records, and a job offer dangled before the judge himself.
On May 11, 1973, Federal District Judge William Matthew Byrne, Jr. declared a mistrial and dismissed all charges against Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo — conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property — after it emerged that Nixon White House operatives had burglarized the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist, that administration representatives had dangled the FBI directorship before the trial judge himself, and that records of illegal wiretapping conducted by the White House Plumbers had gone conveniently missing. Byrne ruled that the "bizarre events" had "incurably infected the prosecution."…
