Woman, 98, wants her McCarthy-era Red Scare criminal conviction tossed. nydailynews/new-york/woman-98-mccarthy-era-criminal-conviction-tossed-article-1.1900955 Miriam Moskowitz filed papers in Manhattan Federal Court asking for her conviction from the 1950s to be dismissed because she says newly unsealed court papers show she was railroaded. BY DAREH GREGORIAN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 3:04 PM ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Miriam Moskowitz, a 98-year-old woman named whos filed an action seeking to clear her Red Scare conviction from 1950 after new evidence was unsealed showing shed been railroaded, is seen here at her home. A 98-year-old woman wants a federal judge to vacate her 1950 Red Scare conviction after newly unsealed court papers show she was railroaded. I want to clear my good name, Miriam Moskowitz told the Daily News Tuesday. The conviction made my life very difficult, and sent it off in another direction entirely. Her Manhattan federal court suit asks a judge to correct a miscarriage of justice from the McCarthy era, of which Ms. Moskowitz is perhaps the last living victim. Moskowitzs arrest was a front page story in the News in 1950 - REDS SMASH ON IN FLANK ATTACK, Nab Man, Woman in Spy Plot, the paper blared. JACKSON, ED Miriam Moskowitz, center, during her 1950 federal trial. But the secretary said she didnt know anything about the alleged atomic espionage plot between her boss Abraham Brothman and his associate Harry Gold. Gold fingered her during the trial after the government threatened him with the death penalty, and neither Moskowitz nor the married Brothman took the stand in their own defense because they were worried theyd have to reveal they were having an affair, court papers say. Both were convicted of obstruction of justice, but Brothmans conviction was tossed on a technicality. DAILY NEWS PHOTO Moskowitz, then a-34-year-old stockholder in a chemical firm, was on the front page of the Daily News in 1950. Moskowitz served two years in prison and had to pay a hefty $10,000 fine. With the country in the throes of McCarthyism and the Red Scare over communist plots, she found herself shunned after her release and tried to hide her past. I went to a concert about a year (after her release) and all these people I knew were there, and they literally turned their backs on me because they did not want me to approach them. It really cut me up, she said. She said she had to give up her public relations career because the FBI kept showing up at her workplaces and spooking her bosses. Abraham Brothman and Moskowitz were convicted of obstruction of justice. She eventually became a schoolteacher - but always tried to keep to herself because of her past. It made me very shy and restricted my social activity, she said. I didnt feel at ease with people. I was always afraid I was going to be found out. As a result, she said, she never got married or had children. ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Moskowitz wrote a book about her experience. In an effort to set the record straight she started writing a book, “Phantom Spies, Phantom Justice,” about her life in 2010 - and came upon grand jury minutes that had been unsealed in 2008, which showed Gold had repeatedly told the FBI that Ms. Moskowitz was unaware of Gold and Brothmans plan to straighten out their stories before the grand jury. That was the opposite of what Gold testified at trial, and information that could have spared her the guilty verdict. She said she was astonished to see what shed always known to be the truth there in black and white. JACKSON, ED Moskowitz as she appeared going to Federal Court. How would anybody feel? the Washington Township, N.J., woman said. I just flattened out. Filings show the government had fought to keep the papers sealed. The government withheld critical and exculpatory evidence for nearly sixty years, Moskowitzs suit says. It seeks to have the conviction vacated. Moskowitz said shes just acting now because she found out from a friend whos making a documentary about her that she had legal options. Moskowitz said that if the conviction is tossed, I would feel like everybody else. I see people in the street so carefree with no burdens. To be like them, it would be blissful. It would be something very extraordinary to feel like an ordinary person. One of the prosecutors in Moskowitzs case was the late Roy Cohn. He called her trial a dry run for the controversial convictions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on spying charges. Both were executed. Gold was the star witness in their case, and served 15 years in prison. Read more: nydailynews/new-york/woman-98-mccarthy-era-criminal-conviction-tossed-article-1.1900955#ixzz3AFSPzNyS
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 07:46:16 +0000
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