Benjamin Careathers

Released
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1950s
State:Pennsylvania
Support
Communism Communist Party USA
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Biography

Benjamin Careathers was a veteran Black Communist organizer in Pittsburgh, convicted in the western Pennsylvania Smith Act trial. In October 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the convictions of Careathers, Steve Nelson and their co-defendants because the prosecution had relied on the perjured testimony of the paid informer Joseph Mazzei.

Case

Charges: Smith Act — conspiracy to advocate the overthrow of the government
Sentence: Conviction set aside; faced retrial Verdict as recorded: Convicted; conviction vacated by the Supreme Court (1956) over tainted testimony
Convicted: Yes

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