Ernest Fox

Released
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1950s
State:California
Support
Communism Communist Party USA
Ernest Fox

Biography

Ernest Fox was a California Communist Party organizer arrested in the July 1951 Smith Act roundup. High bail kept the California defendants in federal custody while they challenged the bail orders. A jury convicted him on August 5, 1952, and the court imposed five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He remained free on appeal bond after the trial, and the Supreme Court reversed the conviction on June 17, 1957.

Photo credit

AP Wire photograph, July 27, 1951, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain; cropped from the captioned group photograph to the leftmost subject, Ernest Otto Fox.

Reported sentence under William C. Mathes: five years and $10,000, not established actual service. 1952 report.

Case

Charges: Smith Act — conspiring to advocate the overthrow of the government (California CP leader).
Arrested: Jul 31, 1951
Sentenced: Aug 8, 1952
Released: Dec 10, 1951
Sentence: Five years in federal prison and a $10,000 fine. He remained free on appeal bond after trial; the exact endpoint of the 1951 pretrial detention remains unresolved.
Judge: William C. Mathes
Convicted: Yes

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