Biography
William Perl was an Austrian-born engineer and physicist prosecuted for perjury during the Rosenberg espionage investigation. Federal agents arrested him on March 14, 1951; after arraignment he remained in the Federal House of Detention until posting $20,000 bail on March 19. A jury convicted him in 1953, and he entered federal prison when sentenced on June 5 to five years. He was released from the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute on February 10, 1957.
The June 26, 1952 Guardian reports that William Perl sought an order requiring the government to bring him to trial and requested a bill of particulars. The government opposed proceeding at that point on security and justice grounds. This pretrial dispute is separate from the later conviction and imprisonment; it does not establish additional physical custody.
