Editing Roy Cohn (section)

==Rosenberg trial==
{{Main|Julius and Ethel Rosenberg}}

[[File:Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg_NYWTS.jpg|thumb|[[Ethel and Julius Rosenberg]] after their jury conviction in 1951]]
Cohn played a prominent role in the 1951 espionage trial of [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]]. Cohn's [[direct examination]] of Ethel's brother, [[David Greenglass]], produced testimony that was central to the Rosenbergs' conviction and subsequent execution. Greenglass testified that he had assisted the espionage activities of his brother-in-law by acting as a courier of classified documents that had been stolen from the [[Manhattan Project]] by [[Klaus Fuchs]].

Greenglass would later change his story and allege that he committed [[perjury]] at the trial in order "to protect himself and his wife, Ruth, and that he was encouraged by the prosecution to do so."<ref>{{cite news|title=False testimony clinched Rosenberg spy trial |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1695240.stm|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=December 6, 2001|access-date=May 26, 2010}}</ref> Cohn always took great pride in the Rosenberg verdict and claimed to have played an even greater part than his public role. He said in his autobiography that his own influence had led to both Chief Prosecutor Saypol and Judge [[Irving Kaufman]] being appointed to the case. Cohn further said that Kaufman imposed the death penalty based on his personal recommendation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zion |first1=Sidney |title=The Autobiography of Roy Cohn |date=1988 |publisher=Lyle Stuart |pages=76–77 |isbn=9780818404719 |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofr00cohn/page/76}}</ref> Cohn denied, however, participation in any illegal {{lang|la|[[ex parte]]}} discussions.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rosenberg File |last1=Radosh |first1=Ronald |last2=Milton |first2=Joyce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpKjGSHAcaYC&pg=PA278 |pages=277–278 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|location=New Haven, Connecticut|isbn=0300072058|date=1997|orig-year=1983}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World|last=Clune|first=Lori|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford, England |date=2016|isbn=978-0190265885 |page=15}}</ref>

Consensus among historians is that Julius Rosenberg was guilty of being a highly valued [[NKVD]] [[spymaster]] against the United States, but that his trial was marred by [[prosecutorial misconduct]]—mainly by Cohn—and that the Rosenbergs should not have been executed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/rosenbergs-redux/article/2002765|title=Rosenbergs Redux |last=Radosh |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Radosh |date=June 10, 2016 |work=[[The Weekly Standard]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703012517/http://www.weeklystandard.com/rosenbergs-redux/article/2002765|archive-date=July 3, 2016|url-status=dead|access-date=December 26, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Frankie Y. |last1=Bailey |first2=Steven |last2=Chermak |title=Crimes and Trials of the Century|year=2007|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|location=Santa Barbara, California |page=205 |isbn=978-1-57356-973-6}}</ref> Distilling this consensus, [[Harvard Law School]] professor [[Alan Dershowitz]] wrote that the Rosenbergs were "guilty—and framed."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-19-me-25407-story.html|title=Rosenbergs Were Guilty – and Framed: FBI, Justice Department and judiciary conspired to convict a couple accused of espionage |first=Alan M. |last=Dershowitz |author-link=Alan Dershowitz|date=July 19, 1995|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=June 18, 2017}}</ref>