15. The trial was held in strict secrecy, at the Justice Department
Roosevelt ordered the trial kept secret, persuaded by Hoover in part that it would protect the methods used by the FBI to contravene German infiltration. The Attorney General of the United States was selected to prosecute, Francis Biddle. The Germans were provided with lawyers for their defense. All of the defendants entered pleas of not guilty, claiming they had used the Abwehr mission only to return to the United States, and they had no intention of carrying out the plan. The prosecution asked for the death penalty on all eight defendants during the trial, since all of the defendants were enemy agents in civilian clothes at the time of their arrest.
The trial was over by July 27, and the findings of guilt for all eight, the recommendation of the death penalty, and the transcripts of the proceedings were sent to the President. It was accompanied by recommendations of clemency for Dasch and Burger. Roosevelt’s review of the transcripts revealed to him the role Dasch had played in unveiling the plot, as well as Hoover’s role in covering it up in the press. FDR, as the convening authority of the tribunal, which consisted of seven Army generals, commuted Dasch’s sentence to 30 years. Burger was given life in prison. The other six were sentenced to death.