Pennsylvania Court Decision Will Not Affect Struik Trial

Despite the fact that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that a state may not prosecute Communists who can be prosecuted by the federal government, District Attorney George E. Thompson of Middlesex County is planning to go ahead with the prosecution of Dirk J. Struik, suspended Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

Steve Nelson, one of the top Communists in the nation, had been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and fined $10,000 for violating the Pennsylvania sedition set. But the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has ruled four to one that the Sedition Act had been superseded and hence voided by the federal Smith Act.

It is the Smith Act which prosecutors have used to obtain numerous convictions against those accused of seeking overthrow of the Government by force or violence.

Double Jeopardy

The Pennsylvania decision also held that Nelson's conviction constituted double jeopardy. He is under five-year sentence now for violating the Smith Act under which he was tried last summer in federal court.

A statement by District Attorney Thompson implied that Struik might well escape trial because of the legal points involved in the Nelson case. Thompson had said that he "had sent for the Pennsylvania, decision" and would "have to study it before making any final decision."

But it was discovered yesterday that Thompson had no intention of cancelling the Struik trial. "Pennsylvania law is not necessarily the law of Massachusetts. So far as I am concerned, there is nothing to prevent Mr. Struik's prosecution here," he declared. Nevertheless, he still maintained that he was interested in reading the Pennsylvania case.

Struik was indicted with Harry E. Winner and Mrs. Margaret Gilbert, all on similar charges. Trial had been delayed since 1951 because of extradition proceedings involving Mrs. Gilbert, who resisted transfer from Illinois to Massachusetts.