Today in Legal History: Pan Am 103, the Rosenbergs & Oscar Wilde
On this day in 1999, Libya surrendered two suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland to a U.N. representative. They were found guilty in 2001 by a panel of Scottish judges. The official website created by family members of the flight’s victims describes the case.
On this day in 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death by Manhattan federal Judge Irving R. Kaufman for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. Read the New York Times article that was published the next day.
On this day in 1895, English playwright and bon vivant Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against Marquess of Queensberry John Douglas, who had accused the writer of being a homosexual. Douglas’ son had a relationship with Wilde. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Professor Douglas O. Linder recounts the history of the case.
