Dr. William Perl, former director of the Jewish Defense League, was sentenced Friday in a federal district court in Baltimore to two years in prison, fined $12,000 and put on supervised probation for three years.
Federal Judge Edward S. Northrup, in imposing the sentence, suspended the prison term. He directed Perl that he may not be associated with the JDL during the probationary period to be supervised by a federal court official. Perl is seriously ill with an affliction that causes his hands to tremble.
Perl. 70, who lives in nearby College Park, Maryland, and who had taught psychology at the University of Maryland, told the court, “I am not asking for mercy but understanding.” He said that he had assumed that his act would save the lives of Soviet Jews “and I could not have acted differently.” He has 10 days in which to appeal the verdict.
Perl, who is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and a Nazi refugee from Austria, had been convicted by a jury on three of four charges filed against him by U.S. authorities. He was convicted of conspiracy of having a gun, of receiving a gun across state lines, and of conspiracy to shoot at the windows of an apartment in nearby Prince Georges County rented by two Soviet diplomats. He was found innocent of receiving a stolen gun.
The chief witness against him was Reuben Levtov, a former Israeli Embassy chauffer, with whom he was accused of conspiring. Levtov was supposed to do the shooting at the apartment. No one was reported injured nor any damage reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
