First American Treason Charge in 54 Years

Exciting.  Not even the Rosenbergs were charged with treason (that was espionage).

For the first time in more than 50 years, federal prosecutors are preparing to charge an American citizen with treason.

Barring any last-minute complications, the charges will be filed Wednesday against Adam Gadahn, the American who has appeared in at least four al-Qaida videos, the most recent one in September.

Treason is the only crime specified in the Constitution and requires either confession in open court or the testimony of at least two witnesses to get a conviction. Prosecutors believe that with millions of witnesses to his videos, they have enough proof, but the decision will be controversial, given that so little is known about the circumstances of the videos.

Even the previous chap, Tomoya Kawakita in 1952, gets an asterisk in my book due to his dual U.S./Japanese citizenship and the retroactive kid gloves we pawed at him with.  While sentenced to death for his torture of American POWs in World War II, Eisenhower commuted the sentence to life in prison, then Kennedy pardoned him and sent him back to Japan.

Kawakita joined a long tradition of pardoned or paroled treasonists (treaseurs?), including Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose.  It appears we may not have performed an execution based on a treason conviction since 1859.

If history's any guide, Gadahn's best bet for dying of natural causes may be to turn himself in.

More at Hot air.